And so it begins… Blowing a Midget!!!
Turbo Mini Forums

So, my dream since I was an ankle biter is to have a car with a turbo or a supercharger. Having had a couple of classic Minis, Minor 1000, Midget and a couple of modern Minis I now own a modern diesel Cooper clubman, which is my first turbo car, but a turbo diesel is just so normal and bland.

I still have my Midget and am in the process of building a garage to get it to my house from my parents garden where it is slowly dissolving under a tarp. The engine is still strong without an ounce of smoke and as it will be by my house I will be able to spend more time on it. I also now have the funds to be able to do a proper job on it and that includes engine modifications… this is where this post becomes relevant.

I am definitely going to be installing some kind of blower on it, but the big question is Supercharger or Turbocharger. My gut feeling is supercharger as there are just so many turboed cars out there and I feel like a challenge. Im thinking down the lines of an Eaton M45 as fitted to the modern Mini Cooper S or, as there seem to be loads on the market, the setup thats in the Mercedes Kompressor cars. My other thought was the smaller charger thats fitted to the VW/Audi 1.4 TFSI motors, there are a few of those knocking around as well and may be more suited to the 1275cc.

I'm no stranger to engine building but am a stranger to this kind of big modifications. (I say engine building, I mean strip down and rebuild of either broken or worn out truck engines)

What do we reckon?

Turbo every time. There is a Midget on here with over 200hp and sub 12 second (Maybe 11 sec by now) times and it is driven to and from the drag strip.

Don,t worry about the learning curve because there is so much experience and expertise on here - and it is all freely shared -it is the way I learned anything I know about turbocharging an A series

welcome IMO most peeps who go super charger regret it and go turbo charger ............. thats my advise also.

lets see what other members advise ?

Blowing a midget! Lol

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Thanks guys. I have always wanted to put a supercharger on it, but then spotted a complete original metro turbo and carb including manifolds pop up on ebay last week and that sparked something inside my mind, then I went back to the idea of a supercharger purely because I just like the idea and simplicity of them. Now i know they're not simple, but generally speaking the principal is simple.

now I'm leaning towards a turbo again…

Couldn't help it. It had to be said…..

Great thread title!

Turbo is simpler and better. Just buy all the metro gear and bolt it on.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

This is the place to be for help on blowing an A series, in every sense! Depends what you want from the car,if it's a fast road cruiser on modest boost then a supercharger would be good. Remember though the A series crank is fashioned from a bent hairpin so won't take kindly to big low speed torque which is what the blower will deliver. also worth thinking about the rest of the drivetrain, David (tadge 44) and I have some ideas on what works and what breaks on a Midget or A35. And welcome to the forum!

'Where does the engine go?'

Brilliant thread title

Just do what you fancy doing. Turbos are simple and easy and give better power but that's not really what building cars is about. Build what you want. Hey way not use both!

If you make decisions purely on how much power it will give you might aswell pop the a series in the scrap pile and fit a modern engine.

You are right about the half shafts - but replacing just them with stronger ones just moves the problem to the rest of the transmission -but it is all solvable.

My supercharged mini drives pretty well (about 30 miles so far...). It has better manners than an a series with a T3 turbo. There are a few issues to sort out, but I don't regret fitting it and won't be swapping it for a turbo.

Half the problem with superchargers is people fitting them badly and expect them to work like a turbo. If i was fitting one it would be blow through with proper injection and most importantly wouldn't be about massive boost. I would retain good compression ratio and optimise the engine around the strengths of a blower rather than max BHP

You have a mini engine in a mini because it's pretty much all that yu can get in there.

Midget engine.....well.

Chuck that straight out. What else could you get to fit with a bit of modding?

VR6 different and sounds amazing will make more than enough power stock although probably to heavy??

That all sounds eminently sensible and exactly what I was going to do with a turbo -low blow and keep it sane.

Look where that got me with the A35 - and Robert is hinting we can squeeze some more power out of it yet.

Yes David I agree. We've all had a degree of 'mission creep'.....

'Where does the engine go?'

has anyone looked into that podifold for the eaton charger yet ?