[Ant FR]

Ok, Picked the car up yesterday from GT Tuning, and done 200 miles so far running-in, Which is so boring but has to be done. However car is probably the sweetest Mini i have heard, A nice gentle hum from the front, Whilst at the rear is the hefty thrub of the exhaust which still tells you theres more than a standard engine there.

My confidence in the Mini is gradually returning but will be a long time till i get passed the half throttle position. This is now officially the most unreliable car i have ever had and the most expensive. So hopefully it will keep getting better or I'll be chopping it in for something Jap or go back to VW's.

Must also thank Roland at GT Tuning for sorting the engine swap for me, been a great help.

I'm gonna pile on some miles this week, want to get some miles under its belt as quick as possible

[Hartge210]

Nice to hear its back on the road Ant, you still going to do the lap round the M25??

Give me a shout & I'll join you at Leatherhead

[GTT 280]

Good to hear mate. I am sure this will be an excellent car now. I think that you had a one off problem there with the oil pump. SOlong as you check the oil level frequently and change it every 5k then you'll be fine.

I'm going to get my oil pump internal parts changed when it is in at GTT (i think the casing and the shaft will be fine).

It's got to be great now knowing you have a 200mile engine all built to the GTT260 just waiting to be used as it should

I consider it a better approach to do several shorter journeys to make up your 1000 miles as opposed to one long journey. It's better to go through a number of heat and cool down cycles as that is what i believe wears in your engine better.

Have fun !!!

Cheers,
K.

[Snowie]

Glad to here that you are back on the road - enjoy the car and take it steady for the first 1200 miles of mixed driving

[roland2003]

[MINI-Morgan]

Bet its running nice and smooth too

[GRSmotorsport]

Be interested to know what oil you're using for the running in period....

[GTT 280]

Is it "Castrol Edge" ? I think this is the best oil available now yes?

Or is it still "Shell Ultra" ?

Cheers,
K.

[Ant FR]

Not sure, Roland put it in, but i do know its a semi synthetic. Oh and even now after 390 miles, i still can't see the oil on the dipstick easily as its soooooo clear and clean.

Yep its running as smooth as you like. The reall big difference seems to be the immense torque. I mean i am rarely going much above 3000rpm, but the engine just seems so torquey . In fact i have found that to keep with normal traffic you honestly do not need to venture over 3000 rpm. Car sounds deeper too, but that may be after having the Manifold flowed out

Only thing thats killing me is now i am runnign in, i have had so many crap cars pushing me and what i would'nt give just to plant it and take it up to the limit.

However, fuel economy is tupidly high, average since getting the car back is now at 47Mpg and that includes plenty of round town.

Once i pass 500 i will be upping the revs to the occasional 5k, but still no WOT, no more than half still. Its actually quite fun, plus even though driving slow it still sounds meaner than your average mini.

[alski]

47 mpg and lots of low down torque, deeper sound... yes you now have a lovely diesel motor

[1320autos]

Quote: Originally Posted by alski (original)

47 mpg and lots of low down torque, deeper sound... yes you now have a lovely diesel motor

ROTFLMAO , scary though what mpg you can acheive sticking to Ants running in procedure.

Maybe this should be the new challange how many mpg can you get out of your Cooper S with loads off mods.

[Ant FR]

Quote: Originally Posted by 1320autos (original)

ROTFLMAO , scary though what mpg you can acheive sticking to Ants running in procedure.

Maybe this should be the new challange how many mpg can you get out of your Cooper S with loads off mods.

Well the 150 mile trip from Rolands to mine, which took 2hr45 mins, i got 53.8mpg for the whole journey but gone down to the 40's. Gonna be out again tonight as got to drop some stuff in to work, so that will beanother 100 miles.

i would say 53.8 would be the record

[GTT 280]

AntFR - so you use semi-synthetic to run in and then change to fully-synthetic after 1200miles???

This must be the most famous "car to run in" on MINI2 ha ha ha

I also had a high mpg rating once i got the work done on the 260 and moreso when i got the 450cc injectors fitted. Strange yes! Perhaps just driving style.

Glad it's all going well !!

Cheers,
K.

[GRSmotorsport]

Ant FR, good to hear you up and running again

Now I know a lot of you will cringe at this, but I always use the cheapest oil I can find when running engines in!! I was told to do this by my dad who’s been building engines for years!! Using cheap nasty oil helps bed the piston rings in. Then drain the oil after 500 mile and use decent synthetic oil from then on. I’ve always run the first 500 miles at no more than 3-3500 revs and without letting the engine labour (very important!). Next 500-600 I give the engine a lot more revs and make it work much much harder. Never use the motorway to run an engine in as this won’t help bed the engine in.

This method has always worked for me so don’t slam me down, last engine I built has now done 25000 miles and produces 100bhp (or classic Mini Cooper S) with no reliability problems, well unless it rains!!. This engine is soon to be supercharged using the MCS supercharger

[1320autos]

I've got a bettter one that that, I remember a drag racer putting VIM down his carb to help the rings bed in quicker

[steve11]

Quote: Originally Posted by GRSmotorsport (original)

Ant FR, good to hear you up and running again

Now I know a lot of you will cringe at this, but I always use the cheapest oil I can find when running engines in!! I was told to do this by my dad who’s been building engines for years!! Using cheap nasty oil helps bed the piston rings in. Then drain the oil after 500 mile and use decent synthetic oil from then on. I’ve always run the first 500 miles at no more than 3-3500 revs and without letting the engine labour (very important!). Next 500-600 I give the engine a lot more revs and make it work much much harder. Never use the motorway to run an engine in as this won’t help bed the engine in.

I was taught the same thing regarding running in a rebuilt engine......Always use a non synthetic oil & preferably non friction modified as this will allow the rings to bed in correctly, whereas a synthetic oil will coat the bores & stop this from happening correctly.

[roland2003]

Or you could read the instructions that come with the engine and its associated warranty conditions and follow those as we did.
With new pistons 'generally' we would use a mineral only oil for first 250 miles then go to semi for say 1000 miles then onto fully syn....

[steve11]

New pistons?
The whole idea of using non synthetic/mineral oil is so the freshly honed bores dont glaze over is it not?

[roland2003]

Yes ,thats why unless stated otherwise (ie in the engine or piston manufacturers instructions) we would use mineral to start with.
Semi syn is part mineral anyway
Many new engines never run mineral and use fully syn all their life from the word go. This is because the machining tolerances are alot closer these days so your not relying on the 'running in' so much to create a good seal.

[Ant FR]

used it again last night to come up into central london, so a 100 miles mostly on the stop start once in town. So milage now at 490-ish. should be up to 900 or so by this time next week, so will get down to Rolands for a quick check over and oil change.

Yup made sure i never laboured the engine, so always dropped down for hills instead of using the torque,

Did have to take it up to 4.5 k last night to get roubnd someone in 4th, and by christ did it pull. I honestly think now that the more and more i think about it my old block was in a bad state before it went. I think this rebuild is a blessing in disguise as it looks like once sorted its going to be very fast.

Decided on the plan for the year last night, keeping the car till Feb 09 then will sell on and going to go get a 4 grand Ibiza Tdi 130, and time to start spunking money on some sensible things.