Hi all,
Glad to report that the 70S project is finally underway. I have ordered tons of parts and will be handling the mechanical aspects for now. We'll then enjoy the car for a while before doing body and paint down the road somewhere. The only non-stock addition will be rear lap belts for the carpet sharks. I may keep the white roof also (originally mono tamarisk green), and lose the bonnet stripes.



I do have a few questions for now.

Carbs--I have the set on the car, and another rebuilt set. The rebuilt ones are non-cooper, but wonder what they're from. On the car are numbers AUC870 and AUC871, with tags that have AUD146L and AUD146R on them. The rebuilt ones have AUD146L and R, but are numbered AUC8450 and AUC1342. They also have vacuum takeoffs which I don't think should be there. Any thoughts on what the numbers tell me about these four carbs?

What was the fuel line arrangement under the car, i.e. rubber fuel hose all the way to the front, metal pipe with rubber hose at the rear, etc.?

There is a backup switch on the gearbox--was it standard, and what was it used for? I don't have any sort of backing lamp on the car. Was this an option?

How was the battery cable routed?

Does anyone have a photo of the correct mounting for the horn and its bracket? I think mine is bent--it seems too far to the rear and is shorting a wire next to it and causing the wire to melt.

What was the correct distributor cap, straight or 90-degree?

In a past post, someone had told me of a famous Aussie open-wheel racer who had owned this car before me. I contacted him and he sent me a photo of himself with the car. For the life of me, I can't recall his name. Andrew Nelson comes to mind, but I just can't remember. Anyone?

What did original front seat belts look like, any photos? Was there a logo on the buckle? I am considering these for front/rear:
http://www.7ent.com/detail.cfm?pageid=2691
http://www.7ent.com/detail.cfm?pageid=2118

What mirrors were originally on the car? I have some bullets that don't have any rise to them, and are worthless--can't see anything at all. Recommendations for good mirrors that are reasonably correct for 1970?

Thanks to all as always, and talk soon.
Ben McCafferty
Seattle, WA, USA

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

In 70 your carb setup depends on whether or not is was a police pack or not.
Police pack had the 1 1/2 twins and no PCV valve. They had a vacuum pipe that linked both carbys via black rubber hose and a plastic Y piece that ran onto the oil breather on the side cover plate. They used the same fuel rail setup as the 1 1/4 SU's although the heat shield was different.
The fuel line ran from braided Smiths Petroflex lines with green spring clamps onto a solid line under the car located under the skid plates that cover the hydro pipes. The fuel line stopped a couple of inches above the plate that secures the hydro pipes in the engine bay on the passenger side. There should be a reddish coloured rubber ring around the fuel line at this point to stop chafing. The fuel line joined onto more braided hose that went to the fuel rail, again with more pale green spring clamps.
Your car probably has dual filament indicator lights. These illuminate when you select reverse.
The battery cable ran along the drivers side again under the skid plate near the hydro pipes.
The horn on the 70 should bolt to the drivers side inner wing. There are a couple of different horn brackets yours should be relatively flat with about a 5 degree bend on it, not a 90 degree bend. That is for an earlier model to go onto the apron panel.
The distributor cap should be brownish bakalite and is straight exit. Your leads should have 1 2 3 4 stamped on them and are black.
The seatbelts in 70 changed and had an L on them with the Leyland symbol.
No mirrors were fitted from the factory.

I used to own a Tamarisk Green S that was completely original and unmolested. The car was restored and went on to win the RACQ concourse a few years ago among many others. I have heaps of photos of this car I can send you. I will just need to scan them in.

As for the correct carby setup you would first have to ascertain if your car was a police pack or not. Also mine had rear seatbelts from the factory. Check for captive nuts welded and visible from inside the rear wheel arches. I think I still have a spare set of original rear seatbelts in storage.

If you dont already have it I have a spare original paint sticker for Tamarisk green that sticks to the firewall on the drivers side.
Hope this helps
Greg.

In my opinion ditch the white roof and the stripes. Tamarisk green is such a beautiful colour on its own.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Wow Greg, that is all really helpful and I would love to have the photos! Maybe you could upload them to a public hosting site, i.e. photobucket.com or something like that?

I do have the original tamarisk green sticker from the firewall, but it is in bad shape and I would love to buy that and the lap belts from you. Any leads on original front belts also? I went to look at the car just now, and as it turns out, the holes for the seatbelt mounts are also there on the fenders (never saw them before), but not drilled out, i.e. inner metal has the holes, outer metal does not. In the bulkhead behind the rear seat there are just holes into the boot where the nuts would go in later cars. The mounts I bought are on this page, seventh item down:
http://www.minisport.com.au/category59_1.htm

Here again, photos of how they were actually done would be great, before we go welding something in that doesn't make sense.

