New here and advice
Turbo Mini Forums

Hello All

Well seeing as I have been slowly building a mini turbo for far too long I am gutted that I have never tripped over this site before now.

But never mind, here I am........

Anyway, I have set off building an engine and box to a spec that I have mostly conjured up myself, I would like opinion from you guys out there that have more experience than I do of turbo A series.

Originally I was planning to rebuild the engine std but it has evolved over time into the list below

A+ Series turbo block. Overbored +20 thou. 4 bolt steel centre main cap and steel outer main caps.
Forged Omegas 11cc (?), Std Turbo crank and rods, ARP rod bolts, balanced assy. Early diagphram clutch, AP paddle plate, double grey pressure plate.
Avonbar AR13T cam, kent silent chain vernier set, std pushrods, Minits followers, 1.5 ratio roller rockers. Avonbar St 5 Cylinder head, 1.4" inlets, std sodium exh valves. 28cc Chambers. Group A head gasket with block modified to suit, 11 head studs.
Recon Garrett T3, Avonbar Hi Boost needle/spring/carb kit.
Straight Cut 1.1 Drops, TranX SCCR box, X pin diff, steel cage g/box brgs, larger turbo 1st motion shaft nose brg.

What I would like are any things that are glaringly obvious that need doing or would be recommended. The engine will be coming back from the machinists this weekend, so I will be building it over the next couple of weeks.
What I would also like is an idea of what power is achieveable with the above spec, bearing in mind I am looking more for reliability rather than outright power. An idea of boost to run would also be useful. At present I have never had the engine in the car or running, so other advice is welcomed. I am well versed in A series engines in general having had a variety of 1000's and 1300's/1380's over the last few years, but this is my first turbo motor.

Any help gratefully received!

Many Thanks

Tom Fenton
Rotherham

Sounds very good, and fairly local to me as well, about 30/40mins away anyway! (gainsborough)

Spec sounds well up to the job of coping with plenty of power.

Only thing id recommend against having done (if its not too late) is not to use a grp A headgasket. Nobody has any problems with std stuff and the GrpA stuff is expensive if you need to pull the head for any reason.
A payen BK450 is all that is needed along with a decent torque wrench and nice flat surfaces to mate it on.

That is a pain. The block is already modified to take the gasket now, although I am hoping that once it is all built it shouldn't need taking to pieces again for a while!

Could you expand on your comment 'plenty of power' if possible please?!

What sort of power are people getting with a similar specification and at what boost level, obviously the std motor makes 94 (?) bhp, what can I sensibly expect from my modified motor?

Thanks!

Not sure on the cam and head spec but would of thought a nice comfortable 150bhp "should" be possible with about 15psi.
It looks as if it could take more but everything needs to be tip top!
Thats with a good RR operator as this makes all the difference.
No worries about the head gasket, just a mod that i wouldnt consider.

bear in mind that this engine will not last thousands and thousands of miles without very regular attention.

Thrust bearings are one thing that they wear relatively quickly due to the high pressure of the clutch

Thanks for the comments. The mini will be effectively a 3rd car, behind my everyday road car, and dedicated track day car, and so will be saved for the odd blat about for fun on dry summer days...a bit sad maybe but I want to keep it as a nice toy rather than wreck it by using it constantly. I always had Minis for the first 5 years of driving, I have now moved on to other stuff to use daily but still am fond of Minis.

As for power I think maybe 150bhp is more than I am really aiming for, I would be happy with maybe 130bhp, although I suppose once it is running right you always want more power.

When you say everything needs to be tip top what things can I be looking at/for when I am building the engine in this respect?

Where do you guys use for rolling road tuning for these engines, obviously setting up the SU properly to run forced induction is a bit of a black art.....

There is more than enough for 130, infact a lot of bits on there are wasted running 130 in effect as a lot cheaper bits would do the job by far.

I use MBE in lincoln for RR setups, in fact im going there with a Dan's car in a few minutes to spectate.

Just make sure all the machining is spot on, clearances correctly set etc. Basically just a good engine build. Dont expect good components make up for a shoddy build

Not saying you would build it that way but im sure you get what i mean.

Also notice no intercooler??

Hi Tom

Can't help as I'm a turbo novice, but I'm in Doncaster so I'll look forward to seeing the car about.

