Caesar the 1275 E - Diary of minor changes

[Vinay-RS]

So it's been a while since I've done work on the Mini and he's been sounding increasingly sick over the recent while. Turns out I hadn't tightened the engine steady nut properly, so the engine was juddering badly. There was also a really loud squealing, the source of which I couldn't identify. This combined with the bad weather meant I've not really looked at these problems.

Fortunately, Abri had suggested that we might be able to get the carbs sorted out and fitted this weekend (which we actually didn't get to fit due to spending too much time trying to get them correct). So since I was there, I asked him for his advice in finding the source of the squealing. Turns out the lock nut for the jet had come loose, and was whining when I pressed the throttle. We also adjusted the clutch and sorted out the loose engine steady. The engine compression on three of the four cylinders was good and on the no. 1, it was a bit low. Also water seems to be leaking from between the head and the block. So Abri re-torqued the cylinder head and I'll check it everyday to see if there is still water coming out.

Since we adjusted the clutch, the close driving position of the S buckets was really making clutch control a pain, as the pedal was sitting a lot higher. So I decided to pull finger and fix that problem by fitting one of the extender brackets that I'd been given.

The biggest pain is that the nuts holding these seats in place were welded in, so I removed the seat from the car, and took a hack saw to the nuts and cut them off. Then, it made sense to wire brush and paint the brackets. They won't get seen, but it's nice that at least now they're a shiny black colour and not rusty brown.





This has definitely helped with the driving position and the feel of the pedals. Next up will be the passenger seat.