Cylinder Head - Unleaded Fuel Use

The specter of 'unleaded fuel only' - instigated in UK on January 1st 1999 and seemingly from decades ago across the rest of the world - seems to be forcing more and more folk into frightened, panic orientated action. And Mini owners are featuring heavily in this. See bottom for useful part numbers. The situation not at all being helped by all sorts of conflicting information from 'leaned' sources, such as lead levels in humans has declined greatly since 1935 - despite the rapidly expanding ownership of petrol-burning vehicles. And benzene and toluene used in unleaded fuels are cancerous. Still, the powers that be are relentlessly forcing through the 'no heavy metals in fuel' bills, not being at all put off by such trivia. Not surprising bearing in mind the complete debacle on the catalytic converter front - the type decided on for world wide and universal use was developed and tested in California!

Cylinder Head - Unleaded Fuel Use

The specter of 'unleaded fuel only' - instigated in UK on January 1st 1999 and seemingly from decades ago across the rest of the world - seems to be forcing more and more folk into frightened, panic orientated action. And Mini owners are featuring heavily in this. See bottom for useful part numbers. The situation not at all being helped by all sorts of conflicting information from 'leaned' sources, such as lead levels in humans has declined greatly since 1935 - despite the rapidly expanding ownership of petrol-burning vehicles. And benzene and toluene used in unleaded fuels are cancerous. Still, the powers that be are relentlessly forcing through the 'no heavy metals in fuel' bills, not being at all put off by such trivia. Not surprising bearing in mind the complete debacle on the catalytic converter front - the type decided on for world wide and universal use was developed and tested in California!

Engine - 1098, Initial Tuning

The 1098 (1100) engine has had a lot of bad press over the years - largely because of early experiences when trying to tune the motor brought about problems with the then standard components available - they simply were not up to taking any real punishment as experienced in racing.

See bottom for useful part numbers.

This fallacy was handed down generation to generation like some scary bedtime story. Those that have used the unit in more recent years, employing more capable componentry know what a demon motor this can be. Following is an initial look at what it will do with a little modification - the results compared directly with it's smaller brother the 998 for illustration of the potential.

Abridged History
When the Mini was first conceived it ustilised a de-stroked version of the then quite remarkable 948cc A-series engine.

Cylinder Head - Unleaded fuel use

The specter of 'unleaded fuel only' - instigated in UK on January 1st 1999 and seemingly from decades ago across the rest of the world - seems to be forcing more and more folk into frightened, panic orientated action. And Mini owners are featuring heavily in this.

Cylinder Head - Unleaded fuel use

The specter of 'unleaded fuel only' - instigated in UK on January 1st 1999 and seemingly from decades ago across the rest of the world - seems to be forcing more and more folk into frightened, panic orientated action. And Mini owners are featuring heavily in this.

Distributor - Initial ignition timing set-up.

Any deviation away from the original standard engine specification, or where a dizzy from another source is used in the engine you have, the ignition timing will generally be different from that set by the manufacturer.

Terminology -
Dizzy - Distributor
TDC - Top Dead Centre
BTDC - Before Top Dead Centre
ATDC - After Top Dead Centre
CR - Compression Ratio

Tacho - Tachometer, rev counter (not to be confused with Mexican food delicacy!)
Vac - vacuum (pipe, unit, etc.)

Any deviation away from the original standard engine specification, or where a dizzy from another source is used in the engine you have, the ignition timing will generally be different from that set by the manufacturer.

Engine transplants - initial information and engine choices

Is this familiar? - You take the small one out; you put the big one in. In, out, in, out, shake your fist about, you do the hokey-cokey and you turn around, that’s what it’s all about...

Terminology -
BBU - Big Bore Unit
SBU - Small Bore Unit
Bodge - English term for 'make do' engineering- assured to fail at an in opportune
Moment.
Dizzy - Distributor

NOTE; this information is largely for transplanting large-bore units into small-bore engined cars.

Is this familiar? - You take the small one out; you put the big one in. In, out, in, out, shake your fist about, you do the hokey-cokey and you turn around, that’s what it’s all about...kinda sums up the situation many folk find themselves in when attempting to endow their beloved Min with a more impressive turn of speed.

SU Carbs - The history

Practically every Mini owner can name the brilliant engineer responsible for our obsession. Many can name the man responsible for the rubber suspension spring.

