Most liked posts in thread: So, Today This Happened.....

Well, I found the problem.....no idea why it started leaking as I had the block skimmed and the head surfaced when I rebuilt it 3K miles ago, but it's not too hard a fix. I'm glad I caught it before the trip to South Dakota in a couple of weeks.

First indication - other than having to refill the coolant every time I drove it - two of these plugs are not pretty! The other two look fantastic.



So the next step was to pull the head off, and this is what I found....



That's what happens when water gets in your combustion chambers, it scours the carbon right off!

Here's the gasket - it doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would. This is a top quality composite gasket too, same one I use on race motors.



I have all the stuff I need to put it back together, so I'll tackle that this weekend and have about 10 days to drive it around and make sure all is good before we go. I'd hate to go all the way to South Dakota and not be able to run those hills with the rest of the group.

I got the hitch on the Audi, waiting for the "magic box" to wire up the trailer lights for the classic. I wish it wasn't quite so hot out, it's supposed to be 95* the day we leave, but the weather where we're going is forecast to be mis 70's. Should be perfect!

 

Well, it didn't.......exactly.

I spent 4 days trying to get the damn thing to start - which is weird cause it usually just pops right off. I checked everything a number of times and finally today the lightbulb went on and I checked it for spark....nada! So I checked power at the coil and dizzy, checked the rotor, plug leads, plugs and on and on, no issues found. Put it all back together and all of a sudden I have spark.

Put the plugs back in and it popped right off, just like always!

So I added water and drove it around the block where it ran completely normally, just like it always does. Brought it back and drained the radiator and refilled it about 4 times to flush the cooling system. Tomorrow I'll retorque the head and reset the valves, then fill it with antifreeze, then over the next few days I'll do some 40-50 mile local drives. If it's not eating water I'll call it good.

I decided I'll break habits and take a bunch of tools and parts, gaskets etc on the trip cause that way I know I won't have any issues!

 

Last night I retorqued the head and reset the valve clearances - while I had the torque wrench out I checked all the lug nuts too.

Drove the green Mini to breakfast this morning with the Age & Treachery Racing boys (buncha old farts!) and it ran perfectly, temp was right where it should be, didn't lose any water and started on the dime. So far so good. It's been raining off and on all day, but the rest of the week and next are supposed to be hot and dry, so I'll get some more miles on it before we leave.

 

Took the Racing Green on a 50 mile highway run today and it did pretty much everything perfectly - still need to cut the idle down a touch and give it a good vacuum but other than that it's ready to go.

Tomorrow I'll wire up the Audi for trailer lights......then I want to hitch it up and drive around the neighborhood a bit to see how it tows with the "big car"

 

On the last day of the Event in Spearfish, I thought I heard a bearing going bad in the left front of the car, but even after being on the highway for several hours it wasn't any hotter than the other side and there wasn't any play in it, so I decided to carry on. I got home with no problems, but last weekend I drove to breakfast with the A&T group and it seemed even louder, so today I decided to go ahead and take it apart.

I got the caliper, disc and flange off OK, and there's no damage evident in the bearing - plenty of grease in it and so on BUT - I got the axle nut off with a lot of work, and found the end of the axle banged up pretty good - no idea how that happened, since it couldn't have been like that when I put it together or I never would have been able to get the nut on. So......I've spent the last hour trying to clean up the end of the axle so I can run a die onto it - I had to fix one of Don's axles a while ago so I have the correct die to re-thread it.



Since the nut sits quite a ways down the threads it won't hurt if I wind up taking an eighth of an inch off the end of the axle to clean it up.

I can't quite get the axle out of the hub, so I went and bought a brass hammer so I can get it out without smashing down the end of the axle again. Once I get the die to run down the threads then I know the nut will go back on cleanly - if not I have a couple of spare used nuts on hand too.

More as it happens.....

 

Last year just before we went to Rushmore and MMEMW, I bought a nice new MiniSpares dipstick, with a T handle and a couple of O-rings where it fits into the blcok....a nice looking piece of kit.

Yesterday I went to change the oil and the T handle came right off in my hand! I don't know if it was made with a little epoxy to keep the handle on the rod or what, but I knew I could do a better repair than just stick some JB Weld in the hole - tho that probably would have worked I prefer a mechanical solution.

So I ran up to Westlake and bought an 8-32 allen set screw, drilled and tapped the T handle and it's on there solid now. I might go back and buy a shorter set screw as this one sticks out a bit.

