Took her for a short drive and then stopped at the American Legion for a burger yesterday, I need to burn up that regular gas.  She really runs nice and smooth.  She starts up right now, first turn.  I do have those little pointers on the timing chain cover just no marks on the harmonic balancer, other than the TDC mark I made.  Will try to read the marks on the flywheel and transpose them onto the harmonic balancer to make it easier to time accurately.  We'll see what premium fuel does in a few days.

Need to give some attention to the Porsche today.  We have an RGRUPPE annual meet in Palm Desert, Ca on the 20th.

Not likely to happen during a Canadian winter since most Minis are hibernating.

OK Kolsen that compression is good and in the realms of reality for daily driving.
Play with the timing you are looking for around 8 to 10 degrees at idle and around 30 degrees max. As you advance it (turn to the right) the idle will raise up just re set it around 800 rpm and if you cannot get to 800 rpm check the carb throttle shafts for wear as i explained in a previous post.
Another thing we have not mentioned is on the A series there is no timing chain tensioner but the A+ has one. The A series is prone to chain wear especially if it is a single chain but as yours has been re built i hope they at least used a duplex set up. Do you know if you have the A or A+ engine ? When looking at the timing with a timing light a worn chain will show with the marks jumping around on you.

A stock 1275 Metro engine would probably have a compression ratio around 10.5:1 , meaning it needs premium gas. You just figured it out the hard way. You can determine your (as originally built) compression ratio using the engine serial number.

Fwiw, Since I bought it in '13 w/regular gas it diesels w/premium not at all. 1275 Metro engine 1.75 otherwise  stock as far as I know.....

thread has some info I found helpful so thanks for that........

  Yup this is the typical MM thread a s**t show. Good advice being drowned out by opinion and internet bravado. 

   

He is not sure he has a 1380.
His timing is 25 degrees max advance.
His carbs were and still are not adjusted 100%.
We do not know the compression figures.
The above notes are what he has given us and are wrong whichever way you want to look at it.
Why would anyone suffer using a clutch in 1st gear to stop the engine when the engine is unknown and has yet to be set up correctly ? By his own admission it used to do it before occasionally and now seems to do it more often or all the time so something has to be wrong. You said in an earlier post "don't worry about the timing" and i believe timing is a big part of his problem as by his own admission he has been unable to set it correctly. Who knows if the engine even has the right spec distributor in it.

The engine may shut off fine when it is finally set up but on the other hand he may need premium gas and he also may need to use the clutch to stop it but one things for sure it will be set up the best it can be and he will not be doing any damage driving it like he may be doing now. It is not a question of him to quote Jemal "chasing his tail to find a problem that isn't" because there is obviously a problem. And it does not take a lot of money to set the car up correctly with what he has, now after that he still may not like the way it drives and feel the need to change things and then it could start getting expensive depending on how much he is capable of doing himself.

I stand by my original posts/comments.

Hey if it wasn't fun to tinker with these cars/engines we'd all be driving a Honda.  I just retired and I like playing with my Porsche and now the Mini.  I work on it because I enjoy it. I appreciate all your inputs and Jemal has been very help full as I have tried to find out what kind of car I bought, remember the original ad I got suckered into was 50% BS.  But I like what I got and don't mind tinkering and learning about Classic Mini's.

Anyway I did check the compression and I had 2 cylinder's at about 200 and 2 at about 195.

After tinkering with the carbs I can now pull the choke and she starts after about one revolution.  I put the choke back in and she idles smooth with a touch or two as she warms up.  

Every 1380 A series engine should be running the best grade of premium available.  Every* "screamer" A series engine will have a run-on "issue" (NOT problem!) using today's unleaded pump fuels.  10 to 1 engines absolutely could diesel just as much as 13 to 1 engines, without ANYTHING being wrong! 

It probably won't happen in a Canadian winter as likely as an Arizona summer, and my advice is always don't chase your tail looking for a problem that isn't!  Yes, if your timing is a mile off, or your mixture is way lean, or you flat out overheat it, a few other things could contribute, but there doesn't HAVE to be something wrong!  If I could absolutely guarantee that I could cure the "problem" by charging you thousands to make your 70-80 HP engine into a 40-50 HP engine would you do it??  Doesn't just using the clutch sound easier?  It's your time, money, and aggravation I'm trying to save!

* Unless it's fuel injected, but let's face it, very few of those qualify as screamers!

Agreed he may need premium gas but why not try to find out "somewhat" what he has first and set it up the best he can on that information instead of masking over the problem by shoving a higher grade of fuel at it that it may or may not need. Kinda putting the cart before the horse.

you legitimate experts please stop fighting over this.

the guy has not even tried premium gas yet. Lets put the monkey over there - not each other.

What assumption, Jemal? You're the one who said you stopped your 13:1 engine from running on using the clutch. You're supposed to be the expert. Using an abnormal engine as an example to give advice is irresponsible. Raising the Robster issue is childish. 