A goodly number know a fair bit about the engine's heritage and the man who came up with the extremely efficient cylinder head design.They account for the biggest chunks of the Mini's anatomy. But what about that other extremely simple yet hugely effective instrument that features so prominently when engine tuning occurs - the SU carburetter? A limited few can tell you what 'SU' stands for, extremely few have any idea of its concept and evolution. So let's put that right… In the beginning Strangely enough, it all started way back with William Banks Skinner; one of the owners/directors of the well-known Lilly and Skinner footwear distributors.

Standard Classic Mini Winter Checks

In order to keep your Mini in full working order this winter, we have put together a small guide of things to check, besides the routine servicing

Cooling System
Antifreeze is a must in a Mini for the winter. A Winter mix of Antifreeze to water over the winter will stop any potential problems with freezing conditions.
Cooling Hoses. Check the condition of all...

Isle Of Man Rally Report 2013

This rally was first run in 1953 and with this year coinciding with the Mini Cooper S’s 50th birthday.

2014 - Flanders ORC Canal Rally

After a break of 9 months since the Isle of Man rally in September last year we started the year with the ORC Canal Rally on 1st June and the Geko Rally Wervik on 14th June, both in Belgium located about 15km east of Ypres.

David Smalley (pic 1) joined me again for the Canal Rally in the usual Minispares Cooper S “277 BRX”. A wedding prevented him from doing Wervik and I was co driven on that one by Graham Carter who has rallied with me...

2015 Rallye Monte Carlo Historique – Summary

Top Mini Best British finisher 1st International Rally Drivers Club Team car (Tyresoles Trophy) 2nd Class for 1962-65 cars up to 1300cc 59th overall out of 320

Rally Isle of Man 2015

 

1st in Class for MiniSpares Team on Rally Isle of Man 2015

After a great battle and a gruelling 3 days with 185 miles of closed road Special stages, the MiniSpares supported crew of Peter Horsburgh and Graham Carter in their Mk1 Cooper S were victorious in the “Mini” class RC7.

Historical Article - Nov 1991 - A SERIES EVO L.S.D. Part 2

The cases are machined from steel billets, and all components manufactured to exacting specifications from high grade materials. On the road tests have proven that the bevel gear and plate pack are capable of absorbing 230lh ft of torque in front wheel drive applications. The cross pins are much more substantial than other types.

Historical Article - Nov 1991 - A SERIES EVO L.S.D. Part 2

The cases are machined from steel billets, and all components manufactured to exacting specifications from high grade materials. On the road tests have proven that the bevel gear and plate pack are capable of absorbing 230lh ft of torque in front wheel drive applications. The cross pins are much more substantial than other types.

Historical Article - Nov 1991 - A SERIES EVO L.S.D. Part 2

The cases are machined from steel billets, and all components manufactured to exacting specifications from high grade materials. On the road tests have proven that the bevel gear and plate pack are capable of absorbing 230lh ft of torque in front wheel drive applications. The cross pins are much more substantial than other types.

Historical Article - Nov 1991 - A SERIES EVO L.S.D. Part 2

The cases are machined from steel billets, and all components manufactured to exacting specifications from high grade materials. On the road tests have proven that the bevel gear and plate pack are capable of absorbing 230lh ft of torque in front wheel drive applications. The cross pins are much more substantial than other types.

Historical Article - Nov 1991 - A SERIES EVO L.S.D. Part 2

The cases are machined from steel billets, and all components manufactured to exacting specifications from high grade materials. On the road tests have proven that the bevel gear and plate pack are capable of absorbing 230lh ft of torque in front wheel drive applications. The cross pins are much more substantial than other types.

Historical Article - March 1992 - Wild Thing!

In 1988, a humble 1973 Mini 1000 was minding its own business somewhere in London, when along came a young Mini freak called Jason King, who wanted to change it for ever, and make it famous.

Jason persuaded the owner to take £450 for the car, and then proceeded to throw £12,000 worth of presents at it for the next 3 years. Every minute of Jason’s spare time was spent working on his new car and every minute of his working time was spent looking for spares.

Historical Article - October 1993 - Calver's Clinic

Calver's Clinic There are many small side issues, problems, technical hints and general advice that do not warrant a full story, but never the less are important enough to cover. To this end I will be using "Calver's Clinic" as a regular feature in Mini T ech News to cover such things.A friend and colleague of Mini Spares runs the "Mincomp Mini " in America. His name is Bill Gilcrease - those of you who have read Mini Tech News 1 may recall that he was in this issue covering his escapades at the USA run-offs in Atlanta