I drove the mini today
Orig. Posting Date | User Name | Edit Date |
Feb 27, 2015 07:48PM | DS1980 | Edited: Feb 27, 2015 07:52PM |
Feb 27, 2015 02:57PM | jeg | |
Feb 27, 2015 02:48AM | DS1980 | |
Feb 26, 2015 09:24PM | SXSMAN | |
Feb 26, 2015 05:23PM | jeg | |
May 17, 2014 02:23PM | jeg | Edited: May 17, 2014 02:24PM |
May 16, 2014 03:18AM | ve9aa | |
May 15, 2014 07:49PM | dimitris | Edited: May 15, 2014 09:15PM |
May 15, 2014 06:34PM | jeg | |
May 15, 2014 06:23PM | Air2air | |
May 15, 2014 06:08PM | jchealey | |
May 15, 2014 05:38PM | jeg | |
May 15, 2014 04:53PM | Air2air | |
May 15, 2014 03:14PM | jeg | Edited: May 15, 2014 03:22PM |
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I wouldn't concern myself with how it operates at idle. The engine is not prodicing enough Internal Cylinder Pressure to do any damage, if that's your concern. A spread of 13.0-13.3 throughout the operating range sounds good. That's on the rich side, which is OK. I don't understand people that want to run at stoiciometric. It's not best power and it's not best economy, it just stresses the engine.
But glad you got the mini out. I'm am in the same boat as you as having a really nice, rough running mini at the moment. Trying to fix that.
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I'm running at 13.0 - 13.3 pretty much througout the whole usable length of the needle. It's taken quite a bit of effort and testing thus far, so minor fluctuations in the idle mixture really mess things up.
I have a 3-wire AFR meter in the dash-mounted gauge pod and I'll soon install my new Innovate Motorsports MTX-L AFR gauge and shelving the analogue AFR gauge (which I don't trust 100%) thats currently in the gauge pod. While I'm in the gauge pod, hopefully installing a Smiths RVC tach to replace the TIMS that I recently broke - if I can find one at a reasonable price/trade.
I use an external C/O meter (tailpipe-sniffer) in the garage and then road test; warm-up drive the car, pull into the garage, sniff the pipe, pee and out again.
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance
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I am curious what mixtures are defined as too lean or too rich. Are you trying to run at stoichiometric (14.7)?
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I went back and reread the first paragragh, I missunderstood, as happy as you were, I thought you got laid.
In a way, you did.
Sex on wheels my friend, sex on wheels.
Little jealous, I'm just saying.
My wife is out of town, mini is apart.
Working on this ole house, day and nite, why do I get the feeling that I'm still getting screwed ?
I'll live vicariously thru you, if you don't mind.
(Putting a smile on my face..........)
SxS
(Please disregard the miscellaneous ramblings of a demented soul.........)
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We've had a break from 'winter'weather recently, so although it's still a bit chilly outside, I put on a sweater and took the mini out for a bit of a drive today. (Most Canadians could argue that our winter snow accumulation (about 2 inches) and seldom below freezing temperatures don't qualify as 'winter' conditions, but since there aren't any leaves on the deciduous plants, we'll just call it winter.)
One thing I noticed, and of course, it's going to really mess with me for a while, is that the rubber connector for the vacuum gauge's semi-rigid tubing that I've had installed for many years has slowly developed a minor leak. In other words, my vacuum gauge which is in the car was reading low. I only noticed it when I was using a hand-held vacuum gauge and looking at my ignition timing. So, I disconnected and plugged the manifold nipple and a new rubber doo-dad is arriving in a few days.
I'll need to do a bit of tweeking to the fuel mixture, but wow; it was nice to get out of the apartment and enjoy a relaxing drive for a couple of hours.
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance
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Yep, it's still part of my life, Mike, gladly so.
After the initial indicators stated earlier, that the temperature was rising when at idle, I went over to the garage and changed the intake manifold, thinking that perhaps the old one wasn't sealing properly somehow.
With it looking to be better with new intake installed, I took it out for some fresh fuel and a final drive before taking it to the vintage races, and it began running progressively worse, manifold vaccuum dropped to around 12Hg at idle, engine idling really rough at idle, engine 'surging'/'hunting' at idle, air/fuel meter indicating very lean at idle and temperature climbing dramatically when at idle. All this, regardless whether or not I enrichened the carb.
