Racing Green 89 Mini

[BruceK]

Okay, brainstorming here.  What if it is not carb related?  Doesn't mean I've thought these questions through...

What if the exhaust is somehow obstructed?

Valve train all okay?

Something slipping in timing?

Other ignition issues?  Coil bad? 

Using known good quality gasoline? 

Fuel pump provide consistent and correct pressure? 

Maybe one of those will prompt a thought. 

[MiniDave]

Same mechanical fuel pump that was on the old engine - seems to work fine, it def does not seem to be running out of gas.....based on the smoke coming out of the tailpipe.

The overflow pipe isn't wet inside at all.....

Don mentioned the exhaust constricted too, but when it fires and runs it sounds perfectly clear.

Valves, timing all the same as before when it ran in the engine stand, when it fires it revs clean for a few seconds, then (I think) it floods.

Swapped coil, dizzy, plug leads, new plugs - all the stuff that it ran on in the engine stand. Not to mention when I pulled the old engine it was running fine and has fresh gas (well, a few weeks old now, but I think it's still good)

[gr8kornholio]

Ok, hear me out cause this my sound crazy. It did to me when I read it but I swear it was a similar issue I had with my Toyota 22r.  Same symptoms, but nothing that normally causes those symptoms was bad.  Googled all over the internet until I found someone with exact year exact motor and exact issue.   Here's the crazy part.  He said it was his thermostat causing it.  Yea I hear you.  🤣😂😆🤪.

But what the heck, it's 3 bolts and a $5 part.  Well....... Until one snapped off in the aluminum intake housing.  Luckily those are easily found but way less easily replaced.  But I did it and with the new thermostat in and everything that came off went right back on and a shot of carb cleaner and away it ran.  No more issues. 

I didn't clean anything or replace anything except the intake and thermostat.  The only difference with the intakes was the old one had a broken bolt. 

I know it sounds crazy, but might as well check it at this point. 

[MiniDave]

I did put in a new thermostat, but I cannot understand why it would make that kind of difference in this engine, with no temp controls, no fuel injection etc?

[BruceK]

Hey Dave, I wonder if the engine will run only on starting fluid? Like bypassing the carb and/or fuel supply and just spraying starting fluid into the intake.  Will it run for a minute or so that way?  I've never tried it, but starting fluid is just a kind of crudely atomized fuel so it could kinda work for a little while.  Just an idea to see if eliminating the regular fuel components temporarily could prove helpful. 

[gr8kornholio]

I did put in a new thermostat, but I cannot understand why it would make that kind of difference in this engine, with no temp controls, no fuel injection etc?

I hear ya, thought the same thing when I read it.  Cause truck was the same thing.  Basic carb engine guess only variance was it was electric choke.  I know it sounds crazy but just figured I'd throw it out there.

Edit thought. So you put the new thermostat in the car, correct?   Was this different from the thermostat on the engine stand?   Does the stand have its own cooling setup or did that cooling system go into the car from the stand.

Another edit thought. Can't air pockets in cooling system cause weird starting/running issues? 
Just thinking about any all variables that may have changed from the running engine on the stand to the non running engine in the car. 

[tsumini]

Sounds like fuel starvation. Have you tried running with gravity feed. You may want to review my post@227 Jan 7,2020 In my 1960 Austin 850 Project thread. Ultimately my carb was way to lean. Richened it up and ccured my chronic problem. Good luck

[gr8kornholio]

Latest thought I'd check all your rubber fuel lines and connectors.  If one is cracked or loose you may be sucking air in.  Talking to father in law mechanic. 

[MiniDave]

Just to bring everyone up to speed, today I put the original carb back together with the original o-rings in the choke, I did swipe a little silicone paste lube on them before putting it back together. I installed it on the car and the original dizzy and coil. Turned the key and it fired right up and runs perfectly.  ::) :-[ 8.gif

Buttoned up all the loose ends and took it around the block, engine runs fine, trans works fine, new clutch and flywheel work fine. Nothing fell off or leaked.

Why I have no idea, but I'm happy that it changed it's mind and decided to run again. I just hope it keeps running!

it starts very easily - I got the timing and mixture set, and it seems to have cured the death wobble too. I'll drive it some more tomorrow - if it's not pouring down rain - they said it would rain buckets the last two days too but it's been sunny and warm. Weather guessers!

Last thing I need to do is see if the speedo is more accurate now - it should be as the instruments were out of an SPi, and so is the engine/gearbox.

Film at 11.....(or earlier)

[gr8kornholio]

So it's like our work servers.  When we start having issues we jump on a group chat and start asking others and complaining it doesn't work and after enough people say they aren't working or try this or that and then bang they all the sudden start working again. 

Glad it's working. 

[BruceK]

Just to be clear, you sold your soul or something to get it to work, right? 

