1968 Hillman Minx Estate - 08/10/21 - Road Trip!

Thanks for the comprehensive reply. I had a feeling that you mentioned working on small mechanisms at some point, which is why I asked.

In the Imp the speedo won't get any oil through the cable sine it runs to the front left hub... I'll have to take the speedo head off and see what's what.

Oh sh*t, hate when such things happen but at least it was a honest guy.

I really like your minx seth, got a 70 hunter dl myself though in saloon form.

With some paint on you'll never now it happened

Yeah, cheers. I'm feeling happier about the car already as Lance's magic metalworking means that it already looks straight from a small distance without further remedial work. He could have fully metal-finished it but it would have taken more time and as he said, its not like its a Bugatti Royale.

This is going to be a bit long but I figure might help others diagnose something similar.....

I've been struggling with an ignition problem recently and have finally made some headway. It hasn't been running right and I found the points gap was almost nothing while out and about on Sunday. Opened that out but then when cruising along at low throttle openings it started kangaroo jumping all over the place. Now, I've suspected for a while that something is up with the centrifugal advance weights so it was time to take a proper look.

Here's what the inside of a 25D dizzy looks like with the points plate removed.



The weights are underneath the sprung cam bit, the springs affect how quickly and at what speed the advance occurs (in two stages) and the cam with the number on limits the travel to a certain number of degrees, ten on the one in the dizzy here, and 13 on the "spare". The one in the Hillman is 19^O. With the cam removed there was some wear and dried grease that might have been hampering its action but, cleaned up and back together it seemed to work fine.

With it back together and on the car, revving while stationary showed it to start misfiring badly as it got to about 2000rpm. With the centrifugal advance sorted I spent an age swapping every single ignition component over, one at a time with other parts to try and trace the cause. Every lead, one at a time, points, rotor, coil, checked plugs. Timing was rechecked with a strobe every time. Nothing fixed it. I checked the carb diaphragm in case I was barking up the wrong tree altogether. Finally after a load of faffing and ready to give up I, as an after thought, pulled the vac advance pipe off the carb. Instantly the misfire at 2000+rpm disappeared.

A test drive with and without the vac advance connected also showed it much better without. But it all should be to factory spec for best economy etc. I don't know what's happened - maybe there's a spring in the vac unit that has weakened and is allowing it to advance too much? Sucking on the end I can quite easily rotate the points plate right round.



Anyhow, looking into things, not all vac units are created equally and they are stamped with a code.



I'll let the book explain. My spare dizzy is from a Herald 1200 engine.



So putting the Herald unit on to the Hillman dizzy would still provide about the same maximum advance but under a greater vacuum, so it would come in much later. A "suck test" and I can hardly get the points to move. A quick try under no load and I've now got some vac advance but not enough to make it misfire like it was. I'll see how it goes with a road test later.

Edit: as a side thought and before all the "fit electronic bits" comments ( ), an kit that eliminated the points would not have solved this problem. All it would have done would make the points gap unimportant but the advance curves are still determined by the weights and vacuum, unless you fit something like a 123 dizzy.

seth.. what number unit do you need?? think I got some hillman/humber dizzy bits in shed still

Have spent a good part of yesterday and today catching up on this thread - much awesomness since I last checked it

The info about front & rear suspension will be put to good use, I recently got new rubber all round, the new rear shocks should be here next week, now looking hard at options for the fronts

Nothing much to report from this side for the past 12 months, I just keep putting petrol in and foot down. retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=readersrides&thread=88892&page=1

Keep up the good work, all info & advice gratefully received

Thanks, guys.

Since leaving home on the 18th August, before the Gathering weekend, we've done about 1100 miles in the Hillman, thanks to the week and a half holiday in Somerset (drove there from the Gathering) Then after being home for two days last week we were then up to Manchester over the weekend for a family do, getting back home around 3am this morning. I think I only opened the bonnet a couple of times to check fluids and the carb seemed to need a slight tweak in Somerset but other than that no issues whatsoever.

I had wanted to get the boot properly sorted and painted before the Gathering but I simply ran out of time (plus cancelling a dungeon visit due to the riots) Fortunatly I had an afternoon of good weather so at least managed to improve it.

Very little filler required thanks to Lance's skills.





I imagine most of that paint will come back off again when I do do it "properly". I really want to attend to the last few plebs here and there on the car and get it in fresh paint all over by next spring but we'll see how it goes.

Other job to do it sort the exhaust again. The rear silencer has been blowing for a while (just through age..) so I'm going to replace that whole section (from just in front of the axle) with some stainless sections cut and shut to suit. Its become a bit more rattly since parking *on* the grass at Prescott too....



Hey ho.

Just a picture.



;D

Seth! You have been featured on www.PaykanHunter.com once again mate! Congratulations on the Hard Slam Award! ;D

Photos by: reverendpixel

always loved this car but today is the first time i've sat and read the whole thread from start to finish and now i love it even more