1982 Leyland Mini 1275E

[Tiaan]

Hi.

I bought a Leyland Mini 1275e about 4 years ago.  It was in a horrible state as it was used as a stunt car for clowns.
I bought it for my girlfriend to drive as she always wanted a Mini because her grandmother had one till the day she passed away.
I got the dents taken out, resprayed and re-upholstered.

I then started with the brakes, changed all the seals from the master to the slave cylinders.
I then changed every single engine and gearbox seal that there is and while I was was at it even changed the clutch, skeemed the flywheel and replaced the clutch slave cylinder.
I also replaced the timing chain with the tensioner.
I then re-greased the CV's, changed the ball joints and got the wheel alignment done.
I got a new exhaust system installed as the old one was rusted to pieces.

I replaced the water pump, the thermostat, re-cored the radiator and replaced the water pipes. I also flushed the water ports in the engine.

After everything was done I took the car out for a drive and it was boiling hot again.  So hot the pressure tank was boiling.
That was two years ago as I left it.
Yesterday I got the courage again and took the head off to replace the head gasket and put new unleaded valve seats and valves in.

Can anyone maybe help me by telling me why the car is still overheating?

[Jared Mk3]

Welcome sounds like you've done a lot of work to the car. Get some pictures up.

[Miniac]

Welcome to the mini fraternity Tiaan.

This might seem a bit odd or insignificant but is the fan blade on the right direction as they are directional? Another thing that could be an issue is fueling and timing as they can both play a part in the motor running hot, also you mentioned replacing the thermostat, what temp stat did you install?

From a personal experience, I recently had a similar issue and replaced pretty much all the items that you yourself have listed and in my case it turned out to be rust build up in one of the water galleries in the head, which was a result of the car standing, so it might very well be a similar situation in your minis case.

Hope we are able to assist you in remedying the problem

Regards
Ed

[Vinay-RS]

Welcome Glad that you've got the courage to get the little mini going again. As above, get some pictures up, we love pictures

[Boyscout]

Welcome Tiaan.

I also hunted high temp issues on my mini. Check the pressure cap on the expansion tank. It must have the correct pressure rating. As mentioned check fan orientation.

To cure my issues I did the following:
1) Take water from the heater take off through a heater matrix as aux radiator. Big improvement.
2) Electric fan with temp switch, mounted on the other side of radiator.
3) Flat cap on radiator, pressure cap on expansion tank.
4) Still became hot at high speed, full throttle. Sorted with richer needle.

Make sure timing isn't set too late. In my experience the Mini needs quite a bit of advance.

[Tiaan]

Thank you all for the welcome.

I must look for my before photos and then I will post after photos.
The spray work was done very poorly and has to be redone.
The seats were also not covered the way I wanted it, so I will try and negotiate with the guy who did it to redo it.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday when I removed the head.

Before removing the head.  I know the creepy pipe looks sh#t, but it was an attempt to get cool air through the carb.
   

This is the head when it is off.
Look between cylinder 2 and 3 it is dark, did it leak through there?
   


Here you can see the fan.
   

The Mini mechanic here in Pretoria checked the fan and said it was the right way around.

[Boyscout]

Fan is the right way round. Is the heater connected? Does it run cooler if heater valve open?

Two outer cylinders are running lean. Is that a pressure cap on the rad or just a flat cap?

[Tiaan]

That is a flat cap, the pressure cap is on the pressure tank side.
The heater was connected, but it still overheated then, I connected the pipe straight past the heater, I know it is suppose to go into the top pipe, not the bottom pipe. I was scared the old heater matrix was leaking, because it is 33 years old, this is a 1982 model.

I am thinking of maybe getting a Golf heater matrix and putting it behind the grill and plumb the heater pipe through there, or is there a better heater matrix to use?

[Miniac]

Most of us just use the mini heater matrix as they seem to work well and obviously if you're not using your heater then you've already got one that you can use by removing it from inside the heater box.

[Tiaan]

How can I see the difference between a two core and a three core Mini radiator?
Did the 1982 1275e come out with a two core or a three core radiator?

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Here is the car when I bought it.
   
   
   
   
   

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Here is the car in it's previous job.
   
   
   
   
   

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