764 replies to this topic

[stretch tech]

cheers Andrew, it does i can't wait to start in july 

 

thanks J+S, well the manual i had goes up to 1988 but my car is 89 and everything was fine, i think it is just that they refreshed the manual every so many years and as long as the years of the manual are close to that of your car it should be mainly okay i.e. not the first issue if your car is a 1996 model etc

 

Rhys

[stretch tech]

hi all, it was my birthday Friday so i got myself some nice new parts:

 

- new 11 slat internal release grill 

- the three grill surrounds 

- finishing moulding for the surrounds 

- new drums, shoes and bearings as they were making some noise 

 

i've also got most of my planned engine performance bits - over haul of the ignition so far i've got:

 

- electronic replacement for the points/condenser 

- sports distributor cap

- sports rotor arm

- performance red HT leads (wanted black to keep with the colour scheme but oh well they're red at least)

- triple ground spark plugs 

- high voltage coil (chrome to fit colour scheme)

 

i was going to get the stealth black box programmable ignition and rev limiter but it wont really have much effect on small bore engine so i stopped myself....for now  the sound of the rev limiter is very nicccceeee though   so its still on the to buy list 

 

any way i had a great time at L2B spoke to some great people and saw some amazing mini's....and to top it off someone took these pics 

 

cliff leading the group 

 

 

love the wedge stance 

 

 

good news is cliff didn't over heat on the run and ran sweet as a nut all day. bad news is i think i have warped disks now the pads have bedded in   but it means i can get some sporty breaks - was going to go vented 4 pots but they need adaptors etc so i'll stick with non vented for now with some uprated pads and maybe get some normal 4 pots if i find some cheap

 

Rhys

[stretch tech]

hi all, after noticing some violent juddering under braking and a drone all the time, we looked at the brakes to find the rear bearings were worn and my front disks were warped with uneven pads   so i got a new pair of drums, shoes and bearings for the rear; new disks and pads for the fronts and beings as i was swapping both i decided to uprate to the mini spares higher quality disks and some mintex M1144 pads as i've heard good things about these 

 

 

 

oops 

 

 

now my brakes stop really well and the handbrake actually keeps the car still - they aren't even bedded in yet 

 

i also fitted my electronic conversion the other day plus my new grill as the grill really was letting the car down imo 

 

new top (surrounds not fitted in pic) - old bottom 

 

 

fitted - unfortunately the near side edge peice fits a bit poor in relation to the bonnet finishing strip but on the whole i'm pleased with it 

 

 

 

all fitted (elecy conversion, new leads, coil, plugs)

 

 

also fitted the bonnet seal whilst i was at it. started up and runs great plus no more points/condenser to worry about 

 

Cheers all 

 

Rhys

 

PS: realised i have only got about 5/6 weeks left until my test and i've only had 15 hours so far  fingers crossed any way 

[joezone2001]

Looking good rhys! Keep up the great work. Good luck for the test. You'll ace it. It's easy. Are you taking it in cliff? I took mine in my mini when I was 17 and passed first time after having 11 lessons lol. I had been driving about with my dad though a bit.
Joe

[stretch tech]

Cheers joe. No I'm using my instructors car which is a Kia venga Eco boost 1.5 turbo diesel - very easy to drive but very big blind spots :L my dad taught me quite a lot too and I will have had about 20 hours come my test so fingers crossed - driving is easy it's the idiots I have to watch out for and all the little details that they test you on that no one else on the road abides by making it tedious really :L

Rhys

[joezone2001]

Cheers joe. No I'm using my instructors car which is a Kia venga Eco boost 1.5 turbo diesel - very easy to drive but very big blind spots :L my dad taught me quite a lot too and I will have had about 20 hours come my test so fingers crossed - driving is easy it's the idiots I have to watch out for and all the little details that they test you on that no one else on the road abides by making it tedious really :L

Rhys

Haha. Tell me about it. The roads are full of idiots unfortunately... just stay calm and you'll be fine. I stalled 3 times and I still passed first time. I had to do a hill start on a really steep hill and my mini really struggled as I think the clutch may have been a bit dodgy, but I still passed. (I think the instructor was a mini fan as, as soon as he saw my car he was grinning from ear to ear and still was when we got back to the test centre lol)

Do you think you'll be OK to name the various bits on the engine and show the instructor where to put the oil in? Lol KIDDING haha. Good luck dude. Joe ;)

[stretch tech]

i completely forgot about the show me tell me bit  that kia is made of plastic and there are so many bits of trim everywhere i bet the engine bay just looks like lego  luckily it's near impossible to stall this car - it revs for you which can be annoying if you're crawling round car parks or trying go over a steep speed bump gently

 

Rhys

[stretch tech]

Evening all, just a small update

 

 

won these on eBay earlier, set of 5 KN Jupiter alloys 5Jx12, yes 12 inch jupiter's, never seen them before - EVER !!

