Rich, I watched the video. I wasn't sure what I was watching. It appeared that the driver was revving the engine, on and off the gas. The popping sounds like an open exhaust pipe joint. However if the driver was trying to rev the engine and it wouldn't rev steady, it's something else. Always start with the simple stuff. At this point, I think you were going to try a low pressure electric fuel pump. Do that, but don't change anything else. Leave the coil, etc until the pump in in. Otherwise you won't ever know what fixed the problem. EDIT: I just watched a second version of that same vehicle. I think you should pull the fuel line from the carb, and have someone crank the engine. Use a jar to catch the fuel, but watch for a constant flow of fuel. If it is intermittent, try the electric pump. If not, time to look elsewhere. I'm not thinking your timing might be off. Others chime in. Do you have a timing light? If not, you can fiddle with the dizzy.This is how. mark the dizzy and the pinch bolt with a slash so you know at what point you are starting. I like to use an awl to scratch the metal dizzy base and the clamping plate. The clamping plate won't move but the dizzy will. Loosen the clamp bolt that holds the dizzy tight so you can rotate the dizzy right or left. Start the car, and twist the dizzy a fraction one way to see if the engine smooths out. Try it the other direction. If you get the engine to smooth out from a lumpy idle, grab the accel cable and goose the throttle, with the revs up, turn the dizzy. If you get a sweet spot, lock up the pinch bolt. A timing light will aid your efforts. If you have the Haynes manual, you can see how to view the timing marks. mike

By the above post I mean I wasn't able to drive it out to MiniMike's house. I did change the condenser and dizzy cap since I had new ones laying around, and inspected the plugs. All seemed fine in that regard. Going to try Minimike's sugestion and replace the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one. Will also pick up a cheapo ignition coil but what do I get for a ballasted engine? Just anything from the autoparts store? 

I couldn't get it out to take a look at it today, just found someone else's youtube video that shows the exact issue I am having. Please take a look if you have a minute.

//www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=V1GPuSBqBjo

Cheers,
Rich

you're about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from me. If it doesn't run right, see if you can get someone to trailer it out. I'm just south of Riverhead. That is the end of the LIE 495. Em me or ring me. I beleive I've sent you my phone #'s. If not, em me.

To explain further some of the comments about the fuel bowl vent and inlet jet:

The fuel bowl works like a toilet tank. There's a float which closes a valve when the bowl is full. If the foat has a leak and gets gas inside it, it doesn float properly. Or if it isn't adjusted just right, the fuel level is too high or too low. If it is too low, the engine will starve when accelerated or when going around corners. If it is too high, raw gas dribbles out the mixture jet and down into the cylinders.

The inlet 'jet' consists of a brass seat which is closed by a small needle with a conical tip when it is lifted up by the float. The brass seats will take a long time to wear out, but the needle tip can be worn so it doesn't fit perfectly.

Another problem with the needle and brass jet is that some needles have too close a fit tolerance in the jet. It will work perfectly when installed and when the engine and carb are cool. But as things warm up, the jet and needle expand and the needle sticks. If you're lucky, it sticks closed and the engine stalls wihtout fuel. If you're not lucky the needle keeps the float down, the bowl over-fills and the gas dribbles out the mixture jet and down into the engine. The engine eventually drowns.

I had this problem with two HIF type carbs - one brand new. The older carb was rebuilt by me so I knrew it had a new seat and needle. I tried all manner of fixes - changing fuel pumps, adding a pressure regulator etc. and still I had problems. I thought I had it licked and was running the engine at idle to get fuel stabilizer up to the carb before storing the car for the winter. Of course I had filled the tank to prevent condensation. Then the engine stumbled and died right at the garage door. I pushed the car in and covered ot for the winter. What I didn't know was that the needle was stuck open and with a full tank, the fuel level was higher than the carb's mixture jet. The result was that over the winter, several litres of gas had drained into the crankcase. I only noticed it in the spring when I checked the oil level and noticed it was "kinda" high and smelled strange.

The remedy was to file down the sides of the needle to increase the tolerance. Not a problem since.

 

Thanks for all the discussion - work is currently killing me so these things are on hold til Saturday but I will go through every recommendation that had come over this board and will definitely let you know how it turns out.

