Air injection Retro fit/ Cat retrofit

[willmini]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum, but i have taken quite a few looks at it. I have a 1978 mini 1000. its got a 998cc carburetted engine. however it does not have any emission controls. It did from the factory have a air pump that ran off of the fan belt, but this was not very effective and they are hard to find these days. My engine does have the ports into the head where air injection can be hooked up. I was wondering how i could install a electric air pump from a modern car and install it into my car? and once this is done would i be able to retrofit a catalytic converter as well. Any thoughts? would this work?

[Arragonis]

Hi,

Don't know where you are located but a simpler approach may be to get a car from the UK ? The last minis sold in the UK (and Europe) had FI and catalysts so you could probably get a whole engine from one of those quite easily. A complete car would also get you the other bits and pieces you need, and also a front mounted radiator with an electric fan - much quieter. Engine would also be a 1275 and the gearbox would have longer gearing.

Find one with a Cooper Sportpack kit (wide arches, 13 inch wheels). From experience the body kit only made the car rot even faster so the remaining ones seem to drive to the scrapyard. The wheels are cool too.

You can blame my namesake (pictured on the left) for the easily rotting bodyshell. He designed the car with all its mud catching nooks and crannys. I used to curse him every time the back of my hand or my knuckles got sliced up under the bonnet of my Minis.

EDIT - Canada. Still, with the pound being in the toilet at the moment...

[willmini]

Well, That would be an option, but a sportspack mini here, or to get one here is about 15-20 thousand dollars. Ive spent most of the money I've made through summer jobs and such (I just finished university so I am poor) on my mini. ahah and I know all about the rotting, i had to replace all the floors, trunk floor, rear quarters, entire front end, rear subframe and i welded in about 50 patches. They also don't stand up to well to the unnecessary amount of salt they use on the road here. I would love to be able to get an spo or mpi, but even shipping the engine here is super expensive. So l'm really looking for something i can do on a budget. If i had the money i would love a nice 1275. Also the Canadian heads have ports for air injection which according to Wikipedia helps burn unburned gas, which i think would help a lot with the emissions. Its just the air pump system that they came with didn't seem to effective. I just really love driving it, but I don't like that it has no emission controls. With this day and age i would really like to reduce the emissions, and I think it would be really cool if people could reduce the emissions on their classic cars.

[Christ]

You could start by measuring what your actual emissions are. If you're not satisfied with those numbers, you can add a cat from any similar sized engine.

[mwebb]

if you add a cat converter
it will most likely fail in short order if you do not have some kind of a mixture control system to regulate the mixture at very near
Lambda or stoich or 14.7 to 1 .

you can add air injection with an electric pump from a newer car / system
you will have to find an anti back fire valve or a combination valve that opens with vacuum or
choice c
something else
to regulate exhaust gases from flowing back wards into the pump which will cook it in no time

you could run the air injection pump with a timer or use a system with your rear 02 sensor
which you do not have
which shuts off air injection , when the rear 02 sensor changes state or stops cycling , to indicate
the cat has achieved a high enough operating temperature to start working .
also called
"Light off "

plumbing from the air injection pump through a combi valve or an antiback fire valve to the exhaust ports you have in your manifold or cylinder head would have to be scrounged up from what ever source there is in your area.

Originally Posted by willmini

Well, That would be an option, but a sportspack mini here, or to get one here is about 15-20 thousand dollars. Ive spent most of the money I've made through summer jobs and such (I just finished university so I am poor) on my mini. ahah and I know all about the rotting, i had to replace all the floors, trunk floor, rear quarters, entire front end, rear subframe and i welded in about 50 patches. They also don't stand up to well to the unnecessary amount of salt they use on the road here. I would love to be able to get an spo or mpi, but even shipping the engine here is super expensive. So l'm really looking for something i can do on a budget. If i had the money i would love a nice 1275. Also the Canadian heads have ports for air injection which according to Wikipedia helps burn unburned gas, which i think would help a lot with the emissions. Its just the air pump system that they came with didn't seem to effective. I just really love driving it, but I don't like that it has no emission controls. With this day and age i would really like to reduce the emissions, and I think it would be really cool if people could reduce the emissions on their classic cars.