 

Apparently they were an option on Canadian market minis for a few years and this set managed to stay in the UK 

 

The price ? 

 

Just £51 !! 

 

chuffed to bits  

 

my plan is to get them all refurbished in the same colour scheme as my current wheels so the "star" will be gold and the rest chrome - going to look sweet and definitely unique 

 

Rhys

[Kieranlee999]

Looking good :) i want spots like yours for the front of my thirty can you tell me where you got them from?

[stretch tech]

Looking good :) i want spots like yours for the front of my thirty can you tell me where you got them from?

 

Sorry, i didn't realise i'd forgot to reply   better late than never though haha i actually found them in my grandad's garage and he gave them to me so i don't really know anything about them, sorry...

 

In other news, UPDATE TIME PEOPLE 

 

As my insurance renewal looms ever closer (scary to think a year has gone so fast), it presents a golden opportunity for me to give Cliff some more oomph. I wanted to do something different to the typical 1275 swap and so i am going away from NA in the form of an 1100 TURBO lump 

 

I've had this plan in the pipe line for a while now and i'm sticking to small bore as it won't be too much of a power increase compared to going from bogo 998 to big boost 1275 haha. Plus it will at least mean there's the scope to up size in the future.

 

My focus for this build isn't outright top end power but low-mid range torque with small spool time in the attempt to keep it as a sensible daliy driver... well i use the term "sensible" loosely   Anyway, my original plan was to force feed my current 998 but i soon realised that it would be impractical as i would need to swap the cam for something more suited, diff for an X-pin variety and change to a taller FD (my 3.65 really would be something spectacular though) as well as fix the issue of the restrictive head casting.

 

And so i now plan to build up a motor outside of the car which i can then drop in over a weekend as i need the car for work.

Well that's the idea anyway.

 

Here's the donor unit currently acting as a prop in the garage:

 

 

1098cc A series from an Austin 1100. The longer stroke and the extra cc's should help improve the torque and spool up the turbine quicker plus they are around 8.6:1 comp as standard.

 

This engine won't be a screamer, mainly for what was said above but also because anything over 6K rpm is into crank shearing territory.

Ideally, i'd like good boost from 1500/2K up to my limit of 5K/5500 revs.

 

This brings me nicley onto the spec:

 

1098 A series 

+20 overbore to 1115cc (may have to be the next size up, depends upon the state of the bore walls)

MiniSport dished pistons to suit

3.1/2.95 Final drive (not sure yet)

X-pin diff 

266 cam (or equivalent)

GT1544S turbo from most modern TDI engines

Unleaded 12G202 head (smaller ports than the 12g295 to increase exhaust gas velocity and so aid spooling)

Pre-verto clutch (plate TBC)

Audi TT intercooler 

Approx. 1 Bar max boost

MPI fuel tank + pump

Megajolt stand alone ignition

 

I think that just about covers it, if i think of anything i've forgotten or if you guys think of something then just moan at me and i'll add it 

 

Right, here is what I've acquired so far:

 

(Donor engine)

 

MG Metro turbo exhaust manifold

 

 

Don't fret, i won't be cutting the bulkhead. I'll put together an adaptor, once i've got the turbo here, to clear the body.

 

Pair of TT intercoolers 

 

 

They've got different style outlets so i'll choose which is most suited to go behind the grill nearer the time.

 

Carb wise, i have this pair of HIF 44's from a Land rover V8 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But then this cropped up from an MG metro, apparently...

 

 

 

 

Think i'll probably build that one as it looks like it's been apart before.

 

I've also got the tank sorted but that's at work for the time being so it can air out 

 

i'll be making up my own plenum, exhaust adaptor and down pipe too.

 

Anyway, that's all for now folks but don't worry, my insurance is up the end of September so this project will be regularly updated.