I don't believe the car was police pack. The current carbs are 1.25. Are there other signs that would indicate police pack on it?

Here is a photo of my horn--you can see the melted wire just aft of it (is that the starter relay that the wire attaches to?):


In that same album is a cool sticker under the rear seat, driver's side, "prime and paint OK, BLMC". Wish I could find that one too! Do you have any leads on where to find the tamarisk green paint in an accurate match?

Again, many thanks.
bmc

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

Fuel line was a metal tube running under the car. It stopped under the rear subframe and then was joined to the electric fuel pump by a metal braided fuel line. The fuel pump had another braided hoce going up into the boot area where joined another metal petrol pipe that ran alond the boot (along the rear seat area) then another short metal braided hose joining each fuel tank.
At the front the metal line comes up and another braided hose joining it onto the fuel rail pipe on the carbs. I cannot remember the diameter of the fuel hose, but someone will know.

The battery cable runs under the car near under the skid plates and there should be some tabs that hold it there and then the skid plate goes over the top.

These skid plates hold, cover and protect the hydro pipes, fuel line, brake lines and battery cable.

There is certain sides that these things go on, but i cant remember

Good luck

Brenton

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If you don't have SU specification publications the best place to research SU queries is the SU UK site - http://www.sucarb.co.uk/default.aspx
Use the product search function.

To answer your question AUD146 is the 1275 Cooper S specification - see http://www.sucarb.co.uk/fileUploads/spe ... %20146.pdf

There's some nice pictures of a Tamarisk Green ex-Police MK II S here - http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19620

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

The original Lucas Australia cap was black but is no longer available NOS. The only new replacement available is the brown one.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Have a look at my post on the first page of the following thread to see the basic changes made by the factory and NSW Police on the MK II S. Bland and unpopular colours (for their day) such as yours were used on NSW Police specification MK II S's because they were unmarked pursuit cars. They didn't want to draw attention to them. In particular they usually didn't have a white roof, like most Cooper S's sold to the public. Back in the 1970's if you were a lad and had an S you wanted everyone to know so a white roof was mandatory.

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65607

One of my 1970 S's was Kelp Beige (now Jet Red) and the other Baltic Blue, both without white roof.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

In August 1970 they were still using the BMC symbol on the seat belts and the rubber pad on the steering wheel. I don't know the exact date when they changed to the Leyland Australia symbol.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I believe it is somthing that could be added. Police Pack Cars had reversing lights fitted as part of the Police Pack. If the extra wires seem to be included in the original loom to the rear that is one method of Police ID. Others on the forum should be able to help with other things to look for. Police cars were often also ordered in a monotone colour too for stealth (they were unmarked Highway Patrol and looked less like a Cooper S that way).



These on eBay were the style used in Australia.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Morris-Austin-Mini-Cooper-BMC-Seat-Belts-/170592650259?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item27b81d4413#ht_500wt_1156

Although for you not blue obviously. They were Lap/Sash style (across the lap and chest) although as already noted yours were possibly with the Leyland Button rather than BMC. The originals belts, to be safe, need to be nice and firm across your chest then you often can't reach switches, that's why those long switch extensions were so popular

If you decide on something not strictly original there are modern inertia reel sets that can be fitted without any modifications. I have a set in my 68 S and they are excellent. Depending on local law you may need an engineer/safety check of their fitting but I believe most later (say post 65) Mini's have sufficient strength in the B pillar for inertia reel.



As stated, from factory no mirrors, however BMC/Leyland had a number of styles available for fitment as accessories. A search of the forum may turn up some old accessory pamphlets showing these.

I was reading through one of your old posts, did you work out the best way to get reverse. I've found you need to use a bit of momentum to get to reverse, so move lever to left then quickly to the right and it will click in, or a sharp "knock" with your open hand. If you just push you feel like somthing is going to break even though thats the way it's descibed in the handbook.

Good Luck with the resto!

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68 Morris Cooper S Mk1 (*ex 78 1275 LS 4th last built, 70 Morris 1500 OHC & 70 MiniMatic)

The standard Lucas AL136 rear light backing plates were modified by replacing the top single filament globe holder for the turn indicator by a twin filament equivalent. The globe was a 21w/21w twin-filament. See if you have these backing plates. Also, the wiring for the reversing lights was included in the rear loom rather than just running another wire. The terminating plug is in the photo below.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Was definitely changed by Oct 70. Cant comment on the steering wheel badge as was missing from this car, Prototipo was fitted.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Well I'll be damned! I had a look over the car this morning, and I think it is ex-Police after all. Here's the list from the other thread, and comments on my car with some pictures below. Would it be safe to assume that the 1.5 carbs could have been pilfered to another car long ago, and replaced with the 1.25s that are on there now?

