Posted 28 June 2010 - 02:55 PM
Its all about setting your limits and boundaries.
you can get what you want, but your reliability will suffer and drivability will suffer too. even if you get 100 hp out of it, the gearbox will need replacing. Its a never ending viscious cycle of parts.
I had a 998 with 1.25 inch su on it, and it was wheeeezy. The 1.5 su helped. but the MPI 1275 (running 10's because i dont ahve any other wheels) is perfect for me. Im not trying to compete with hot hatches though, just get off my driveway onto hte road.
You could get the bmw k head, or the kam head, or a turbo, or a supercharger, but you'd be better off with 2 more crank journals. You could get the dog gearbox, but you'e be better off with another gear. if you want to go that fast (and be that safe with crumple zones) get a gta or a gtx or whatever 3 letter g containing name post-fix. if you want a cool car that you will love (in my case, since childhood) you may want to stick with the mini.
Don't get me wrong, I love my mini, but lets face it, the a-series engine and bmc box are 60 and 50 year-old technology and the world has moved on. to get that kind of power RELIABLY, you need those kinds of technologies, you know, 4 vavles per cylinder, 4 port intakes, 4 port tuned exhausts, double overhead cam shafts, and 5 main bearings,as well as those kinds of materials, you know, titanium nitride coated crank journals, aluminum heads, sodium filled valves. These are no-longer special race parts, this is the kind of stuff you are getting in 7 seater minivans for goodness sakes! If this were not the case, there would be no mini's with red tops, v-tech's or k series engines in them, we would still be fast with a 998 and 2 carbs, but the world has moved on.
998, its a great engine, 1275, its a great engine. Shame we didnt get the original k-series single aluminum casting in the early 70's because the muppets at BL couldn't see good engineering if they got run over by it and couldn't organize a pissup in a brewery, but we didnt. With the best will in the world, you will struggle to compete with modern powerplants (and to be fair, im saying UN TUNED modern power plants, they can get even sillier in the racers workshop) in light, cheap, safe modern boxes, in the entire operating and speed range. For sure, Im about to get lambasted, because some of you have fantastic mini's but thats the thing. The mini's breathing is SOOO poor that its EASY to get more out of it. remember it was supposed to be a 900 but they took 50 cc out of it because it scared the crap out of them in 59 on the test track. There was lots of room for optimization, but with modern engines, most of that is done, and usually a ram pipe or back box is as much tuning as you are going to get without switching ecu's or getting it chipped.
(holds ears and waits for the firestorm)
enjoy your cars!
Oh yeah, and my cars faster than yours neener neener neener!
