Mechanical Moz

Some interesting stuff on the ARP website, particularly about the effect of lubricants on preload repeatability. http://arp-bolts.com/p/technical.php#p7TPMc1_3 Going to back to the little A series and its big ends, in Vizards "Tuning the A series engine" there is a section on ARP fasteners and the recommendation of using their supplied lube on the threads and all mating surfaces of washers and nuts to increase the clamping force for a given torque. As an example of how the torque specification can differ for fasteners doing seemingly the same job, the ARP rod bolt kit torque specification is 55 lbft using their lube. Although they recommend you measure the stretch instead if possible. The Rover service manual makes no mention of whether the fasteners should be lubricated or not and specifies the torque as 37 lbft for big end bolts, 33 lbft for big end nuts.

I've refitted the Brise now but here is a picture of the WOSP with the spacer mounted to rotate the solenoid as far under the motor as I could get it. The Brise is just the same.

Yes it does, that is how it is positioned in the pictures above. The solenoid ends up in line with the lower mounting bolt hole, that's as far round as it will go before it hits the block. As a result the lower mounting bolt needs to go through the adaptor plate before the motor is rotated, you can see this in the first picture.

Unfortunately replacing the Brise starter (with an identical WOSP unit) didn't cure the problem of the engine starting then dying unless the throttle was held open. I went through all the connection points from the battery to the ECU supply and found corrosion in the spade connector between the purple wire from the ECU fuse and the brown/slate wire into the MFRU, but replacing this connection had no effect. In the end I connected another car battery up with jump leads to the Ultramax NP12-20 battery in the car and this cured the problem. Happy that there wasn't a problem with the wiring or the starter I ordered a new Banner battery. Sure enough with this fitted the car starts just fine. I suppose thinking about it now the problem developed as the original Banner died, got a bit better with the new Ultramax but then deteriorated again and is now cured with a new Banner. I guess with these starters and batteries everything is just on th edge of working properly so there is little room for loss of performance in any given part of the system. My reason for not replacing the old Banner with new in the first place was the car is kept on a conditioner and the Banner loses electrolyte, whereas the Ultramax is sealed. My thinking now is to prevent the parasitic drain of the immobiliser by fitting a switch to the permanent live supply for the 5AS module. I don't particularly want to fit a full battery cut off, just an easy way to prevent the drain whilst the car is unused for weeks.

Finally following up with the pictures of the Brise and WOSP starters. Spot the difference...

Just yesterday I replaced a Brise C890510PGR with a WOSP LMS430. Needn't have bothered, they are identical apart from the adaptor plate they use to attach to the engine. Even then the only difference is the WOSP one uses the Caterham spacer whereas the Brise does away with it. Pics to follow when I'm next on my laptop.

What about Oakmere? The guy I was speaking to at the launch last year said they were going to offer suspension set up.

https://minispares.com/product/Classic/Grilles_Brightwork/Wipers/Kits/8B12396.aspx Stainless steel so perhaps not the look you're going for, could be painted though. In which case cheaper ones are probably available on eBay. Although the holes in the Mini scuttle must be round (or very close to) as they came with grommets as standard.

Thanks, that would be great. I'll BM you for details.

Looking for a starter spacer so that I can replace my trouble causing Brise with a Powerlite or WOSP. These are £47.40 inc p&p from Caterham so I'd prefer to pay a decent bit less than that. Would be interested in an original (Magnetron?) starter motor with the spacer if anyone has the complete package?

Does the WOSP/Powerlite starter still require the Caterham starter spacer? I'm also one with a problematic Brise I'd like to replace. The Brise was on the car when I bought it so I don't have the spacer and £40 to replace it seems a bit steep.

A good explanation of how the Lucas 2 speed wiper system works, including the flick wipe. http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/wiper3.htm

The Caterham unit is made by Technisol, although I haven't been able to find any more information on it I think it's just a clone of the 6DA. I have a 6DA fitted in a Mini and it works with the flick wipe. Holding the flick wipe for <1.5s activates the intermittent wipe, repeat to cancel. Holding the flick wipe for >1.5s performs a single sweep of the wipers without activating the intermittent function. A single sweep of the wipers takes approx 2s I've been thinking myself that I'd like to install a flick wipe switch/button on the 7, possibly on the wheel.

Awesome, now I can do both!

Brands Hatch I'm definitely in, Cadwell less likely but not completely ruling it out. Having a club track day to look forward to is a great way to lift the winter gloom!

It will be interesting to see how long it takes USB type C to gain traction and become the standard. Quite a while probably, unless Apple put it in the iPhone perhaps. Infuriating that just as micro USB has become pretty much universal for portable device charging (Apple excepted) suddenly the game changes again.

No problems, I found this picture I had of the starter and you can just see number 4 primary at the top left.

Have you put fresh fuel in since you used it a couple of months ago?

Some modern engines use an electric water pump and control the flow rate instead of using a thermostat. Davies Craig make aftermarket kits but they cost a lot more than a thermostat. In the 90's BMW used electronically variable thermostats, they were ECU controlled and used to raise the coolant temperature at steady cruise.

I have a Pure Move 2500 that I use in the Seven. It works OK but loses signal when you get to parts of the countryside where the best roads are, which is when the car provides the better soundtrack anyway.

I did similar to DJ, cutting down an old CV boot from a classic Mini. After cleaning the bearing there was a small amount of play which disappeared once I packed it with grease. Also put a smear of grease on the selector fork.

An appropriately sized block of wood can fill the gap between the new battery and the standard bracket. I used a relatively dense hardwood because I had a piece roughly the right size, a lighter wood could save a bit of weight.

Like F355 said the black box sounds like a combined dim dip relay and resistor. The general consensus with other classics is to bypass it, but I don't know how you would do that in the Caterham installation.

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/302332-what-type-of-welder-should-i-get/ Worth looking for a good second hand set if you're not going to use it much, I picked up a 130 amp Cebora mig with a new spool of wire and full size gas bottle for less than £100 some years ago. It needed all the serviceable parts of the torch replacing but they were only a few quid from a local welding suppliers. If that's the only welding your Mini needs though you're a) a very lucky man and b) probably not worth buying a welding set for.

Even if the sump won't come forward far enough for the bolt to come fully out of the hole in the bell housing it should move far enough to get a hacksaw blade in and cut through it. I'd try just dropping the sump first though. I'd also check the other engine to bell housing bolts, the head could have snapped off through bending rather than twisting if there is movement at the joint.