im currently in the process of rebuilding my engine and this arvo i got alittle bored and decided to install my new points and clean and regrease the distributor alittle. so i thought well the points were never ajusted correctly so i lets see what gap i was running i measured it to about 032 thou with about 007 thou wear.. i do know that the specified gap is around 015thou. so with a huge gap like that would it have made much ifluence to the power?? it seemed to run fine to me.. ran on alittle and struggled when cold.. thats it.

cheers
matt

Mate that is a huge points gap!

Do you have a dwell meter?

My guess is that the dwell angle would have been huge. If the dwell angle is too big it'll burn the points really easy, where as if the angle is too small it won't give the coil sufficient time to build up charge.

I always like to do final adjustments using my dwell meter to make sure the dwell angle is correct because the dwell angle takes into account distributor wear.

At the moment I am running about a 0.008" gap and am only getting about 50° dwell angle. My dizzy is shagged and needs a rebuild.

For optimum running my De Luxe (should be the same for most mini's I would imagine) is a 57° - 63° dwell angle.

Did the engine use lots of points when it used to run? I always make sure my points are clean (grease and oil free) before I put them in, my hands are clean and grease/oil free and so are my feeler gauges. I have never had points let me down in the past and I think it is because of my dwell meter, or I could've been bloody lucky. Having said that, I've always used a dwell meter to check my points gap.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

nah no dewll just using the feelers

the car was a daily driver for 3 months and only had the one set of points.. as i said the car ran fine never missed a beat unless it was cold.

i just thought since in rebuilding ill replace them.i checked the old gap and almost had a heart attack.

that dizzy came strait out of another motor i didnt care what the gap was i just hope it would work as it which it did.

but im assuming with a gap like that i probably lots a couple horseys?

If it wasn't running that well when cold it was probably more down to your timing than the points gap. If you did lose any power through the points gap, it would be barely noticable IMHO.

You must've been lucky because there would've been heaps of power going through those points I'm surprised they didn't burn out on you.

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"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

could that affect how rich the engine would have needed to run cause it was running excesivly rich.. (just an out there question)

its was a 1098 020
kent 276 pin/d cam
1.5 su
mani flo LCB w/RC40 muff

and i was running a needle one grade richer then a BQ . the BQ is listed as a 1275 rich needle.

The timing could affect the idle / fuelling situation but not the points gap.

The more retarded the timing is the more you'll have to adjust the idle (faster - i.e. keep the butterfly's open more) in order to keep the engine ticking over.

The more the ignition timing is advanced the more you can wind back the idle (i.e. close the butterfly's off more). The car will also idle a little smoother and you'll have less run on BUT you have to be careful you do not advance the ignition timing too much. A mini motor can generally only handle about 32° maximum ignition advance and that should be all over by about 3,200 - 3,500rpm (or there abouts, where it reaches max advance depends on your dizzy curve).

It sounds like the carb on your old car was just whacked on with no thought for the needle. Your 1100 will not need as much fuel as a 1275 mini. I run GY needles in my 998 + 0.020" (rich 998 cooper) and I have heaps of adjustment, from really lean to just about spewing fuel out the exhaust.

A P.O. could have wound on more fuel (making it excessively rich) to try and cure it's poor drivability when it is cold. A little extra fuel can make you mini run a little better when it is cold. Before you start winding fuel on so that it runs better when cold......use the CHOKE - that's what it is there for

TBH, the more you talk about this car the more it sounds like the PO didn't know what they were doing, or if they did, they didn't care.

_________________
"In two years time your car will be like a lady's clothes, out of date, my car will still be in fashion when I am dead" - Sir Alec speaking to Pininfarina

it was just wacked together it was never set up correctly hence why it ran an excessivly rich needle. it just needed too run for a couple months so it was pritty much left as i got it. as its now being rebuilt properly it will be set up correctly

i just never cared so i used it as it was. as badly as it was set up it gave my mates 1.6l celica i run for its money to about 60km

cheerz for answering my curiosity