LITTLE RED BOOSTER - The return Phil Oram,the Welshman in a hurry,is pulling the covers off his famous Turbocharged Riley Elf and rebuilding it for a new hillclimbing season. Read more
Lilly the Pink Progressing swiftly from Norfolk cruisers to International 14 racing boats - the aquatic equivalent of Group B rally cars - James Hoseason steadied his sea legs... Read more
Vintage Ever since Tom Seal offered me a glass of Portugese Rose, I could see he was hankering for an Iberian experience. He had his opportunity last year,when he was approached by Portugese Historic racer Rui Costa,a man searching for more power for his racing Cooper S. Read more
Within a week of returning to our shores, the Mini Spares Monte Mini attended it's first press engagement with Mini World magazine. Mini World journalists are avid readers of Mini Tech News and give us flattering reviews each time they receive a new issue. Crisp folding stuff is not even needed. Read more
Monte Mini -The complete story In January 1994, Monte mania dominated the headlines in the motoring press. The idea that a Mini was again competing in a round of the World Rally Championship, 30 years after its first win, seemed to grab journalist's imaginations. The Paddy Hopkirk entry was first in and received much of the early coverage. Another Mini was announced from the same camp, and then another appeared. Read more
I attended a vintage race the other weekend and had the chance to talk to some of the Mini runners about many different subjects. The conversation started out talking about what was causing his Mini to get a little weird coming out of the fast turns. Of course there can be a whole lot of reasons for this, but this did lead our conversation towards "limited slip diffs". Read more
Pumping Oil In the last issue, I cited that there are many questions, side issues and problems that regularly occupy "Br time. On reflection, the following must be one of THE most popular, so more than a side issue is pertinent. Or more precisely, questions appertaining to their performance. For many other engine types, tuning companies offer both high capacity and/or high pressure oil pumps. This is a very relevant, and indeed praiseworthy option to the standard equipment types. Especially when one considers such bizarre facts as original Ford/Lotus twin cam pumps only supply 40psi of oil pressure. Read more
Mini Spares - 8-Port Project Min If you refer back to the October 1993 edition of Mini Tech News, we were about to embark on modifying the suspension. As luck would or would not have it, we had the advantage of setting up and sorting out the Monte Carlo Mini, which would help us in some directions. After checking the ride height of the car, it was higher on the left hand side by 1 Vs' at the front and W' at the back. Read more
Adjustable Shocks Shock absorbers seem to suffer a little understanding. I'm not going to get terribly technical here, just cover the most commonly asked questions. The first point is that shock absorbers in no way control the ride-height of the car. To illustrate, many people think that because their Mini suspension appears to have sunk on one corner or side, that the shock absorbers need replacing. Definitely not so. Again, shock absorbers do not control the static ride height of the car. it is almost certainly caused by worn knuckle joints/nylon cups, and in odd occasions deteriorated rubber spring cones. Read more
4. MINI SPARES CENTRE NEWS Latest Developments 6. MINI SPARES PROJECT MIN Grilles, exhausts and everything on track Read more
SEAL of Approval In Mini Tech News November 1992, we ran a piece by Tom Seal on the Cooper'S' he was building for Timo Makinen. For reasons which are frankly unprintable, the story was neuer completed, so I decided to pay Tom a visit to find out what was going on. It turned out to be rather a lot. Read more
Mincomp Musings A couple of months ago, I found myself needing to replace one of the power units for the Mincomp Mini, and in doing so I would be having the opportunity to test some new or updated products. Thus I will be devoting a couple of issues to reviewing some of the parts. Read more
I visited my fourth Mini meet this year. Why? Isn't it a busmans holiday? some people ask. Well yes, I suppose it is in a way, but there are good... Read more
Calver's Clinic There are many small side issues, problems, technical hints and general advice that do not warrant a full story, but never the less are important enough to cover. To this end I will be using "Calver's Clinic" as a regular feature in Mini T ech News to cover such things.A friend and colleague of Mini Spares runs the "Mincomp Mini " in America. His name is Bill Gilcrease - those of you who have read Mini Tech News 1 may recall that he was in this issue covering his escapades at the USA run-offs in Atlanta Read more
Mini Spares Centre News For some reason, discs (brake rotors for the foreigners amongst us!) for the 'S'/early GT have become more and more difficult to come by. Well, actually, that is not totally accurate. I guess that statement should read "decent quality discs". I know there is a supply of, erm, EEC country manufactured discs purporting to be high quality, but they are extortionately expensive, and are only totally (?) effective... Read more
8-Port EFI - Project Update Since the first dyno session at Mountune Race engines, and subsequent investigations in finalising an all purpose , single butterfly plenum chamber, development has gone on apace. Unfortunately getting some sample working castings took longer than we hoped, but it wasn't for lack of effort. The supply time was pretty impressive by normal terms for these things, and it was soon time to go back to the dyno. Now, Dave Mountain is a very busy man and so is his company - being heavily involved in British Touring Cars... Read more
Converting WET to DRY suspension The following is a practical way of converting your wet suspension to dry, acknowledging the fact that with enough skill, enterprise and facilities... Read more
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