A quick check of ignition timing was 29°4500 RPM, so one less thing to consider.
It ran without issues when driving along, in fact has quite a bit of grunt, but whenever I stopped, same rough running and increased temperature.
Spark plugs dry but sooty, so I know the mixture to be too rich.
So, no vintage races for me, just helped Hyacinth in the garden.
I'll check the valve adjustment the next time I can get to the garage, but I really think I know where this is heading...
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance
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Awesome read John ! Good to know it's still a part of your life.
I took "Happy" out for the first time this year, on Sunday. Before that it was too wet, too cold, too snowy ! ,.,...and still too much residual salt on the roads.
Man, was it exciting. I think the last time I drove it was late October last year, so 6-7 months or so.
Mini on !
~ 30 minutes in a Mini is more therapeutic than 3 sessions @ the shrink. ~
Mike NB, Canada
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damn i went nostalgic! haven't driven my minis for more than a year.. i would recommend a rolling road set up! you'll never come back hehe
here take this tune for your next ride
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Kinda hard to do that because it varies so much, but 'generally' I cruise at part throttle in the range of 13.5 - 13.2, accellerate (vigorously) between 13.3-12.8 (ish). I'm using an analogue gauge with a 3 wire sensor, 20W synthetic in the suction chamber.
Lean on accelleration, I'd try a slighly thicker oil in the suction chamber - counter intuitive, yes, but you'll pull fuel harder from the jet by the increased vacuum caused by the piston being held momentarily lower. Too thin oil can cause the needle to rise too rapidly and not give enough fuel to mix with the sudden increase in air through the carb. Don't know what you're using for carb oil, but I use synthetic motorcycle fork oils - 5W, 10W, 15W, 20W, 30W etc. until I found what worked ok for my car... Make sure you've got the right damper for the carb, too.
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance
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My wife gave me hell about the stickers too - at first. Solved by showing her that it's common practice and not just her husband's latest weird idea.
When she sees how it's totally normal practice in Europe she'll bite. Show her photos of practically every european mini plastered with stickers at all their events.
The only stickers she sees here are ricers; that's the connection she's afraid of.
Because the PO's photo didn't show the driver/navigator names clearly I used my kids' first initial, middle name - avoiding identifying us by the last name....
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Jerry
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Yeah, thanks - you'll like the rear bar, it does improve the ride; corners a bit 'flatter' and has less understeer. I installed the Luminition Optronic system last spring, something I highly recommend. Most opt for the Pertronix or another magnetic setup, but I prefer the optical concept and its stability.
I ordered more stickers than I applied, wifey (aka Hyacinth) doesn't really understand why I'd consider putting them on and isn't too keen on having our names as driver/co-driver (adamant 'NO!'), so I've kept it simple and the roundels, names and the rest of the stickers are in a cardboard tube in the garage in anticipation that hell freezes over or she leaves me and only then I can I stick them on.
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance
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Ah, you did a Lumenition, interesting. Jeremy at Jet is putting together a rear sway bar for me too, can't wait for it.
The idle mixture is just a simple screw on the 44. And your car just looks great too....
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I took the mini out today for a right proper drive, followed by a light thrashing. Because I don't drive it nearly enough, I'd almost forgotten how much fun it is to drive. I've done a fair amount of tinkering on it since last summer with August as the last 'real' drive before tearing things down for refurbishment. No excessive water vapor, twas apparently nothing to worry about.
Man, I had fun today. Vroom! I ended up in a traffic jam which brought the temperature gauge a bit higher than I'm comfortable with and took forever to get out of, but landed a couple of 'thumbs up' from others parading past. The air-fuel meter shows that it's leaning out a bit at idle, so I'll need to do some thinking about how to solve this. I'll check the torque on the intake manifold screws tomorrow.
Although it's probably as enemic as it always was , it felt to have more power overall; the cylinder head rebuilt, the Luminition ignition is flawless, the rear anti-sway bar makes for a nicely balanced disposition in the corners and I'm thinking that perhaps I'll drive it more often.
Yeah, I had a real fun day, something that doesn't happen often enough. Garage time, mini driving time, 'me' time. cool ...
The peasants are revolting...
"Gone with the Wind" - a brief yet moving vignette concerning lactose intolerance