Our Classic Mini engine gets its SU carburetors restored

While we wait on yet another engine part, Davin presses on with the last couple of sub-assemblies for our 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S 1275 cc engine. The two SU carburetors need a full rebuild, but Davin doesn't stop there. He fully cleans, vapor hones, and clear-coats all the aluminum parts to bring them back to like-new condition. In addition to that, Davin tackles refreshing the tiny intake manifold and the rocker assembly as well.

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[Homebrew]

There was a guy in Michigan named John Twist at University Motors (now closed) in Grand Rapids who was a magician with British cars. He is retired but I believe he still gives seminars and workshops. The next time you have a British car and have questions he would be someone to call.

I've owned a couple of MGB's and at first those SU carburetors were intimidating but after watching John's Youtube videos and some advice from the MG Experience forum I came to love them. I converted one car back from a modern Weber that a previous owner had installed back to SU's and it ran so much better.

[bengardiner]

".. my shaft is a bit longer than the basket..."
Mustie1 says; "There's a joke in there somewhere."

[sofarracing]

Davin, really enjoy your videos, your varied language and kind ways! Would have enjoyed working with you if that ever would have happened!

[andoletube]

When Davin says "get out in the shop and get your work done", it actually makes me go and do it! Thanks, Davin!

[Danger_mouse]

I LOVE SU carbs!
Such a great carb to drive and work with.
We ran our class built Datsun 1600 (510) on the Factory Hitachi SUs and loved them 👌
Never went out of tune for rally after rally with the Japanese linkage system.

[denisbellars]

Loving your Mini build, cant wait to see it fully assembled !

[carburist]

Whilst in your case you had the opportunity of running the carbs before dis assembly, you should allways check the clearances of the throttle shaft and the body. They are the aquiles heel of the unit as the bronze shaft tends to wear away the aluminium casting on hogh mileage cars leading to rough idle due to air leaks. You can fix that either via oversize shafts or bushings which are relatively easy fixes. Again, in your case probably not a bid deal as the units looked to be in relatively good condition.

Presumably you changed the throttle screws (which are withworth threads!)

What solution do you use in the ultrasonic cleaner?

Keep wrenching! you are the reason I am suscribed to this channel.

[docwood]

G'day Hagerty Channel. I am not a professional mechanic as yourselves, but I have been working on Mini's for several decades. Regarding the rebuild of your SU carb's, I would advise you to do a couple of things. - You should do a balance check - to make sure the dashpots fall at the same rate. Now that you've replaced the jets, you might want to consider checking that the jet seats correctly. You may have done all of this off screen, but if not, I'd be happy to take you through this in detail if needed. Getting them balanced and set up correctly will make the tuning process much less painful. Thanks for the great channel. Very entertaining and informative. Cheers.

[seabirdjim]

SU carburetors are among the best. The Hagerty videos are very engaging, well done and informative. This one is no different. Great job.
A side note. Making a custom intake manifold for a Harley-Davidson MC from some aluminum tubing and plate that enables you to affix an SU to your Harley improves performance of your MC quite a bit. Getting it jetted correctly isn’t that hard and it’s worth the effort. I did this many years ago with a 1956 KHK I had. The SU carb and some other improvements I made to its breathing made that rascal run fast.

[N-Scale]

Way to go Davin. That is gonna be sweet !!!!

[aaronbehindbars]

If you don't happen to have a lathe, chuck that rocker shaft (or whatever you might want rotating to polish/clean) into a drill and do it to it. I've done this on old bicycle axles where there was some pitting on the bearing race cones and it's a good shadetree way of "machining" a surface. Not the most precision way of doing things, but it works for old beaters.

[wolfiewoolliscoft]

Greetings from the UK - cant wait to HEAR that Mini Cooper fire up - weel done as ever

[slot]

This thing is gonna run better then it did when it came off the assembly line.

[SootHead]

Back in the day, I did a lot of those old A-Series engines and almost never had reusable rocker shaft or rocker bushings.The shafts were pretty poor material and wore out in the 80K miles those engines usually got before needing an upper end overhaul. Maybe that one was replaced at some point.

[darryl]

I gotta get me a vapour hone cabinet and a tumbler. I like shiny mini parts 😊👍

[johnpearson]

I love the SU carburetor, it's so simple, self metering, easy to tune, and reliable. I've played with many types of carbs and I genuinely think the SU is the best to use. I particularly enjoy the simplicity of the fuel enrichment by pulling down the jet instead if having a choke.

[dakotasclassiccars]

I got a real cool project out there. Just waiting on my machine shop to get me my heads back! But being patient and paying him well as you say.

[kentowakai]

My dream would be to hang out with you all and rebuild any car. I'd happily push a broom all day as long as I could absorb the knowledge. I could justify the tools if I had the knowledge, and I'd get the confidence to try more. Also happy you have teamed with Rock Auto. I am happy to give them money compared to

[scottimusgarrett]

Really, really nice job on those carbs, Davin! I can just imagine what some dude, somewhere, is spending on shipping his SU's back to Jolly Ol' Britain to get redone! I always enjoy your episodes, but because I love Minis, and the engine is so unique for its day, this rebuild is especially fun. Kudos to everyone involved!

[mickvonbornemann]

The Chrysler slant 6 looks great with triple SUs, a popular mod in Oz. Much neater with triple cables rather than messy linkages