Metro Turbo Conversion

Metro Turbo Conversion

Author
Discussion

Team Grenville

Original Poster:

5 posts

210 months

Sunday 22nd April 2007
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Hi

I have an old 1983 y reg metro 1.0 sitting in my driveway unused and rather than throw it out i have decided to do a 1.3 turbo conversion. has any one done this before as i want to source the parts and dont really know where to look or what exactly i need to buy. any help would be appreciated.

wildoliver

8,958 posts

222 months

Sunday 22nd April 2007
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Yes it can be done however..........

You would be better off selling it on ebay and buying a metro turbo, you would get a nice one for sub £1000, which would be very easy to get to doing the upgrade on your 1.0.

Plus in later years I could see these climbing a bit in price as they are getting very rare now. I see k3's more often then tidy metty turbo's

wadgebeast

3,856 posts

217 months

Tuesday 24th April 2007
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It'll cost you a fortune to upgrade all the things you require --> brakes, suspension (did they do anything to beef up the hydragas suspension?), wheels, tyres etc before you even start on the engine mods...crankshaft, bearings, pistons, conrods, head, both manifolds, fuel pump, turbo, intercooler, radiators.

Flog yours. Buy a metro turbo instead and then you only have to worry about keeping the thing on the road.

Team Grenville

Original Poster:

5 posts

210 months

Saturday 28th April 2007
quotequote all
hi

i have an old metro in the drive bought to carry crap and has served me well for many yrs and rather than chuck it out i want to convert it and am just doing this conversion for pure novelty factor! i want it to be as cheap and crap as possible but to make the good old dump valve noise when i rarely drive it! waste of money i know but ah well i'll enjouy doing the work and driving the sh1t out of it.

is the 1300 turbo the same as the 1300 cooper in the mini?
what gearbox is in the 1300 turbo? does the 1.0 A+ gearbox fit?
any ideas if there is a dedicated website specialising in other such idiots with the same idea as me!!!

cheers guys

wildoliver

8,958 posts

222 months

Sunday 29th April 2007
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You really would be mad to do it, your best bet if youir determined to have a project is to buy a rotten turbo and reshell it in to your car.

Bear in mind you will need to source a turbo gearbox as they are unique to the car, or buy an aftermarket box that will cope.

You will need to buy the unique turbo carb, plenum, turbo and exhaust manifold.

You will need to to buy and fit a 1275, it must be the low compression engine that is fitted to the low power metro's, not the HC engines fitted to the high spec and MG metro's. You will then have to find the turbo head with sodium filled valves.

To find the above alone and bear in mind you haven't touched brakes, suspension, wheels, turbo piping, oil coolers and turbo oil feed pipe, boost modulator to stop you ripping first and second out, you will be looking at over a grand unless your lucky.

The cheap and easy way to do it is buy a donor car and reshell it in to yours.

The sensible way to do it is sell yours on ebay and buy a nice turbo that will appreciate in value.

TurboSam

58 posts

217 months

Thursday 3rd May 2007
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You wouldn't need a 'turbo' gearbox, as really the actual box is pretty much the same as any other A+ box (998+1275). The only minor difference is that the turbo box has a larger bearing in the first motion shaft, which isn't necessary.

Also you don't need the 'turbo' head, I don't know of many people who run high power minis and metro turbos with the sodium filled valves. Again not necessary.

But I agree the easiest way is to get a complete turbo lump, with all the bits included. Unfortunately these days they are very expensive !


Edited by TurboSam on Thursday 3rd May 19:08

wildoliver

8,958 posts

222 months

Thursday 3rd May 2007
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Given the turbo boxes last about as long as a wet teabag under high pressure when given stick especially when the boost control is circumvented (which was put in place purely to prevent them ripping the box out in first and second) using a non turbo standard a series box is not a good idea unless you particularly enjoy taking transverse a series in and out. I don't done it far too many times.

The best bet is to use a good tougher box eg. jack knight. Not cheap however.

Re. The sodium valved heads I have used both, my last turbo ran a standard early Mg metro head with the bigger inlets, I didn't burn valves out admittedly.