Van progress
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all,

I decided to turbo my Traveller/Van rather than the pick up (which in turn will very likely be supercharged
Yesterday I started cutting the bulkhead as per Jukka's pictures and the drawing I found on http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/6626/eraturbo.htm. The car being LHD I can't use the standard (Minispares supplied) box, so I cut mine up. I used the RH section for about 27cm; then cut and welded the other side in situ to it; then used the supplied gusset plate to cover the whole that was left. I bent the throttle pedal so it's still usable The instructions with the MS box are useless btw, mentioning bolts which aren't supplied and all sorts of weird tricks, involving metal strips and subframes etc.: just throw them away and use common sense instead:)
Below are some pics of what mine turned out. Not an award winner I guess but you can hardly see it anyway after the engine's in. Tomorrow I'll trial drop the engine in. Problem is I'm on a schedule (hence the lack of detailing for now): by Friday the car has to be on all fours again and I'll be driving it 800m to France right after Easter...

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1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

That's going to be tight on the inlet hose and actuator if using a T3. I guess you have no choice with LHD though.

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

You have to remove more sheet under the brake master cylinder for the actuator:

http://www.minifreunde.at

Hi Will,

Mine's actually one whole cm wider than the standard ERA box and Jukka's too; I'm even closer to the throtle pedal. It was a PITA to cut the blukhead out, since I managed to that right where some support brackets are on the cabin side. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to report if it clears or not, but I'm reasonably confident..

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

oops, that's new to me... how much? Didn't ERA use a longer upper engine steady to sort this?


[quote=akirch,1st Apr, 2009]You have to remove more sheet under the brake master cylinder for the actuator:

Edited by Arnoud on 1st Apr, 2009.

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Today was the day: I bolted some mounts to the engine, then dropped the lot in the car. The waste gate actuator hit the bulkhead, but only lightly, so we decided to cut, tap and lengthen the upper engine steady (see pic; yes, a locknut has been added since. Now there's 1cm (3/8") clearence, which is plenty. The engine will be held down with three steadies in all: the top one and two at the bottom (it's got a '91 subframe and I'll use the '76 back steady as well. I put some extra welds on the bulkhead bracket for the top steady as well.
Tomorrow I'll put the engine together and drop it in permanently. All in all I'm pretty pleased with the result sofar, although we're not there yet

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1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

looking good

nice job on the top steady ..
looks good , will have to mod mine ..:)

Don't go slow !!! Go Turbo :))))))

thanks guys:)
I ha a really hard time actually fitting the engine, thanks to new engine mounts with welded nuts that are just too think; In the end I got so fed up I put the old ones back in. Another problem was the metro inner joint halves that were still fitted to the tranny; the Mini's driveshafts just wouldn't fit properly so they had to be replaced as well. Yesterday I modified the throttle pedal so it clears the bulkhead box. Today I trial fitted the fuel system. I'm running a V12 Jaguar/Bosch fuel pump at the moment since I had one handy. I also have spark but no "bangs" yet; ran out of time to get it started; hopefully tomorow.
One quick question: I don't have the ecu; can I just attach a valve to the T joint in the pressure sensing line?

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

i carried out this mod an a friends class 4 grass car , i can't remember exactly what thread type i used but it broke after 4-5 meetings,


carl

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

This morning I hooked up the choke and changed the ignition coil for one I trusted a bit better. At the 2nd attempt the beast woke up and settled into quite a nice high idle:) Since the cooling system wasn't present at that time I killed it, but I'm happy, especially since I bought te engine blind off ebay and only had a look at the clutch. After that I sorted the fuel lines, fitted the clutch slave and had a go a fitting the rad, but the rather big air intake hose was in the way. In the end I decided to run that around the lower rad mounting forward, so the air filter will be roughly below the alternator. This way it's out of the way of the lower radiator hose. I actually think I may be making next Wednesday's deadline here...we'll see

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

Trouble....the other day, at the first few attempts to start I heard the turbo whistle. Today I fitted the exhaust and coolig system to be able to warm the engine up and see what would happen. All of a sudden the whistle's gone and I've got zero boost. I checked the exhaust side of the turbo; the shaft spins freely by hand but with the engine running spooling up is initially quite jitterish (but it does spool up). Could the impeller shaft be broken?

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up