73 Mini Innocenti 1300 Export

[94touring]

It certainly isn't slow. Real torque monster down low, right where you want it for a street car.

[94touring]

Got a lot of things done on the Inno today.

Changed the oil

Swapped in an aluminum radiator

Added an med air filter kit with the fancy stub stacks

Checked the toe since it drove squirrely in curves and sure enough it was toe in, adjusted it back out

Tightened/replaced loose zip ties on axle boots

Greased all fittings

Front left shock wouldn't adjust so swapped the fronts out with some spare adjustable gax shocks I had sitting around

Adjusted ride height

Added bulkhead cover

Took it for another drive to see how the radiator would do. The new core measured 50mm, the old core was 30mm.  Before it was hanging around 200-210 cruising and creeping to 220 idling. That was on a cooler day as well.  The new radiator it was stuck right at 180-185. Got up to 200 at a prolonged idle. 

Air fuel ratios still perfect with the stub stacks added.

[94touring]

Got it home.  Drove it all over today fiddling with the last bit of quirks.  Might go another notch softer on the shocks, but it's not bad as is. Need to raise the front right about a 1/4" to match the left, minus 1/8 inch total to account for me sitting in it.  Water temp stayed glued right below or at 200 and it was smoldering hot out.  I'm debating an external fan on the inner wing for prolonged idling, it does creep a bit at idle. My blue mini is even worse and the fan does the trick.

[94touring]

Dave wasn't the only one with a blown head gasket!  After driving it the past few days and letting her rip to continue bedding in the rings, I gave it it's post break in physical.  Well it was low on compression between 2 & 3.  Not crazy low, but a solid 20-30 lower than 1 and 4.  Number 1 was really good at around 180 but 4 was the best near 190. Gave it the wet test and they were all around 210 so figured maybe it just needed more miles.  Slept on it and decided to get a leak down tester to have a listen.  It was pretty obvious that pressure was passing between 2 & 3 by the loud hissing coming from the plug hole of each.  So this morning grabbed one of my backup gaskets and tore into it. The hardest part was probably the twin carbs.  Getting to the manifold studs is no easy task. At any rate I got it all cleaned up and buttoned up. Ran it dry for a couple minutes per online suggestions, as well as what Dave said he's read too.  Gave it another compression test and voila numbers were all around 180 across the board. 1 may have had a little blow by as well into 2 just looking at coloration when I pulled it. Plus it came up in compressionn about 5 points. Tomorrow will add fluid and take it for a spin. 

Also...it turned 85,000 KM on the drive to the shop.

[94touring]

Filled with distilled H20 and some rust treatment and took it for a spirited 37.55 mile drive. It's crazy how much mud minis seem to make in the coolant system.  Anyway, after the drive came back and reset the idle and re synched the carbs.  Gave it another compression test to see how it did after getting a proper drive and a heat cycle on the gasket. Numbers are where they need to be!  185-182-180-190. 

Also while I had the head off yesterday thought I'd double check the math on bore, stroke, and volume.  We're actually a 1425cc motor and at 10:3:1 compression.  The loads of torque would match.  It's easy to spin first getting out onto a road with your foot into it.  The 3:10 gears we went with pair perfectly. 

[94touring]

Got everything working on the car. Minus the dome light that keeps shorting.  That can wait.  Fiddled with return spring tension on the carbs to find the sweet spot between too stiff or too light it doesn't return properly.  Brake pressure switch was dead so I didn't have brake lights. Doh! I stole a manual switch that bolts off the brake pedal from my decommissioned mini pickup.  Had to modify it slightly to fit to the inno pedal box. Got it wired up and wires organized through the firewall.  Checked the rocker valve lash again.  Except instead of doing the rule of 9 like I had been doing it, located 180 on the pulley and marked it.  Now to set valve lash I turn the engine 180 to each mark and set a pair of valves at a time like you'd do on a VW. It's much quicker!  Washer fluid nozzles are spraying fluid.  Flushed the coolant 3 times till the distilled water coming out was mostly clear.  Checked rear brake adjustments.  Reset rear exhaust section further into the Y pipe to rid it of a slight leak, using muffler gunk to seal it. Vin plates riveted on.  Side trim adhered to lip with heavy duty double sided tape rather than drilling and screwing. Front tow bar brackets removed and Eye bolts installed. 

Last but not least was the horn button. We found a button but there weren't guts to it. I sat and stared at it for awhile and then went through my spring bin and got it to push like it's supposed to. Pondered awhile thinking how to get the horn wire to ground itself, but only when you push the button.  Then it occurred to me to get a smaller button to set at just the right height under the factory horn button so that when you push the stock button it then pushes the button underneath. It worked perfectly.

