I Only Wanted The Wheels.... by 72clubman

9 minute(s) of a 153 minute read

So after an epic weekend the poor mini had developed a bit of a shudder low down in the rev range. From around 2-2200 rpm under load. I checked timing, fueling, spark, compression. All perfect! This evening I topped up the oil, checked and re torqued everything, and just a general inspection. It's now significantly reduced! Bloody cars! 

This is also waiting to go on...

9-7-2014

Oh she's got that in spades! 

Despite all the presents I present to her! 

Next weekends going to be a busy one! Got to make her presentable for Stanford Hall haven't I! 

Oh I'll also be respraying the front end. Should look good! 

Hopefully....

9-15-2014

So it was a bloody busy weekend! My nice relaxed weekend of minor tinkering and a show went out the window! Instead I spent all of saturday going to pick up a new car. So I was left changing an exhaust in the dark! 

Sadly this also meant no pictures! 

I also refreshed the ignition system.

Plugs, HT leads, distributor cap, vac advance unit. everything! 

Sadly this had no effect on my running issues. 

The missfire/juddering under load at low RPM is awful. It's undrivable.

I'm going to do a compression test tomorrow, if it's bad then I'm afraid it'll be the end of the GT. 

It's MOT is up in a week!

A replacement car is waiting.....

Anyways here's some pretty pictures.

YES I saw these for sale, and no I didn't buy them. I would have if he didn't want a stupid amount! 

Found this in the carpark! 

The owner followed the Mini challenge series in the 70's and was a really nice bloke. He'd been trying to find me all day. He thought my car could be a proper challenge car! and thats from someone who really knew about them! So my plan worked :)   

I'll be here eventually! 

We had a pretty good spot though! 

Annnnnd Home.

Oh the exhaust! 

So the janspeed came off, and will have a new centre section put in it so it'll return! (it'd rusted through)

The replacement which you can kinda see in the first picture is a single box maniflow.

I thought it was a normal 1 3/4 inch system. But after I'd installed it it the first fire-up revealed a seriously meaty note. It was measured and it would seem I bought a 2" system without realising. Christ it's loud!

So my return journey had me shaken and deafened....

9-16-2014

First of all.

Dat pipe.

2" of maniflow goodness, and damn it sounds meaty.

Maybe too loud though.

Right to business.

The GT is dead. Long live the GT.

& yes thats the test result. 

My running issue would seem a little more serious than previously thought.

It's not getting through an MOT like that so I've no choice but to retire it. 

Hope you've all enjoyed the read!

At least I finally made it to Stanford Hall in my own mini! 

I can't sell her. 

One because if I tried the offers I'd get for her would probably make me cry.

Despite her crappy look I've got a lot of money in her! 

& Also because I couldn't stand anyone else to have her!

I'm selfish like that haha.  

I would attempt to fix it now, but I'm a bit burnt out with it at the moment. Can't bring myself to pull apart the entire engine. Especially since I've only got a weekend. 

The MOT's up in the next week, not usually a big deal to let it lapse a little but so's the tax and Insurance! It's lasted almost exactly a year! 

I even have a spare short motor if the worst come to the worst. 

Doesn't sound at all like bottom end though. Pretty sure it's a stuck valve. Damn modern crappy petrol.

She'll be laid up until I have the time to fix her. Well actually she'll join the que of mini's I've got to fix! 

I'm going back to my original plan. She'll be going back to a bare shell.

9-17-2014

Well it's back to being a 4 cylinder mini!

Took it out this evening and it's been down on power for a while it would seem. 

I don't remember it ever having that much poke! It'll pull from pretty much idle.

Beautiful flat torque curve and not a hint of a miss.

Makes my previous posts sound a little melodramatic! 

I really did think it was done.

I'm going to run it to the end of the week and then re-check the clearances.

I just don't want it properly going, and I'm not convinced on what caused this in the first place. I'm not admitting it was me quite yet.

If it's ok I'll go for an MOT on saturday.

I can't believe it's fixed though, I'm driving it with baited breath.

I'm expecting it to drop and go back to a 3 cylinder at any minute! 

I've got everything crossed though! 

9-18-2014

She's running and running well! 

For how long I'm not sure though.

MOT's definitely on for saturday, I'm hoping the run home will give me an idea of how it's running. 

Just need to wack on a new handbrake cable!

9-20-2014

Well I've made you wait long enough!  

So I'll start with the bad news....

I got an advisory.

So the good news is it survived the journey back with all 4 cylinders. 

Annnnd Passed it's MOT this morning! 

The advisory was slight play at the steering wheel. To which I looked very confused as it's a new rack! So I went digging when I got home and found a pinch bolt not quite tight enough, and bam no play! I want a retest! 

A few of you may also be familiar with this car...

It would seem it was mini saturday! 

So it's had a stay of execution! Probably have to carry on driving it now! 

Oh My dad had a treat waiting for me when I got home as well. 

Although I just nicked the compressor for my Fiamms! 

My god they've got some punch! I really wanted to try them out, and low and behold someone cut me up. Scared the **** out of them when they got a good blast! 

The Janspeed exhaust has also been saved. it'll probably be mounted on the wall in my garage rather than used again though. It's pretty damn rusty.