Hi all,

I want to start my motor up out of the car. I also want to rig up a couple gauges, temp tacho and oil presure. The gauges seems pretty easy but the coil I am not really understanding.

Has anyone done this before and could you give me some pointers on wiring it up?

thanks in advance.

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all you need for the coil is rig 12V from the <+> terminal of the battery to the <+> on the coil. Use a crocodile clip or something so you can remove easy to stop it.
The <-> terminal on coil goes into the dizzy, if it's a Pulsar dizzy (<-> = blue) there's another one (black/white) goes to the <+> coil terminal too.

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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.

Yes
I do it all the time because if a motor is not going to start then its a lot easier to trouble shoot on the ground than in the car.

I got an old coffee table - cheap plastic thing - and basically rigged a wiring loom that included temp and oil pressure gauges and a solenoid. I also got clever and wired in a key start switch. The wiring is fairly simple when you think about it.

Doc is right with his the wiring of the of the coil (not that there was any doubt).

The reason I went to the extra trouble was that I had a few motors I wanted to test and it was quick and easy to swap the entire loom from engine to engine.

Before you start it - take out the spark plugs and an active wire to the coil - spin the motor up on the starter till you get oil pressure on the guage. Be careful not to continously run the starter and burn it out.

When you go to start it - have an old bit of exhaust pipe from a holden or a ford (big diameter) that you can slip over the exhaust and feed outside the garage. You want to listen to the motor not the banging of the exhaust.

Have someone hold onto the motor by the rocker cover because it will rock backwards and fowards and you rev the engine - doesn't need brute force t hold it (so a wife, G/f etc will do) but it could topple over if its not help and you dont want a running motor lying face down on the ground.

If you want the SAS, the police TRG and the entire reserve army on your front door within thirty seconds then start the engine with on an inlet manifold (and carby, of course) bolted to the head. Without an exhaust manifold attached they truely are explosions coming out of the head.

Mike

Mike do you think you could give us a couple of Pic's and I'll add Yours and Kev's to the How to Forum

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

Gaf

Can you remind me if I havn't taken any photos by miod next week - got a few things on until then.

But the answer is yes.

Mike

well i expect you are doing this by next week or I will remind you

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Stop Licking the Dog...I Don't Care Who Started It

I have a 6 x 3 trolley I used for moving the mini around. I have the engine sitting on an old tire on top of it. I will knock up some bars and screw em into the trolley and bolt the engine steadys to it to stop it from tipping over. I will also bolt a pedestal fan to it and point it in the radiator. I will make up a switch board for the fuel pump and ignition. I spose that where the gauges will go too. I will take some pics as its going to be fairly elaborate. thanks for your replys.

Re the starter motor, I am assuming that once the coils wired up I just have to connect a jumper lead to the ( - ) terminal then to the block somewhere. Then get the other lead connect it to the (+) and stike the solenoid in the appropriate spot with it?

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If you have the starter solenoid on the motor, connect the + cable to the `battery' terminal on it.
To start it, touch a wire from there to the start lug on the side of the solenoid (where the red/white wire goes).
Or you could just stick an old screwdriver across the 2 big terminals like us bush mechanics do.

BTW you need decent jumper leads if that's what you are using- the usual ones from Supercrap etc are flat out passing 25A, let alone the 200A+ that a starter draws.

I use 24mm² welding cable and 300A earth clamps.

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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.

Once you make up the switch board - you need to have an earth point. From the ignition switch have one hot wire going to the fuel pump (if electric - I use a spare facet) and other hot wires to anything else electric. For hot wire read positive. Just set the whole thing up as if it was a car.

Assuming negative to earth - run the earth strap from the battery to the both of the clutch cover. Run the Positive to the battery positive side of the solenoid. Then from the other side of the solenoid run the cable to the power bolt post on the starter.

Wire up the solenoid from your switch board as you would on the car and this includes the heavy wire feed from the alternator to the battery post on the solenoid. Also rig up a 12 volt bulb on the swithc board for the little wire warning light off the alternator. Obviously its switched from the ignition.

Then you know if the power is switched on and if the battery is charging when the motor is running.

Dont bother about a pedestal stand fan unless its to blow hot air and fumes out of the garage. You have to remember the engine fan is blowing air from the engine through the radiator If the engine was in the car the hot air would exit under the passenger mud guard. In any case if the cooling system is all okay you won't need a electric pedestal fan.


Once you have the whole switch board and loom thing done its a breeze to quickly swap it from motor to motor.

There are simpler ways to get a motor started but i found you needed ten hands to hold wires etc when you could be tuning the engine etc.

Mike

Sorry Kev
We were both typing the same thing (essentially) at the same time.
Mike

Thanks for all this info - it's exactly what I plan to do when I rip the engine form the Metro. It's running pretty poorly in the car at the moment, so I plan to get it sorted out of the car. Should save my back

I have an engine stand and plan to bolt the motor to that - what's the best way to bolt it on? The stand is one of those typical ones form China with the four adjustable arms.

Nooooooooo Angus Nooooooo dont do that.

Just stick it on the ground and have some one hold it or bolt a couple of lone bits of angle iron to the engine mounts or something.

Dont have a 250 kg engine and gearbox up in the on a rotating shaft - way to dangerous and the torgue will have the engine spinning - even if you lock the shaft (the one that holds the mounting plate) it may just topple the entire engine stand on top of you -

If you need it up higher - stick it on a couple (or more ) milk crates supported by wooden planks to spread the load. Here in Australia the milk crates are free and can be found outside most food shops any morning.


Think safety -

Mike

Aha, that's a good point and a good reason to defer to those wot know better

I will probably knock up something out of 4x2 so it doesn't fall over, and the engine stand can stay in its box, where it's been for three years - nowt like planning ahead...

So If I run a big fat lead to one of the terminals on the starter, would I be able run a wire from each post to a switch? If I do this will I need to use big fat wires like the main live wire to the starter or does not much current flow through the "actuation" switch?

Also would it be at all possible to run any current from the alternator to the battery? I am thinking that running a motor would eventually kill the battery? Or do I need regulators and such so its not worth it?

thanks all

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If building a test bench, I'd put a Mini starter solenoid on there and wire the starter circuit as per original.
I don't bother, nor do I hook up radiator system, as all I want to do is run a motor for a minute or so every year or so, so the rust monster doesn't jam things up inside.
So, I hook the coil up from the battery + terminal, using an alligator clip on the end. Unhook it and she stops.
Not worth the bother of connecting the alternator really. Motor will probably run for a day with no charging. If you must spin it, you won't hurt it provided it has NO WIRES attached.

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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.