Cheers,

Rich

 

I switched to an electronic ignition system after going through several condensors and points when my car was having similar problems. The condensor I bought at autozone was faulty as well. Those points and condensors got the best of me. Once I eliminated those as culprits, it was easier to determine my main problem. Mine turned out to be a bad carb jet. It still took months to narrow it down though. Car runs great now and I'm glad I kept it even though I too almost gave up.

Did you replace the condensor like I suggested in my first post?

(without a good one, your car will eat points for breakfast)

Are the points gapped (spaced) properly?

 

Brilliant, I will try this tonight.

This is a nice simplistic overview of the points ignition system, and includes comments on the ballast system by the very helpful and respected Doug Lawson that might help you understand the system a little more:

 

//home.mindspring.com/~purlawson/files/LucasPointsIgnitions.pdf

 

 

Richard, do you have a tachometer on your Mini ? If you do and you have an electrical issue you will see the tach act up (needle jumps) when the problem occurs. When you get home remove the distributor cap and have someone turn the key while you look at the points, you should see a good spark as they open and close. Another thing i have noticed with bad coils is they only seem to let the engine fire when you let go of the key. Did you find out which coil you have either ballasted or non ballasted, Auto Zone and Advance stocks both.

One of the tricks I do when I'd have a problem like this, is to get a very small 12v lamp from radioshack or wherever, and connect it across the coil. You don't want to use a headlamp bulb, just a small thing, like the backlight from one of the dash gauges.

I will usually also connect it via a switch, so I can tape it to the top of the dash, and then turn it on and off at my leisure.

What this does, is basically isolate, or prove, the (low tension) side of the ignition circuit. At tickover, you will clearly see the small bulb flashing (quickly enought to appear to be dim, but clearly flashing if you look closely). As you rev the engine, it will flash faster (get brighter), and by 2000 rpm it is basically as bright as it'll ever be..

If it goes out, as the engine also splutters, or misses, then you know you have an ignition problem. Don't however confuse the difference between it being bright at 2000+ rpm and then dimming as the revs drop (because of the problems you are experiencing) as an ignition problem,,, this is probably more likely to be the fact the engine revs are dropping and hence it just isn't recieving as many 'pulses', hence appears dimmer...

This is 100% on the 'easy' list to try yourself. Just get a few pieces of wire (even bell wire will work for a dinky little bulb - although it won't last forever in an automotive application) and a small bulb taped to your dashboard. Just pull an inch of insulation of the ends near the coil, and wrap around the terminals. connect the other end of the wires to your bulb, and see how it works out. Just don't purchase an LED bulb - you want a conventional very low wattage 12v bulb...

 

 

 

As regards other things to try yourself, identify the vac can on the side of the dizzy, and inspect the hose from this to the intake. Pull the hose off at the intake, and give it a suck. You should be able to such a vacuum with your mouth, hold it, then release it and hear a 'clunk' from inside the dizzy when you quickly release the vacuum. You can even pull the cap off and see the plate moving while doing this if you prefer.

If you look carefully at the wires going to the coil, as someone pointed out you will have the following if you have a 12v system:

• White (should show zero volts with key off, and 12v with key on) should be connected to the + terminal on the coil.
• White with black tracer line (should be connected between coil and dizzy).

If you have the ballasted ignition, then the + terminal on the coil will have the following:

• White wire as above, but this will only show 12v when the engine is cranking)
• Pink wire with a green tracer or white tracer (i forget which) which will show a voltage when the ignition is switched on, and be off when "key off".

And the negative terminal on the coil that runs to the dizzy will have the same white with black tracer line as the standard ignition.

That is totally the best way to identify what you have. The important aspect is also the verify that the coil isn't wired up backwards. Clear the crap off it, and make sure that the terminals are as I listed above.

 

Finally - try posting pictures of the engine room, coil, dizzy, and perhaps the carb, and perhaps someone will see something that looks out of place or suspect. I bet this will make a big difference.

 

False alarm. I don't know why the car worked last night but I can't start it this morning. Back on the bus.

if fuel is overflowing through the vent, it is not a hose routing problem, but a leaking/stuck needle and seat or high float level problem. there should not be anything coming out of the vent. it is just there to equalize float to atmospheric pressures, and prevent flooding if the fuel in the bowl boils/expands when heat soaked. 

