DBW EFI Turbo
Turbo Mini Forums

Thought i'd show you guys progress on a project i've been working on alongside Cole from classic mini DIY.

A bit of background - Took the car off the road last year to do some work to the engine and gearbox as I wanted to fit the Haltech Elite 1000 - they then had a cyber monday sale, and got a 1500 and loom. So the cooper would have the 1500, and the van (turbo MPi) will have the 1000. Decided to give the van the SC throttlebody and work with Cole on getting a DBW set up to allow almost OEM start etc. Whilst the engine was apart, fitted oil fed idler gear thrusts, under crown oil jets, forged rods and custom forged JE pistons with PTFE skirt coating.

Anyway.. pics.

Old SC loom spliced open and useful parts removed

loving the use of the kitchen counter

Own the day

Been following your progress on IG, the old "I'll just do a couple of changes..."

Looking good!

I'm liking the oil fed thrusts idea, got any more details or pictures of them? Presumably the transfer case side is still just splash fed but you've used a bronze thrust instead of the rubbish standard steel offering?

Interesting, how did you get the 1.5mm hole through the idler?

I didn't, Paul at HRE performance did it. I can imagine it wasn't easy!

More info here

http://www.minifreunde.at/harry/links/oilpressure.htm

Shane

Edited by shane on 4th Jul, 2023.

That's the bloke!

Bit of an update, wiring harness is in and tested. DBW works!

Vid

https://imgur.com/JLoVNhb

Edited by Steve220 on 9th Aug, 2023.

What brand is that digital display you’re using? Looks really neat

Not sure, it was made by a mate as he's developing them.

Finished up the wiring and tested, all good so far! ECU is reading all the sensors nicely. Engine came back out so I could have the bulkhead support welded in and heat proof matting installed. Whilst out, did a quick once over on the engine, came up with a new turbo oil drain idea, and re-thought the oil feed set up at the block. Anyway, you don't want a narrative.. heres pics.

Very very tidy!

Dazed and Confused....

Any progress on this mate looks spic

Yeh, all run in and on a base map. Going for tuning on 28th at TPW engineering.

I'll update with pics soon enough, but went to get the car mapped at TPW Engineering and made 140bhp/154lb ft at 10psi. Started to get ignition break up above 5500rpm, tried new plugs, different gaps and all matters of dwell times but nothing fixed it. Went for a smart coil pack with internal ignitor and it's cured the issue. Slowly mapping up to 15psi and sorting the closed loop /PID settings. Also need to sort cruise control out!

Excellent stuff! Build looks great.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

This is due a serious update! So, got the wiring completed and tested, thankfully all worked and no burning smells. New inlet manifold and charge pipe arrived, so got those coated, installed, and buttoned up the last parts.















Went for turn over for oil pressure and it took ages - like almost 5 minutes to get anything. I was using the KAD race pump, which i found out after is thinner than the OEM pump, so flow is much less! Due to the oil jets and oil fed drop gear idler, i opted for a Turbo Pump and zero-toleranced it myself. Got it installed and got almost immediate pressure of 90psi! Perfect. Then pushed her out for the first proper wash/decontaminate in 2 years.









Timed the igntion in on the ECU and went for first start. Fuelling took a while to get right as it was a blank map, but soon got it fired up and idling at 2k rpm for cam knock in. All went well and drained the oil immediately after. Created a base map and took her for a drive to run the engine in. This all went well until i started getting coolant temps around 120c! Pulled over and coolant was everywhere in the engine bay, i couldn't see where it was coming from so tried to limp her home. Got about a mile down the road and the temps shot up to 130c so shut the engine off and coasted into a layby. Found that the cork gaskets for the thermostat housing had failed. Ditched the gaskets, put rtv between the parts, topped up the coolant and got her home (oddly, coolant never went above 92c on the way back!).







Fit new paper gaskets, cleaned the engine bay and did some more running in. Took her to Mahker for a new 2.25" stainless system and to TPW engineering for mapping. The car ran perfectly and was making some good power! Made 112bhp / 123lbft at 6psi (actuator pressure). We started to move the RPM and boost up, making 137bhp / 153lbft at 10psi but then got ignition break up over 5500rpm so couldnt finish any of the power runs. Tried new plugs, coil pack, changing the coil dwell times, but nothing cured it, so concentrated on off boost mapping and idle control. Turned out the MPi ignition pack and Bosch ignitor just aren't up to the job so instead went for a smart coil pack which has now cured the issue!













Fit the Haltech CAN keypad, so now i have antilag, launch control, boost settings, fan override and cruise control - Yes... cruise control!





And thats where she stands to date. I'm slowly mapping the car psi by psi from 10. Basically increasing the boost control duty slowly until i reach my target, logging several pulls, adding a bit of timing until it gets close to knock threshold and then repeating. I'm at 16psi currently and it pulls hard. Aiming for 18psi until i can get booked in with Chris at EFI again.

So tidy. Almost looks like a factory install. You should be really proud!

Totally agree, there is a lot in that bay packaged very well.
The attention to detail is admirable.

Very tidy car, a credit to you.

How does the injection system get around the "charge robbing" that is a known problem ?

And this boost pipe looks really close to the hot side ?
https://i.imgur.com/ys1G0ZI.jpg

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will