SUSPENSION - Terminology

Glossary of terms used in the suspension on the mini. The Mini has consistently more than proven its capability in competition with very limited and cost-effective modifications based on the standard equipment fitted. Having first ensured the bodyshell (in reality little more than a complex bracket to hold suspension and driver securely in place) is well sorted out by removing all cruddy or rotten metalwork and into something like straight, square and strong we, maximising suspension stability and geometry pays dividends in the enjoyment that is driving a Mini. Understanding what the individual ingredients are helps in pursuing what you want from the experience. Smooth Mover Good, reliable, and consistent handling is dependent on a number of factors. At this stage, we’re concerned with clapped out or badly adjusted suspension components. Stiff, seized, partially seized or slack, sloppy, worn out suspension components will cause inconsistent, wayward, confusing and – more important

Primary Gear - Bush Replacement

With the cost of new primary gears spiralling ever upwards, and the availability of good, serviceable used ones, fitting new bushes to existing gears is becoming a more common solution. For some reasons for bush failures and rectification to stop it re-occurring, see article Primary gear - Bush problems. Since there is no useful information given in any of the workshop or DIY manuals on this subject, following is my approach to dealing with the issue. The first thing to get to grips with is which bush is which. This has added an element of confusion to many conversations I have had with folks on this subject, so - the FRONT bush is the one nearest the engine block, the REAR bush is the top-hat one nearest the flywheel. This is because the front of the engine is actually the radiator end - quoted in 'in-line' engine-speak. The REAR bush is the same on all primary gears - be they for small or large bore engines. The FRONT bush is different for each though; the small-bore one is smaller

Primary Gear – Bush Problems

Although not of immediate interest to many road-runners/street-burners, mainly accorded to the racing scene, it seems to be a perplexing problem to a very large number of folk around the world, and has burned up plenty of telephone time.

part numbers: 13H2934, LUF10005, CE12, 22G109, DAM8889, DAM8887

With the cost of new primary gears spiralling ever upwards, and the availability of good, serviceable used ones, fitting new bushes to existing gears is becoming a more common solution. For some reasons for bush failures and rectification to stop it re-occurring, see article 'Primary gear - Bush problems'. Since there is no useful information given in any of the workshop or DIY manuals on this subject, following is my approach to dealing with the issue.

The first thing to get to grips with is which bush ...

Cylinder head - What can easily be achieved

During a discourse with the editorial staff at Mini Mag, it was decided the build feature presented an ideal opportunity to demonstrate just exactly what such an engine build is capable of in days where it's generally believed you have to have an all-singing, all-dancing 1380cc engine to have an enjoyable road burner - leaving those with very limited budgets a little depressed. During a discourse with the editorial staff at Mini Mag, it was decided the build feature presented an ideal opportunity to demonstrate just exactly what such an engine build is capable of in days where it's generally believed you have to have an all-singing, all-dancing 1380cc engine to have an enjoyable road burner - leaving those with very limited budgets a little depressed. So the idea was to finish the engine off using a relatively 'mild' specification to maximise drivability. The camshaft used was the fantastically versatile Swiftune Racing SW5 profile that provides drive from nowhere up to 7,000rpm - d

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 - Running in Procedure

This is another of those subjects that crops up on the message board frequently. I am constantly surprised by the number of engine builders - or people who charge other folk for building engines at any rate - that never hand out such an information sheet. It seems pretty daft to me that having taken a wad of money off of a customer for an engine you've lovingly put together, you'd want to help that person get the very best out of the engine. And the running/breaking in procedure is absolutely crucial. It at least ensures no damage is incurred when the engine first bursts into life. A collection of the usual suspects have explained their own methods on the board, along with various others - many of which probably work just as well for them, a few which are down-right dubious. Following is a sheet I administer with every customer engine I build.

GEARBOX - Limited Slip Diffs, what's available.

‘Salisbury’ is the word banded about by most un-enlightened folk when discussing LSDs for Minis, mistakenly believing the word covers all Mini orientated LSDs. This is grossly incorrect. Terminology - LSD - Limited Slip Differential The ‘Salisbury’ was designed in the ‘50s at a time when racecars were a good deal less sophisticated than today. Tyres were usually cross-ply with severely limited grip due to poor compounds developed ostensibly for rear-wheel-drive cars; the front wheel drive of the Mini being a rarity. And tracks were more than a little ‘bumpy’. Agriculturally built cars needed an LSD designed along similar lines; enter the Salisbury - effectively developed from a tractor diff. High static pre-loads were more than common to help compensate for severe short-falls in chassis, suspension, and tyre design. To all intents and purposes the diff was practically locked up, making the car a real beast to drive.

Air filtration - K&N Air cleaner test.

In the forefront of Mini tuning, improving the over-all breathing capability of the very asthmatic A-series the air filter set-up is one that sees priority attention. All the widely available (and widely varying) stage one tuning kits include at the very least a replacement - and hopefully - high-flow air filter element to fit into the standard plastic case,

In the past few years (well, must be nearly 6 years by now!) since I got involved with writing for the specialist Mini Magazines I have been continually fighting with the problem of limited space. This has limited what I have been able to cover, both in subjects and in details. Up until recently (say the past year or so) I have been covering fairly broad topics in a fairly broad terms and detail. Basically trying to cover perhaps the most popular areas dabbled in by the Mini owning masses.

Cylinder head - Suitability basics

Whatever else owners do to their Minis by way of interior/exterior modifications or none at all, a very large proportion desire and search for an increase in engine performance.

See bottom for useful part numbers.

