1985 Tahiti Blue (was Flur, now ??)

[tmsmini]

What year is the engine? On the Mini Forum UK, there was a post from one of the FI knowledgeable people about what years the switch was used on. Might be worth a post in their injection section.
Terry
I found this:

In this case you need to check the throttle switch if it's a earlier Spi or the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) on a later model.
so early version used the switch while later versions used the TPS

[MPlayle]

tmsmini,

I do not know what year the engine actually is.  I had found some of the stuff on the Mini Forum UK as well, but have not been able to definitively determine whether the ECU in there requires the throttle pedal switch or not.

The ECU details:
VM REf #: AJ
OEM #: MNE 101150
Type: MEMS SPI 1.6

Information I have found indicates this ECU was used on 1993 to 1996 Minis and has the matched immobilizer coded into it.  I have not been able to determine if this ECU needs the needs the switch.

I don't have a login on the UK forum to post there.  Iwould be grateful if someone here with a login there would post the question: Does the aforementioned ECU model require the throttle pedal switch or not?

I know I need to work on the pedal angle for taking out the slack in the accelerator cable and adjusting the linkage.

[MPlayle]

I went ahead and signed up on theMiniForum.co.uk and posted the question over there.  I will update over here if/when I get an answer.

[tmsmini]

Sorry I did not see your reply here. I thought I signed up for replies.
xrocketengineer has replied on the mini forum. He has provided excellent info in the past. I believe he is located in Florida and it would be great to get him to participate on this forum as well.
Terry
and it seems no switch is needed...

[MPlayle]

I had not yet seen the reply over on the UK forum - and I thought I had requested notice of replies over there!

It is good to know I don't need to figure out how to add the switch.  That saves trying to locate the original wiring and rigging up a bracket, etc.

Now to set about the pedal adjustments for getting the slack out of the cable in order to be able to adjust the linkage and index the stepper motor properly.

[94touring]

Perhaps you can get lucky and find a lhd pedal.  It's no easy task adjusting what's there unless you cut n weld. 

[tmsmini]

I was able to find a late model clutch pedal when I needed it from South Lake Minis in the UK. It appears his site is being reworked at the moment.
There is also a French site as well which has had some Rover Mini parts:
http://www.datch.fr/en/nam3107-accelerator-pedal-lhd-p-3504.html?cPath=45_4516_451616

Seems expensive and may not fit the SPi. I am not sure what changes there were to the pedal over the years.
Terry

[MPlayle]

What I am actually contemplating is putting a stop-pad behind the upper section of the pedal arm.  I am going to try to get it such that WOT has the pedal to the floor.  The stop-pad would be set such that the excess slack is taken up with the throttle back at idle while keeping the pedal from being too high.  That will allow the cable sleeve adjustment at the throttle-body to do its job of adjusting the linkage.

Edit:  Something like this installed behind the arm:

[tmsmini]

I think your idea should work.
But I had no idea there are this many pedals(from Somerford). I guess I never thought about it.

SAB101230PMA   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-BLACK FINISH-LHD-STD MODELS-'97 ON £25.13 Ex VAT   
SAB101240PMA   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-BLACK FINISH-RHD-STD MODELS-'97 ON £38.09 Ex VAT   
SAB101210MUN   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-BRIGHT FINISH-LHD-COOPER-'97 ON £24.74 Ex VAT   
SAB101220MUN   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-BRIGHT FINISH-RHD-COOPER-'97 ON £27.96 Ex VAT   
SAB10022   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-INJECTION MODELS-LHD-'91-'95 £23.27 Ex VAT   
SAB10039   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-INJECTION MODELS-RHD-'91-'95 £29.00 Ex VAT   
NAM3107   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-LHD CARB. MODELS-'76-'96 & INJ.'95-'96 £45.47 Ex VAT   
NAM3108   PEDAL-ACCELERATOR-RHD CARB. MODELS-'76-'92 & INJ.'95-'96 £28.15 Ex VAT   

[MPlayle]

I had forgotten about Somerford Mini for parts.

It looks like SAB10022 is the one I would need and the price isn't bad either.

I may order one and still do the "stop-pad" as the cable is just a bit too long regardless.  I can install the "stop-pad" with the current pedal in the meantime.

[MPlayle]

New LHD accelerator pedal ordered, along with a new cable just in case.

[MPlayle]

Finally heard from Somerford: apparently they have been closed the last 10 days for moving  locations.  They will be following up on where my order is.

Meanwhile, I went ahead and devised a pedal stop - an 'L' bracket attached to the pedal box where the brake light switch mounts.  I modified the other end so the cable does not rub.  This took out all the extra slack from the cable and left just enough to be able to adjust the linkage.  It has helped clear the hesitation some.  I also sprayed the throttle-body and linkage down with brake/carb cleaner to clean any crud off.  (It now puts out some "smoke" while warming up, but I think that is still "burn-off" of the cleaner along with having added some B-12 Chemtool to the fuel tank.)

Started to drive it to work today, but got LOTs of belt squeal and some rattle like bad alternator or water pump bearing.  More to look into.

