Nürburgring After Work Classics

The weekend was short, too short for what I wanted to get done. Especially as I will be heading to the UK on Wednesday morning. My plan was to take the cylinder-heads of the Rover V8 and take them along to Peter Burgess. But with the Mini engine completely stripped apart – just as I started taking the inlet off, I decided to postpone this project. I don’t have a car to put it into anyway… (yet)

Instead I inspected Maggie’s 18GB engine. This will be going back into the car along with the overhauled Ford T9 gearbox (more on this after my trip to the UK). The rainy Sunday was mostly used for study & development work – both at my desk but also at the workbench. The result was a long (and hopefully complete) shopping list at Minispares and MED.

With a clean workbench I also decided to take a look at the high idle issue that I have with Mildred’s the newly built 18V engine. When the engine is cold it holds the idle at 900rpm smoothly. Using brake cleaner I tried to find if the HIF4 might pull air somewhere. But this did not change anything. I tried to reduce the advance slightly – which is simple with the CSI pro and done via Bluetooth. There is a slight change when I go down to 9° – but afaik the idle advance of the Piper BP270 should be between 10-12°

The best way I figured is to do another test run. So today I got to the garage a bit earlier by 4:30pm and went thru the carb base settings for the fifth or sixth time. With this done I headed for the Nürburgring After Work Classics. With about 850km on the clock after rebuilt – I am still driving the engine between 2000-4500rpm – occasionally hitting 5000. I avoid motorway driving and try to have lots of gear and rev changes.

And when I got to the first traffic light after a 30min drive in Adenau – I noticed that the idle rpm is 1200 again 🫣. Oh well. The event is a completely informal gathering of all kinds of brands and models. But this time we had a quite strong MGB presence. If you fancy and are brave enough – you can do a 15min stint on the Grand Prix circuit. Last time I was there I did this for the first time. But with my upcoming UK trip in Maggie I avoided the risk.

On the way back I noticed that the brake pedal pressure could be better. It’s working – but maybe… And then I connect the dot – maybe the vacuum line or the relief valve in the servo are the cause for my high idle problem. More testing required tomorrow