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Hi! This has been my daily runner for the last 6 years - and it will probably continue to do so, if we get interchangable number plates that is. I bought it in 2003 as my first car. We replaced the sills, sealed the little 998, re-honed the bores and she was ready to hit the streets.  Kauf by Strassenbelag, on Flickr  Motorenbau by Strassenbelag, on Flickr 20052005 saw a new interior and me finaly having my license in my pocket. It had to be the old center speedo...  Cockpit by Strassenbelag, on Flickr Exterior got a bit fresher with a grille from an Innocenti 1001...  eat the street by Strassenbelag, on Flickr 2006The 998 had continuing problems with the head gasket, so it was replaced by a 1275cc I got for not too much money. What a difference! The old drum brakes had been replaced somewhere in 2005, by Cooper S 7.5" discs. Mandatory for runing a 1275cc in Germany!  Old glory - new might by Strassenbelag, on Flickr 2009In 2008, the gearbox started to make loud whining noises. So in spring 2009, when it was warm for the first time, I ripped out it's heart and rebuild the gearbox (in my parent's clean living room ;D).   At the same time, the engine got a few mods. A new big valve head from a Innocenti Cooper 1300, a MG Metro camshaft, I ported the inlet manifold and installed rockers with a tad more lift, of a Innocenti Cooper 1300 too. In theory this should make at least 70BHP - I've never had her on the rollers. But: top speed is at Cooper S Mk1 level and above (110MPH!). So I assume it has about 75BHP+ (Cooper S 1275 Mk1 had about 76BHP & over 100MPH top speed).  I got a bit bored of the old center speedo, so I made it a bit more special. I got the gauges of a Triumph for cheap, a overhauled Smiths dual gauge and a free Jag fuel gauge. With these gauges, a bit of plastic, some fake leather and a hole saw I made this:  interieur_pano by Strassenbelag, on Flickr 2010This year I found a set of the original mat black bumpers! The price was right so on they went. I also got finaly rid of the horrible TEX mirrors and put on some of a Opel of some sort.   This happen in 2010 too, about 5300km after the gearbox rebuild:  Rebuilt the gearbox once more. Then the clutch started slipping... Out with the engine again... Sorted the clutch. And then it finaly was the fun it's supposed too. Until now,when the differential started to break again... I'm now a bit tired of the Mini and bought this: retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=readersrides&thread=90559&page=1The Mini is now in a very early winter pause and I have to sort the Mercedes. *D'oh!* But oh well, I guess that's cheap old cars for you. You love it or (some times) you hate it. ;D So that's the story of the Mini in short. Thanks for reading!  Cheers, Jan |
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welder
Part of things
Posts: 518
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Oct 25, 2010 10:52:40 GMT
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Cool little car. I've always fancied a Mini.
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I'm not completely useless, I can be used as a bad example.
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Jan 31, 2011 19:52:50 GMT
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Hi! This is the next project for the Mini... A rather unique twin-carb setup. I started - slowly - working on it mid last year. David Vizard very briefly described a Weber manifold für the A-Series engine which could also been used with two HIF SU carburetters. Made by the famous Janspeed tuning co. By chance I got hold of one of those rare manifolds from a very kind chap from Denmark. The manifold is meant to be used with a set of 'reversed' twin HIF4 carbs (LH carb goes to RH side and vice versa). Since I don't like HIF carburettors, I choose to use what I like and what I got plenty of: HS4 carbs. I like them for a few things: simplicity & reliability. A HIF, as refined as it looks, is much more comlicated to work on and requires removing for simple tasks like cleaning a stuck needle valve etc. Anyway - that's the manifold:    Looking at the flange it becomes obvious why a set of reversed HIF carbs had to be used: there's no meat for a 'normal' SU. The bolt hole would hang half ways into the air... And reversing them meant that there's no room for two float bowls between the carbs - hence HIF carbs with internal float had to be used. Also an external linkage is easyer to make since the carbs are very close together... This is a picture of an original Janspeed set:  So... To use HS4 carbs with external float bowls - I had to bolt them on in the normal way. Which meant to fabricate some adaptor plates. Ordered some ally, took out the hack saw, file and cheapo pillar drill. Big lump of aluminium:  Cut in two, lined up with carbs, marked and drilled:  