5 replies to this topic

[Phil210293]

Hi guys, weekend before last I finally bit the bullet after fantasizing about a mini since I passed my test, so this is 7 years in the making. A quick rundown of what I "know" about the car: 1989 Mini Thirty, supposedly with a 1275 engine, big  valve head, stainless DTM exhaust, one piece liftoff fibreglass front end, etc. etc.

 

I've had it just over a week, and spent more time taking it to bits than driving it (the joys of owning a classic car ), and I've got a few simple problems that neither myself (mechanically speaking, an absolute novice) nor my dad can figure out...

 

When I bought the car from someone who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become clear, it was overheating like a MF (120+ degrees C). Of course, on the quick test drive this wasn't a problem and I never noticed, but driving 100 miles home from Buckingham, I had to stop twice to let it cool down. The heater matrix was leaking, no big deal, so that has been bypassed until I take it out to repair/replace it. There was a small 80W electric fan on the rad, with no mechanical fan, and the rad had been moved away and downwards with some dodgy homemade brackets. To cut a long story short, I ordered an 11 blade fan, made some brackets and unbodged the bodge to restore the mechanical fan. Turns out they moved the rad to allow the front end to fit, so we've chopped the rad cap off and soldered a brass cap plate on, and fitted a land rover expansion tank just to get it running while I get a radiator that fits (or have one made if it comes to it) and a stainless expansion tank to fit under the wing.

 

Now it will drive without overheating, but it still runs at about 85 degrees in the warm weather we've been having recently, with the thermostat completely removed, and will creep past 100 when sat in traffic if I don't keep my eye on it. The fan blows through the rad into the wing (I thought it should suck from the wing and through the rad, and blow over the engine but having never owned one, I don't know), which is driveable but still too hot considering the lack of stat. 

 

Setting the carb is just about impossible, the idle mixture screw is currently almost all the way in to try and smooth the idle, the timing is not properly set as we can't turn the distributor enough for the revs to begin to fall to find the peak to back off from (hope that makes sense, like I said, I'm not a mechanic ). The colourtune and plug colours all show the mixture not bad if not a tad rich, it's not pinking, so it's about as close as we can get it using the tools and information from the car's sound and behaviour, however, the idle is still lumpy even when warm (although much improved on when I first got it), it's bogging under acceleration under about 2.5-3k revs, and it drinks like a fish (although I suspect a small fuel leak, it intermittently greets you with a lovely smell of petrol in the cab).

 

I will post some pictures soon, and I am trying to keep as detailed a diary as I can given my limited mechanical knowledge, hopefully some of you Mini Jedi masters can come to my aid 

 

Cheers,

 

Phil.

[nicklouse]

I would re fit a thermostat.

 

the front should fit with a Mini rad. most likely incorrectly mounted.

 

the fan blows away from the engine.

 

85 is low. 100 in traffic not unknown

 

get a Haynes manual.

 

engine can be 1275 engine can be IDed by lack of tappet covers on the back of the engine and the thermostat cover point way from the rad. there are other telltales as well.

[Phil210293]

I would re fit a thermostat.

 

the front should fit with a Mini rad. most likely incorrectly mounted.

 

the fan blows away from the engine.

 

85 is low. 100 in traffic not unknown

 

get a Haynes manual.

 

engine can be 1275 engine can be IDed by lack of tappet covers on the back of the engine and the thermostat cover point way from the rad. there are other telltales as well.

 

Cheers Nick, 

 

Haynes Manual arrived in the post this morning.

 

I'll have a look at identifying the engine tonight (while I'm replacing the steering column that turned out to have splines made of dust and prayers )

 

The only way I can think of the shell being mounted incorrectly is if the front is mounted too low and the whole thing is angled downwards, if so it will take some work to restore some of the wing to get everything fitting properly 

 

As far as temp goes, what is normal and when is it time to panic? I wouldn't have thought it would boil on idle with no stat at all in.

 

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. 

[Ethel]

The cylinder head around the combustion chambers will get way above boiling point if they aren't cooled, even just idling, to cool them you need water circulating, no thermostat can reduce circulation in the engine by allowing water to go straight in to the radiator. Having the radiator lower the head won't help, the expansion space where air gathers is the highest point - see the plaggy expansion tanks on other cars.

 

No electric fan can match the power of an engine driven one.

[nicklouse]

 

 

As far as temp goes, what is normal and when is it time to panic? I wouldn't have thought it would boil on idle with no stat at all in.

 

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. 

 

the stat helps the flow around the head. if no stat is fitted then a blanking sleeve should be fitted to restore the correct water flow pattern. no stat can lead to localized overheating. 

[Phil210293]

Nick & Ethel,

 

Cheers for the heads up, I will reinstate the thermostat tonight now I have the rad mounted properly with a proper engine-driven fan