Renewed enthusiasm!!
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi, After 20 years of my mini languishing in a shed, i got the urge to bring it back to life.
In the mid 90's i drove a friends turbo mini and it convinced me to do the same. I bought a £60 le engine /box and a turbo from a metro with an exploded diff( figured if diff could get out of casing, then turbo was good!!) Turbo with head was £25. ( wish i had stockpiled!!)
I ditched the head in favour of standard and carved out some metal to help with CR.
This was extent of mods and i drove this for a couple of years. It was great fun and very lively despite probably only making 80 od hp.
The fun started to fade as unleaded fuel took over. Unwilling to pay for super unleaded, i backed off boost to compensate. This , combined with the discovery of failed head gasket, somehow convinced me to transplant a cavalier sri engine into it. This was a worthy experiment and the performance and quietness were both welcome. However, it lost the mini feel, and when i broke the engine, i parked it in a shed and left it for dead...
For a while i have contemplated bringing it back to life, and this week however, i dragged out the old turbo lump which has sat for over 20 years , pulled it apart and carted off the block and crank for fettling. Time has not been kind , and there is a fair bit of rust inside, but hopefully the buzz is back and this will soon be back in its propper place...

Awesome, enthusiasm comes and goes i find. Have you got any pictures?

That’s quite the pause.

Makes me wonder about all the other folks I’ve met over the years that have slowly and quietly disappeared... I’m sure lots still have the minis tucked away, waiting for inspiration!

Here goes. Before and after showing 20 years Patina!! even in the engine.
Shiny pic was with 1.8 Vaux (2 weekend build plus 2 weekend respray in garage) in the days when i could get things done, and not arse about for years ..

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Welcome :)

Awesome that you kept it all this time! Well done you

I guess i was lucky to have a shed to dump it in. 20 years seems a long time, but the last 20 has passed in a blink.
Anyway, the turd is polished. Looks ok in pics, but is still a dog. The paintwork was never that good, but it now has a sort of vintage patina of crazed old paint. Will have to make it fast to compensate!!

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Welcome. Good luck with your project.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Welcome

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Its got a tow bar!

Well, not being able to go out for a while has been a bit of an incentive to get the mini working and out on the road (for essential trips only) The 1275 is still in a box wrapped in oily rags and paper.. held back by spiraling cost really (Head refurb, new clutch , dodgy gearbox/diff etc) So Instead i bought a cheap 998 so that i could put the car back together and get things back up and working. Fuel, exhaust and Megajolt to name a few. The T3 turbo is also fitted, straight from the 1275 so that i could sort all the plumbing and replace missing parts.. I don't think it brings any power to the party, but it does seem to make a measly 3-4PSI at somewhere around 4500Rpm. So I guess it still works!!
The biggest surprise is how bloody scary a mini now feels after 20 years of grown up cars.. it isn't even remotely fast. I cant really believe i used to tear round with the Vauxhall engine wedged under the front, torque steering all over the road!!
Tow bar came in useful to park the dog..

Hopefully will still have some money left to get that 1275 sorted after lockdown....

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Awesome, good idea on just shoving another lump in to make it mobile n have some fun 👍

Keep at it. Money and time are typically the enemy of our projects.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Nice to see some progress after all these years.

Phil.

Edited by Turbo Phil on 1st Apr, 2020.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

excellent.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM