1st Gen R50 Cooper R50 engine starts but....

I've just started my R50 engine since the rebuilt starting in Oct 2012( see project car section)

What changed: Newman PH1 cam, ECU tune, removed ABS and all airbags/wires, removed remote key oppening. The engine ran well before the rebuild.

The engine starts fine but idles lumpy rumpy giving some slight vibration, applying throttle the engine revs clean, letting off the throttle the revs drop really low to nearly stalling, sometimes stalling. When idling sometimes the engine misses a beat for a second which shows in a slight voltage drop on the volt meter.

Other issues are the temp gauge reads hot. Even with the thermostat plug removed. The rev counter does not work. I have a battery kill switch so every time I switch on the power the speedo needle twitches for a few seconds. Is this normal?

If the cam timing was out by say one link would the engine still run? what drives the rev counter?

I have NGK iridium spark plugs

I did go check all the ground wires and cleaned them up. I also know I have to return the ABS sensors because they drive the speedo.

 

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I took the intake manifold off to check if all wires were connected and to anything strange and found what was a nice clean head now covered in brown sticky residue. I could see the stuff had run down the inlets and covered the valves. Also around the injectors there seemed to be fuel. Like I said the engine revs very well after idle. So

1/ the timing is out blowing back some through the inlets at idle. I doubt

2/ There was hardly any fuel in the tank back in Oct 2012 when I took the Mini off the road so maybe the fuel went off in the tropical heat and maybe gummed up the injectors until I added some new fuel.

3/ the ECU tune is dumping too much fuel at idle.

Is it possible ecu tune some how canceled out the rev counter and temp gauge?

 

More checking last night revealed a small plug not quite pushed in, got the Tach and temp gauge working. Yes it pays to double check. Engine runs better but I think the fuel system needs a clean out now.