1982 Mini Scamp

Yeah, cheap eBay units

Seem to do the job, no idea on beam pattern or legalities

I got a spare half hour so thought i'd take a look at the overheating issue

I pulled the plugs (they were new before RRG) and found them in reasonable condition, tad lean maybe and some fouling on cyl 3




Next I did a compression test

1 - 132psi
2 - 137psi
3 - 142psi
4 - 148psi

Bit of variation and according to the internets they should be circa 180psi so something is amiss


Pull the rocker cover off.

Yup, that'll be it then, I should sell it to Hellmans!




Go online, spend some pennies on a HG set, water pump, thermostat and bypass hose.


I've got to wait for them to arrive, so in the meantime i've found all the marine spec guages from my old Jago



These should give me a little more indication on what's going on in the engine bay...

Finally managed to get some free time to take a look at this here head gasket.


I'm working outside as my garage is full of Rover P4, it's cold.


Start by getting all this




Into my go to pink princess car parts storage system




Head off, looks like it's been tracking between cylinder 1 and the water jacket, also cylinders 2 and 3 appear to be joined slightly.






I fitted a new waterpump whilst I was at it. They're cheap, so might as well.

Note she's fitted with an A+ engine and i'd ordered an earlier pump. No difference bar the bypass hose is blanked as part of the casting on the A+ so I had to employ the old hose and bolt system.




The head was in good condition, in fact the valves were perfect, needed the slightest tickle with the fine lapping paste and a touch of carbon cleaning from the faces.

The valve guides were pretty shot on all valves. Most were missing the little springs and a few were cracked.




New composite head gasket fitted. I chose not to use the copper one as the surfaces need to be pristine (turns out they were anyways)




I've chucked the head on and everything is back in it's place. I still have the valve clearances to do before I can fire her up, but it started to absolutely chuck it down




When I next get half and hour, i'll get them done and hopefully she'll no longer run all the way up the gauge and spit hot water through the bulkhead at me!


Oh, I bought a new steering wheel as well.

The current one is a 13 inch affair and the new one is 11 inches, I think it will look and feel better

The P4 has finally gone so I have a nice space inside the garage once more.

Now the engine works I figure I best crack on with fixing the issues that are gonna happen when you build a car in a couple of weeks.



I took this picture with the camera in front of my eyes with me sat in the seat

Can anyone see the issue?





Whilst sat there, I got the sharpie out and marked up where I can and cant see




Then I spent what felt like hours mocking up positions of gauges so that I could see them and also the dash still looked good.


Turns out, no matter what I did I really liked the fact the dash had nothing on it, so I sat down again and did some thinking.


Then I went on eBay and chucked £100 at random sellers.


I'll not reveal my idea as it may be awful, but in the mean time I figured as most of the wiring will be altered for new gauges and the fact that the Scamp has exactly zero of the original comforts I may as well rip out the Mini loom and start again.

20 mins later:







That's where I got to this weekend. I'm now at the mercy of the eBay sellers posting things out to me, though I fear even though I clicked 'UK Only' a few of the items might just be wandering over on a boat!

A few of my ordered items have started drip feeding through

The gauges have come, along with the new fuse box and some adaptors for the senders to fit the engine.




I'll tell you my idea, then we can throw suggestions or tell me i'm an idiot etc.


I've ordered a chunk of black tinted perspex. When there is no light shining through (the panels behind the dash will be painted matt black) the perspex is not see through.

When you shine a light through it, you can see through it exceptionally well.


The speedo is the only thing that will be mounted onto the dash. I'm thinking in the space below the 2 original gauges on the current dash.
This is a fancy GPS affair as there will be an engine swop in the future, so I figure i'll do it correctly now.


The 4 led, digital, colour changing, opening ceremony giving, peak value saving, mega chinese dials, will be mounted directly behind the dash.

When the car is switched off, you wont see them, at all. When they are on they should shine though perfectly (hopefully)

Same goes for the warning lights, all hidden behind the perspex.

The 2 light switches currently on the dash will be relocated to the side of the drivers seat. I can't switch them on anyways where they are as the harness wont let me reach them!



Have a badly thought out video of my concept

Even with half the amount of ancillaries there's still a fair amount of wiring going on.




She's getting there now though.

All the gauges work now, inc. the GPS speedo.

The lights are wired bar the main switch as I still have no idea where would be best to place it. I can't actually reach the dash when i'm harnessed in and the steering column doesnt have a lot of room to install a switch.

I'm thinking possibly fitting it into the side panel next to the seat?


I also looked at heat. Now an open topped car is never going to be warm; but the trip back from the Gathering told me some sort of heat wouldn't go amiss.

Again, I want everything to be hidden, so behind the dash it has to be.

First problem, finding a fan compact enough, but also powerful enough to blow warm air from under the steering wheel at my crotch.

Ended up with the 4 inch bilge fan, she chucks out 270CFM at full pelt.




Being 4 inches means I can use normal extractor fan fittings. I've gone for a 90 degree bend into rectangle section for the inlet, which draws air in from below the dash, so it should be clean and water free.




Finally a pic of the behind the dash showing locations.




I'm now struggling with finding a heater matrix small enough to actually fit in the small space (about 150mm square and 25cm long)

I'm tempted to make my own out of microbore copper pipe by coiling it up inside a piece of 4 inch tube.

Anyone reckon this will give me enough heat output?

I think anything electric will cost a fair few quid to not be chinese tat.

I've just ordered some 50mm copper flat bar, so I can test the theory.

Be nice if I can get it all inside a bit of tube

The seat is very much a plastic affair.

Anything rested on it would no doubt go walkies when parked up

rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153735582196

Peugeot do a electric heater matrix might work?