Is having an ex-Police car a good thing or a bad thing? I think it's kind of cool, and definitely makes me want to put it back to mono tamarisk green to further embrace the history of the car. Not sure about putting all the bits back, but maybe? I assume they are pretty much unobtanium?



1. Handbrake warning light switch (or the hole where it was fixed).
--I don't see this, but there is an unidentified bolt head just forward of the brake on the driver's side, right up against the cross member.

2. Warning light itself (not present on your binnacle, which could've been swapped).
--Not present, but what color wire would be taped out of the way behind the speedo/binnacle if it's there?


3. Two-speed wipers (wires imbedded in wiring loom)
--Single-position wiper switch, three wires to the wiper motor, but a fourth wire with terminal is present and taped back out of the way.

4. Reversing lights (wires in wiring loom and twin-filament globe holders for turn indicators).
--Haven't looked at the wiring yet, but the indicators have twin-filament bulbs and come on when reverse is engaged.

5. Holes under the top crossrail in front of the driver for Smiths tacho bracket.
--These are present, to the right of the driver's centerline. Smiths tacho is also present, but mounted in the shelf forward of the driver instead of the top rail.


6. Lowered front seats.
--Not sure how to tell this.

If used by NSW Police:

7. Holes in top of front seams for mesh sun shield.
--Three holes on each side, filled but visible, I've removed filler from one in the photo.


8. Hole in the middle of the roof for aerial.
--Present, can definitely feel it through the headlining and also the filler is cracking on the roof.

9. If country-based car, holes in subframe for sump guard and holes in valance for driving lights.
--Subframe has three holes about 3/16" in diameter, valance has holes just inboard of the bumper mounting points (two) at the edge of the seam where the bumper mounts, and also has two holes between the grille and the curve towards the bumper (two, filled). Both are approximately the same spacing as the lights in the picture of the wrecked police car.

10. Pair of holes to the far left of the parcel shelf for brass ID plate.
--Not sure about these. All I see is the factory speaker hole with four screw holes in a square around it. Do you have a picture?

11. Telltale marks made by two grub screws in the leading edge of the door where Wibroc mirror was fitted.
--Picture attached of the holes in the doors. At least two of them were for bullet racing mirrors, but other holes on the car have been filled and at some point I'll have a look behind the door skin to see if these are present. Were they two holes vertically, or horizontally?


12. Holes in front of power brake booster for siren.
--I believe I have these, photo attached. Would this also account for the car horn being moved to the apron panel, instead of being mounted on the inner right guard?



So, what say you all? Ex-NSW police car? Does "country car" mean it was used out of the city?

Yikes, I'm pretty stoked right now. Very fun to learn more about the history of the car.

Ben McCafferty

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

So this of course begs the question, are 1 1/2 SU's available at all? Also unobtanium?

And what is the number on the hotter cam that was included--is it visible without tearing down the engine?

b

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Ben McCafferty
Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
1970 ex-police mk2 Cooper S

Ben,

Looks very much like you have an ex-NSW Police pursuit car. Of course you can never be 100% certain without provenance (original owners book or other paperwork with the body and engine numbers listed) because anyone can drill holes. But a patched hole in the middle of the roof is big bit of evidence, as well as the sun shield holes. I'll post some more pictures later today.

Is owning one a good or bad thing? Given that these cars were required by the contract with NSW Police to exceed 100 mph they are the fastest Cooper S models to come off a production line anywhere in the world, as far as I know. Here in Australia they are sought after by the Mini enthusiasts.

You can't check the camshaft without removing it. The Police specification (Special Production Order 41, or SPO41 for short) listed the BMC Special Tuning C-AEA800 or C-AEA731 camshaft. Both are the same 'rally' profile, they just have different oil pump drives.

Changing carbys is fairly common. Perhaps it had a Weber or Dellorto at some stage and the owner wanted it to be back like original, without realising original meant 1 1/2" SU's.

Doug

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

NSW Police used different types of Wibroc external mirrors. The main one was as you see fitted to the wrecked S on the trailer. It slid over the leading edge of the drivers door and had two grub screws that may have left a mark along the seam where the outer door panel folds over the inner above the top hinge. They also used the Sportsmans mirror (Bullet shaped racing mirror). Your holes look like the latter has been fitted.
I'll post some photos later.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43