Help and advice
Turbo Mini Forums

Hello guys having a bit of difficulty on deciding which engine build route to take with my mini. I was looking at a turbo charging the 1275 mg metro engine to a 1293 as I know it has a better cam / cylinder head. He wanted £600 for it but it hasn't been used for around 2 years I've also found a 1380 block with omega pistons which is another option I could take just wanted your opinions on which would be best bang for my buck so to speak cheers

If you go the 1380 route you need to check what dish is in the pistons. No point in buying ones with a small dish as you need a low compression ratio for the turbo.. 1380 turbos arnt common as it really gains you little over the standard bore sizes but it will work.

This is your main issue with the MG engine too however. They run 10.5:1 as standard which is way too high. You would need it rebuilt with dished pistons to get the c/r down (although as you mention 1293 I'm guessing your already planning this). I think 600 is too much money. 1275 engines are only worth half that and although the MG might have slightly larger valves and a better cam theres a good chance they will be too far gone to use in a rebuild anyway.

if i were to do it all over again, i would get the cheapest engine i could. you will be rebulding most of it anyway for piece of mind once your in there.as long as the gear box is in good shape and the block and head dont have any cracks your good. unless you get a good turbo engine of someone you can trust, then thats a different story.

Definitely go for a stock A+ 1275 and build it from there.

I bought a 1330 a series to get started on mine thinking it was a good idea. Ended up using barely any of it!