[MiniDave]

I must have!  ;D

[MiniDave]

So in between rainstorms today I drove the green Mini around a bit, even hit the highway for a very short stretch and I have to say I was pretty disappointed in the performance - I think an 850 would have put it to shame. Till I got back home and found the accelerator cable had slipped and it was only opening about 1/3 of the way!  ::)

Tomorrow if we get a break between storms I'll give it another try....

It started very easily, but smoked like crazy - I'm hopeful that's just leftover fuel or oil in the exhaust system or something. We'll see tomorrow when I fire it up.....today's drive should have cleared all that out.

The steering wobble is inconclusive at this point, and I need to set up my Garmin so I can check the speedo accuracy, but I think it may be pretty close, since the car now has SPi instruments (thanks Vikram, wherever you are!) and now an SPi gearbox, I'm hoping it's close to right. I also need to figure out what final drive it has, I'll know that when I verify the speedo and can compare revs, but I'm pretty sure it's got a 3-1.

More as it happens.

[MiniDave]

Sunny and warm this morning, so I took the green Mini for a good run, with some highway miles as well as stop/go town driving.

1st, it does have the 3-1 diff based on revs at highway speed, and I like it much better than the 3:44-1 that was in it before, it's just more relaxed and yet still plenty easy to drive in town.

I also found the speedo is pretty accurate now - although a little optimistic much like it's younger BMW built brother. 74 is 71-72, so just about 2 mph fast - good enough that I can drive it without the Garmin now. Before it was wildly off....10-15 mpg slow!

The death wobble is still there, much to my continued disappointment and inability to fathom exactly WHAT is causing it. I've been thru the entire front end, every thing is new - and I do mean everything - I've swapped tires and wheels from another car - I just can't figure it.....it doesn't seem as bad as before, but that could just be my imagination or wanting/willing it to be better. But I don't think it really is.

Engine performance is hard to quantify - I don't think it's as strong as the engine I took out, but I have no info on that motor, for all I know it's got a cam and some high compression pistons in it or had some head work done, but this one runs exactly like a stock 1275 - which it is. Torquey, doesn't like to rev much over 5500 and so on.

So, I now have a running, driving Mini that doesn't leak oil and doesn't smoke and with a quiet transmichigan- if I can fix the squeaks and rattles, I'll be in good shape.

[MPlayle]

Cheers!   71.gif

[tsumini]

Re: death wobble
Have you considered the lower suspension arm bushings? hard or soft? You may try mounting a dash cam to the frame and watch the tire  wobble if any. Both sides at the same time? Gut tells me these may be involved.
Generally fit of parts (old or new) can cause a natural frequency issue not visually apparent.
My old 56 Ford shimmied when front end wore out. My old 1997 Dodge ram 2500 had a bona fide death wobble which threatned to throw it off road. Turned out to be the stabilizer bar tied to the solid front axle.

[MiniDave]

All new parts, I used the poly bushings......not the soft rubber ones.

[tsumini]

Rubber bushings are better dampers for vibration. Hard bushing will transmit vibration without any dampening.

[MiniDave]

As the steering wheel turns......

The green Mini has developed a severe oil leak on the left side, about the only thing there that could leak like this is the front oil seal, and I put a new one in when I did the rest of the work.

We have a show event in two weeks so once Clancy's Moke is off the rack (he's picking it up Sat) the green one will go back on. I'll see if I can fix that in the car. I'm also contemplating swapping the cylinder head with one I already have built up (just a stock 1275 12G940 head) to see if that clears up the smoke cloud on start up. I can get both those jobs done in time as I have all the parts I might need on hand already.

[94touring]

Amazing how some of these new parts are junk right off the bat.

[MPlayle]

A thought on the "death wobble" topic: could it be a worn out shock allowing the suspension to bounce more than normal?

[MiniDave]

I guess you missed the part where I wrote that every part in the front end is new?   ;D

[MPlayle]

I understood that the upper arms, lower arms, control rods, bushings, and such were new.  I just was not sure about the shocks.

[MiniDave]

Yep.....everything!

[MiniDave]

So I was very disappointed to see the oil puddle under the car after doing all the work on it, so today since the Moke was off the rack I put the green Mini on and raised it up. Found the leaks were NOT from the front oil seal after all, but the pipe going into the oil filter housing was leaking for sure. Today DHL delivered my latest spares order (today? On a holiday?) and I had the new seals in that order so I changed them out and that fixed one leak.....

Yes, one.....

The other one is coming from the left axle seal. i thought I had changed them but remembered I was out of them when I went to fit the engine back in the car. I have new ones now but of course it's a boatload more work to change one now, as I not only have to drain the fresh new engine oil but disassemble the suspension so I can get the axle out of the transmission. And there's no way I would just change the one and not the other side too......

So I started it up and ran it for a bit to make sure the oil filter pipe wasn't leaking anymore (it's not) and I'll check in the morning to see how big a puddle is under from the axle seal.

More as it happens.  ::)