 

Going to strip the engine down next weekend i think and take the block and head over to Southam Mini Metro Centre for them to work their magic. Reckon i'll put Cliff on the rollers whilst i'm there to get a base line and the fact that i never have known what my little sowing machine kicks out 

 

Any feed back will be most appreciated guys as i've put this project together from reading through endless topics on here, the turbo minis forum and the brilliant turbo-mini.co.uk website.

 

Cheers guys and gals

Rhys

Edited by stretch tech, 06 July 2014 - 09:17 PM.

[stretch tech]

Hello TMFer's

 

I've been tinkering away in the garage this weekend.

on Friday, i brought my MPI tank home after letting it air out at work.

 

 

sturdy but looks a little tired and has nasty green over spray and welding spit all over it 

 

 

 

 

 

So I decided to give it a spruce up. I feel a montage coming on ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty pleased with the finish. Went for satin rather than gloss, bit more forgiving on the prep...

 

In between coats, i started to tackle stripping down the 1100 engine

 

 

mmm lots of loverly corrosion 

 

 

Could anyone enlighten me on what the bolt sticking out halfway down the block near the transfer case is for ? can't remember if my 998 had this or not

 

 

 

 

after spraying every exposed bolt in WD40 and leaving to soak

 

 

 

Made a spider friend too although i don't think he was too happy with my "home improvements"...

 

 

 

Stubborn thermostat housing bolt/stud.

I'm  a little concerned as to why there is no actual thermostat in here beings as this engine looks like it's never been apart...

 

 

 

This motor was from an Austin 1100. The mounts look like mini ones though (or very similar).

Can i still use these ? or do i need mini ones ? thinking about it, i'll probably replace the elements anyway...

 

 

 

Made a bit of a boo boo with the oil filter, the engine wasn't as empty of oil as i thought 

 

 

Ended up ruining the oil filter housing and one stud with the stud remover in the end  not bad going though as this was the only thing that didn't go particularly smoothly 

 

This is the push rod cover with the breather on.

Should this partition be as "squashed in" as it is ? or is this normal/functional still ?

 

 

 

 

Took off the very crusty rocker cover...

 

 

...and found something interesting...

 

 

Turns out i've got a 12G295 head rather than a 12G202, happy days 

so you guys can ignore what i said in my previous post about smaller port sizes to aid spooling  i'll compensate with more boost instead thanks to lower compression goodness 

 

Box o rust el dentae anyone ?

i should be able to put some of these to good use else where, maybe...

 

 

Eventually the novelty of stiff bolts and scrapping knuckles wore off.. luckily i had some masking tape left over...

 

 

And was left with this 

 

 

 

Doesn't really look like i've done a great deal looking back but i've misplaced my flywheel puller and the pub was calling me 

 

looks like there's another oil temp gauge in the gearbox too (beneath the oil filter housing face) any ideas ? 

 

Anyway, that's all i've got for now guys and gals. Pretty excited to spilt the box, block and head next week, see what other surprises i find.

D top pistons perhaps 

 

 

yeah i doubt it too really....

 

 

 

going to start putting a shopping list together for minispares and get my MJ stuff on order also.

 

Cheers

Rhys

[Archived4]

Nice to see this car is still around! Used daily too! I wouldn't be that brave haha! It's too mint to do that! Kinda why I'm just waxoyling and undersealing underneath mine to high heaven so I don't care about it too much haha. Look forward to how this engine progresses. And best of luck with the 1100 lump!

[stretch tech]

Nice to see this car is still around! Used daily too! I wouldn't be that brave haha! It's too mint to do that! Kinda why I'm just waxoyling and undersealing underneath mine to high heaven so I don't care about it too much haha. Look forward to how this engine progresses. And best of luck with the 1100 lump!

 

Cheers Smiler 

 

Yeah this is my daily hack, it's been pretty good to me to be honest. At first i didn't want to use it !! 

 

I'm taking it into the paint shop this weekend to get a few bits touched up but after being on the road for a year it's stayed surprisingly tidy really.

it's probably helped with the inch of stone-chip/waxoil on the underside though 

 

Rhys

Edited by stretch tech, 15 July 2014 - 07:44 PM.

[Minicruiser]

Brilliant work

[stretch tech]

Brilliant work

 

cheers buddy