Mini 998cc engine

[kenmorton]

Whats the best power/rpm the 998cc mini engine has been reliably tuned to and how does it compare with curent stock bike engines ( 600 - 1000 ).
Also any torque / weight comparisons as well.
This would be for a cheap and exteamly lightweight single seater for sprints and hill climbs.

[steve_d]

I don't have any figures but would put money on the bike engine both on power and available revs.
That's not to say I like bike engines as I don't but they are powerful and light.

Steve

[paolow]

I would have thought this was a total no brainer to be honest - unless theres some special reason for using the mini lump?

[lukeb]

Without referring to the Vizard book, I'd guess you can probably get in the region of 100bhp/litre out of a really tuned nat asp A series?

It has to be said though, it's an all iron, long stroke, pushrod 2 valver. If power is your aim you would only use an A series if you were forced to, an alu 4 valve engine will embarrass it.

[annodomini2]

The weak point with mini's has never been the engine, its the gearbox and drop gears.

Turbo'd 1275/1293's can easily reach 200bhp now reliably, but the gearbox won't be able to take it.

You'd be better posting this on the mini forum, much more knowledge on there.

[vrooom]

There is LOADS of after market bits for a-series. like 16v, ohv, 7 port, all sort. but gearbox is the weakest link.

[kenmorton]

Reason for asking is the chassis is designed around the mini engine/gearbox/driveshafts/uprights/suspension etc. So its just down to a tradeoff between using a cheap tuned A series and keeping things simple or extensive mods to fit a bike engine (chassis mods, diff, drive shafts etc.)

[Mikey G]

Will the increase in performance using a bike engine outway the cost? A seriously tuned A-series isnt cheap, and the cost of a decent fireblade or other 1 litre bike engine is coming down, mounts can be fabricated and diff parts are getting easier to get hold of (chain drive, sealed diff, pillow block bearing mounts). It might just even the costs out when you consider reliability and also the old Mini gearbox issues which can cost a small fortune itself.