[94touring]

Drove it all over this week.  A little city and mostly highway doing 65-70.  Kept track of mileage using my GPS app to see how far off the speedo is in KM and what type of gas mileage I'm getting. As well as the accuracy of the fuel gauge.  Well I got 32mpg, which I think is pretty good given the driving conditions. Speedo is off about 8%.  The fuel gauge is pretty accurate too.  Took 9.5 gallons out of the 14 gallon capacity and showed about a 1/4 tank left.

[MiniDave]

There's always a certain amount of fettling you have to do when you do a comprehensive restoration like this, I'm glad you've gotten all these little details sorted and are putting some good miles on it.

Time to go have some fun with it now! 

[94touring]

Going to get a quote on having the Chromodora wheels re finished since they've seen better days.  Out of curiosity I weighed 3 sets of wheel and tire combos.  My race wheels with 032s, the Chromodora with 032s, and regular mini wheels with some old 008s. 

Race wheels the lightest of course. Chromodora weighed in at 0.25lbs more. Not bad! The standard mini wheels were about a pound more.

[MiniDave]

Maybe have Paul 3d print some caps that fit properly?, then you can sticker them up again?

Are you going to paint them or have them powdercoated?

[94touring]

The center caps in there are the correct size.  I just need to make something that presses into the center instead of glued permanently into place so I can get the wheels balanced.  The lathe will be used for that project.

[94touring]

Since the fast road 74 is being sold and I'm keeping this Inno, it's time to make a few subtle upgrades to the suspension.  I'm sitting at positive 0.50° camber on all 4 corners at the current ride height.  Ordered adjustable camber lower arms and rear brackets so I can get it setup like the 74, which absolutely rips in curves.  The difference in handling is noticeable. Since I had a dead front shock and added a pair of gaz adjustable shocks, I ordered a matching pair for the back. Also have a big-bigger bore header on the way.  We went with the stage 2 manifold for fast road 1275s and street 1380s, but being this motor is more of a fast road 1425, it could use just a tad more flow.  Going from a 1.75 inch to 2 inch exhaust. I'm doing a few custom things on the exhaust per vizards writings.  Should make it a bit quieter, yet perform better. I did something similar on my bus exhaust and have been very pleased with the results.   Added the bonnet glue on mat today and stuffed some additional sound deadening behind the plastic cover on the firewall opposite the gauges.  Took a quick test drive to see how it sounds, and it's seems quieter.  I suppose the goal on this car is a cross between performance of the 74 mini but all the comfort the Inno already has.  Even though it weighs a lot more and has taller gearing, it sure seems  as fast if not faster.  I drove it pretty hard a few times over the week in speerfish and it did alright, but not nearly as tight as it could be.  I'm happy with how light the magnesium wheels are.  I have some other lightweight items to reduce unsprung weight on the suspension and rotational mass. All things that make improvements but look stock.  Some minifin drums will replace the steel drums for example. Lightweight drive flanges on the front. 

[94touring]

And more...

I was fiddling around with something causing the car to pull hard right.  Checked all the alignments, toe, ran strings, and everything checks out. The right rear drum was dragging a bit more than the left, but I'm not entirely sure it's enough to make it pull that hard.  The alignment shop had two tires rotating the wrong way, maybe that has something to do with it.  I can swap wheels around and see.  Didn't have a chance to drive it with the drums adjusted yet.  Checked the front pads and calipers but nothing is sticking.  Need to put it in neutral at speed and see if it coast straight, perhaps it's something drive train related under power.  Dunno.  I did find a loose ball joint, but that would explain some vibrations driving I was getting.  Somehow in all this I noticed the lug nuts didn't seem to be the proper length and pitch to seat properly. Dug through my bin of lug nuts and put some pink marker on the ends, then tightened up each set and compared how the pink was removed by surface friction.  Well damned if what was on there was barely making contact on the lug face.  New lugs appear to make full contact, or at least way better contact.  Out of curiosity I did the test on a  single lug on the 74 mini with new wheels.  Pics...

[94touring]

Doing upgraded adjustable suspension and 4 pot calipers.   

[MiniDave]

Cool, I like those MiniSport lower control arms and those slick calipers.

[94touring]

Yeah aside from braking action I like how lightweight they are.  I went with alloy flanges too. The blue minis handling and response is so superior in comparison with all these little changes that I decided to make the upgrades.

[MiniDave]

Could you move some of the other "enhancements" you did on the blue car to the Inno?

[94touring]

Could you move some of the other "enhancements" you did on the blue car to the Inno?

Well Jim bought the blue mini as is with a the go fast and suspension goodies.  I also bought the alloy rear arms and adjustable rear camber kit, mini fin drums, and alloy hubs to reduce suspension weight and rotational mass.

[MiniDave]

ahh.....ok, you already have the good stuff ready to go on.

[94touring]

I used a chunk of the sale money to upgrade to what the blue mini had.  The inno is the best of everything! 

[MiniDave]

 

Next up: turbo?   

[94touring]

Oh no turbos for the inno.  Trying to keep it original or original looking at least.