Then I broke down (74 mini mild refurb)

[94touring]

Not tuned pig rich actually!  Idles mid-high 13s with blips to 14, cruise is 16s and wide open is low 13s. 

Rather than Aussie doors for street use, just some regular roll up doors would suffice.  Certainly less expensive.

[Jims5543]

Link tossed in for future shopping.

https://minispares.com/shop/classic/Body/Doors/Doors~Panels.aspx?030404

[Jims5543]

Not tuned pig rich actually!  Idles mid-high 13s with blips to 14, cruise is 16s and wide open is low 13s. 

Rather than Aussie doors for street use, just some regular roll up doors would suffice.  Certainly less expensive.

I did not have time to install my lambda gauge. I will next weekend, it will not idle unless I have the choke pulled, if I release the choke, it runs terrible and will not idle, I need to figure out what is going on.

Next summer?  5 speed swap and Fuel injection swap with maybe a Wolf3D controlling it all.  Or somethign similar. I am willing to drop 10-25K into this car to make it Florida and Jim Friendly.

[94touring]

That's how it's supposed to be. Choke for a few moments/minutes or it's too lean. Once warmed up it's good to go and the ratios I posted.

[MiniDave]

If it's any consolation, my wife refuses to ride in my Racing Green Mini either, for her it's the fear of being run over by the gargantuan trucks and SUVs roaming the streets with distracted drivers.

I don't know if helps any, but mine smells of fuel in the boot even tho there are no leaks, and I get some exhaust fumes too although with roll down windows it's not that bad. I know several other Mini owners who complain of exhaust fumes too, FWIW.

[cstudep]

Exhaust fumes, fuel smell, leg cramps, hearing loss....I just assumed that is supposed to be part of the experience!

The good news is, once your in it for a while huffing the above, you eventually forget about all the rest too  

[94touring]

After 20+ years driving minis you just get used to it lol.  My ear plugs are being left in the car as an honorary thing 

[Jims5543]

This Mini reminds me of my RX7, Mrs5543 would not ride in that either for most of the same reasons, you reeked of exhaust fumes after riding in it for a while. It rode like a buck board due to the racing suspension, it was loud due to the open exhaust. It beat you up and I loved it.

This Mini reminds me of that a very specifically build car for a sole purpose of AX and mountain road carving. Like my RX7 it really begs you to drive it hard.  I took it out Tuesday evening to meet my surveyor friends for a couple of beers, on the way back the roads were empty, I took some nice winding back roads home and had a blast with it, I am ready for an AX no, the car is starting to become second nature to me.

My first AX sitting on the right side of the car should be interesting, its been about 6 years since I participated in a AX event, this is going to be interesting.

I am going to do this first event on the street tires, I do not think I will tap the potential of the racing tires my first time out, next month I will have the racing tires on and I can see the difference.

I have been shopping for a second set of rims, I was initially going to buy another set like what is on there. It was turning into a PITA. 3 weeks ago I placed the order, Force wanted me to wire transfer funds, odd and inconvenient, I agreed, my wife offered to do it for me. She went to the bank and made the transfer. Then I sat and waited to hear from Force for 3 weeks. No contact. Did I just get ripped off?

Then we got a notification the funds we wired were transferred back to our account. WTF? Did he cancel the order?  I email him and he realizes he sent me 10 year old banking info fro an account he no longer has, I almost wired money to the wrong person!

I was over that. Dan suggested I look at rims on the John Brown Wheels website. I was initially going to grab these:



They were out of stock, then I was offered a similar rim that was a little lighter, with the same design. I almost ordered those, then saw these which are another kilo lighter and went with these for my street tires.  These with 4 new Yoko's were still cheaper than the Force rims alone, I do not need 3.5lb rims for the street, I'll survive with heavy 8 lb rims instead.



This weekend I want to get the O2 sensor installed and I have to mount my helmet cam which I will probably do this evening. 1 week from Sunday I  will be participating my my 1st AX in this car and my first AX in too many years, great to be doing this again.

[MiniDave]

Be sure to post some video of your runs!

[94touring]

I still can't believe Force uses old school wire transfers. You had to walk into a bank rather than use Zelle or any other number of forms of electronic payment?  My bank lets me "wire" using zelle.  It's how I collect rent from my tenant too. No fees and instant.

[Jims5543]

Well, I am not up on the cash apps. I have Paypal, and I think my bank offers a Zelle option which I have no looked into.

We were just talking about payment services for my company, we use Freshbooks and I cannot recall the name of the merchant service we are using.

My wife was going to look into Square for payment service. Everyone wants to use a credit card now. I don't blame them, I do too, card points for the win!

As I posted in the Evolve thread, after I hit post here, I am off to the races for the next 2 days being short handed at work.

[Jims5543]

Wow! I placed an order yesterday for those rims/tires and they shipped today.  I am amazed.

[Jims5543]

I had to give some tax info for customs this morning.  UPS still showing Monday delivery.

I ordered a set of Cocomats for the Mini, I am a little disappointed by the color, the sample they sent was darker, this is lighter, I wanted a darker blue, I am OK with these, just not what I was expecting.

[Jims5543]

Made some time this weekend to get the O2 sensor installed. It was more out of necessity at this point as the carb came out of tune, I thought it was imagination on Tues night that she was not running right. Saturday I took it to the office then to run some errands after I was done in the office, then I was sure something was off.

