Building a daily driver turbo engine.
Turbo Mini Forums

Here`s my dilemma.

I`m building a mini for my wife, and to make it special i`m putting in a metro turbo engine.
I came across an engine with a lot of wear in the barrels an on the pistons, so `m bying new pistons.
The rest of the engine i`ll probably wont modify that much.

The engine will need to have the folowing caracteristics:

1. it needs to be drivable. everyday for mostly city traffic, and sometimes long distance trips.
2. it needs to really really really fast. But only when asked to be. So no wheel spinning tyre burning tarmac shreading violence when just driving off at the traffic lights. But nice 30 to 60 mph times.
3. i`m trying to keep an eye on the total cost of the car. it has to remain under 11000 euros, and body work is taking up around 7000 euros.

After reading a lot of topics on the forum i learned that the cam choice is the most important choice. And that 1380 pistons would give a powerfull base to build the rest of the engine on.

But what cam do i choose, can i install the standard head, turbo, carb and so on. If my crank needs to be replaced, can i use a standard A+ crank, or should i find another turbo crank.

And then the cooling part. My body has been modified so i`ve got some more room under the bonnet. The wiper fluid is moved to the boot, and the SPI inner wing with the large hole has been welded in.

I still need to modiy the bonnet itself. I`ve got the exact mesurements of the era turbo bonnet, so i`ll be making one like that, but i also want a summer bonnet with better cooling in it.

Do i need an million row oil cooler and intercooler the size of a flatscreen tv to keep it cool.

Lots of questions. Probably already answered in other topics, but i sure cant find them...

Here`s a picture of my piston. I`m not sore if its a turbo piston. The engine i have is a much mingled thing. But the turbo itself has been replaced, and the rest wasn`t that expensive.

Edited by Roger-Wilco on 10th Jun, 2007.

What sort of power do you want ?

You dont need a 1380, 1293 etc will work just fine, and be slightly more head gasket friendly.

Cam choice isnt that important. For a daily driver, MG metro, or similar mild cam is a wise choice.
I last used a Swiftune SW5 on mine, and I thought it was great.

1.5 ratio rockers are nice to have IMO.

Intercooler is not essential, but makes sense if you can squeeze one in.
Oil cooler would be wise too. But I dont think a million row is available. A small one would suffice.

More important than anything, is turbo choice. Im sure others will tell you, dump the old T3, and fit a modern GT series....GT15 or 17 or similar.
Others will advise what works best.

You dont need any special bonnet for a turbo.

You will need a big chunk removed from the bulkhead though, unless you opt for a mirage style kit.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Hi,
CC not that important really, just get the block rebored as little as needed to make it serviceable. ie +0.020"
You're correct about the cam being important, so is the compression ratio if you want good road manners and economy when off boost.
Also you have to remember the standard transmission will only cope with about 130-40 bhp with a 4 pin diff, above that needs straight cut gears.
Myself and another member on here are building daily drivers, I'm using a compleatly standard MPi engine with a T2, Escort RST intercooler and 10psi of boost.
When doing your ERA bonnet just cut 4 big holes under the scoop, leave the ridge in the bonnet intact, is that how the original is?
As for the crank, believe both types are used by members on here without any issues, balancing the whole bottom end would be a good idea while it's apart.
EDIT: You need to modify the bulkhead more to have room for the air intake pipe, this gets tricky with LHD cars I believe....
Cheers,
Gavin :)

Edited by Bat on 11th Jun, 2007.

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The problem is not so much heat transfer, as physically getting an intake pipe onto the turbo outlet, it will be difficult on a LHD car, I would strongly recommend mocking up an engine and turbo before paint etc to see how it sits, personally from experience I think you will struggle to get an intake pipe on with it how it is at the moment from your photo.

Hi,
Thanks for the pic :)
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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Sounds exactly like what I am going to build for my girlfriend.

Stay on the smallest bore you can ... will allow the engine to be rebuilt again in the future and will also help tame the low rev torque which is the enermy of the standard gearbox.

As stated the MG metro cam is a good choice and should be well cheap to get hold of a usable one.

Turbo selection is the key as has already been mention. If you can get it on boost early you won't have a big torque explosion trying to rip the box apart but instead a nice smooth power delivery ... just like you request.

R5 GTt T2 turbo seems popular but I have just jumped on the GT17 bandwagon (look for a thread by robert ... will explain all).

If your staying with the standard transmission (straight cuts are just too noisy for an everyday car IMHO .... an probably that of your good lady too!!) then your going to stopping at around 130 - 140bhp. To get there I'd say 9.2 to 9.4:1 compression (assumes mapped ignition and efficient not necessarily huge intercooler). Fit the MG Metro cam, balance combustion chambers in the head, work exhaust manifold and turbo elbow as Benross does and with about 8-10psi of boost you should be flying!!!!!

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

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