Oh, and I machined a small flat where the screw hits the rod so it would have a good place to bite

 

Actually I'm not sure....but I think it's solid - 3/4". I'm almost certain it's the one MiniMania sells

https://www.minimania.com/part/C-AJJ4008/Classic-Austin-Mini-Rear-Adjustable-3-4-Anti-Roll--Sway-Bar

 

No points in this one, electronic ignition in these later cars......Sully, it cranked over fine on the starter motor, it just didn't fire a lick.

I think it might just be due for some plugs, I've had the car for 2 years now and have never changed them, even tho they're not terribly worn, they could just be old. I also keep a can of WD40 in the car, when things get wet a good spray down is sometime all it needs. (WD40 stands for water displacement formula 40)

It did feel like it just wasn't getting any fire - smelled like it was flooded but when I pulled the plugs they were dry, however the porcelains were really wet under the boots, so I dried it all off and it ran. The other possibility is that the ign switch has failed partially and it just wasn't getting any voltage to the ignition system, but I'll try the plugs first and see how it goes. This car has always started easily, so it was a surprise when it didn't go yesterday.

 

So, update on the Racing Green Mini......the engine has been smoking a bit on decelleration for a while now, in 2019 in Aspen coming down the mountain it left a huge blue cloud, then never did it again??? But now it's got a loud transmission bearing and a grunchy 2nd gear synchro too, so I decided I needed to do something. A friend sold me the motor out of a 94 SPi, said it ran good and didn't leak so I bought it.

Ummmmmm.......when I got it in the engine stand I ran compression - and it was pretty low. He said it hadn't run in 10 years, so I put some Marvel Mystery oil down the bores and left it sit a while, then ran compression again, 3 cylinders had come up considerably so I put some plugs in it and fired it up - sounds really healthy so I decided to put it in the green car and drive it.

But first I need to spiff it up a bit - can't have something this grotty in my car!



First I gave it a good bath with the pressure washer, then once I dried it off I decided a coat of red paint couldn't hurt......you all know where this is going, don't you?




Once I pulled the clutch off I decided to go ahead and replace the main seal, which required removing the rear cover, which was corroded and nasty, so I cleaned it and gave it a coat of silver. The rear cover has the clutch activating stuff in it and all the levers and such were rusted solid, so I had to take that all apart too.





I also pulled the front timing cover which was rusty and cleaned it all up and gave it a coat of black and a new front crank seal. The SPi motors use a different thermostat housing too, but fortunately I had the right one in stock, so I changed that out and added a new thermostat, even tho the one in the engine seemed to be fine.



The line that runs from the oil pump to the oil filter was also pretty rusty so I took it all apart too, cleaned and painted.

so now I'm waiting on the new clutch and a few other bits like a new water pump - the old one wasn't leaking but it's cheap insurance to replace it.

In the meantime, I found that the later motors don't have the water temp gauge sender in the head, but rather in the fuel injection intake manifold. So, I went over to Ace and bought the correct tap so I can tap the head for the sender adaptor I need for the car. That's next.





I already adjusted the valves and found an old aluminum valve cover, which looked better than the blue steel one that was on it.

I'm trying to make a Mini Event in Texas Hill country around San Antonio the end of the month, so I have a lot to do yet! More when I get some parts......

If this engine runs well on the trip I won't do anything more to it, and I'll rebuild the one in the car and sell it.

 

Just noticed.....looks like I may have had an exhaust leak from the center pipe at the head - strange cause I never heard anything and the gasket doesn't look like it's leaking, but the evidence is sure there on the back of the valve cover....if not exhaust, what else could it be that would make that pattern?


This engine also had one of the high torque starters on it - I don't know why given that it appears to be a stock engine - but these don't fit in these newer cars very well because the engine sits 1/2" further forward, and the starter solenoid is sitting forward rather than on top of the starter. In this one it looks like either this bracket was modified or broken and repaired. either way it's broken now, so I'll have to make a small patch. The starter was also rubbing against either this bracket or the front lip of the grill opening - I'm hopeful that was one of the rattles I was chasing and could never find.




I'll use the stock starter that was on the SPi engine when I put it in the car.

 

All back together, now I just have to get it to run......but first, someone tell me the obvious thing wring in this picture!



Tires rotated, aired up, brakes all checked and good.

 

Did that today.....no joy.