I decided to just install it after tweaking the carb jet a little so I could see what was going on.  She is running great again like the day it arrived. Dan thinks the carb is just wearing in a little and settling down.  I agree, it took 1/4 - 1/2 turn on the jet to make it happy again.

I am going to see if I can use my quick jacks on this tiny car next time I need to put it in the air. I am not sure if it will work due to the quick jack using jack pads on the car, I may be able to position the rubber pads on the QJ to hit the right places on the Mini frame. I have to get on the floor and look. I used ramps this past weekend since this was an easy quick deal.

I found some power on the fuse block(?) to pull 12v for the O2 sensor and keep my 12v lead int he car free for other things. Like a in car cam. 

I ordered a 2 gauge mounting bracket so I can mount the tach and O2 sensor in it, it should be here by Friday.

[94touring]

Just make sure you jack it from the subframes.  On the front I will use the ear? of the subframe where the tie rod meets near the eye bolts. 

[Jims5543]

I think it would be easier to pass a bill through congress than it is to get these rims through customs.

They are stuck in Kentucky. I finally got the paperwork the way UPS wants it.

[94touring]

I think it would be easier to pass a bill through congress than it is to get these rims through customs.

They are stuck in Kentucky. I finally got the paperwork the way UPS wants it.

Is that why we have Senators?  Lol

[Jims5543]

I failed my civics class. 

[MiniDave]

Well, if they're in the states - that's a positive thing anyway!

It's surprising to me the types of things that get hung up in customs, ball bearings seem to be a real problem for them, but not if they're part of an overall shipment of other parts for some reason.

I've seen them fly thru on one occasion and get stalled for weeks on another, both thru the same port of entry. I guess it depends on who's on duty that day.

[Jims5543]

UPS sent me a $180 bill this morning, $135 to the government for import tax the rest to UPS for "fees".

The rims are still in Kentucky, 1 week after arriving in the states. Gotta love the efficiency. Glad I am not in a hurry, my only problem now, when will they actually arrive?  I am leaving Tues next week for the North Georgia mountains for the holiday weekend.  I may have to get a neighbor to keep an eye out for them.

Mission this weekend, get the in car cam hard mounted, install the gauge mount, check the intake and exhaust nuts to make sure they are tight, Dan and I have been in touch, the sudden lean mixture and now the overwhelming exhaust odor inside the cabin has him thinking there may be a leak due to a loose nut(s).

The weather finally broke here, as I saw someone say on the internet, Florida went from 80 to 40 as fast as a car coming up on a state trooper.

Obviously, now that the weather is perfect to drive the Mini in, I am driving it today.   

[MiniDave]

I've seen some Maniflow headers crack in the Y between the 1 and 4 tubes.....had to weld my own one up there for the same reason - terrible exhaust fumes in the car.

I've also heard of them sucking fumes in via a poor fitting deck lid seal.

It might be hard to see the crack in the header, I couldn't see mine till I took it out of the car, but mine left a pretty good telltale smudge on the back of the valve cover.

[94touring]

I had a header leak on the innocenti whenever I had to do that head gasket. But it was obvious because of an oddball sound. Plus after a drive there was black exhaust soot on the rocker cover.  I didn't notice exhaust fumes, but it's sealed up at the firewall pretty good.

Crack at the Y makes sense. Hadn't thought of that. It would explain the lean readings too.   

[94touring]

The more Jim and I talk the more it sounds like he's not used to that lovely mini smell lol.

Add these to your cart, it may help a little.  Minispares has their black Friday sales right now too.  The bulkhead material will quiet it down a smidge.  You could get the bulkhead bonnet combo, like I use on the inno, but you'd want to cut a hole for the bonnet vents.


https://minispares.com/product/Classic/Body/Boot/Fittings_seals/CKE10018.aspx?030302&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/boot%20rubber.aspx|Back%20to%20search


https://minispares.com/product/Classic/Interior/Trim/CZH798.aspx?1708&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/bulkhead.aspx|Back%20to%20search


Combo

https://minispares.com/product/Classic/Body/Bonnet/Fittings_seals/CK975A.aspx?030201&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/bulkhead.aspx|Back%20to%20search


Also fitted one of these bulkhead hole blanking plates from Japan. 

https://classicminisjapan.com/products/bulkhead-blanking-plate/ 

And one other pro tip on this car....the turn indicator bulb frequently likes to come out of its cage on the back of the speedo if you look at it wrong.  If you install the bulkhead sound material or more labor involved Japan cover, just make sure the bulb is in it's home before you button it up.

[MiniDave]

I noticed on my green car I really only get the exhaust smell when the windows are down, when rolled up and the dash vents are open, there's no stink at all!

Of course, in FLa Jim probably has the windows open all the time.....

[Jims5543]

Dan had left a lead on the dash here for Ignition switched 12V. When I ordered my dash cam I requested that it have bare wires (It was a option) so I could hard wire it in. It arrived with cig lighter plug, I know I could just cut that off, but felt that was a sign to just install a cig lighter in the car.

On Friday after work I installed the AF gauge, and a cig lighter with USB ports. Now I can charge my phone while driving and I can plug the in car cam in and unplug it as I desire.