I have heard of some useless ones lately.

I want to rebuild a gearbox and will require a good one. Any suggestions??

Here or the UK, I don't mind.

Thanks


Minimad

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You can take the boy out of the racer.........but not the racer out of the boy!

I made one out of 2 old standard pickup pipes. A bit of hacksawing and brazing etc and i got a nice low lying central pickup. I used the gauze from an old pickup to wrap around it for the filter, slightly soldered on and hose clamped on.

Buy the common one and modify it.
Mod involves removing the mesh, cutting the bottom 1/2 off the pipe for about 40mm (I think), then refitting the mesh. This makes it like the early one.
I solder it back on with a hot air gun. It doesn't burn the mesh like a gas flame does.
If using a remote box, bolt it in temporary to make sure the reverse idler[edit] `selector arm' doesn't hit it when engaged. Bend pipe a bit if so. The later pipes generally miss OK though.

Pics of Wombat's when I did it:






[edit] yes you can make one out of 2 stock pipes, but cut the end away as I showed, they work better than the later uncut straight bore ones, which can restrict pickup flow.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

That's a handy mod, Kevin! Thanks! (I'm just about to rip the engine out gain just to fit one )

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No speakers, no bodykits, no six-inch spacers, no spak filler, no bullshit

What's the problem with the standard exit for the central pick up kev? Not enough surface area??

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

The one i made is essentially the same design as the one pictured by drmini, even down to the mod he has done. The only difference is mine is a bit rougher and didn't cost me anything

I've only ever made them. I really don't know what is technically wrong with the 'off the shelf'types, I just find the price offensive.

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Thanks. It would appear that you are modding a minispares one.

Just to add to the confusion, I found this article. It suggests that the mod is now not required with their pickups which have been 'redisigned' about 5 years ago..

Happy to still mod them if you think it nessessary..

Minimad

New design of C-AHT54 Central-oil pick-up pipe (COPUP) - the reasons why

By keith calver

Begin date 07-Jul-2005 End date 08-Jul-2010

For years there’s only been one type of COPUP commercially available, but recently Mini Spares has seen fit to produce a new and much improved version.

part number: C-AHT54

Terminology -
COPUP - Central Oil Pick Up Pipe

This initially caused much apprehension as it was a far cry from the original Abingdon 'ST' design Perhaps the most voiced question was 'Why? Isn't this a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it?'. Not necessarily true - just because it's all there's ever been doesn't make it the most proficient. To understand why, careful consideration of what’s been available is necessary. Examination reveals certain crucial observations.

The standard pick-up pipe is renown for causing loss of oil pressure when encountering either tight/violent or long, sweeping, high-speed right hand bends. Simply because the oil surges away from the pipe located on the right hand side of the gearbox to the left, uncovering it’s end - this standing some 3⁄4” away from the gearbox floor. Consequently it gulps air instead of oil. Not good for bearing/crank/oil pump longevity. Otherwise it works fine – pipe bore and gauze area being more than sufficient. Incidentally - I have had it said to me by racers that competed in the early '60s in Minis that they got around the problem of oil surge by adding another pint of oil. Way to go! Wipe out another 3 to 4 horsepower, stop it revving to anything like what's needed and really hurt accelerative horsepower.

Anyway, back to the plot. To counter this surge problem, moons ago Abingdon Special Tuning manufactured the ‘centre oil pick-up pipe’. Casual observation sees a much longer pipe, bent round at 90 degrees at the end to position the end in the gearbox’s middle area. A gauze fitted that, despite it’s much reduced surface area than standard, doesn’t reduce oil flow. And a ‘clever’ slash-cut underneath at the pipe’s end to make sure the pick-up is as low as it can be. General opinion understood the pipe allowed oil to be drawn from the gearbox’s centre and lowest point, thus avoiding oil loss caused by surge. It solved the problem, everybody was happy and no one saw fit to consider the design.

Closer examination reveals the actual oil pick-up point is not a great deal nearer the gearbox’s centre than the standard item – the slash-cut terminating on the pipe’s underside barely an inch from the bend. And that slash-cut also forces the pipe to draw oil from the gearbox floor – where all that horrible tar-like sludge, dollops of gorilla snot (gasket goo), and metal fragments accumulate. The gauze being a larger mesh than the standard item doesn’t prevent much more than boulder-sized objects passing up the pipe and into the vulnerable oil pump.

Suddenly this design doesn’t seem to be the savior we’d been led to believe it was, only surviving so long because it was the only alternative available.

The advent of modern technology has allowed much progress to be made in all areas of automotive engineering with greater understanding of component performance. Being privy to much of this applied modern technology through friends and associates, and a quick basic course in fluid dynamics, I applied this to our ancient design pick-up pipe to greatly improve it. The areas needing attention were – well, the whole pipe design except the bore size.

The pipe opening should actually terminate in the gearbox center, as close to the floor as is practical, should better filter the available oil, and collect oil from a more favourable area. Turning this into a design, essential details would be a pipe with a straight cut-off at the end positioned in the gearbox’s centre. The straight cut-off allowing the full 360-degree entry to draw oil, a good 240-270 degrees of this from reasonably clean oil away from the gearbox’s floor. And finer gauze for superior filtration, but calculated to give a greater area of available draw (holes) than the cross-sectional area of the pipe to avoid restriction/starvation. Any further improvements would be a bonus – such as easier fitting, and more crank/big end clearance. So that's exactly what I did when I developed the new C-AHT54 COPUP for Mini Spares.

Along with everything else I moved the steady bracket completely out of the way of the crank/big end area to eradicate all fouling hassles - even on long stroke cranks.

There can still be slight hassles when fitting, as the A-series gearbox casings are VERY inconsistent in castings - especially the rod change versions. So some attention when fitting is still needed - but anything worthwhile is rarely free!

If the goal’s to ensure a healthy supply (and that’s quality as well as quantity) of oil at ALL times, then you need a component that will do just that. So make sure you buy one.



Keith Calver

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You can take the boy out of the racer.........but not the racer out of the boy!

Yes, I saw that Keith Calver article before.
Graham Russell told me the older design is better than the new one, on RACE motors.
At the moment I have one of each. My 1360 has a late one, the 1412 (nee 1310) has the old design. Both seem to work fine on a road car (note- I change the oil often, every 1500 miles.)
However, if you are a slack bugger who never changes the oil, these central pickups are not for you. The smaller mesh area can sludge up sooner- so stick to the stock pipe & strainer. (and add 0.5L more oil to keep the level above full)

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.