Then I broke down (74 mini mild refurb)

[94touring]

Ha, yeah true.  Probably going in the trash.  It was only 20 bucks.  Bonus though is the gauge holder will work with the wideband gauge.  So not a total loss.

[Vikram]

How do you hook up a wide band to a mini? Might be a noob question...

[94touring]

Well it will have a power and ground wire, then probably some aux wires for hooking up dataloggers, narrow band/ecu info, and extra inputs.  Bosch wideband 02 sensors have a harness that connect to the gauge.  Should be fairly straight forward.  Initial setup requires calibration, and it's done through the gauge.

[Vikram]

What is it reading from? Where does it get an input from? Do you have to put an o2 sensor on the exhaust manifold or something? Slightly confused

[94touring]

So I'll weld a bung downstream from the Y pipe, probably just beside the gear shift box since there's some room there for the actual sensor.  Then I'll run the wires up under the shift boot to the dash area.  The 02 sensor has a harness which clips into the gauge harness.  Then it's simply a matter of getting 12v to it and the ground.  The aux wires I won't use since they're for hooking up computers ect...  The gauge itself is how you program it on setup to calibrate the sensor.  My h20 system on the rx7 is also alll programmed through the gauge.  They make the gauges smart sorta speak.

[Vikram]

Understood now, thanks. That sounds like a really useful mod, definitely going to do that.

[94touring]

Couple additions to note.  Another mini guy with a built motor and a 276 cam much preferred my 266 for street driving.  "Blown away" was his exact response when he drove it.  He has 3.10 gears on the 276, which compounds the problem.  3.10 would work great with the 266 depending on your goals.  Another thing he mentioned I hadn't given any thought to was he noted it braked better than his car.  I wasn't expecting rear disc to make a bit of difference but maybe it does.  Though the 4 pots up front may have a lot to do with it.  Then again the car is lighter and easier to stop.

[94touring]

And it continues.  Hopefully what I have in mind works.

[94touring]

The results are in, I'm cruising very lean.  Super lean.  We had leaned it out on the dyno for WOT runs, which worked but not at cruise, so time for a needle change.  Also I had an exhaust leak off the Y pipe and my WOT runs are now, after fixing the leak actually a bit richer than we saw on the dyno.  Hanging in the 11.5-12 range till the very top at 6k rpms where it begins to creep to 13.  So there's a lot of tuning and a few horses left to snag.

Pic of o2 sensor install.

[Vikram]

I have no shame in saying that I will be copying this O2 wideband setup for my car. Along with your MED flywheel and possibly your clutch setup too. I'm trying to do a cost sheet for engine work,and even for cars that have relatively cheap parts it is startling how quickly parts add up...!

A wideband would do wonders for my tuning and I am excited to see what happens.

[94touring]

Today I'll be experimenting with filing down needles. Stations 1 and 2 are idle and shouldn't need adjusting, 3-6 are normal cruise (roughly), the next few being high cruise, followed by WOT.  The last few stations on a needle aren't used.  I might also try different dashpot oils and record video of the wideband to see how it effects pickup.

Picture of an hs2 profile. I have hs4 swinging needles with 16 stations.

[BruceK]

Dan, not sure what your part-throttle cruising rpms are, but did this lean condition show up at all on the dyno graph from last week? It is it just something that can't be shown with that tool?

[94touring]

On the dyno we didn't tune for cruise, only WOT.  I had tuned cruise by feel prior to the dyno and richened till the flat spots were gone.  On the dyno WOT was rich, so we leaned it, effectively leaning my cruise.  Currently filing needles.  Here is where I started...

[94touring]

After the 4th filing session on the needles I have it! 14:7 being perfect stoichometric, but anything from 13.5 to 15 works good, and it fluctuates up and down slightly dependant on throttle and load.  High cruise in the 70mph-80 range is hanging mid 15s, so time to move down a station.  To adjust my needles I'm simply putting them side by side, measuring which station I want to trim, then filing both simultaneously to get even results.  Then using some 320 grit wet to smooth them out. 

[94touring]

Whoot! High cruise dialed in.  I was hanging in the upper 15s to low 16s here at first but after many small tweaks to the needles got it down into the 14s at cruise.  WOT is nicely in the upper 12s from 3-6k rpms.  I still have a pig rich spot WOT from real low rpms to 2800rpms.  Doesn't seem to be anything I can do for this.  Partial throttle in that area to 3/4 throttle is perfect, so maybe I just don't floor it bogged down sub 3k rpms.  All in all couldn't be happier.  I think filing needles is the way to go to get the perfect tune, in conjunction with the wideband.  Vizard does it the same way when he talks of needles.  Start with a lean needle and work it down.

[MiniDave]

Fun! now it's just drive it and enjoy it! Wait till the wheels get here and you get your sticky tires on - just in time for cold weather where they're totally unsuited. <sighs>   ;D

[94touring]

Curious what my gas mileage will be.  Ashamed you didn't get to drive the final results after the needle work.  It's a world of difference going from 16-18 air/fuel back down to 14s in cruise where it's at peak performance. 

[MiniDave]

Well, worst case I'll drive it in the spring at our RM spring fling get together - it will be good and broken in by then, hope the sticky tires aren't just slicks by then!    ;D ;D

[94touring]

Traction guaranteed!  They look pretty beefy in person don't they?

[MiniDave]

I forgot to ask, how accurate is your speedo, compared to say your phone GPS?

[94touring]

I'll get some readings next week.  Not expecting it to match but you never know!

[94touring]

Still researching and kicking ideas around.  No where on the world wide intrawebs did I find any mini data or talk on the pertronix flamethrower 60k volt 3ohm coil.  Stumbled across it on YouTube when Jet Motors who do minis out west talked about pairing it with a pertronix dizzy.  They seem to like it.  I started with a sport coil, which I believe is 25k volts, strapped on the 40k flamethrower for the dyno, and will give this guy a try.  Will report back if any or no difference is felt. 

[BruceK]

I wish that coil looked more like a traditional coil and less 1980s sci-fi.  But I guess form follows function. 

[94touring]

I'm going ludicrous speed Bruce.

[BruceK]

I'm betting on plaid.