Now this may not be super-sonic speed-inducing power, it could just as well be for maximum economy. In either case, it's the engines volumetric efficiency (VE) under scrutiny - it's ability to breath in as much correctly proportioned air/fuel mix as possible in any given situation. Although the induction/exhaust system plays an important part, there are effectively two major factors that dictate performance increases - the camshaft and cylinder head. The induction and exhaust elements (stage one kits, exhaust systems, etc.) and camshafts are covered in various other articles in my 'Corner'. So here we'll have a look at cylinder heads and dispel some of the myths and legends surrounding them.

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.

Engine - 998 tuning, further options

Following on from the easily bolted on performance enhancing components out-lined in the stage one section, we need to consider where to go to get more power output.

Terminology:
MSC/MM - Mini Spares Centre/Mini Mania
BBU - Big Bore Unit (refers to all 1275cc-based units)
SBU - Small Bore Unit (refers to all sub-1275cc units, here the 998)
BHP - Brake Horse Power
CR - Compression Ratio

To improve engine out-put, you need to increase the engine's 'breathing' ability. The stage one kit deals with all the easily bolted-on external parts, and represents the best increase for investment. From here on in the power increases will cost commensurately more money. Power production of any engine, once the 'breathing apparatus' (induction/exhaust system) has been dealt with to cause no restriction ...

RUNNING IN NEW ENGINES

Install engine. It is absolutely imperative that the cooling system is more than sufficient to deal with any temperatures likely to be produced by the engine. More power means more heat to be dissipated. A standard radiator is very unlikely to be able to cope with a reasonable power increase over standard.

Do not fill cooling system yet. Set clutch throw-out and free-play take up. Double-check all connections electrical, oil, fuel and cooling system. Put in engine oil – use a cheap multi-grade mineral oil. DO NOT use either semi or full synthetic oils. They will stop the rings from bedding in. Remove spark plugs, and spin engine over in bursts of a few seconds to pick up oil pressure and prevent starter motor damage. DO NOT start engine until oil pressure picks up.

Once oil pressure is showing, check ignition timing statically. Set to figure advised by distributor maker, or if no figures available, set at around 6-8 degrees BTDC. Re-fit spark plugs a

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.

Fuel - Leaded/unleaded fuel and the alternatives

The fuel situation seems to be worsening at a great pace these days. And as is exhibited by the questions that appear on the message board many folk are confused by what they can and can't do, and what is best to do as far as race engines go.

Many have posted (particularly from the States) that nothing need be done - just run on unleaded. They've been doing this for years and never had any problems. I have trouble believing that in the face of what I know and have investigated - so here's what the score really is.

Years ago this stuff called Tetraethyl lead was originally conceived as an octane enhancer. It was soon discovered, however, that the metallic oxides produced by the combustion process formed a protective coating on the valves and seats. This coating prevented micro welding of the valve seat to the corresponding seat in the head under high temperature operation.

Induction system - Improvements, initial tasters…

Modern technology has seen dramatic improvements in power outputs over very recent years. Just look at Formula One, where 3000cc engines are now putting out the sort of power not even dreamed of not so long ago at rpm levels that make motorcycle engines flinch!

At the end of every racing season the new/recurrent champions are confirmed, and the rest of the field turning their attention towards next year/season and ways of beating the crowned champ. Invariably this involves that age-old quest for the illusive extra horsepower this year's champion seemed to have over everybody else. So I thought it may be useful to have a look at some stuff that is largely over-looked by many and to further agitate those little grey cells.

Modern technology has seen dramatic improvements in power outputs over very recent years.

2003-08, Oil gallery plugs

Here's something unusual that cropped up a little while ago that I've never commented on before - main oil gallery plugs/bungs.

I'd been conversing via e-mail with a guy that was experiencing weird oil flow/supply problems with his performance street engine. Initially he'd been blaming it on the supposedly superior oil pump he'd bought. He sent it to me; I inspected it and found it to be in perfect health with no signs of causing the issues in hand. Firstly there was a claimed total oil drain down from the pump causing lack of initial supply on start-up for a few seconds, and then repeated crank bearing failures when used in anger (i.e. at high rpm for protracted periods). Unless there is something drastically wrong with the oil pump and fitment - cracked pump body, non-flat mounting surface, mounting bolts too long, split gasket, etc. - it will not drain down simply because the inlet and outlet ports are above the centerline, near the top of the pump as it is mounted to the block.

Lubrication - Oil pumps

Essential to the well being of every engine is its oil pump and oil. Much in the same way as the heart and blood is deemed relatively important to us humans! It's also another of those greatly misunderstood and, unfortunately, misrepresented subjects connected to engines.

An alarming number of so-called A-series engine specialists would have you believe that once parting with a veritable bundle of your hard earned readies on that mega motor, what you really need to keep it in good health is a high-pressure/high-flow oil pump. Seems a sensible consideration - except in the A-series world it's impossible. Oh, there are pumps that will give better flow rates than others, but high pressure? Absolutely not.

Oil pressure is regulated by the relief valve in the block of an A-series, not in the oil pump as with say a Ford. Yeah, you know - the one that gets jammed, causing heart failure as you believe your crank bearings have dissolved, and is a pig to get out.

Pistons - favourable features for maximum performance

The over-riding factor that influences just what is best for an A-Series engine is the block's propensity for flex at higher rpm, and the crank's equal propensity for flex at the same sort of rpm levels. Both combine to require a piston that is as stable as possible to maintain effective and consistent ring-seal performance. Reduced ring seal equals dramatically reduced performance. And none of this is at all helped by the relatively enormous distance from the wrist pin centre to crown height on most A-series pistons. Overall shape For the longest time, pistons were made round (well, 'ish' anyway) and straight sided (again - 'ish' is applicable here too) to form a cylinder, the top closed in to retain the all-important fuel/mixture charge; mainly because this was the simplest shape that would fill/block off the cylinder (bore) in an engine to greatest effect for minimum outlay.