Project JetBLICK by JetBLICK

7 minute(s) of a 162 minute read

Yea i'll knock up some brackets fairly easily from a bit of thick sheet metal, an angle grinder, a blow torch and a mighty big hammer.

Hopefully gonna get it stickered up soon too.

Spent this weekend faffing, trying to stop oil leaks all over the place, i think i've got it down to just the one, from the gear selector, but ill let it off - cant deny it the right to mark its terretory, that would be like chopping its takle off.

Engines still making lots of funny noises, and i've got the tappets set slack at 16thou at the moment, as i want to be careful not to smack up the piston again. I'm waiting till the RR session on wednesday to sort most of this stuff out as its hard to tell where rattles are coming from when you're on the move.

1-25-2007

Well, yesterday my mate craig (starmag1275gt) and i embarked on a journey to get our cars sorted at 'Collins motoring services' (www.mini-specialist.co.uk)

The journey was tough. Up early at 8.00 (trust me, for a student - thats early!) We left coventry at 8.30 leaving us 1 1/2 hrs for the 25 mile journey - lol - It was a good job we did as enevitably craig broke down just off the coventry ring road, and on a damn hill!! So i went and parked mine, then we had to push craigs up the damn hill to a little carpark - in the cold and snow. After getting it in the carpark on the first turn of the key, his car started   We where not amused!!

So after taking the long way to Erdington (we where avoiding motorways as craig can only reach 55mph at this point   ) we got there at 10.10ish

Craig got on the rollers first and the basice conclusion was that his engine is rubbish, but Colin did his best and managed to get 68 horses out of the 1380.

Now, for my beautiful 998   

First run, without any fettling showed 60.1hp - a great start, and a testiment to my engineering skills i think

After a bit of fettling Colin got 63.2hp which was ace! I'm proud of that. In comparison boggo 998's do 42hp on these rollers and 1275's do 60ish!!

Colin also suggested a few things i could do to realise more potential, a re-curved dizzy, poss electric points, a weber 40, and a better engine breathing system.

yea, the 1380's pretty shot. It was out of a car craig bought off ebay. It was a 'minisport 100bhp engine' apparently from the late 80's. Its got a 286 cam and a ported and polished head and vernier timing gear and a lightened fly with a downdraught weber. Its lost compression somewhere, but its not smoking. We measured 115 - 150 - 125 - 125.

Definatly not a fair comparison between a 998 and a 1380, but still proof that its worth tuning a 998!!

Yea Collin was great, definatly recomend him. He let us get involved a bit too and always let us know the situation and what he was doing and why he does stuff - brilliant!

I'm no expert and the dremel work - lol - if you get a spare block just have a practice and take you're time, and measure twice before you cut

On a side note, been adding up the cost of the motor this moring, at first it was quite scary, but when i thought about it, it wasn't too bad at all!!

Note - not all parts are new, parts with * are fleabay bargains

*Carbs bought recon'd w/maniflod all assembled = £170
Ram stacks = £32
Maniflow Exhaust = £85
Budget LCB = £35
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£322


*12g940 = £20
1 new exhaust + 1 new inlet valve = £14
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Head = £34


998 block = free
*Kent cam kit 286 w/followers + double springs = £100
Mains and big end bearings = £40
*Duplex timing gear = £15
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Block = £155


GT Gearbox = £35 (thankyou craig)
Hardened baulk rings = £15
Final drive = £40 (thankyou iklemini)
Central oil pickup = £25
---------------------------------
Gearbox total = £115


Lightened fly = £20
Rally Clutch plate = £35
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Clutch = £55


Head gasket set = £12
Conversion set = £16
Gearbox set = £8
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Gaskets = £36

TOTAL = £717

Sounds a lot for a 'budget motor' But, consider all the stuff that will be kept when if decide to go for a big bore 1071

- £322 induction/exhaust (tho practically speaking, the carbs may need to be upgraded for an engine better than standard)
- £34 head (tho would need proper machining)
- £100 cam
- £15 duplex
- £115 gearbox
- £35 - if its still useable at the time (fly would be changed to verto)

TOTAL = £96 - If you look at it like i do

Cheaper than a 1275 - and soo much more fun, maybe a few reliability issues, but we'll have to wait and see

lol -i didn't take measurements - pish   Hears how you do it..

take the valve springs off the head
put some bluetack or similar on the top of the bores (where the exhaust valves would hit it)
then put the head on with the exhaust valves in it
and push the exhaust valves down into the bluetack
whip the head off and there are you're templates
now mark the outline of the imprints onto the block face, then add a little extra, just to give a good clearance.

when you cut the pockets go for a medium to high speed
first use the grey stone to get the rough size and shape
then use a fresh grey one to get to the rounded corner (u'll know what i mean when you do it)
then use a pink stone to finish off and get a crisp bottom corner
you will need to go about 5mm deep with the pockets

easy peasy, takes a couple of hours. You should probly measure the CC of the pockets after you're done with a bit of plasticine to make sure they are all the same size - i didn't have any, so i didn't, they looked about right tho - lol  

Collins RR is great, all new stuff i think, certainly knows what he's doin, recomend him to anyone.

And finally no, it was not straped down, in fact it was perched on two bricks so that it was off the floor so the exhaust could be fitted - its very very loud without it!!