21 replies to this topic

[KernowCooper]

yes the earlier vac units had the copper pipe and nut, as the vernier is wound you can see the unit move in/out

[mickthefitter]

Yes I can see the 'can' moving a little bit when I turn the vernier screw, so no problem there. I think when I get time I'll have to check the timing statically to get a datum and see where we are. I'm not sure I can use some of the methods decribed to time engines by listening for pinking and then retarding the ignition a little bit, since I've recently experienced a deterioration in my hearing and I'm not sure I can pick pinkning out from the general din of the Mini engine while driving. I can certainly hear induction roar when I floor it!

[mickthefitter]

Progress of sorts. Well, good progress actually. Jeez. Some people are putting Honda V-Tec engines in the boots of their Minis, and I need help timing an old one! Just never done static timing before and not had much dealings with a vernier. Anyway, having read the Haynes manual properly (a good start - I just speed-read to the bit that said "strobe" because that's what I'd done in the past on in-lines) I saw where there were supposed to be engravings on the vac unit, cleaned it up, and set it in the middle. But not before I'd attempted to turn the engine till the points just cracked open to see where we were already. My attempts to connect up a 12 volt bulb to the points, in the shape of an old 12 volt lead lamp, were unsuccessful for some reason, so I turned to my Gunson's Autoranger which isn't quite as old as my strobe light. I connected it as per setting the dwell angle, using jump leads from the boot to power it, and got a result. So statically, when the points opened, through the hole to the flywheel I could only see what looked like a serial number stamped in it. I had to turn the engine before I could even see the 1/4 mark, but I can't remember which way I turned it now. I reckon when I tried to check the timing with my strobe light before, and I couldn't make out for sure what I was looking at, I think I could see the 5 degree mark. That's too advanced isn't it? The dynamic timing is meant to be 8 degrees. Is too advanced the dangerous way, that burns valves? I swear I have never heard pinking from this engine. I used to get it on a 1.3 Maestro and I've heard it on an original 3 Series BMW I once had, but I've not picked it up on this car. So I turned the engine till the 5 degree mark on the flywheel was on the pointer, then turned the distributor clockwise till the points opened, and I had to turn it a fair way. When I tightened the pinch bolt the points were so just-on-the-cusp of being open or closed, the needle on my gauge could flick to zero or full scale more or less just by breathing on the points. No need to use the vernier. I've only driven the car a short distance because of home-time traffic and threats of an impending downpour, but already it seems more willing to pull. Oddly the tickover speed seems unaltered, which brings me back to the start of the thread when I was trying to use the vernier as a sole means of altering the timing and couldn't tell what it was doing. The only question now is do I need to retard from the factory settings for unleaded petrol? The Wynns Lead Substitute I've been using just seems to be a valve lubricant and fuel stabiliser, not an octane booster, but I always use 97 RON petrol anyway when I fill up. Cheers, Mick.

[KernowCooper]

Well it seems your up and running, the old timing marks are not the easiest to work with, what about treating yourself to a modern timing light so you can see where its running at idle speed, i doubt your off by much is what you describe worked.

[mickthefitter]

Yes a new timing light might be a good idea. I haven't looked at them for years. I suppose they use LEDs now?

[Ivor Badger]

You have to realise why the vernier adjustment was fitted in the first place. It was to allow simple adjustment at the roadside of the the timing for the variations in petrol after WW2. By the time the Mk2 mini is made it is completely redundant.

[mickthefitter]

I suppose what you are saying then, is that the vernier was an update of the advance/retard control on the steering wheel of older cars. Although that was also because of no vacuum advance, wasn't it? Having never had the opportunity to drive anything like that, it is hard to comprehend how and why you'd have to keep adjusting the ignition on the move.