16 replies to this topic

[RallyFritz]

I've been coming along pretty nicely with my first Mini, a basket-case 1989 Mini 1000 imported from Japan. I've progressed to the point that the car starts, runs and idles with good oil pressure and coolant temperature. Unfortunately this is the first SU carburetor I've ever dealt with, so I've been learning as I go along far as tuning is concerned.

 

When I started with this Mini, it would barely run at all. I've adjusted the mixture so it will start without the aid of starting fluid, although it runs extremely rough when cold (even with choke), will eventually idle on its own without choke but falls flat on its face under load. 

 

- I've ensured the dashpot is full with the correct oil

- Ensured that the piston rises and falls smoothly with a "click"

- Adjusted the mixture significantly richer which is getting it to run, just not all that well. Intermittent rough idle and sputters out under load, and often just when giving it throttle while stationary. Hesitant to keep enrichening the mixture since other issues appear to be at play.

 

Here is a video of the current condition:

 

I've been trying to determine if it's an air leak somewhere, but have not had success as of yet. There is a missing vacuum line that was torn and disconnected when I took delivery of the car, and I have not been able to determine its actual routing.

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[nicklouse]

what is the distributor vac advance connected to?

 

the pipe front the thing to the car attaches to the carb where?

[richmondclassicsnorthwales]

Do you still have the old steel fuel line?

 

Have you flushed out the old line and fuel tank?. Is the fuel clean and not old ?

 

Then move onto the electrical side, are the points - condenser - cap - rotor arm in fine form

 

Then leads - air filter - are they new after all the years?

[RallyFritz]

what is the distributor vac advance connected to?

 

the pipe front the thing to the car attaches to the carb where?

 

Thank you for reminding me about that component! Still familiarizing myself with all this.

 

Curiously, the vac advance is simply capped off. The cap is easily removable by hand, and cracked.

 

The intact hose connected to the bottom of that "box" on the firewall (for lack of a better term, have not been able to reference it in any manual so far) runs to the intake manifold, connecting in the same area as the brake booster line.

 

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Edited by RallyFritz, 07 April 2019 - 07:37 PM.

[nicklouse]

Does not looked capped off. Looks like a pipe leaves the rubber end which is going to the vac advance port on the carb.

Now are there any wires from the back of the gear shifter that are nothing to do with the reversing light?

[RallyFritz]

Does not looked capped off. Looks like a pipe leaves the rubber end which is going to the vac advance port on the carb.

Now are there any wires from the back of the gear shifter that are nothing to do with the reversing light?

 

Sorry, I should have picked a better angle for that picture. Here's one with the cap as it was, and cracked. I also made a mistake in the initial photos, "to carburetor" should be labeled "to intake manifold"  from the firewall box.

 

Looks like the vacuum advance is connected to something else entirely, which goes nowhere afterward.

 

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The reverse light wiring will be a whole new ball game for me, as the car doesn't have one and I've yet to locate any loose wiring in the back for one. I'll have to pull up the carpet and look.

Edited by RallyFritz, 07 April 2019 - 08:51 PM.

[nicklouse]

yep it has some odd ball things on it.

 

seems odd to have a vac advance not connected.

the thing connected to the carb. no idea.

 

the other thing could be a device for stopping the vac advance in 4th gear as fitted to some builds for emissions control.

 

so i am now lost. so it depends what you plan or have to do. but i would hang on till some others have had a go. but early Carbed Japan spec cars are not common.

[nicklouse]

has it got any cut metal pipes or bolts filling holes on the front of the head (4) just below and to the side of the spark plugs?

[RallyFritz]

yep it has some odd ball things on it.

 

seems odd to have a vac advance not connected.

the thing connected to the carb. no idea.

 

the other thing could be a device for stopping the vac advance in 4th gear as fitted to some builds for emissions control.

 

so i am now lost. so it depends what you plan or have to do. but i would hang on till some others have had a go. but early Carbed Japan spec cars are not common.

 

Understandable, thank you anyway for your advice so far!

 

For additional reference, I just removed the distributor cap and noticed there's pretty significant scoring on the contacts. Likely worth tending to as well.

 

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As for the head, I don't see any signs of modification on the front of the head. Lower down, there's the pipe going to the oil filter, the mechanical oil pressure line and the mechanical water temperature line (installed myself, PO in Japan installed mechanical gauges but didn't hook them up, go figure)

 

Identification plate on the engine reads 99HB83P   103229

 

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Edited by RallyFritz, 07 April 2019 - 09:38 PM.

[nicklouse]

dizzy cap is missing center electrode! but the marks on the other terminals are quite normal.

[RallyFritz]

Ah, I knew I heard something tiny fall down when I removed the distributor cap. Will have to try and find it, but if it fell off on its own it might just be worth getting a new distributor cap anyway.

[nicklouse]

Ah, I knew I heard something tiny fall down when I removed the distributor cap. Will have to try and find it, but if it fell off on its own it might just be worth getting a new distributor cap anyway.

yep

[RallyFritz]

I've finally located a potential air leak around the gaskets for the carburetor and spacer to the intake manifold. Verified a slight idle increase spaying starting fluid at those areas, confirmed by covering the front side of the air cleaner to prevent spray from accidentally entering the carb normally. Removed the carburetor and spacer and the gaskets look pretty sad, have new ones on order now. The throttle assembly itself does not appear to have any faults, but will inspect further while waiting for parts.

 

At the same time, I decided the entire distributor assembly looks a little grungy. A new one's cheap enough, and with no prior service history on this neglected car, it's worth replacing. When that arrives, I will connect the vacuum advance up the way it's supposed to be, and I've removed that strange device mounted behind the carburetor, will keep in case I need to reinstall.

[nicklouse]

mmm verify that the new dizzy actually does what it is meant to do as there some out there that are no better than a worn out old one.

[Aria Aradhea]

That ripped line thing on your last pic in the first post is most likely to be the vacuum line for the idle actuator when you turn on the Air Conditioner. Seeing that your car has no AC (at least, not anymore) it's possible somebody has taken the idle control unit out and leave the vacuum actuator on the car.