Irish Mini Owners Club

Here's some pics of the top hat, it's seems to have taken the shape of the release bearing compared to the old top hat (R).



Flywheel bolt was tight, fully seated and torqued to correct spec, locking tabs folded over. The exploded view of the clutch assembly on minispares shows the bearing cage the opposite way to what I had it. Even looking at the bearing now, the curved side sits into the wok and the flat side sits on the old top hat so that the raised part of the top hat touches the bearing face.

It's taken the shape of the curved side,

MPi manual shows diagram of release bearing , in opposite orientation of how I had it. Tabs facing towards wok, I had them towards flywheel.

Got new clutch put on today, took my time making sure everything was on properly lined up and more importantly, on the right way

Also got the fuel pump gaskets changed and one side ball joints replaced. Had to use a lot more shims than previous set. I need to invest in a ball joint splitter after having to sacrifice these due to needing the engine out in a hurry.

Engine is now back in car, while putting the exhaust in the rear subframe front exhaust mount sheared off the rubber block! So that's the rear most bobbin and this one that have sheared, both from a genuine rover mg fitting kit.

Also got a start on the arches, very stressful drilling into the freshly painted bodywork. Plenty of zinc paint applied to the hole edges, then stainless steel M5 rivet nuts compressed into place. Put rivet nuts along the slam panel for mounting the grille. Drivers side is done, need to heat up the sill trim in hot water to make it un-curl then thinking about a bit of polyurethane sealant to hold it all in place and prevent water sitting under it.

Kilbroney car show is on Saturday week (17th) so times ticking to get it all done, fuelling adjusted, wheel alignment, tax and insurance...

Personally if its not broke don't replace it. The quality of new parts is so questionable these days.
Don't overheat the sill trim when fitting.\if it gets too soft you can leave finger indents in it.

colinf1 wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 11:34 pm

Does the starter motor match the flywheel?

I could be wrong Colin but I thought the verto clutch required a pre-engaged starter and a pre-verto requires an inertia starter. I know it's possible to get the ring gear switched. Just wondering if you did something similar?

It's dated '82, so I assume it's correct for the engine. It engages and spins the engine over without any sign of non-engagement.

Info on minispares says 84/85 was the change over year for pre-engage starters.

The only part that I've put on under the bonnet that hasn't been replaced and isn't dated 82/83 is the wiper motor that's dates '98

I suppose throughout the years there was such a mix and match of parts as they changed components like the clutch, brakes, gearboxes and even body panels.

Lots done today, exhaust mostly on, just waiting for rear brackets. Carb and all cables and pipes done, all wiring connected back up.
Hubs and wheels on with new ball joints, driveshaft nuts torqued up and split pins installed. New stainless clips on driveshaft boots. Put some more rivet nuts on the number plate mounting bracket, as it was quite fiddly to get a M5 nyloc nut on the back of it. Offered up the sill trim, still need to cut it to size...

Early A+ with verto had inertia starters. I think the earliest A+ may have had non-verto clutches

My engine is a very early 998 A+ (791PZ vs 791P which was A series). It has pre-verto, inertia and the DAM2886 gearbox. The block has a coolant drain on the back of the block. Later A+ blocks don’t have this. Also main bearings have different tabs too.

BL must have put a suitable ring gear on the early non-verto flywheels to match the inertia starter.

Got it out of the shed today, then parked on the lawn while I tinkered with some stuff. Bonnet prop was missing it's clip, so I've tapped the end of it M6, a few washers and a nyloc nut to secure it.
Got passenger side arches on, slow and steady with the drill! The rivet nut compressor is an old one borrowed from work, it got stuck on the last one, couldn't get it to unwind for a good 30mins...I guess I figured out why it was no longer used!

Left it sat on the patio now, with stormforce cover over it. I'll check for any signs of leaking in the morning. Clutch engagement feels fine, no metal on metal screeching, had ht leads 2 and 3 reversed, swapped them around and it no longer sounded like a lawnmower.

Grease up ball joints, one new nipple wasn't allowing any grease in, thankfully I kept a few old ones.

looks really good. its a credit to you

Took it out for a spin around the village yesterday evening, all went well, still having a bit of an oil leak at the back of the engine, took off tappet chest cover and re-seated the gasket and tightened it back up, but still at it.



