Midas Cars Forum - www.midascarsforum.com

back on saturday from week in france with "Ruby" (our ex Russell gold coupe mk 3) - took a little while to get used to the amount of interest generated on french roads by a Midas- almost the norm for the passenger of every car overtaking us to peer across at our car and smile .

Quite funny to come back to the car in supermarket car park and find people looking at her !


Ruby went brilliantly other than 2 points on which I hope others will be able to help me?

First was on the way over - came off ferry (very hot day) and cruising on french motorway at 60-70 - pulled out to overtake up a long hill and without warning Ruby engine lost power almost as if running out of fuel - backed of throttle and pulled back in and after a few seconds the powerfade and uneven running went and all back to normal - same thing happened several more times over next 50 miles and then not again for rest of trip (and never happened before) - checked all that I could whilst away and nothing visibly wrong and had refulled from near empty just before boarding ferry - my guesses are that it could have been fuel getting too hot (was a hot day and engine running under load) such that it was not getting through quick enough when under most demand and hence once it missed for a few seconds and car had slowed down a bit - fuel supply caught up with demand - or could it have been muck in the fuel lines ? any suggestions please on what I ought to check (mind you having done c 350 miles since without missing a beat hoping it is a self fixing problem!)

Second point was on saturday night on way home from ferry port - typical was dark - wet and pretty yucky weather and stopped off at son's to drop something off and on getting back into Ruby - dead on key - bump started and carried on remaining (fortunately only 15 miles) to home and whenever I put mainbeam on radio display faded out - realised it was a charging fault and effectively running on battery but made it home with lights and have now checked and found drive belt very slack - guess this meant when alternator on load (as it would have been that night) belt slipping and alternator not charging hence battery running down - seems to make sense to me ,

reason for slipping belt clear on inspection - one of the lugs forming the casting of the alternator casing has sheared off so alternator loose hence belt loose - magnet test shows casting is alloy (or not iron) - looks to me like should be straightforward to have welded back up - is this something any welding place should be able to do or is alloy welding very specialised?

thanks all

ps small world - stopped in honfleur for lunch and found space in busy carpark next to triumph TR - french one left hand drive

Yes those French are really enthusiasts. They even have a Gold coupe in a museum in the North of France. I had people in front of me driving unstable because they were looking in their rearview mirror the whole time. Also a biker that almost fell off.

Concerning your power problem, it is either fuel starvation because of the fuel line being too close to the exhaust causing vapor in the fuel line. I had this only once when going up the Grossgluckner Hochalpenstrasse in Austria. Rarely it is a fuel pump or a clogged filter. I have a clear filter in my fuel line on the bulk head so I can see the petrol running to be sure.
The other possibility is an ignition problem. It could be the ignition coil getting too hot or a problem with the ignition module on the distributor (I suppose you have the latest distributor with Lucas ignition installed?).
The module may fail intermittently. Every now and then on the motorway the engine start coughing, momentary loss of power and then all is well again. This will happen more frequently over time. Running the engine on idle and checking with a stroboscope doesn't show this fault. (I then replaced the fuel pump that didn't help). Eventually a mechanic told me to stress test the ignition. Get the car moving in 1st and then floor it, 2nd gear and floor it again. This generated a few coughs. I installed a new distributor and problem was gone. This was before Ebay, now I would just buy a new module for a few pounds. I know many Mini drivers who have a module with them as spare.
I hope this helps.

Hi,

What sort of temperature were you seeing on the gauge at the time. Thinking if the alternator mounting was giving way is possible the water pump wasn't pumping properly as they share a drive belt. If you get an a-series good and hot you will have a lack of power missing and all sorts of nasty's. Hans is right about heat and the fuel line does your carb still have the heat shield fitted ?

Cheers,

Mike

hello paulr
as there's been no answer as yet to your question of welding your alternator lug.I'll have a bash yes it will be an aluminium alloy it can be welded if you have access to ---a, a mig welder or b, a tig welder with a/c current ,you may have to dismantle the alternator as the heat input for welding aluminium is very high as aluminium soaks up a lot of heat ,this is the reason for dismanteling the alternator due to damage to electronic parts /windings being affected by heat . It may be good idea if you have an engineering workshop near you to pop along with alternator and see what they say and what they would charge you.I am a welder of over 30 years expirience it's not a hard job with the right equipment but it may pay you just to buy a new or recycled one .
Hoping this is of some use .......Ted

Hi there.

Ask any Club member and you will find out that Alternators dont last for ever, they either break like yours our cease to charge or both. See the Club site for a photo of me changing mine in the fog in the paddock at Castle Combe prior to going out onto the circuit on the Mini Track Day some three years ago.

The best investment that you can make is to buy a new, not reconditioned, alternator and vee belt and cure both your problems in one fail swoop. But dont forget to keep checking your belt tension until it has bedded in. This should last you at least 10 years.

By the way dont be suprised by the French as they had probably had a four course lunch complete will glasses of wine and were quite happy to look anywhere apart from on the road ahead !! We live part of the year at our cottage in France and receive the same reaction when we take our Midas convertible over on the ferry.

Davidj

Having had a bit of chin wag with AC Dodd about this at Stoneleigh we came back around to an old theme with alternators is that it's best to put on a bigger alternator and run a late mini V belt drive setup for reliability.

I run a 72amp unit on the convertible and touch wood it's been great for over 10 years now. I have to say the neighbours do give you funny looks I jump start our Tdi Range Rover from the Midas!!!

Is this the way to go: http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx? ... =1#submenu

I intend to replace mine with this one above, having just had an incident with my probably 24 year old alternator!

Alan

certainly is Alan.

Not worth messing about with recons at that price.

thanks all -have picked up new alternator - makes sense compared to welding old one - thanks for steer

re missing - still a once only mystery - was a very very hot day but temp gauge fine - no heat shield fitted - anyone got a pic of what one looks like please and does everyone have them fitted as if so may be worth my sorting

Paul

Here's a pic of my heatshield, but it won't fit regular carbs. It bolts to the plenum chamber.


There are SS freehanging ones on Ebay like so:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MINI-HIF44-HIF38- ... 9438849116
I have no idea of these really work.