Or you could just keep it simple and use the best premium you can find, and use the clutch to stop it!  I don't know why some people feel that it's necessary to discredit others... How many of these engine have you built cupcake?  It's a foolish assumption to think that I've ONLY built my 13 to 1 engine!  I'm baffled why some of you wad up your panties over my FREE sharing of information based on vast experience!

I may have to let Robster back in to give some of you something to gripe over!! 

Thanks for answering everything i asked.
The blown gasket on the exhaust port should have not affect the mixture on the carb, obviously if the intake port of the gasket was blown it would be a different story.
I am presuming you do not have the regular timing marks on the timing chain cover behind the harmonic balancer. If not and you cannot read the flywheel ones you need to either install the correct timing chain cover or paint at least 3 marks for reference TDC, 10 and 30 degrees on the cover unless you have the adjustable timing light.
Right now i think you could advance the timing around 3 degrees which should make the idle revs rise some. You can get the timing somewhere close for now by advancing it until it starts to run rough then retarding it until it runs rough and then look for the sweet spot in the middle, take it for a ride and if it pings slightly retard it until it stops. This is a temporary cure and you will need timing marks to get it 100%.
You need to try and keep the idle at 800 rpm, the higher it is the more it will want to run on.
Have you done a compression check ? If so what were the readings ?
If the readings are high you may need to run premium.
Another thing to look at with inconsistent idling is throttle shaft wear on the twin SU's. To check disconnect the return springs and move the shafts up and down and see if there is excessive movement you can also put a long piece of 1/4" fuel hose next to the shafts with the car running and listen for a hissing sound, if so you have worn shafts which is a common problem on HS2's.

Yes it did run on but not all the time
The gasket blew out on the center exhaust port but I believe it may have been because I didn't have the right wrench to tighten it, I do now
I haven't figured out the technique to read the timing thru a mirror off the flywheel so I'm not sure the idle number.  I found TDC and marked the harmonic balancer. Then I approximated the circumfrunce to figure the advance so it's still a guess.
Been running regular gas but I will try mid or premium
Idle is about 800-1000
Not really lumpy like a big cam

It was not running as strong before.
When I first checked the carb balance the right carb was off the scale of my air flow checker vs the left that  was about 5 on the scale.  Balancing made a big difference.  When I then used the little plunger on the side of the carbs the engine quit.  I used the needle centering procedure on both, one was off, and readjusted the mixture.  Now I get a slight rise in rpm but I think I can get closer to optimum if I play with it some more.

On my return from my test drive I started out from a stop easy in 1st then punched it and the tire broke loose !!  My porsche won't do that !!

Not a problem. As the po was somewhat misleading about the spec of the engine without pulling it apart you can only take stabs in the dark for now.
Presuming it has been bored and your post indicates maybe twin carbs and no vacuum advance it seems like it is not stock.
Was it running on before the gasket replacement ?
Was the gasket bad on the intake or exhaust ports ?
What is the timing at idle ? It needs to be in the 8 to 10 degrees range.
You need around 28 to 30 degrees full advance (this figure is more important than the idle).
What grade of fuel did/do you run ? Just re read your post yes premium would help.
What rpm's are you idling at ?
Is it lumpy (cam) when idling ?
Sorry about all the questions but if it was running fine but just sluggish before the gasket change and all you have done is change the gasket and adjust the carbs and timing then the fault has to be in the carbs and timing imo.

25 full advance is not enough, you need 30. I say you need a dial back timing light to get it right. I would also use high test gas but it depends on the dynamic CR, which is determined by the static CR and the duration of the cam. A decent motor with a performance cam should have a CR in the 9 - 10 range.

Sorry I wasn't clear on the timing.  As Jemal said we had talked and I use the same technique on my twin plug dual MSD 3.0L Porsche.  Since this distributor has no vacuum advance I just set total advance at a high rpm where there is no further advance and I believe it is around 25 deg.  Between the mark I set on the harmonic balancer (TDC) and the flywheel, what a pain, it's about 25 deg total.

I'm going to fine tune the SU mixture some more as I think they're not quite perfect.

Oh, should I be running premium gas??  This engine I believe is a 1380 so that might help??

Jeremy at Jet Motors offered to look over my car and compare it to the silly list the previous owner advertised.  All I can say is this engine is much stronger than I expected.  And one more thing, I thought it would weigh around 1300lbs but running over a truck scale the other day it said 1500 after I take out my weight.

If it runs on there's something wrong. I wouldn't be following the advice of somebody who has a 13:1 CR motor.

Most of us do a combination of things we are comfortable with!  My right side tank has Sunoco 110 NASCAR fuel so when I mean to hammer my engine, I reach behind My seat and switch tanks!  A famous racer I talk to often simply floors the gas pedal (in neutral!!) knowing an engine won't rev without ignition (that's also all the so called 'anti run-on' valves do.... slowly open the throttle to disrupt dieseling).  I got into the habit of using the clutch because it's simply the gentlest way to stop the engine... my engine and my opinion!  Do what works for you!