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ASK THE<br />
EXPERT<br />
Tech<br />
Ask the expert<br />
Your <strong>Mini</strong> questions answered by our experts.<br />
the Ask<br />
BLOWING GASKETS<br />
My tuned <strong>Mini</strong> City keeps<br />
blowing the head gasket<br />
between the bores and the<br />
push-rod holes. Both head and<br />
block have been checked to<br />
ensure they are flat, and I have<br />
new <strong>Mini</strong> Spares head studs<br />
fitted. Any advice?<br />
Alex<br />
ASK THE EXPERT<br />
Our experts can help. Just email<br />
minimag.ed@kelsey.co.uk<br />
with ‘Ask The Experts’<br />
as the subject.<br />
What you haven’t stated is<br />
what type of head gaskets<br />
you have been using, the size of<br />
the engine, or the actual spec,<br />
so we will try to cover all bases.<br />
Firstly, there are a number of<br />
gaskets on the market now,<br />
particularly for small-bore, and<br />
not all of them good. People use<br />
them because they are cheaper<br />
than the genuine original type.<br />
We have seen some great results<br />
from alternative head gaskets,<br />
but have never been able to<br />
directly identify their origins.<br />
Consequently, our advice is to<br />
only ever use the genuine<br />
‘Payen’ branded head gasket.<br />
From your description this<br />
seems like the most likely cause<br />
for such regular failure. As you<br />
have stated, the block and head<br />
Our advice is to use<br />
the genuine Payen<br />
branded head gasket.<br />
“How much the head has been faced by to increase the<br />
compression ratio after modification can be an issue”<br />
face surfaces are flat, and the<br />
head studs/nuts in good order.<br />
How much the head has been<br />
faced by in order to increase the<br />
compression ratio after<br />
modification can be an issue.<br />
Machine more than 0.080-inch<br />
from the face of a small-bore<br />
head, for example, and the deck<br />
thickness of the head becomes<br />
very thin and moves/warps<br />
when hot. The result is that the<br />
head gasket blows. There is also<br />
the possibility that the head has<br />
had so much machined from the<br />
face that the head nuts are<br />
bottoming out at the thread<br />
ends before clamping the<br />
REAR DISCS<br />
I’ve recently joined the<br />
<strong>Mini</strong> fraternity with an<br />
awesome ex-racer that has<br />
Rear brakes provide<br />
little braking effect.<br />
been converted to go on the<br />
road yet still be used for track<br />
days. I’ve seen quite a few<br />
<strong>Mini</strong>s with rear disc brake<br />
conversions featured online<br />
recently. Seeing as I’ve got<br />
vented discs and ally multi-pot<br />
callipers at the front, is there<br />
any advantage in fitting discs<br />
at the rear too?<br />
Luke B<br />
The rear brakes on a<br />
<strong>Mini</strong> provide very little<br />
braking effect, as too much<br />
braking effect at the rear will<br />
have the car swapping ends<br />
alarmingly quickly, especially<br />
in wet conditions.<br />
Most racers have next to no<br />
braking effect at the rear. The<br />
only advantage of fitting disc<br />
brakes at the rear of a <strong>Mini</strong> is<br />
weight loss. The only other<br />
reason for fitting rear discs<br />
would be for show. So<br />
unless you are hell-bent on<br />
fitting discs and spending<br />
out in order to do so, a<br />
decent set of finned<br />
aluminium drums should do<br />
the job for most applications,<br />
so long as they are properly<br />
adjusted of course. However,<br />
if reducing unsprung weight<br />
at the rear is your goal, we’d<br />
be looking at ally hubs and<br />
radius arms first.<br />
85
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