38 replies to this topic

[chris211083]

Hi Guy's I'm going to supercharge the wifes 1988 998 mini next year(2013) and have been looking at the different kits. I have also searched this forum for info and there were quite a few threads but nothing that was actually any use. So.......I called vmaxscart and he was very helpful and basically told me that with the +60 pistons the cam I selected, coupled to a modded 12g295 head I would be looking at 90bhp. I then had a look around and spotted the Opcon Supercharger system, which is very expensive but minispares still do the 998 kit minus the Supercharger so you could get the kit from them and just the charger from Australia. This System looks to be very well made and has a few very very good write ups. So I've emailed the guy and will see what he says. However what if this guy doesn't get back to me??? This brings me back to the m45 kits. So which one is the best???

Vmaxscart:
uses a billet crank pulley to drive a separate belt to the charger. Is known to be a very good quality kit but he is some times hard to get hold of. He can also offer charge cooling for the charger/+10hp and does the heads.

Minispeed:
This kit uses a modern type serpent belt to drive everything. So in this kit you get new pulleys for everything. Its also suppose to be the most efficient to? Dont know how or why but they say it is. Service is very good but I've seen some reports for bad parts and poor quality.

Jonspeed:
Not much info on these but they look to be very much like the vmaxscart kit belt wise but you can't tell from photo's. However service is suppose to be very good as is the quality of the bits.

So which is the best and most efficient charger kit???? Are there any other kits and can any one give genuine first hand reviews of there dealings.

Many thanks in advance and I'll let you know more once i know it.

Chris.

[holmesy]

rotrex supercharger is another good one, specialist components use it on there 16v engines with good power and looks the best

[OfMini&Men]

Rotex charger is most effeict charger out there so small and build is brill

but the Jonspeed kit is good a firend is using it and he can't fault it he just went to talk to them and had some bits dropped he used MPI pulleys so no silly extentions on the other stuff :)

[Andy500]

I ran a m45 vmax kit on my mpi, it did the job but was friggin awful on charge temperatures, the Eaton is very inefficient past 10 psi and at this level expect inlet temps of 80 degrees c upward. I don't know what the charge cooler is like that Stuart offers but if I was doing it I would either, a, look for a more efficient charger or b, go down the blowthrough route to get an IC in there or c, just turbo it, for probably less money, same if not more power
Just my view but worth considering

[chris211083]

I would like to buy a complete kit but I have not seen any complete turbo kits around??? I also don't want to have to mod the bulkhead. I've spotted the mirage manifolds but there is still alot of messing around. I want to be able to bolt it up, its the wife's car so not wanting max power just a good bit more and I'm sure she will be happy with it. Supercharging looks to be the best for her as the extra torque makes easy fast driving. Will give specialist components a call about the rotrex charger. However I think the best solution is looking like the minispeed kit as I like the way it does away with the v belt for a modern serpent type.

Andy500, are you saying that the mpi mini's had the modern style belt??? And can these be retro fitted or would I need to buy a new waterpump and alternator???

Thanks Again,

Chris.

Edited by chris211083, 28 December 2012 - 11:12 AM.

[chris211083]

Well i've just been on the phone with Minispeed. I've spoken to them about their SC kit and Its been a very good experience. I'm currently running the Specialist Components 5 port efi kit and upon speaking with them they would be happy to make a custom short inlet manifold to bolt the 5port injection kit to. This would cost no more than the normal carb kit. So saving cash there and then I asked them about their cylinder heads. £380 to do the mods etc to the 12G295 head including valves and hardened seats. Total bargain!!! They would gear the charger to 8-10psi and they use a single large thickness head gasket which would mean the head would not need to much skimming. This looks to be very good. Also their crank pulley is no larger than the stock pulley so I can still use the Specialist componets trigger wheel kit. I'll call the other companys and see what they will offer.

Chris.

[holmesy]

that sounds like good service

[Andy500]

Hi, yep the mpi pulley is for a 5 rib belt the standard bini supercharger pulley is for a 6 rib belt but a 5 rib works fine. Be careful on the set up you use as the one I ran from vmaxscart reversed the rotation of the water pump which meant it became a specialist bespoke part from vmaxscart, although it did work perfectly well.

On my mpi the standard pulleys, I.e bini ( which was 68mm iirc) and mpi bottom pulley resulted in 18psi and charge temps of 115 degrees c! Vmaxscart do install a recirc pipe but the best and correct option is to get he pulley sizes correct. It was a few years go now but I had Jonspeed make me a bigger pulley to my spec, I think it was 74mm which slowed the blower down so I got the correct boost level. I halved the boost to just over 9 psi but only lost 2bhp and gained in torque. Which was because the charge temps dropped so significantly but would have still warranted an IC!

If you do install the m45 I would also consider a water injection kit (pre charger) if you go for a suck through config, will work wonders on charge temps as well as some other benefits. Although if its just on a daily which doesn't get the boot hat often I'm sure it would've fine without.

Good luck with it

[chris211083]

Sorry Andy, it's not going to be a drag car. It's the wife's every day driver. She just wants more poke from it, mainly for overtakes on back roads and easier motorway driving. I'll give it a good booting every now and again but my Triumph Spitfire GT is a different beast altogether so basically she will just be driving it.

Chris.

[Andy500]

No worries, keep us posted and I hope it all goes well. Cheers Andy

[Scott@minispeed]

Minispeed:
This kit uses a modern type serpent belt to drive everything. So in this kit you get new pulleys for everything. Its also suppose to be the most efficient to? Dont know how or why but they say it is.

Hi Chris, that's a good question with most of the suppliers prices being similar and all supercharger kits giving a power increase. Our kit really is the best on the market due to superior design and craftsmanship and while we do not normally reveal our trade secrets I think this is a good opportunity to see the main difference.

This is a photo of a BMW mini supercharger body mounted on one of our rivals inlet manifolds. You can clearly see the that intake charge (air/fuel mix) is squeezed into a tiny hole which creates unwanted pressure and temperature while massively restricting power output. http://www.facebook....&type=1

This is a photo of the same BMW mini supercharger body mounted onto our own inlet manifold. You can clearly see the massive hold matched to the supercharger output which is achieved by hand crafting tubular and sheet steel individually in house by our engineers. There simply is not a comparable quality item in the market that even comes close to the efficiency and power that ours produces.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=532404026783219&set=a.362102667146690.91977.191862994170659&type=1&theater

[Grahamxx]

I wouldn't personally use the charge cooler on the Vmaxscart setup as it isn't cooling the charged air properly, I do like what Scott has done at Minispeed with the inlet manifold, nice work!

[Andy500]

Scott, have you guys at Minispeed ever mapped and recorded the charge air temps with your set up? There seems to be a reluctance from many of the suppliers to do this. Would be really I interesting to know what the different set Ups perform like. I have logs from the emerald I used to run on mine but would be great to know what temps the minispeed kit reaches. I believe it has to be the intake temp not the temp of the charger casing as other providers have qouted before

Cheers

Andy

[Grahamxx]

Andy,

I'm going to try and log my ACT's at some point, problem is the inlet is so close to the exhaust manifold, heat from the exhaust could quite easily transfer to the inlet manifold...

[chris211083]

Scott, thanks for that. The info was clear and the pictures speak a thousand words about the difference in the kits.

Grahamxx, So it's worth putting a heat shield between the two manifolds then.

Has anyone made a heat shield???Pic's???

Thanks again,

Chris.