43 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

One thing not clear is the actual use to which the car will be put. If it's just occasional road use like going out at night or on quiet days on twisty roads for a bit of fun, then a 'hotter' cam can work. But for use in any sort of traffic a cam hotter than a 266 in a 998 is well over-cammed and will just be disappointing.

A 544 is just an older version of the 286, so far to ''hot' for a 998 unless it is for special stage rallying on closed roads.

Personally I liked the old 510 'S' cam in a 998. I had one in my original 1960's rally 998 and it gave a lot of torque and with a 3.76:1 FDR worked well.

Don't worry too much about cam selection. there is a lot of 'puff' about this or that cam, but the basic engine tuning is about the quality of the cylinder head work plus the accuracy of the build. Just choose a fairly mild cam and set everything up properly. Then you will be delighted at how nicely it drives. It's never going to be a fast car, so just enjoy the sort of Mini-Cooper 998 retro driving we had 50 years ago. It's just great fun, even if it's not fast!

Edited by Cooperman, 12 November 2015 - 10:55 PM.

[MiniMadMan1996]

Yeah suppose I should have stated what the use of it will be, it'll be more of a fun car to drive rather than a daily seeming as I work 30 seconds down the road, so I don't need the car for that, so yeah really maybe a bit of a wilder cam might be more appropriate, and where can you buy the 544 cam? I've seen minisport sell one named as a 544, but is that an exact replica of the original?

[MiniMadMan1996]

510 cam sorry

[MiniMadMan1996]

And yes as far as cylinder heads, my 295 has been ported, but it's still got the original size valves in it, and still got leaded seats

[PhilipGCaldwell]

Im not sure there is any definitive answer on leaded/unleaded seats, I used to own a leaded mg metro and ran it on unleaded petrol, was fine.

 

When I did my rebuild I had the unleaded seats done on my 12g940, cost £200 (had new guides done too so was all in that cost)

 

I have an unleaded 12g940 spare now I bought for a tenner off my mate when he sold his mini and all his spares, going to port it and pocket my spare engine and build it up ready.

 

Maybe someone has more experience with using unladed  in a leaded head?

[Dusky]

Lead additive. We use it in a slalom mini wich sees 8.5 k rpm.

[1984mini25]

just depends what people want I think, people seem to love revving the nuts off 998s so think they need a lairy cam. Maybe as well some people speak alot on forums rather than having actual real world experience of what was actually been done, the sw5 is by no means a race race cam but would give far better all around driveability, trust me, the 276 is just too much for general road use

 

I'd second that, I fitted a 276 into a otherwise standard 998 with a stage one kit for someone despite advising differently. And he complained continually that the mini was worse to drive and lacked power after. Witch in his opinion must have been down to my bad workmanship rather than his bad choice in cam or his reluctance to not rev past 3.5k. 

[Cooperman]

Personally I would go for a Kent 266 or MG Metro cam (they are very similar).

Both work really well in a 998 bored larger with a properly gas-flowed 295 head.

[coopdog]

Personally I would go for a Kent 266 or MG Metro cam (they are very similar).
Both work really well in a 998 bored larger with a properly gas-flowed 295 head.

I had a mg metro cam in my 988 that was 64bhp and it drove lovely as a road car, just make sure you have the correct FD as I had to rev the **** out of it in 3rd to get above 70mph in 4th, I was using a 2.9

[1984mini25]

 

Personally I would go for a Kent 266 or MG Metro cam (they are very similar).
Both work really well in a 998 bored larger with a properly gas-flowed 295 head.

I had a mg metro cam in my 988 that was 64bhp and it drove lovely as a road car, just make sure you have the correct FD as I had to rev the **** out of it in 3rd to get above 70mph in 4th, I was using a 2.9

 

 

If you think a 2.9 fd on a 998 is painful, just try one of the 'economy' 998s with a standard cam. Mine doesn't get a shift on until 3k, but 70mph in 4th is exactly 3k and 60mph is 2.5k, so if you drive sensibly at no point do you ever get anywhere fast.

[coopdog]

 

Personally I would go for a Kent 266 or MG Metro cam (they are very similar).
Both work really well in a 998 bored larger with a properly gas-flowed 295 head.

I had a mg metro cam in my 988 that was 64bhp and it drove lovely as a road car, just make sure you have the correct FD as I had to rev the **** out of it in 3rd to get above 70mph in 4th, I was using a 2.9
 

 
If you think a 2.9 fd on a 998 is painful, just try one of the 'economy' 998s with a standard cam. Mine doesn't get a shift on until 3k, but 70mph in 4th is exactly 3k and 60mph is 2.5k, so if you drive sensibly at no point do you ever get anywhere fast.

2.9 is the economy FD mate

I have a mini city e

[Cooperman]

You sure don't fit a 2.9:1 FDR for any sort of acceleration. Good for old ladies driving slowly around town.

[coopdog]

You sure don't fit a 2.9:1 FDR for any sort of acceleration. Good for old ladies driving slowly around town.

Too right! The only reason mine stayed in was because of future plans

[johnR]

I've got a stock 998 in my ex City - I've been interested to follow this discussion because I'd like more power at some point as well.

From what I've read a new head would be needed to gain any appreciable increase but the cost of this would be similar to replacing the 998 with a 1275? Is this too simplistic - is there some benefit to developing the 998 that I've missed?

JohnR