Mini E, 998 A+ MPi low boost
Turbo Mini Forums

I must describe it before I forget all I've done.

WARNING: those who believe a modified car must be beautiful may be shocked by the images below.

CAR

Mini E, 1988, ~200mkm, bought for 450 euros (300 GBP)

ENGINE

Low boost (115kpa abs pressure, 3psi ?) without intercooler slightly modified std 998 A+
VNT15 from VW Golf AFN 110HP 1.9TD

Fully rebuilt and balanced 1988 998 A+, CR 9.3:1, -1kg lightened Minispares flywheel
998 ported HB (unleaded) head, unshrouded valves, head machined 1.5mm (ended in the oil passage, made weld the head and modified the passage to go through a stud hole).
SW5
MPI intake manifold with a 1991's Polo GT dual-throttle body.

Front mounted Metro rad, motobike fan, 88C thermostat

Alfa Romeo 33 16v inline fuel pump, additional fuel return path

Management
- Bosch Motronic ML4.1 (Alfa Romeo 75) hardware, my own firmware and PC tools
- MAP/RPM management
- time/RPM references from flywheel teeth
- one TDC reference on the flywheel, Hall sensor
- one not precise reference for phased injection, every 2 rev, a modified ignition distributor with only 1 (among 4) cam boss.
- static wasted spark ignition, Lodge HL plugs,
- Injection
one EV6 Bosch injector (4 jet spray) per port (450cc), phased control, every injector firing once per revolution
Inner cylinders get 17% less fuel than outer. Should likely be 15%, I'm going to remap.

External WideBand O2, not used by the ECU

Turbo management
By ECU through an RC servo.

SUSPENSION

All front/rear adjustable, hi-lo, middle stiffness springs, Gaz adjustable
All poly from MOSS, blue transparent, very good ones

BRAKES

Fiesta calipers, adjustable rear pressure limiter
I'm not really satisfied by this brakes, not much better than Metro 4 pot + Greens. I'm going to look for different pads.

BODY

Rust repaired, rear mounting points of the front subframe were made stronger

The LOOK

Must look standart
Alfa Romeo 164 steering wheel (I love it)

NEXT PROJECT (in 2-3 years after I come back from the US, if I come)

Electric motor at the rear mounted on a front subframe + original gear box. I have all parts except the motor and batteries (3 x 24v for solar panels)



With her sister, Maserati 430 18v (almost stock), 186mkm







Turbo (VNT15), the wastegate was not kept





Boost control






Throttle body and intake manifold



Adjustable rear brake pressure regulator





A conrod+piston being balanced



Valve guides



Head oil passage welded / modified (head skimmed by 1.5mm)





Closed water passages to make water go up to cyl 4.

Edited by alpa on 9th Mar, 2010.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Love it, my 998 turbo looks very similar. But mine is MUCH less complicated.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

awesome, the way minis should be, i bet you suprise a few people off the lights!!

haha so cool love the car as minis should be lil rockets but std looking :)

I let you imagine how it is with the biturbo :) .

I also would like to have a high RPM engine, say 10000 RPM. Don't know how much it would cost to modify a series-A, I suspect >3000 euros. But it should be funny to see people searching for a bike ha-ha. I'll try to do that with an old Italian Fiat/Alfa engine in the US.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

blimey ! i like it , especially the stock look and the writing your own software , is that your profession alpa ?

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Now thats a sleeper car !! To bad you have to leave it behind, it would be fun to take it to the USA and scare some unsuspecting V8 driver !

"So wat we gonna do tonight Brain?"
"Same thing we do evernight Pinky!"
"Try to take over the world!"

That was the plan. But importing a non US car in the US is virtually impossible.
Never mind, the car will stay mine and I'll find another toy there :) .

If the Mini was imported I wanted to fix a small flag on a 2m pole in order US guys see me while driving their pickups LOL.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

you can get a mini there and develop the car further.

size mather if you know what you are doing.

