My Cooper S Build -- (OT TR6 updated 02/17/09)
Turbo Mini Forums

I have a bit of time to type this up so, I thought I would get everyone up to speed on my project.

I bought this 67 Mini Cooper S probably about 10 yrs ago in pieces. The guy who I bought it from tried to piece together a whole car for me but I am now realizing how many pieces I am actually still missing. The body shell on the car was 98% rust free, which was the main reason I bought the car. The engine that I got with the car is a 1098.at the time we actually thought it was a 998. The car sat in my dads warehouse for 9 yrs until last year when I decided it was time to get it back on the road.

On with the pictures (an abbreviated history of the build).

Basically this is how I bought the car, had to strip down brake lines, subframes, and other misc. little stuff.


Built a sand blast booth in the garage which will never be the same again.


Blasted, POR15ed, and seam sealed the bottom of the Mini.


Got it back on its feet.


Example of rust on the front roll pan that I had to fix


All rust was cut out and replaced with good metal


Drip rail repair I had to get a little creative. I wound up buy a $0.34 copper pipe coupling and smashed it flat. This was used as a heat sink behind the drip rail to allow me to build enough weld to reform the rail.


I stripped about 95% of all the paint on the outside of the car, decided to pay someone to media blast the all the nooks and crannies, engine compartment, interior, trunk area, etc. This is the car on its way to the blaster


All naked and ready for primer


Primed with DP90 (epoxy) inside and out, the flat black looks Bad Ass. The plan is to assemble the car to make sure I do not have to cut anything or drill any holes before I put the final paint on the car. The goal is not to cut anything for the turbo


Now that the body was 100% rust free and coated with paint, I am focusing on the engine that just got it back from the machine shop last Friday.


I love this engine, it is so small, that it is painless to handle.


Now you guys are up to speed, I crammed about a years worth of work into a couple pictures. This weekend I will hopefully start assembling the engine. I will try to keep this updated as I go.

Thanks to all that have helped me out on this forum you guys rock.

Edited by Mikes1098 on 18th Feb, 2009.

wow, it looks like its going to turn into an impressive car, good luck with it

Looks good.

Is it getting a turbo on the 998 lump?

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

I am planning on putting a turbo on 1098... I realize that I could get more power out of the 1275, but I have not come across one that is reassembly priced. So I have to work with what I have

Thanks again for the rockers....

Threaded and installed plugs into the oil galleys today….




Started building the fixture to hold the engine in the engine stand…

Edited by Mikes1098 on 16th Mar, 2008.

Did a bit more work today...

This is what the engine looked like when I started...including the dead spiders in the cylinders.


Cleaned.


Painted…this red color should be good for an easy 10hp.


I got the crank in and checked thrust, looked good

Edited by Mikes1098 on 21st Dec, 2008.

looks like an improvement!

wierd, never seen/noticed a block without the fuel pump hole before

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Hmmmm, interesting....I never really noticed that before.

Ordered a bunch more stuff for the mini this weekend…. in the mean time I started tearing down the trans.

This is what I am starting with….


I tried having my wife stand on the case while I broke the large nuts free, but that didn’t work… so I strapped it down to the bench. That work perfectly…however, one of the nuts was completely loose. The idiot before me did not have the proper socket, so he used a drift on the nuts and managed to booger them all up and definitely did not get them torqued to where they are supposed to be.


This thing had the sludgiest, nasty oil in it possible…


The magnetic oil plug looked like it was growing hair….


Everything has been removed and the cases are ready for a good ole cleanin’…

Finally got around to finishing up the gearbox…..

Looks like its going to be good build!


This has to be sigged.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fusion-Fabri..._homepage_panel

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



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

Looks good Mike!

Build Thread Click Here

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Edited by Mikes1098 on 21st Dec, 2008.

It took EXACTLY 1 year to get this engine somewhat buttoned up, it is ridiculous how fast time goes by!

As I was going back together with the flywheel housing, I noted the idler gear thrust washer had welded itself to the gear. That in turn messed up the flywheel housing.



I was able to clean the flywheel housings thrust face up but was screwed when one tired to press in a new needle bearing.



Apparently the metal had slightly mushroomed in at the top wear the damage occurred, thus making the diameter a bit too small and causing it to pinch the idler gear shaft. I had to destroy that bearing getting it out and had to get another. I lightly hone the bore this time and it went in perfectly.



I decided to go with needle thrust bearings which nicely take up the space that was created by the worn flywheel housing.



Degreed the new cam and found it to be 6 degrees out. Way more than I would have ever thought it could be. Had to wait for an offset key. Now it is dead nuts.







Random picture of the ARP stud clearance.



Stripped all the paint and repainted all the misc. covers.









Got it somewhat closed up.





Head is ready to go back on, hopefully get that done in the next couple days.

Looks the nuts mate but you should have painted it green

Is it me or does that look like a small bore engine?

Miniboo, read the first post

I also learned not long ago that all Minis in America are called a Mini Cooper, you are right though the S is not really relevant, but hey, who cares, any mint Mini in Americal has to be a head turner

Edited by Sprocket on 22nd Dec, 2008.

I'm sorry, but it lookes better on the before pictures...

Man harsh crowd.

This is not a mint S - the engine is most likely out of a MG Metro. However, the title says it is a Cooper S - which is all I care about for now. In the long run I would like to find another engine and change out this one.

As far as the color, there was 2 problems with the original color:
1. That green color is not readily available anywhere here. I would have to special order it.
2. It sort of reminds me of the stuff you find in diapers.

You have to keep in mind, most people in the states have never even seen a mini - except from Mr. Bean - and they definitely would not know what the stock engine color is. I figured the black will help the turbo stand out.

Edited by Mikes1098 on 22nd Dec, 2008.

I think your attention to detail is excellent. However you cannot appeal to everyone's tastes. As long as you do a good job and you like it. :)

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

youll find Vegard one of the in-house originality brigade, dont take it personally

Any resto not done to OE spec keeps him awake at night, dont even think of mentioning oversils haha

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

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

you are wrong Joey! I am the oversills police! Not Vegard!