Then I broke down (74 mini mild refurb)

Started by 94touring, May 26, 2015, 11:33:03 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

They are and I bought extras off ebay for cheap too. 

94touring

Hey I broke down again!  Currently dead at a gas station.  Haven't driven the car in 3 weeks, fired right up, stopped for gas, then not so much as a click from the ignition.  Did the same thing a month ago but at the house and thought I left a light on.  Fired up with a jump.  Awaiting the wife to answer her phone to come snag me to drive the rest of the way to the shop to try a new battery.

MiniDave

Any chance you could give it a bump start?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Jump start worked last time.  Bump start did not.  Just swapped in a new battery and fired right up.

tsumini


MiniDave

I suggested he check the alternator output too.....it has a new alternator, but it could be a broken wire at the plug - ask me how I know!

OK, I'll tell you.....when I drove Buzz home from Baltimore to KC every so often the alt light would glow, then go out again. When it came to the night portion of my drive it was glowing steadily, but very faint. When I got home I later found the wires inside the plug broken and burned. It's a wonder I made it home!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Confirmed the alternator is charging.  So the deka miata "race" battery that's pretty much new is just garbage.

MiniDave

Is there any warranty on that? Less than a year old.....but "race" generally means no....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Bought it off ebay I think, so I think I'm eating it.

MPlayle

Are you sure you don't have a slight battery drain somewhere as well?

A weakened battery from a slow drain and high summer temperatures can lead to a battery going bad.


94touring

Possible but I doubt it.  Car has sat for lengthy periods and cranks strong, followed by stone cold dead.  Even if the alternator was intermittent I'd expect it to crank slow, dim lights, ect, instead of full juice then zero juice 10 minutes into a drive.  Battery wouldn't so much as spark touching the negative to the positive. 

MPlayle

A dead cell in a battery can do that.  Live one minute, then totally dead.  Even "dead", the battery may show as much as 12V with no load; but as soon as a load hits it shoots down to nothing.


94touring

Drove it to and from the shop this week a couple days, took it across town to drop Jen off at work, and used it as my airport car this week since Jens car is in the shop and she needs my truck while I'm at work.  Zips all around and knock on wood no other battery related issues.

MiniDave

Glad to see it's being driven, it's not good on them to leave them sit. I try and drive the green one anytime I need to run an errand.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

#540
Haven't touched the mini since my last post in here, so sat for about a month and a half.  Took a break from baby sitting my niece who's non stop talking finally wore me out.  Washed up the mini, aired up the tires, and drove to the shop to fiddle with a vernier choke cable I bought probably two months ago but haven't had a chance to install.  What is a vernier choke cable you ask?  If anyone has ever flown a small piston airplane the fuel control is set by an adjustable vernier knob and cable.  Our mini choke pulls in and out, may or may not stay in place, but a vernier cable you can also pull in and out, or twist the knob and fine tune.  It always stays where you set it.  Why did I want one?  It's been a real bitch to put it mildly to get a perfect fuel curve at all styles of driving with my setup according to the air fuel gauge which doesn't lie. Butt dyno doesn't either.  High cruise being an area that I can't get rich enough to have your standard 13:5-14:7 air fuel ratio, at least not without screwing up my full throttle or low end performance.  I've tried about every needle and spring weight combination you can think of. Shaved needles too.  Finally converted to fixed needle (13 station vs 16 a bias has), got a needle that makes all daily driving perfect, but full throttle runs it pig rich and kills performance, also creates a low down rich spot off idle at full throttle that bogs and bucks the car.  Having tried several fixed needles determined they don't work with my carbs as the needle length just gives me full pig rich at full throttle regardless what I go with.  Mintylambs website is back up so using all my needle knowledge ran some comparisons and picked a few bias needles that get me in the ballpark.  Fabbed up a bracket to hold the vernier cable, tossed in my needles, and did some test.  Got my WOT air fuel back to 12:5-13:0, which significantly increases power and fun factor.  Normal around town driving is still normal, not too rich and boggy, not too lean with flat spots.  Get on the highway going above 65-70 and as the air fuel goes lean ( talking 18:1) causing power loss, flat spots, and probably not too good on the valves, a few twist with the vernier cable moves the jets, and I'm back to a peppy cruise air fuel.  You can feel it come back to life.  Get back into town, give it a few twist in and it's back to town driving.  If I'm in race mode leaving it set for high cruise doesn't effect my air fuel in the 5k rpm and above range  I run it at.  On the drive home during rush hour down hwy 75 doing 70mph turning 4600rpms had a rice burner and some girl in a convertible trying to get all racey with me.  I blasted away and through traffic leaving them in my dust. 

MiniDave

That looks pretty  slick! Nice to know you can finally get it into the right range across all conditions - at last! Now we need to get it onto the dyno again and see what the final numbers are - now that it's all broken in and you have the fueling right!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

If I had to do it again I'd have gone fuel injection.  Who knew my setup would be so temperamental.  The carb pistons still require a lot of spring force to keep it happy around town.  Yellow springs with a 0.7 oz weight added.  No way it gets around on blue springs or even reds unless I add 2oz of additional weight.  Engine sucks a lot of air with the ram pipes and manifold I guess.  Yeah the dyno figures will be good to know with the vizard mods done and the port matching to the head. 

gr8kornholio

Lol on the nonstop chatter.  Glad to know it's not just our 8 yr old that does it. 

As I was reading this I was thinking man wouldn't that be simpler with fuel injection. All over power I think is just a limitation of carb technology.  Growing up around v8 carb cars they were always set up for low end or top end or a happy middle with no fun at either end. It's cool you've found a way to technically have two carb setups at once and be able to adjust between them.   71.gif
I am the GR8KORNHOLIO! Are you threatening me?

Saussie Aussie 1965 Australian MK1 Mini.
"Beavis" - 07 MY/MY MCS, B/MY Konig Daylites, JCW sideskirts, TSW springs, TSW lower rear control arms -- Exploring the country with new friends since 11/09.

94touring

Two days of ginger bread house making, scone baking, pumpkin carving, bouncy house carnival going, and Disney movies is much more than I anticipated.  My normal routine is watching something rated M and having drinks.

MiniDave

Or just go with a single HIF44? Vizard says they make as much power as the twins and SO much easier to set up.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

#546
Hif44 may work but I wouldn't be surprised if I'd still have problem areas in the fueling.  At some point I'll be buying that 7 port head and injection kit for the next monster build and debating putting it on this motor just to see what it does. 

tsumini

Oh... the problems with manual fuel controls. May have to work on altitude compensation now LOL.

94touring


jeff10049

 
Quote from: 94touring on September 21, 2019, 09:40:52 AM
Part airplane part mini. 

I had a pickup that would ice the carb. so I rigged up a pipe to above the exhaust manifold and controlled the heat to the carb with a flap operated by a cable.