1985 mini (Engine running and seats in)

[trg1984]

what happened to the small bore plan dude???

[Pie]

It will happen don't worry, but for the time being i need something reliable (no jokes about minis, a-series and reliabilitty please lol)
Morspeeds engine kit is 1293cc-1330cc so if I'm gonna pay the price, why would i want 1293 rather than a 1330?!

As i said in the post, the 1048 was looking in the region of £2k where as the 1330 kit plus other goodies will cost less than £900!

It will happen though so don't worry lol

[Pie]

Right then, update.

Went down to southampton yesterday an picked up the 998 from a member off the mini forum.
Went and saw Aron (mad4mins - on TMF) who had a VERY intresting bookshelf!!

Heres a pic of it;



Yes, thats right folks, its a chair stuck in the wall!! He could probably make a living as an artist lol

Then today went round to Olis and we stripped the 998.
Ill be honest and admit i was getting a little worried that the 998 would be standard, but low and behold, it had straight cut drops on
On the downside, the flywheel isnt lightend and is standard.

With the engine stripped, we started cleaning it, Parafin did just the job.

Oli then tried to get the pinion nut undone with his air gun, no luck, so his "specialist tools" were called upon.





Bit of kit them specialist tools, do just the job.

Then with everything cleaned up, we stuck it all in the mini, and i went home. Oli has since got bored and entered the shed of dreams and cleaned up the pistons.

Theres a big shopping list on its wat via email to Simon@minispares too.

Pics of cleaned up engine;

Rods, pistons and crank;


Block, which is a LOT cleaner


Clean Bores;

[Pie]

Rite then, update time.

Sold the 12G295 slark race head along with the 1048 block and crank to go with it, and that went on saturday for the tidy sum of £290.

The old 1293 block, crank rods and pistons are leaving my hands on wednesday, another £50 in the pocket.

And so i was all ready to make my huge minispares order today (monday)..........until my mate oli rang me!!!

9am sunday morning;

Oli "you up yet mate"
me; "yeah ish"
Oli "get on eBay, found you another engine"

Why does he do this to me?! We get the plan sorted out, and know what we need then "NO HOLD ON don't DO THAT, buy this instead!!"

So a "buy it now" and a phone call later, me and oli set off from worcester to leyton buzzard (2 hours away) to meet the seller and purchase a mint block with brand new rods and pistons.
Blocks been linered, and pistons have new rings. Also bought an ultra light flywheel and backplate for the small sum of £40.

So yes ive changed my plans......AGAIN....but its going to be cheaper to complete, and a bigger engine.

Yes its back to being a 1293 >_<

Pictures;

Block;



Pistons and rods;



Ultralite fly;



Need to find a cam (which i have my eye on) and a decent 1275 crank that doesnt need a regrind!!!

[maggot998turbo]

hello pie, fello mini owner & engine&box builder, minis&old pushrod engines only nice blue mini there, the 1293 block looks cracking!

get the sw5-07 cam ya'll have 110 with a weber & a decent head & it'll be driveable & not lumpy! i have the same flywheel as you, yours is a very old one, desirable with that removable centre! keep the updates coming

christ its cold for working on minis, are you going to the mini showdown

[Pie]

cheers.
Was bidding on an sw10 which is a MUCH better cam, but got outbid in the final 7 seconds. But managed to get a kent 286 for £25.
The sw10 is a more driveable and digitally remastered version of the Kent286. But saying that, the 286 will be more than fine in this.

Also might have a crank from a metro turbo just waiting for a price and then should be good to go. Well apart from a few other bits.

Should be at the showdown this year, it was curse word last year due to the weather.

[Pie]

New crank purchased today. another bargain

Went to see Tim at minimail and found a pre A+ standard grind crank in mint condition, had been nitrocarburised (hardened) and bought it for the price of £40

Hoping to get cam next weekend, and then a few more bits and bobs are neeed, hopefully getting them ordered this week, then its build time

[Pie]

Right time for an update i think.

Engine is almost ready to go in the car.
I changed my mind AGAIN, this time about the wheels. Refurbed the reverse rims and put them back on;



Block and head were collected from Bromsgrove Engine Services on friday, blew out all the swarf from the block and touched it up with more BMC green from where it had come off in the chemical wash.
The block was skimmed so compression will be 10.5:1, and it was also drilled for the 11stud head, and the head was "counter bored".
Gearbox is all built up, just awaiting primary and idler. It currently sits like this;





Just need to order primary and idler gear and engine mounts and shes ready to put in the car and build up.
Timing was unbelievable. Was absolutly spot on 106degrees so no need to splash out on a vernier

Shouldnt be long now, and then the 500mile running in proceedure starts.

[Pie]

Just to clarify, the final spec will be;

1275 +0.020 (1293cc)
Kent 286 cam
Ported and polished MG Metro big valve (36/29) head with iskey double valve springs.
uprated diff pin
3.44 final drive
hiff44 carb (for now)

[Pie]

ITS ALIVE!!!!

Oh yes it runs. Had a scary moment with the starter motor making a loud crunching/grinding noise but it works. Straight cut drops are nice and whiney, and the ultralight flywheel seems to make her rev like a biatch;

Running;



First drive (my mate oli in it)



Absolutly chuffed to hell. Cannot wait until may 1st when funtime really begins


please excuse bad videos. My camera died as we were about to take the video lol so had to resort to phone. Ill gt some better ones at the weekend.

[An Fear Ó Dhoire]

Very cool. Having to run it in must be a nightmare after all that.

[Pie]

Havent even started running it in yet. will be taxed as of may 1st and insurance starts at 00.01 may 1st too. couldnt see the point in taxing it for the last week of the month! I just want to drive it so badly now though.
The grunt of the HIF44 and the whine of those sc drops

Recently noticed the roof needs a respray, and the roofrack will be getting a nice new coat of paint too. Possibly to match my wheels which are coated in a very creamy (odd) Ford Diamond White?!!

[Pie]

Sexy seat time.

Today i took the trusty graffitti'd clio-taurus for a jaunt to collect my sexy new seats.

A short stint on the M5 found me stopping at Stourport on severn and collecting some brand spanking new subframes for the tidy sum of £50, a "how much would you take them off ebay for mate ;D" find.
I then carried on up the M5 and onto the M42 and just under an hour i found myself at the house of the seller of my new seats.
Moneys was exchanged for seats, and i was on the M42/M5 again, this time heading to my mate Olis where seats would be fitted.

So me and oli got to work and found the new subframes needed "custom modifying". Basically the seats were WHEY too far back, it was like laying down (and I'm talking more than your halfords crew with the broken wrist at 12 o clock brrrrrap!)

so what do we do then it needs modifying? Thats right, cut up 2 brand new corbeau subframes!!!!!



Branded for life



So a little bit of cutting here, and bending there, drilling and welding, oh and a bit o box section, and the new seats sit like this;



PerrrrrrrrrrrrrFECTOoooooo

Oli MUST have been bored today, due to the fact i noticed the car looked a little different when i arrived today, somewhat shiney, sparkley.....HE'D WASHED HER!?!!



Heres a random picture of the interiour;


And a very short video of her being parked up at the end of the day.



Will be taxed on thursday.

Took her for a short drive, and she goes well, a nice torquey motor, and the cam is loverly. Should be awesome once its been run in.

[littlelise]

You have to cut the subframes if you don't want to lie down! I cut all but the last hole off mine, they are as upright as they go (and I still find myself leaning forward when driving lol).

Can't believe you've got it all together and you aren't bringing it to Newquay Lemming's a jobless bum and even he's scraping some cash together for it

Looks sexiful though - you best bring it to a show soon boyo!

Edit: You got my first ever RR post Pieman, be proud! ;D

[Pie]

cheers lise. You better start copying all the TMF updates on minty and make a project page on here lol

[Pie]

zooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom


Well collected it last night, and took it steady. She goes well, VERY well. Havent ragged the melons outta her yet but its stupidly hard not to think "fap it" and stick your foot to the floor. The whine of straight cut drops and the raw throaty growl of the HIF44 and backbox is so tempting, but so far so good.
Didnt realise how much ive missed it.

Might be a complete tart and go get some pictures of her later. Tis awesome weather today, just hope it stays like this throughout the summer and imcreases to get hotter.

Roll on BH2NRetro

[J.P]

Whats the 3.4 FD like for top end? Getting my engine built soon.

Your car looks great now! Straight cuts FTW!

[Pie]

Top end? no idea YET lol havent taken her past 60-70ish but she has a lot of power to give lol

Overall i wouldnt go anywhere other than a 3.44FD unless doing hillclimbing/dragracing etc etc

3.44 is a mix of decent acceleration and top end. The acceleration on tap is unreal and i cant wait to run her in and then see what shes capable of.

50 miles down, 450 left lmao

Pics are just uploading then ill spam RR with them.

[Pie]

And now ladies and mentalmen, some pictures;

[Pie]

more??























And one of my favourites;