Engine Building, Tuning and Maiden Voyage
The engine originally in the vehicle was a 997cc Cooper engine
built to the Works specifications.
Engine Rebuild
The engine itself was in need of some considerable repair involving
machining that Minimaster is not able to do. So it was sent to Swiftune
who are capable of such work, and are the pre-eminent engineers for A-Series
engines with over 40 years experience. It was built to the rally specification,
and fitted where possible with authentic parts. It was then run in and dyno tested
at Swiftune before being returned to be reunited with the car.
Many original parts were fitted to the engine, most notably the original
ram pipes that are especially rare and almost impossible to find.
More photos of Swiftune to follow.
Engine Tuning and Shakedown
The engine was returned to Minimaster and installed into the newly
prepared shell. The gearbox was rebuilt along with new or refurbished
drive gear and suspension. New S disc brakes were fitted to the front,
and competition drum brakes to the rear. New tyres were then fitted on
completely renovated rims.
Once refitted, the engine and its twin SU carbs were set up and
the timing, fuelling and ignition all checked.
More photos of ARX at Minimaster to follow.
Maiden Journey
The mad panic to get the car ready for the Minis to Monte event was
something keeping all of us at Minimaster entirely focused. Starting at
Goodwood on Sept 23rd, it was quite a feat considering the go-ahead for
the project wasn't given until April 06.
At all times, new authentic parts were fitted whenever possible. This
had the strange and very frustrating side effect in that many of them failed
quite rapidly, making the job of completing on time even more difficult.
Within two days, an original 30A type controller unit, and a new coil failed,
and had to be replaced.
After some sleepless nights and silly hours in the final weeks, the car
was readied on 22nd Sept, giving Brian about 12 hours to get used to it. It
then set off from Goodwood on its rather testing maiden journey around France
to Monte Carlo and back (nearly 3000 miles) - this it did without missing a beat.
There is a comprehensive review of it at the
Mini Cooper Register site.
A further revision of this article is planned in the next few weeks.
