27 replies to this topic

[jonb_5]

Hi,

Im pretty sure its a 296, the guy i bought the engine off of is trying to help me sort the problem out and he is just as shocked as i am! he cant believe how little power it has as when he had it running he said it was a lot more.

It is a fixed cam pulley, the only things that have changed from when he had it is the distributor, carb (both hif44), and exhaust system.

The engine has not been touched which is why we are so confused??

Any help really appreciated?

Thanks

Jon

[1340_cluby_estate]

hi all this is my old engine, just to put some light on the subject this engine was in 2 of my cars and it was stupid fast major torque steering and 3rd gear wheel spins. The carb dizzy and exhaust are the differences, the carb had the right needle and spring fitted, the distributor is mg metro, I dont know what exhaust jon is running, I ran 2 different exhausts and the power was totaly different the best was a 2" internal exhaust with an oversized lcb. The cam in this engine came from mini sport its a kent 296 scatter kit the chain kit was a fixed type lightend one, the head is a mg metro large valved type, the ports were opened up and polished at the engine building shop I used to work for also the head had valves re-seated, and 30thou off. The pistons were omega +60 pistons the block had 10thou skimmed off. Also when I fitted the carb I slimed down throttle spindle and matched the carb to the inlet and the inlet to the head then the lcb matched to the head. The only thing I can think is the head gasket is gone (jon said garage checked comp before rolling road) the valve clearances are to tight, the inlet or exhaust are restricting it or the distributor or vacuum unit are naff. I used to race my mates 1275 turbo mini which ran 15psi of boost, and I could run circles round him so I cant see that 72.4 bhp would run circles round a turbo that is 90ish std. So any ideas would help as Im shocked I cant see it being cam timing unless the chain is worn as it allwas went well when I had it (obviously it would gain bhp having the cam dialed in perfect), I think its dizzy problems more than likely. As far as hydrocarbons go the engine was in a 1972 car so not a problem, on my mates 1340 with 296 non scatter (which was alot slower than mine) we had to lean off the carb for emissions then richen it up for road use

[Sam Walters]

mine finishes making power at about 6300ish but holds flat till about 7500 then starts to drop, it pulls hard too those revs too.

but to be honest how often do you ever need to go upto that many revs, unless you have a chav next to you at the light.

i dont understand your comment about its hard to get it over 6000 revs easily, mine pulls 8000+ and does it very very quickly. quite frantic in first gear.

[Jack Jones]

im one of owens friends
but i had a 998 in mine at the MOT
my 1330 would have never gone through an mot if i retarded the timing till almost stalling or advance it loads HC would never come down to limit for a '82 test CO obviously woud if i leaned it off
had 1330 come in the other day for MOT but was running 276 kent cam that sailed through

and 700 quid for a cam change somehow i thing you would be getting slightly ripped


chuck an engine in for MOT it only take a few hours max to do an engine change

when i had a standard needle in my carb (which was totally wrong) we was sitting at around 110 (flat out) and he must of put his foot down because he left me for dead

when i had the right needle i (on a centre speedo calaborated correctly) i had the pointer at the centre of the fuel gauge and the car was still pulling very well

both of these were recorded on legal stretches of tarmac obviously

dizzy was making no advance so i set the car up a 24 degrees of advance and had CO at 3% at that time

then buggered engine at MTiP fastest quarter was 17.2 but i reckon it would have been able to pull a early-mid 16 strip

in owens estate i think with that engine it would easily have run a 15 it was the fastest mini i have ever been in

havent been in micky turbo since he got boost turned to 15psi though

Edited by just_jack, 30 November 2008 - 02:14 PM.

[Sam Walters]

The rev counter is correct, its correct against an aux smiths guage and a multi meter.

Edited by flyingears2002, 30 November 2008 - 03:56 PM.

[1340_cluby_estate]

the engine I sold to jon was fitted in my estate first then in my saloon, I never had a rev counter in the estate but it revd like mad imabitnaughtyxx is right first gear was pointless especially when the engine was fitted with a 3.64:1 diff ratio. As far as top speed goes when just_jack was sat at 110mph I pulled away from him and pulled 125mph on tom tom, as jack said obviously tested on private land. The engine would come on cam at about 3200-3500 rpm this was tested using a snap on timing gun whilst driving down the road, when I fitted engine into the saloon with an rc40 twin box system the engine came on cam alot earlyer 2500 rpm ish and revd to 6500, and as jack will tell you it was alot faster in the estate with over sized lcb and 2" internal exhaust. Also when the engine was in the estate the idle was really lumpy and didnt clear until about 1400 rpm whereas in the saloon it wasnt so lumpy and cleared around 1200rpm. I was speaking to a guy who used to race minis and he said that by fitting 2" exhaust and oversizing the lcb it will give a very good gains thats why I custom made the exhaust system on the estate, on the saloon I had to get engine fitted quick as the 998 lump had corroded block, so I never got round to making up a good system plus the mrs didnt like the noise the estate used to make or the fact that it would rip the steering wheel out her hand when it came on cam.

[Jordie]

What wheels was that 125mph on?

[1340_cluby_estate]

165 60 12 but it was on a 3.1:1 diff ratio at the time. I lost the main shaft bearing on that gearbox so fitted the 3.64:1 gearbox which was off a 998 metro with 22k miles onit

Edited by 1340_cluby_estate, 30 November 2008 - 04:55 PM.

[jonb_5]

Ok.

Im going to try and get it through the MOT, if I can so at least i can drive it.

I am going to take the head off and check the cam timing, probably fit one of these kits:

http://www.swiftune....g-gear-set.aspx

At least then we can time the cam exactly and once this is done we can get it back on the rollers and try and iron out any other problems, the general census is that the cam definately needs timing so this is where i am going to start i think..??

Is there a guide anywhere that shows how to time/check timing on the cam??

Once thats all sorted hopefully the dizzy timing can be adjusted to suit along with fueling etc.

Would you all recommend this is the way to go?

Thank you for all your help,

JOn

[Jordie]

Yes thats the way to go. No point trying to adjust fuel/dizzy if the cam timing is out etc.

[jonb_5]

Hi,

I have read a few threads and am pretty confident i know what i need to do.

Can I just use a normal protrator and drill a hole in the centre to fit on the crank.

Also how do i actually adjust the vernier timing gear?? From looking at the pictures im not too sure.

For instance, if i need to bring the cam in 4 degrees then i need to undo the nuts on the cam sporcket and rotate the can 5 degrees so the teeth on the belt stay in the same place???

Thanks

Jon

[Sam Walters]

slacken those black bolts and tap the centre plate round then tighten them up.

Edited by flyingears2002, 30 November 2008 - 08:52 PM.

[Jack Jones]

if you do change cam and want rid lt me know please i will take it off your hands for the right price i kow owens car was lairy with that engine

please thank you
jack