Bigger hole drilled (took ages with the cheapo hole saw):  Almost there:  Bit of filing, cutting and shaping later, one done:  Carbs cleaned, bell/piston assemblys matched and plates bolted on:  And would you believe it when I told you that I had to visit a few garages to buy a LH carb body that matched my RH body...? From all the HS4 carbs I have - none was similar to the (only) RH body I had... Unbelievable! Not much space there:  I wanted to use fixed needles with these carbs. I can't see a reason for the 'floating' needles, apart from keeping the customer buying spare jets & needles... I will need custom profile needles - even more reason to usefixed, unwearing needles! The jet bearings have to be modified to allow centering of the fixed needles. Which is pretty much straight forward, realy... All thedifference is this:  The head is few thou smaler... Out with the pillar drill & file:  And done... Modified vs. floating needle type:  To add a little more room I shortened the throttle spindle bushings. It's OK to do, as the early carbs have about 4mm longer bushes. So I shortened them and got a massive 8mm more room!!  Doesn't sound like much, but made all the difference. There's enough space to fit a modified linkage & throttle quadrant thingy now...  And this pretty much brings us to today. Trial fitting to the engine made obvious that I need to make an airbox with a remote filter, there's not enough rooom for adequate sized filters...  But most important, the float bowl clears the master cylinder!  Cheers, Jan |
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Jan 31, 2011 20:09:32 GMT
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Nice one.
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That's some great work on the carbs! They're almost "siamese"! ;D I've worked more with Stromberg carbs (especially recently!) and I can understand not wanting to go with HIF's - they seem to have got progressively more complicated the same as Strombergs. The equivalent to HIF's would be CDSE's I would think, which I've used on my car.
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,543
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Thats a really neat set up. Can I ask a possibly stupid question though. Why go to this trouble instead of fitting a regular twin SU manifold? |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one that dislikes the 'better' (most people over here say so) carbs Can I ask a possibly stupid question though. Why go to this trouble instead of fitting a regular twin SU manifold? No, it's a very good question. I don't like the original MOWOG manifolds, they'r not a good shape for performance. The large balance tube between the ports creates a huge 'box' section with poor flow characteristics. Best picture of what I mean I have at hand right now:  Of course this one has been heavily worked to fit 1.75 or even 2" carbs... I would have gone for a Maniflow steel manifold - mini-mayfair.net/vergaser/maniflow2x.jpg - but then I had the opportunity to buy the Janspeed one - so I took it. Seconf advantage is that it is a lot longer, the intake runners are effectively almost 6" long! MOWOG and Maniflow manifolds are way shorter. I hope this will help with torque. And last but not least I like being diffrent and have way too much time at my hands ;D Cheers, Jan |
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Very neat, and what an apt name you have, for a Janspeed fannymould!
I've experimented with numerous SU carb setups (single and twin) on my Minor's 1275cc A-series, and settled for a single HIF44 in the end - far better driveability than any other SU that I've experienced. They seem very reliable too.
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Mar 27, 2011 14:54:59 GMT
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Woooooohoooooooooooo!!! Reinsured it on fry-day, but the office had allready closed... So I'll have to wait untill tomorrow morning for registering the Mini... But then it'll be back on the road for spring & summer. Can't wait!! Had a minor parking misshap so did a quick sunday-evening-emergancy-drift-style-arch-repair   As you cen see, the wing is waiting for some repairs as well... It's a badly repaired crash damage from 2008...  And now she's sitting on the drive way, waiting for her first *COUGHT*leg*cought*al*cought* drive this year  I'm taking her straight to work in the lovely Elsass (Alsace)... Checked everything today, nothing to report. Apart from a few loose bolts on the subframe mounts *WTF!?*... Oh and btw. she fired into live as happy as a little child - she's not done that the whole winter. I'm taking this as a good sign. Cheers, Jan  |
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Mar 27, 2011 17:19:47 GMT
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lovin the carbs dude. Real nice set up different from the norm.
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May 30, 2011 18:13:07 GMT
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I attacked the rattling door today... It's been bugging me for 5 years. Surprise after removal of the doors:  I was prepared for new A posts - what a surprise! That metal has seen no sunlight since 1984, and it's still shiny!  The door however... ;D  Welded up...  After that taken care off, I though I'd seal the rust bubbles on the door skin. Only one slight problem... There's a big hole instead of the bubble that's supposed to be there.... ARGH!  So out with the "wheel of truth". Hmmm... It certainly didn't look THAT bad 7 years ago when I covered that rot with underseal...  Not to worry, I have a donor door:  It's a door from a very limited limited edition, the "Mini Masters", a tennis themes LE. And it's complete rust free... I can't recall the last time I've seen a door that solid! Which sort of puts me into moral trubble... To cut or not to cut... Pro: I'd keep the original door, most of it's 27 year old paint and most important the 27 years old pin stripe!! Contra: it would be a sacrilege to cut up such a good door! I'm thinking about that tonight. Maybe I source another door and keep that one stored away dry To keep unwanted guest out of the car, I installed the white door for this night...  Tghe old one's allready cut. The lower 5-6" of the frame are basically scrap.  So much for now. Cheers, Jan |
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May 30, 2011 18:44:47 GMT
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Nice Mini - Twin carbs are great on Minis, but tight for space with the centre binnacle arrangement.
We didn't get the Mini Masters here in the UK, but we did get the white, tennis themed Advantage instead.
What else have you got planned?
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1950 Ferguson TE A20
1971 VW Beetle 1300
1972 VW Beetle 1302S
1977 Leyland Mini 850
1983 Austin Metro 1.0 HLE
1984 Honda Acty TN 550
1989 Rover Mini 30
1990 Rover Mini City E
1990 Mazda MX5
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May 30, 2011 19:13:48 GMT
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It shouldn't be too difficult to repair your old door. The bottom bit is only a z fold for the majority and repair panels are available. Piece of cake to fit a new skin.
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May 30, 2011 19:20:33 GMT
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Nice Mini - Twin carbs are great on Minis, but tight for space with the centre binnacle arrangement. We didn't get the Mini Masters here in the UK, but we did get the white, tennis themed Advantage instead. What else have you got planned? Thanks! Yes, space is certainly a concern here - but I think I can get around with a plenum and remote air filter The Masters LE is pure 80's porn! ;D All white, grey seats with peppermint green piping and tennis balls everywhere...  Well - what have I planed? Since you asked, you shall get an awnser:  But that's a very-long-term project. Don't expect it to progress very fast  (actually, it's like that for 1,5 years now ;D) Cheers, Jan |
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May 30, 2011 19:26:10 GMT
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It shouldn't be too difficult to repair your old door. The bottom bit is only a z fold for the majority and repair panels are available. Piece of cake to fit a new skin. No! No new skin! I NEED to keep that pin stripe how it is Might sound odd, but I'm a bit anal to keep that pin stripe unaltered and how it is ;D And I hate to put new paint to the car - the old has such a lovely patina. It MUST show it's age! So I try to keep new paint etc. to the absolute minimum. However, in the case of the door it just doesn't make any sense, there are more holes than frame left. |
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May 30, 2011 19:45:43 GMT
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The Masters is very similar to the Advantage below, but with white bumpers and grille.  What is that engine you are going to shoe-horn into the Mini? |
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1950 Ferguson TE A20
1971 VW Beetle 1300
1972 VW Beetle 1302S
1977 Leyland Mini 850
1983 Austin Metro 1.0 HLE
1984 Honda Acty TN 550
1989 Rover Mini 30
1990 Rover Mini City E
1990 Mazda MX5
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May 30, 2011 19:55:30 GMT
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Yes. Massa was a hardwarestore and in the 80's they were - for a short period - the only Austin-Rover dealers in germany. They tried to boost sales with all sorts of special editions, amongst which they also sold the Mini Grand-Prix:  The engine is a 1275cc A-series (might change to a 998) with a DOHC cylinder head from a BMW K100 bike ;D That's going to be a royal pain in the backside with the TÜV... Cheers, Jan |
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Jun 14, 2011 18:50:40 GMT
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 Was a bit bored as I still didn't get the repair panels... ;D Just needs more stickers...  |
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I'm taking her straight to work in the lovely Elsass (Alsace)... 
(actually, it's like that for 1,5 years now ;D)