Then took it to work this morning for it first proper drive. Good oil pressure and water temp steady at 90c, nothing too unusual in terms of rattles or noises, tracking not as bad, slightly off to the right. Speedo was working for about 10kms, then stopped again, had my phone setup with a GPS speedo to keep an eye on the speed. A bit flat/bogging down under load, so maybe a bit rich. I'll check sparkplugs later. 34kms in 35mins. Checked oil after it had cooled down for an hour or so, and its middle of dipstick, so not losing that much but would like to be losing none.

Took the motorway home, bit of a different experience. Got it up to 115km/h, bit sluggish going up a hill whilst passing a truck. Oil pressure and temp gauges sat at 55psi and 90deg, about 5kms from home the temp gauge crept up to 100~105, but then settled back down to 90ish. Also made up some better center cap covers.



And had to park it beside the other vehicle I drive at work every now and again....

Is that army or civil , the beacon may give it away.
If the car is slugish it may need the timing or mixture adjusted which can also cause the engine to heat up

Civil....yes, the beacon might, but the crash structure in signal orange at the front definitely would give it away...

Woody have you any way of setting the fueling right?

I have a basic CO2 meter Colour tune

Very tempted to buy an AEM X-Series Wide Band AFR meter that I can use with the Mini. It would be great in this scenario.

Colin, have you done the timing on the engine? What is the max advance above 3000 rpm? I think 30 degrees would be about right.

Made it to the show, bit stressful as everything kinda snowballed after the rain stopped me from getting car ready yesterday. Gave it a quick once over this morning, pulled the tappet chest cover and put some liquid gasket on it, oil topped up and coolant levels checked.

About a 50min drive to the show, not too bad of a drive, brakes still bedding in so a bit of chirping from them. Slightly adjusted mixture nut clockwise before driving home, but it made the flat spots worse, stopped at some family on way home adjusted it back anticlockwise , then back another few flats,made it better but still not 100%.

All going great until slip road off motorway, cut out at roundabout, battery was acting dead, but thankfully traffic cop was just behind me, he gave me an escort to a nearby turn off, then gave me a push start.

Wrecked now after a 200M push to that slip road

Hey Colin you made it to the show! Goal achieved. I anticipate over the coming months there will be lots of tweaking to get it just right.

Well done . If the battery is not charging it could be a bad earth, may need to take a bit of paint off the boot earth

woody wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2023 10:40 pm Well done . If the battery is not charging it could be a bad earth, may need to take a bit of paint off the boot earth

I had the lights still on from driving through a dark section of forest road, so possibly too much of a draw?
I stuck it on charge but said it was fully charged after a few minutes..

So the car has been moved back to the shed, a good few small jobs to be completed before the next outing, which will possibly be 2 weeks away.

Jobs include;
Finding and fixing the oil leak
Sorting the leak from windscreen
Torque check on nuts and bolts
Adjust back brakes & tightened handbrake slightly
Try and reduce the noise coming into cabin
Wire up rev counter
Get idle speed corrected
Grease speedo drive cable to see if it will solve speedo stopping after 10kms or so...

I think I will also change the oil, about 250kms done in total so think it will be worth doing just to clean out any particles from piston rings bedding in.

AC Dodd recently published a series of videos that goes into his tuning regime, worth a watch

Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv0lr_bRFFA

Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OWcQr7Tu78

Part 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKzz6BbYiAI

Part 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhGWczwrWyg

there is a lot to it getting the engine right.

Trying to eliminate the source of the oil leak, new rocker cover gasket and rubber seals, tappetsl chest cover gaskets and rubber bolt seals, also put some instant gasket on tappet gaskets and around the bolt hole. Cleaned off all traces of oil on the sump, then noticed a small weep from oil filter to block hose, so nipped those up too.

Put on sill trims, but used some adhesive polyurethane just to be sure they stay on.

New choke cable trunnion and reset the accelerator cable to make sure it was opening fully with pedal to floor.
Some foam insulation in bulkhead opening, hopefully it reduces cabin noise.