How reliable is a turbo motor.....
Turbo Mini Forums

Ive been boggling the thought in my mind for months now and my mini is getting impatient as well, the question is just how reliable is a turbo motor and what extra mesures can you take to keep the block strong? And since there alot of guys on here that just happen to know what the hell they are talking about i was hoping to get some good detailed answers

cheers

Turbo engines have a bad reputation for reliability because so many people transplanted knackered Metro turbo engines in to a mini then they blew up.

In reality they can be perfectly reliable and last many thousands of miles as long as you are sensible with boost.

For example I use a 70,000 mile engine as my base for a turbocharged engine. The engine and box are totally standard (the engine has never been out of the car from the factory). I have now covered 4000 trouble free miles (well turbo related trouble free)

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

If built properly they're as reliable as a normal motor.

In fact, my turbo has been MORE reliable than my old twin carb 1275 was.

amen,
its like any motor take care of it and get the correct spec and you'l be fine..

Well from the sound of it i guess i will be doing alot of work this weekend.. thanks fellas

cheers

i trolled down to alexs house last week , 100 miles round trip , 6200 in top at one point ,took alex out in it a blasted around a bit , got 41.5 to the gallon ,and no hickups or anything including all the traffic through newbury ,thats an insight into the sort of reliability, i v found with a turbo mini .went ok didnt it alex ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

HAIL!..... the above

Robert my 1.3 fiesta couldn't get mpg that good! which factors of your setup do you reckon help most with mpg? if you don't mind sharing that is!

3.1 diff , lots of advance on cruise vacuum and a lean off pipe to the float chamber from the front of the carb , i did a thread on it somewhere on here if you do a search .

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=9974

there you go leonard.

Edited by robert on 27th Mar, 2008.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

So ive got a 1380cc motor with a kent cam, roller rockers, double valve springs, adjustable oil pressure regulator,running megajolt as well as of right now on the dyno im hitting 117ps and 102 pounds of tourqe and from the sound of what you guys are saying this is a prone donor for a turbo.
So ive got a brand new garett T4 ballbearing turbo Mg metro turbo manifold, and a Hiff44 turbo carb, vortec intercooler with all the piping and thats should be it besides litle pipes and so what for oil return and i should be reddy to roll?
If and suggestions on how to go about setting this up would help more than trial and error expesially on a everyday driver that is driven on the autobahn. ...not a place you want to break down...
Thanks agiain Cheers

A T4 might be a little large and a lot of overkill. You might not even fit it in!

I would imagine you'll need to lower your compression ratio, as you must be running fairly high compression to be making those sort of numbers.

So if i got ahold of a T3 or T2 than i would be ok? than run low boost as im not planning on running alot anyway

T3 will fit straight on the Metro Turbo manifold - if you only want a low boost, simple conversion, try to get hold of a standard Metro Turbo T3.

on an spi block where is the best place for oil return? do i need to do away with the mechanical fuel pump? and if i do i could just return the oil there or? thanks again
Cheers

You can use an MPi or SPi tank with the built in pump or metro turbo style pump and a boost sensitive regulator. Are you planning on bolting a turbo to your existing 1380? If so what is your compression ratio?

Ill check the compression tommorow but it sould be around where it normally should be but havnt look at that in a while.

Previous Engine: 1040cc Morespeed engine, 1275 turbo head T2 Turbo Mirage Manifolds Megajolt
Previous engine: STD metro turbo, megajolt
Drives: 399bananahp (flywheel) Honda Civic Vtec b18c4 T28 Turbo 1968 Mini

Megajolt maps to download: http://www.jamesfawcett.co.uk/cms/index.ph...&gid=3&Itemid=3

id say that for the same amount of power, a turbo motor is probably less stressed than an na motor as it doesnt have to rev as hard

after a point the torque wont do your box any favours, but i imagine this wouldnt be as big an issue if your building a daily driver

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Oh yeah, I realise that, I'm running 14 PSi on a standard T3 with no problems.

All I was saying is that for a daily driver, he may as well just use a standard Metro T3 rather than anything fancy.

Hi,
Your current cam will be the stumbling block here. I think you'll have a cam with a lot of overlap, this won't work with a turbo. :(
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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I dont see haow you can think my cam will be to overlapy its not a rough cam, and if not than what cam do you suggest? i got ahold of a gerret t3 with ball bearings from audi today, freind of mine ownes the place..soo freeebee, the manifold is from mg metro, and since i work at a mini shop fuel pumps and regulators isnt a problem while they are lying all over the place.
Any other suggestions with a build? some things i might want to avoid..

Cheers

be careful about turbo choice, on here when we refer to a 't3' we usually mean the turbo that was fitted to the metro as std, some other t3's have different a/r's and give different characteristics

i.e the t3 fitted to a metro is different to the t3 fitted to a cossie, so the t3 off the audi isnt necessarily a safe bet for your build

also, the usual mechanical mini pumps (not sure if thats what your referring to or not?) wont be of any use in a turbo build, youll need one like the metro turbo used (high pressure injection type).
The usual fuel regs wont be of much use either, youll need the specific 1:1 rising rate type.

sorry if any of this is old/bad news

joe

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

The fuel pump was a give away i got that on my own but my question was about my oir return, can i return the oil where the mechanical fuel pump was? i mean it leads to the cam anyway or is it better to run it through an oil cooler first than back into the engine?