I like to do the odd trackday as well. What do you use for trackdays and are you taking the mini on one?

Cheers

Neil

Yeah no offense taken, I know better than to just bolt an engine together 'blind'.

Also no intercooler mentioned at the moment, my idea was to get the engine in and running with no intercooler, and using a std actuator, and run it in for 1000 miles, by my estimation that should give it 4psi boost and about 80 bhp......

Then when it is run in I am going to change the actuator, plumb an intercooler in, and have it properly set-up. A friend of mine works as a aluminium fabricator and so when I have the engine in I can look at packaging an intercooler into the engine bay, and have him make one to suit. At the moment I am toying with the idea of mounting one layed down over where the spark plugs are.

Point taken about overspeccing it maybe, but after the amount of trouble I have had in the past with fragile 1380's and the like the plan has always been to build it strong and build it once if you know what I mean.

Yeah fair enough, you can get away with somewhere in the region of 10-12psi with no intercooler and that would probably see you getting your 130bhp. Must be well setup though.

Its ok putting it near the spark plugs but remember the air must go through the intercooler, its not just all about getting airflow to the front, its getting it out the other side that matters too

Does sound an interesting car, you'll have to get some pics up

Hi Neil

My track day car is a Peugeot 205 GTi Mi16, full roll cage, lsd, spax suspension, approx 175bhp with track weight of 870kg. Its good fun but nowhere near as 'cool' as a mini!

To be honest having the above car means that the mini will probably never get on the track, the Peugeot has had a lot of time and effort put into it, and I would imagine it would probably run rings around the mini as I would be driving the mini very carefully for fear of damaging it!

The Mini has been built from a Sportspack shell, and the plan is to make it look as close as possible to a std Sportspack, but make it pack a fair bit more punch.

Iain,

The plan with the intercooler is to make a duct that takes air from the front grille and sweeps it upwards through 90 deg so that the air is rising up through the cooler. The hot air will then pass though some sort of bonnet vents, and as it will exit towrards the lower area in front on the windscreen, this area (I think) is at low pressure when the car is moving, hence providing some 'pull' of the air out of the cooler.

Other ideas I have had include a water spray onto the intercooler ? la subaru......all work in progress.....I started this car 5 years ago believe it or not, so I have had plenty of time to mull ideas over!

Sounds like you have it all worked out. An intercooler is essential but must be efficient, front mounted is best, all this ducting etc seems a great plan but leaves little space with getting to dizzys etc.

Your spec will put out 150 ish BHP easily, if the car is kept light the power to weight ratio will be very healthy.

Have fun.

Cheers.

I wouldn't say all worked out just yet though, need to make it run first!

What is the general opinion on under crown piston oil sprays?

Worth the hassle or not?

A good few people run them and the idea is very simple using Ford Zetec jets, check out turbophil's website.

I have never used them personally and never had a problem.

Turbodave can also give advice on this subject.

In opinion there must be enough oil being thrown around off that crank and gearset to lube under the pistons.

As I am not going for high boost then I think I will give them a miss then.

Besides, if the quickest turbo mini at avonpark doesn't use them then that is good enough for me!

Last time I did Avon Park was a few years ago in my 1293 Clubman Estate, managed 17.8 secs.....

Well I am off to MED now to fetch my engine.

Having trawled the forum this morning it seems that they don't get the best reports, oh well too late now, and from what I can gather it seems it is their cylinder heads that are most at fault, and mine is from Avonbar.

Cheers for all the advice this morning guys it is much appreciated.

I am sure I will be kicking around here a lot more from now on anyway!

Tom Fenton

Good luck with it all and glad you found the site useful



Keep us updated!!

How did I miss this thread?

Anyway welcome Tom.

Not sure about that engine spec mind, I reckon you might want something a bit more powerful.

TBH Id put a KAD 16V head on it :lol

Hi,
Blimey Rob, you going for some sort of archealogical(sp) record?
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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I think 'Don' would be a good name for a mini.
Welcome to TM Tom. :)

hi tom Have you met Carl Austin? I think you and him would be good freinds....You might even make a good team driver?

Edited by James_H on 31st Aug, 2008.

welcome Tom :)

ha Ha !!,

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1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi