Engine upgrade
Discussion
The time is getting nearer to upgrade my engine. Im open to all options.... I've been looking at morspeed, med and vmax scart at the mo, but was wondering if theres anyone a bit more local?? (luton area) At the moment the car has a 1293 stage 2 minisport engine which is fine but i want a little bit more. Is it possible to get a reliable 100bhp from a a/a+ series engine??? Would it be better to upgrade the engine i've got (not sure how well built it is, was in the car when i got it) or to start afresh and sell on the old one?? Any ideas, spec's or or builders names would be great cheers.
Andy
Andy
All i can say is that i've heard great things from morespeed, and have had good customer service from MED but never bought a whole kit/engine from either of them just parts..
I expect others will have a better idea, btw i'm going down the ultra reliable route of either a vaux 1.6 enigne route that produces over 100 bhp and is going to be far far more reliable than an A series pound for pound.... (relising that you can after spending a small fortune make a A series 100% reliable as a everyday runner)
I expect others will have a better idea, btw i'm going down the ultra reliable route of either a vaux 1.6 enigne route that produces over 100 bhp and is going to be far far more reliable than an A series pound for pound.... (relising that you can after spending a small fortune make a A series 100% reliable as a everyday runner)
vodkakid said:
How much do you think the conversion will cost you??
well... it depends on how far built your mini is now and how far you want to take it.
My build is from scratch i'll give u an idea of what i've taken into consideration over and above normal rebuild bits and peices
first off the frame, if your handy with a welder you can do this for free by trail and error and alot of time at your expense or you can cheat (like me) and go off to the many companies now offering subframes ready to put in. These can cost between £700 ish for a vauxhall enigne (the one i'll be getting) and up to around £900 for the honda. But you gotta put on top of that a donar car, a vauxhall donar is dead cheap like 200 - 250 a honda on the other hand will cost you 700 - 900, this allows you to take the wireing looms etc. Then you need to look at uprated suspension i.e. coilovers these cost like 450 (if i remember correctly, 4 pot brakes (£400)and rose jointed stuff so you can set your geo up right..
I've also added sparco seats at £550 and harnesses and a full roll cage and whole host of other stuff
but as i said im starting with a shell so will cost a min of probably 4k before i get it done how i want it What the spec of yours tbh it needednt take much but like all things it can run away with you and as i havent even started just done ALOT of research i would take advice from these guys www.16vmini.com their the authority on all this stuff.
good luck
med built my road going 1071 and its done 4 years of good use without a single problem.
they also built the 1071 in my race car and so far its done 500 road miles running in and thrashing about, 2 rolling road sessions and a season and a half of circuit racing - the only problem was a cracked roller rocker, so the head came off to swop them (these had nothing to do with med). i had all intention of sending the engine back to steve over last christmas for it to be checked but he asked, does it have good oil pressure? 'yes', does it overheat? 'no', are you happy with the power? 'i guess', so he told me to save my money and not bother!
on mbes rollers the road car makes @64, the racer @86 bhp
im beyond happy with the service they give, both engines where retuned to me as built and balanced short motors with a head to suit the application, i did the gearboxes and bolted the head and clutch onto the motor. the prices are fair and comparable and ive always found steve and lee to be knowledgeable and good to deal with
my recomendations with mini engine builders is to look at the spec of the engine and the price, if it looks cheaper than other suppliers, then ask where and how they are making the savings, what pistons and bearings are they using, whose valves and guides.
theres two sayings with any engine 1) cleanleness is godleness, and 2) pay cheap, pay twice!
they also built the 1071 in my race car and so far its done 500 road miles running in and thrashing about, 2 rolling road sessions and a season and a half of circuit racing - the only problem was a cracked roller rocker, so the head came off to swop them (these had nothing to do with med). i had all intention of sending the engine back to steve over last christmas for it to be checked but he asked, does it have good oil pressure? 'yes', does it overheat? 'no', are you happy with the power? 'i guess', so he told me to save my money and not bother!
on mbes rollers the road car makes @64, the racer @86 bhp
im beyond happy with the service they give, both engines where retuned to me as built and balanced short motors with a head to suit the application, i did the gearboxes and bolted the head and clutch onto the motor. the prices are fair and comparable and ive always found steve and lee to be knowledgeable and good to deal with
my recomendations with mini engine builders is to look at the spec of the engine and the price, if it looks cheaper than other suppliers, then ask where and how they are making the savings, what pistons and bearings are they using, whose valves and guides.
theres two sayings with any engine 1) cleanleness is godleness, and 2) pay cheap, pay twice!
Ill second gurus post dealt with MED for a long time now always been happy, thats not to say they ll never have a problem but i have every faith that if one did occur it would be sorted sensibly, i presently run a 1071 a 1380 and an awsome 1460 all from MED i would say a road comp unit from them would be ideal for every day use with a sensible gearbox attatched.
not if its a poxy 28/36 type ford thing. no one knows how to tune them to suit minis, so you will pay a fortune to get it set up.
id stick to a single hif44 if its a every dayer or twin 1 1/2s
a side draft weber is more for race and will cost a lot to do right - best to buy brand new to get the correct one for the application
id second the cones comments about his cars, his 1380 does seam a little down on power tho, he was unable to catch my 1071 at a track day we did last year, no way it was the driver eh cone?
ha ha
id stick to a single hif44 if its a every dayer or twin 1 1/2s
a side draft weber is more for race and will cost a lot to do right - best to buy brand new to get the correct one for the application
id second the cones comments about his cars, his 1380 does seam a little down on power tho, he was unable to catch my 1071 at a track day we did last year, no way it was the driver eh cone?
ha ha
see i did that and MED 2 years ago and they were really helpful, gave me a full break down of the qoute and explain pro's and con's of all the options i had for the engine, but i thought it was very expensive at the time, and questioned the merits of pushing so much power through a A series when it can be done much more efficently through a new engine desgin without the draw backs of having that kind of power
Not to knock going down the A series route, but my question was would i be happy with a 130bhp A series engine which would give me a headache of low 20 mpg's as a daily drive (whether i went the 1380 monster route or supercharge.....)
Not to knock going down the A series route, but my question was would i be happy with a 130bhp A series engine which would give me a headache of low 20 mpg's as a daily drive (whether i went the 1380 monster route or supercharge.....)
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