Amateur Restoration of a 1960 Morris Mini

[BruceK]

My '88 Mini had the ballast built into the wire running to the coil. It's been 7 or 8 years since I fitted an electronic distributor and I had to unwrap the loom with the wire to the coil and trace it back 2-3 feet ( at least!) toward the firewall to get to part in the loom with the wire before the ballast had been fitted. I ended up just running my own new wire along side the other existing wire down to the coil in case I ever wanted to switch back to using a ballast.

[Dan Moffet]

My '88 Mini had the ballast built into the wire running to the coil. It's been 7 or 8 years since I fitted an electronic distributor and I had to unwrap the loom with the wire to the coil and trace it back 2-3 feet ( at least!) toward the firewall to get to part in the loom with the wire before the ballast had been fitted. I ended up just running my own new wire along side the other existing wire down to the coil in case I ever wanted to switch back to using a ballast.

My 1980's era Mini has the same ballasted system. Much more than 8 years ago, I installed a first generation 123 Ignition system for Mini. If I recall correctly, the options were with or without vacuum advance,, but they'd both run ballasted or unballasted. I did not have to change or add a wire. It would run on either voltage. I presume it has the capacity to detect input voltage. I suppose during starting it accepts the full 12V, then runs on 8-9V of the ballasted circuit.

[94touring]

I was looking up the 123 instructions recently and you can run as low as 1 ohm with it as I recall. It has a way to regulate itself.  Most coils for us are 1.5 or 3 anyway, though I just bought a couple of tons performance 1.2 ohm coils to run in the inno that the dizzy says needs 1 ohm. The 1 ohm coils from spares or the like are stupid expensive right now. I can absolutely see a difference between a 1.5 and 3 ohm on it just by the idle quality and bump in rpms.  This summer when the bus coil died on a 123 I used a 3 ohm to get me 2 hours to a town to grab a 1.5 60k volt coil. And even the girlfriend with me with 0 car knowledge noted it drove better.

[scalpel_ninja]

Got some more work done today. Installed the wiring loom, but no connections made yet. The previous owner welded a flat blank plate to the bulk head without any holes, so I had to bore a hole to feed the wires into the engine bay.

Also installed whatever coolant hoses I had on hand.



Lastly, I test fitted the intake and carb. Because of that flat bulkhead plate, the intake manifold couldn't really sit flush against the block without tipping the engine forward. So I used a fender hammer and made a bit more clearance; however, the air filter doesn't fit. I was thinking of getting a foam filter so it can deform a bit as needed.

[BruceK]

Yeah, the bottom of that HIF carb usually seems to have some clearance problems with the firewall on all Minis, whether the firewall has been modified or not. On my Mini, I installed an adjustable "dog bone" engine steady bracket so I could extend the length and tilt the engine forward just a little bit to gain that needed clearance between the carb and the firewall. 

The other trick is to try to work with different thickness of the Phenolic spacer on the carb to manifold interface to move the carb closer to the engine to gain clearance.

I ended up tackling the problem both ways.

[scalpel_ninja]

I installed new track-rod ends but when I torqued them to the existing steering arms (I kept the originals), it seems they don't sit correctly as the new parts have a lip but the arms don't have a matching cut out. I'm guessing I'll need to get updated steering arms?

[94touring]

You have it installed upside down so the taper isn't matching is the problem.

[scalpel_ninja]

You have it installed upside down so the taper isn't matching is the problem.

Well that would explain my problem! 

Thank you sir!

[MiniDave]

Dan's on it!   

[scalpel_ninja]

Got a few more bits in today including the upper engine steady, connected a few wires, and installed the HEL Performance clutch line to the secondary cylinder.

I got this anchor tab for the clutch arm return spring. I think diagrams show it sitting on the bleed valve... not sure how this might be correct with so much slop?



Also test fitted the throttle cable and don't really know how the cable sheath and this ferrule are all supposed to stay in place?

[BruceK]

I believe there's a clip that goes over the top of the accelerator pedal and holds the cable in place.

[94touring]

There's a clip as Bruce says.

[Willie_B]

Plus you are missing the stop arm that under the bolt right there. https://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/stop-accelerator-pedal-59-85

[scalpel_ninja]

I think I did order the clip and will see if it's in the pile of parts that need to be installed.

Sorry I didn't clarify: I wanted to know how that silver barrel in the back where the cable pokes through stays attached to the bulkhead? Is it supposed to stay there? Also, how does the cable sheath on the other side stay put?

Seems these should be there to prevent the cable from sawing into the bulkhead metal...

[MPlayle]

I believe the ferrule goes over the end of the cable sheath and then pokes into the firewall from the other side.  That guides the cable through the firewall and then the clip others have mentioned holds the end of the cable to the pedal arm. 

Tension on the sheath between the firewall and the support clip at the carb keeps the cable sheath and ferrule in place in the engine bay.

[MiniDave]

There is a ferrule already built into the firewall on most of the cars I've seen that the sheath fits right into.
You have to insert the sheath from the engine side of the firewall into the ferrule, then from inside the car you feed the new cable thru the tiny hole and locate the ball in the fork on the pedal, then slip the clip over it to hold it in place.

The ferrule in the pic might be made to slip over the sheath and the locating ferrule already on the firewall, I'm not sure but as Michael says, once you have it all hooked up properly it stays in place. Don't forget to pull all the slack out of the cable before you tighten the little cable pivot thingy on the carb, but leave just a tiny bit of slack to allow you to adjust the idle.

[94touring]

And verify your throttle is actually open 100% with the pedal on the floor.