You cancertainly ship your mini to the states for under 1000 euro being that its an 88 falls right on the timeline, i know this because in from florida originally but live in germany, ive done it a few times...
cheers

Hi there,

Any RR figures or whatever approaching ?

Any target for upped boost in the near future ?

I can understand you choosed to start it with a very low level of boost just not to worry about reliability, but is it not a lo of work involved for a low level of performance increase ?

I am feeling that it is not HP you're after but rather MPG, am I wrong ?

I have already thougt a little about eletrically assist a and the best option to me was bicycle like engine inside the rear wheels replacing drums.

You don't want to waste energy through a gearbox as electric engine delivers pretty much identical torque througout the rev range wich makes 'em useful from 0 to 10K rpm.

Anyway, excellent work and definitely off main stream wich is a quality to me

Rusty by nature

RaTTy <3 and the front bull bar is awsome

Drives
-Ford S-max Mk2 Ecoboost
-Rover 100 VVC #2 - track project

Searching is all you need on TurboMinis

I'm going to measure power with an acceleration software. I also did it before going turbo.
No higher boost because no intercooler. No intercooler because no room and this is my every day car, it should stay +/- stock (no laugh please).
I'd also use sodium valves if I was going to a boost above 7psi. Which means cost.

My move to the US was not really planned. That's why I bought a Mayfair for parts for the electric motor project.

The work I did isn't lost. I learned a lot, tested principles I wanted to test:
- siam MPI management
- std head w/o pockets + 9:1 CR to be resistant to knock, with good cooling
- low boost turbo to get more torque on old 2v heads (because A-series VE is very bad)
- new accel enrichment algo (Bob Ducker did the same http://users.ameritech.net/socrace/Firmwareae.html)
- tried a diesel VNT

The car is very pleasant to drive. Idle can run at 500 RPM, the problem is the alternator which stops working. SW5 makes torque @1200 RPM. VNT allows me inhibit boost while engine is cold and to regulate the boost on the pedal position. The boost is allowed only when the second throttle of the dual-throttle body is open, which means I feel when boost is allowed, the pedal is harder.
I still need to measure MPG, I don't think it will be lower than before as my driving style changed too :) .

I found good 10-15HP electric motors in the US. As more hybrid vehicles will be sold now such motors will become cheaper and easier to find.

I need the gearbox at least to have the diff. Also the gearbox case is a good mounting point for the motor.

Edited by alpa on 28th May, 2008.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm

Any update on that project ?

I have in mind powerdyn's figures.

Also what cooling setup do you use ?
It seems you have a front mounted radiator below the engine starter, does that allow enough room for a proper radiator ?
What vehicle is it from ?

Any other pictures ?

I assume internet is also available in the US so have a break from those V8's and come have a chat with us ?

What did you do to the car by the way ?

Rusty by nature

Hi,
Was searching old posts (for a cam related discussion) and saw I did not answer here.
No powerdyn figures because I've had lots of pain to make it work, too much noise on the ignition line and no time to fix all that. GTech measures were showing a poor torque curve falling down after 5000RPM.
The front rad is from Metro with a Mini engine, they were very thin. I have 2 other thin rads from Rover engine Metro.

No other pictures. The car is in a friend's garage, waiting for the end of the project :) I've already bought a 295 head here. I'll change the camshaft, add external wastegate, perhaps change the turbo and certainly use another ECU version. I'd like to add an I/C to run higher boost levels.

Mini are VERY expensive here so I'll probably go a Fiat 124 Spider way, for the moment I just have a boring Camry. California is the bad place for mods unless you buy a pre-76 car. I'd buy a 70's 6cyl Mustang (cheap), but they need lots of upgrades (diff, gearbox, breaks) if turbocharged, difficult to do without a proper workshop at home.

Edited by alpa on 2nd Jan, 2009.

std 998 A+, g295, MD266, RHF4, 109hp @0.8bar/5400rpm