What spec do I go for?
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all

Some of you may know that I have been thinking about buying some kit off a mate of mine. These are a Med 1380 head and a Med Straight Cut gearbox. I have emailed Med to find out the actual spec of the parts but I have been told that the final drive is 3.9 and not 3.1. I have put some emails at the bottom.

Now I have a completely standard SPI and blank canvis so what do I go for?

I was thinking about using the 1380 head and boring out the block to 1380 to match it but a bit concerned that a) I might not be able to get it bored out that far and b) if anything goes wrong, you can't bore it out any more.

Also, with the gearbox, would I be better going for a T2 turbo or a T3. If it helps, I currently have a set of 13x6 Ultralites in garage waiting to be fitted.

Spec ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot guys

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

Diff ratios can be changed cheaply so that not an issue, spec really depends on cashflow and what you want the car for, 140 brake in a mini makes a very quick car and you can use a surprising amount of standard parts, bore wise i would go for a 1293 capacity does not seen to affect power outputs and leaves the block to be rebored later rather than scrapped

Cheers wolfie

There's just so much info out there that I have no idea where to start.

I guess my budget would be somewhere in the region of £1,000 to £1,500.

I will be using the car for mainly road use on weekends so what would be a sensible power output. I would like as quick as possible but don't want to spend big bucks only to find that you can't put the power down due to it spinning all the time.

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

£1500 dont go far

i would build an engine and use standard but balanced crank and rods and decent accralite or omega pistons, build a decent bottom end with quality bearings, with a decent gearbox you have a good base that can add modded heads or fancy turbo, ingnition ect when funds allow as its all bolt on from there

not sure where your based but carl can machine up a decent bottom end, steve builds decent powerfull engines, phil does race winning heads and tom trigger wheels and cps brackets and tea

Edited by wolfie on 27th Sep, 2010.

Unfortunately I am based in Jersey so although we don’t pay VAT, the shipping makes up for it!

Just been told by MED that the head was a ‘V’ wedge large port rally head with 35.7 x 31.0 valves. Not sure about the box so when I have time, I will strip it down and have a look at everything.

I was thinking about doing the following (most of this is from Phil's Turbo-Mini website - Thanks):

Using the MED 1380 head (Not including this in my budget of £1,500)

Balance crank
Rods stress relieved – I assume that they would require balancing after this and it’s not something you can do at home unless you have the correct kit?
ARP rod bolts
Payen BK450 head gasket
Drill block for 11 studs
Install main centre strap
Install new pistons – Not sure what size to go for yet. Any ideas? Would you notice much of a difference if you went for a 1293 vs a 1380?
Install Piper Phase 2 cam
Duplex timing gear & chain
Vernier adjustable item use offset keys with the "fixed" type to time the cam in accurately.
Steel flywheel & backplate (double grey diaphragm & AP plate)
Decent Intercooler
High capacity oil pump
High grade cam followers
Good quality main and big end shells

Would the £1,500 cover it?

Would it be simpler to buy a short block from somewhere? If so, where would be a good place to look? I have seen that MiniSpeed do engines, would this be able to cope with a turbo?

Edited by fasteddie84 on 28th Sep, 2010.

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

Just found out a rough spec of the box.

It's a straight cut, close ratio, Quaife ATB and straight cut crown wheel & pinion.

If I run 13", I assume that it won't be as close as if ti was on 10".

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

the difference between 10 & 13 inch is negligable when it comes to ratios

I think you could pull that lot off on £1500.

However from past experience of buying various parts including engine, don't go to MiniSpeed, please!

Alot of those bits you could get second hand if you wanted, put a ISO thread in the wanted section, I'm sure someone will have some bits your after :)

Cheers for that.

Just been to see a mate who has sold me his metro turbo engine, box, turbo and dizzy.

This has made me think about what I want to do.

I think I will go ahead and respray the car and get rid of all of the rust and make the outside look new again. I will then do a couple of things to the interior to make it look better and then uprate the suspension and brakes.

I will use the car for a bit and save the pennies and then go ahead and buy a complete engine.

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

If the outside is reasonable, and the car is solid, I'd do the suspension and brakes first

I have started posting on Instagram also my name on there is turbomk1golf

Nothing is impossible it just costs more and takes longer.

My plan is to strip the car down completely and fix all the rust and others and then build it back up with new stuff i.e. brightwork, brakes, suspension etc.

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!

for the engine on that budget, i would just do a full rebuild, and balance of the standard motor, bore to 1293 with some cast omegas

that should be do able on 600quid, dont forget to budget for the hidden extras they always crop up
that should see 100 horses without trying spend the rest on a good turbo,
the head looks good, the box should be good
i would definitely budget for megajolt (mjlj)

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

I've taken the car on as a project and my overal plan is to get it looking spot on and driving the same and if I can make it go faster, then that's a bonus.

I have a budget in mind and trying to stick to that. I think that once I have reuilt it, I will keep it the same for a bit and then, maybe in a years time, look at purchasing an enigne from one of the companies.

My main problem is that as I live in Jersey, we don't have anyone good enough for engine work so I would have to send the engine away which would cost a lot.

I am going to rebuild the metro engine so that it will give me some confidence in it so going to buy the following:

Bearings (both big end and main)
Gasket set
Probably a new rad
Probably some piston rings

Do you think that I may need anything else? I will be using a standard metro engine and turbo so at the moment, won't need to uprate much as not going to be putting loads of power through.

Would you reckon that for the cost of it and since I will be stripping down the enigne, I may as well buy a new cam kit, vernier duplex timing kit and roller tip rockers or would you think that there is little to gain?

Thanks

Speed doesn't kill, suddenly becoming stationary, now that's what'll get ya!