I did also get the driver's seat diaphragm replaced, the battery terminals cleaned and the boot trim kit installed.

[94touring]

Water pump is new.  The belt did loosen and squeal on me on delivery.  I made a midnight pit stop to wal mart to tighten it. 

[Davisio]

Belt went loose on me too. In fact, burned one up.
I flipped the alternator bracket to prevent it from moving.
That worked.
At least.... until now.

[MPlayle]

I will look into it later in the week.  It may be like the last Mini I had - appeared to be "eating" belts - turned out to be a batch of weak belts that would stretch easily.  I got another brand of belt that was also just a tad shorter and it stopped eating belts.

I also found entering second gear is sometimes "crunchy".

[MPlayle]

 got to drive it a bit today.  I had begun to forget how much fun they are to just drive.

I've gotten about half the hesitation worked out.  It still stumbles a bit coming off idle.  I checked a couple of the vacuum lines, time to trace the rest and begin looking at the sensors.  Still debating converting to carb.

I think there may still be a slight issue with the right front brake dragging - it starts getting a bit of right pull when putting the clutch in to shift or coast after a bit of driving.  It also gets a little low-speed "squeal" when turning - like something s slightly dragging.

[94touring]

I wonder if something is hanging up within the calipers.  8.gif

[MPlayle]

My thoughts were either a sticking caliper or a bad flex hose on that side (even if new, it could be defective).

[94touring]

Yeah all new stuff but something must be defective. 

[MPlayle]

Finally got a chance to do a little work on the Mini today.  I swapped in the new LHD accelerator pedal.  I also found the original pedal stop - it had been installed under the left side firewall bolt for the clutch/brake pedal box!  I moved it over to the right side and it let me adjust the accelerator cable nicely.  I also had a friend be a second set of eyes and adjusted the brake light switch.

I still has some of the hesitation coming off idle, especially if done as a sudden significant push on the pedal.  If gradual, it keeps up and the engine has almost no hesitation in picking up rpms all the way up the range.  If there is a heavy electrical load (all lights on) it tends to hesitate a bit more coming off idle.

I have all new vacuum lines for the system and fuel tramps on the way, just in case there is something amiss there.  I ordered two fuel traps and an extra of the shortest line to try a double trap arrangement.  From there it will be trying to check out the sensors, stepper motor, and throttle position potentiometer.

Some may still be the older fuel in it.  Need to get it out and run it more to flush new fuel through the system.  I do have B12-ChemTool in the tank to help.

If I can't seem to get the stock FI working smoothly, I may just have to go with converting to carb.  At which point I will be picking on Dan as to how some things went together - such as the dash and various odd wiring.

[94touring]

Electrical isn't my specialty lol.  Everything turns on and off and doesn't catch fire.  It's been out of sight out of mind for a couple years so I'm foggy on some of my work.  I do know that the engine and components were very poor in condition from corrosion and sitting.  The hesitation is likely a sensor gone bad.  Though the previous owner reported sticky valves at one point, so anything is possible. 

[MPlayle]

I don't think it is "sticky valves" as it revs strong when you don't try to put your foot into it heavily.  When I've driven it, it scoots nicely once off idle and runs down the highway as expected.  The engine itself does not have rattles or odd noises, just the stumble coming off idle if a lot of electrical load and/or being a bit aggressive on the acceleration.

My thoughts were leaning to a poorly functioning sensor.  I just hope it is not one of the "NLA" ones.  I'll be hitting up the MiniForum (UK) for clues on how to diagnose the sensors without the ECU comm tool.

I also "massaged" the bonnet a bit more and got a little better alignment of the front lip.  Not perfect, but much better than before.

[MPlayle]

I finally got another chance to tinker on the Mini this afternoon.

I think I finally found the culprit of the hesitation off idle: a split elbow on one of the vacuum lines to the MAP sensor.

I had decided to try replacing all of the lines as that seems to be the most common culprit per the folks in the FI section of the UK Mini Forum.  As I was pulling off the old lines and inspecting them, I found one of the elbows at the fuel trap had a long split.

Unfortunately, one of the replacement connectors on the air temperature sensor also broke.  I had to go get the right size connector to fix that, so testing will have to wait until sometime tomorrow.

[94touring]

One of those connectors was fabbed up, but functioning.  Sounds like you're getting closer. 

[MPlayle]

Fixed (replaced) the electrical connectors on the wires to the air temperature sensor today.  Hooked it all back up and test ran it in the garage (big door open) - ran much better.  Most of the hesitation/bogging on sudden acceleration off idle is now greatly reduced.  Still bogs slightly when under full electrical load (all lights on, heater fan on, etc.) but recovers much better.  As the engine warms, it goes almost completely away now.

From reading on the UK Mini forum, if the ECU has been replaced or disconnected for a long time, it can have some of this while it re-learns these transitions.  The re-learning will happen as it gets driven.

Next up is checking out the brakes for possible rubbing and lower the front suspension just slightly.  And get down to driving it!