25 replies to this topic

[Dan]

It's not your original engine is the point. The whole car is a mix of standard and not. It's not that they made copies of the RSP. The RSP was the development model to see how Rover could go about bringing a Cooper back to the road and what they could do to a Mini to make it a little more special so it could be called a Cooper. Some of what they did to the RSP was impractical for line production and a lot of the interesting parts were hand made in small batches so couldn't keep up. The mainstream Cooper carb is what was made using the ideas from the RSP that made it through.

The engine is running a carb, an SU HIF44, but it's on an engine built from 1996 or later MPI engine block. Possibly with an SPi head from what I can see. The silver cover in the middle is the rocker cover, it covers the engine's valve gear. At the left of the picture is the washer bottle, and inboard of that the brake servo and reservoir. There is a little valve with a gauze cover bolted to the top of the brake servo bracketry, this is an anti run-on valve. To the right of this and in front of the fusebox is another plastic reservoir, this one for the clutch. Just in front of that is a filter that has been fitted to the engine breathing system to make it into an open circuit system. At the extreme right is the radiator and wedged in behind it the expansion tank. Behind that is the wiper motor. Along the front, to the right of the horn that has been bolted to the engine is a coil pack for a static ignition system. This is used in place of a distributor and as said above will be connected to an ECU that is hiding somewhere. To the right of that you can see the oil filter hiding below the HT leads, the filter is screwed directly into the block (common only to MPis among Minis and only MPis and I believe Marinas among all A series engines) rather than into a filter head. This means you will need to order MPi filters (not Marina filters, sorry that may have been confusing) for the car, it is not the same as the filter the car was born to have so that's important to remember.

[animale]

Wow, that's so complicated, not the water bottle etc, but the not original engine malarkey. It seems to be running really tired. And I sometimes get the scent of exhaust fumes, I think the filter needs a good clean too. How can I tinker with the carb to make sure it's running best? Also with the choke out it still stalls when idling in the cold. Can I adjust that somehow?
Sorry for the ignorance, I'm so keen to learn, but my Haynes isn't here yet. Lol
Thanks fr the advice so far.

[minimissionary]

Sounds like the mixture on the carb might be out. Do a search for 'carb fuel mixture' or something on this forum. Either that, or get it rolling road tuned.

[Bungle]

has the brass pipe sticking out of the left side of the carb been blanked off ?

you would be better plumbing the breathers back into it

[Bungle]

the engine bay looks very much like my mainstream cooper and the lack of sunroof and colour coded mirrors pints to that as well, although yours has the dizzy less ignition

Edited by Bungle, 05 March 2012 - 05:18 PM.

[matt615]

With regards to the fuelling, stick your head under the bonnet and have a look. The air box will have "Injection" clearly written on it, if it is as such.

Or just look at the dashboard. If there's a choke cable then it's a carb car, if not then it's injection.

[animale]

Thanks for the adviceeeps, much appreciated,
The brass pipe is still open although there's a rubber pipe coming off it that been tied up and blocked off.
I figure it's had an interesting past.
Didn't come with any paperwork except v5.
Mileage reads 7466, which I knew was probably wrong.
Checked online and it reads like this for MOTs
2009 86000 miles
2010 98000 miles
2011 1089 miles
2012 70000 miles

Nw engine and speedos. Relieve the speedo is new because the whole dash is new and a 90mph speedo is in at the moment.

Wi regards not quite running right, I'm taking it in for MOT check up prior to its date in May to see if any major work weds doing.
If not thni'll get the nasty centre exhaust changed to a nice stainless side exit and renew the air and oil filter and get them to tune it.
See if that helps.
Any other ideas what to check?

[minimissionary]

Grease the nipples!

[animale]

Nipples?

[minimissionary]

Lol, the grease nipples Enjoy that one every time. They're grease points on ball joints and suspension that need regular greasing otherwise you get excessive wear on these bits. Hopefully someone will come along and tell you where they are, since I can't remember. I just get the guy up the road to do them every so often

[animale]

So MOT day on Thursday. Tried to be prepared as much as possible
.
Saying that the new MOT tester looks a little young if not enthusiastic......
Seriously though...wish me luck. MOT pass = money to buy shiny new things

Edited by animale, 13 March 2012 - 10:53 PM.