If you are burning up points in a matter of hours or a few days, that is not normal. if that is the case try a balast resistor between the ignition-1 terminal on you switch and the positive terminal on your coil.  try a new coil too. make sure the points are not closing up from the rubbing block wearing down. (grease the cam).  

If you are having power loss at speed, check your timing at idle AND high RPM, to make sure the Dizzy is advancing.....no advancing means no power.

SV2 - that's really good advice - I'll keep that in mind next time I head over to AutoZone.

I think the issue was that instead of the overflow hose going straight to the metal piping down below to the left of the engine, it actually went up and around. And I'm guessing that since it couldn't drain because of the whole "gravity" thing, it ended up flooding the carb whenever I would give it gas. So I cut the hose to a proper length and now it goes to the metal pipe.

Just a guess though.

Having bought a Mini coil from the local Autozone I recognise your experience...  However, coils are pretty much coils - in that there's nothing particularly Mini about them.  If you stay away from all the fancy (read expensive) "performance" items you really only need to know one thing.  Is it an "ordinary" (12V) or a "resistor" coil - ie one that runs at 9V but switches to 12V for extra boot when starting. Resistor coils generally have an R somewhere in their part no (usually stamped somewhere on the coil).  If your car is set up for an R coil it will have 2 leads attached to the live side.  At the common terminal this will read 9V with the ignition on and 12V when cranking (make sure the output lead is removed first).  The ordinary type may well have two wires (because a PO has converted over) but will show 12V with just the ignition on.

Having determined which sort you need you just ask the counter guy for a coil for an MG/ early (240 series) Volvo/early watercooled VW/pretty much any other 60/70/80s car.  When they bring one out, look at the box (or coil itself).  If you need a resistor type and the coil has an "R" label you're home free - if not change car type until they bring the one you want.  If they seem tame, wander back with them to the shelves - all the coils are usually on one rack so you can sort through them to find the one you want....

So I'm assuming your float bowl has 2 fuel lines attached???  What is it attached to???  If its an SU and the problem really was a blocked overflow then you should check the float needle and seat.

Good luck, Ian

Please excuse my absence from my own post - wrapping up work this week means long hours and bankers boxes.

Once again I want to thank you all for helping me out with my car issues. I also hesitate to say this, since I'm not sure if I fixed it (or what exactly did it) but I was driving it around on the highway today without an issue.

First thing I did was take the coil to AutoZone - and boy are they useless. They're very nice, but their inventory system only works by inputting the type of car into the system to find the item - you can't search the parts by specifications.

Anyway, when I couldn't find the replacement I cleaned the connections up as best as I could and reconnected it.

But here's what I think finally fixed my issue:

I had been bothered by a length of hose installed by one of the mechanics (#2 in my original post) which went from the carburetor's float chamber to what I can assume is a disposal(recycle?) - It was waaaay too long, went up, over and around everything. All I did was cut the hose to the right length, and now it goes straight down to make its connection.

I seriously think that gas was unable to go through the overflow hose because of good ol gravity, and instead was going into the engine.

Would that make sense? Am I a genius? Is it going to stall out on me in the future because I only think I solved the issue?

Rich

 

P.S. Minimike: regardless of whether I'd fixed it, I'd like to take it out to you this saturday to make sure everything is in fine working order before I venture on a 1300 mile trip.

"...I'm planning on driving down to New Orleans on February 7th and want to make sure I'll make it there in one piece..."

That's in like a week... In a car you haven't been able to drive far enough to see what else ain't right. I would rethink that plan.
Now, if it was Spank doing the trip, I would say, "have fun!" But, there again, he has shown a willingness (madness perhaps) to jump on a plane, pick up an unknown car and drive it home..... braver man than I.

I"ve re-read your original post and it still sounds like a vacuum issue not advancing the dizzy at speed. Can you get it to run by pull the choke out?

BTW, I've got a 1300 automatic from a Metro with about 50,000 miles on it. My buddy Nick Rogers pulled it from a runner he drove to his shop from the dealer. Waiting for a buyer-$1,000.

Check the weather if you're still gonna come out. It's a bit colder here than in NYC, but the trend is warm.

By inhibitor circuit i was assuming you meant a later fob alarm system. BTW i have seen auto's with a park feature that would start in gear, probably not the way it left the factory though.