The 28 minutes build
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all,

I am embarking on quite a challenging build.

I come home from work something around 17:20 and I have to pick up the kids (my boy and the 2nd floor neighbours daughter) in order for the nurse to leave around 18:00.

This means that I come by the car at 17:20 or so and I have my mobile ringing at 17:48 wich leaves me enough time to pop home, wash hands while debriefing with the nurse.

Hence the name ...

Anyway I will keep you posted and check your advices every evening when li'l tornado goes to bed ...

Edited by Advantage on 12th Mar, 2011.

Rusty by nature

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

So, for the clarity of reading here is how it started.

The car is a '92 grey Mini fitted with a low comp 1275.
When I bought it for 100£ it had a clutch problem but I tear it to parts on the engine department with the target of tuning it for cheap.
That was the end of 2002 ...

Then I bought a '87 Advantage 998 for 50£ that I drove for some time.
It dies of the rusty plague so I replaced the body with a '92 black body for 65£. This is out of topic.

Then I bought a '87 Mayfair for 300£ wich paper I happen to lose but I only noticed that two years afterwards. As the guy from whom I bought it hasn't done the paper before selling it I was in no position to recover them ...
So I decided to take the engine and subframe and whack 'em at the first car with a turbo conversion.

While moving the 1275 now 998 back at my place, I damaged the gearbox.
Then I sourced a new correct 1275 for 65£ and that is this build I have to do by 28 minutes slices.

What took me so long ?
The price of what I bought is a good indicator : I must be greedy ...

But now it has to move on so I might spend cash here and then ...

Rusty by nature

cool name, so you have just 28 minutes a day? lol im lucky to spend that a week at the minute :(

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

So, what I have done yesterday, 16th of February :

The car was raised enough to pull the whole subby and engine from underneath as I have no equipement to lift the engine out.


Today 17th of February :

I took out the LCB and Metro turbo inlet manifold on the 998 and I started stripping the engine mounts under the radiator.

I wonder how I will put the engine out of the subby as the only tool available is a jack and I can't really get help.

My idea is to tilt it on the front .


Turbo related question, there is a hole on the back of the gearbox and I red sowehere it was the former oil pump pickup in the early days of the A-series.

Can we dump turbo oil in there or is it too much of a short circuit for very hot oil ?
That and maybe it sees pressure in the form of vacuum from the oil pump, does it ?

This question is because the plan is a clutch mounted turbo on a 998 so no dumping in the drop gear case vent as there is no vent ...

Rusty by nature

Yes, Brett I only have about half an hour including changing my clothes almost every workink day and I don't work on the car on week ends, it would be too easy ...

Rusty by nature

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

To get the engine out of the subframe, put a few bricks under the gear box and then undo the mounting bolts. The frame should just fall away and you can lift the engine of. Remove the bolt on bits first to make it lighter

No work done today as the nurse had to go to the dentist ...

Lifting the engine then lowering the subframe is an option I have not thought about but I put the engine as low as possible since I took it from underneath. So the jack can't really go under the engine now ..

Ho well, will have to think about it a little more ...

Rusty by nature

Jack the subframe, one side at a time and put blocks under each side of the subframe as you jack it, until it has taken the engine high enough to get blocks under it as well.

Then as per apbellamy...

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

19th of February

An impressive 48 minutes available for work.
I removed engine mount on gearbox end
Raised engine on some wood block
Subframe ready for lowering but d'oh, I didn't undo the transmission nuts while the car was fully built ...
Cleared up the garage a little 'cos it started to become messy

20th of February
Today again I came back home at 17:00
I removed engine mount on wok
Then worked on the gear selector.
While trying to remove the dowel I put the nut on the remote and suddenly gear seemed to fare OK.

Maybe I thought it was too much out because it has no blower at the moment ?
Did I bought an extra engine because I am dumm ?

Monday is gonna be measuring the travel on the fully built engine supposedly good

If I am lucky, I go wack my head against a wall saying "think !" a hundred times then put the 998 back in there because it is much more turbo friendly (I have an unskimmed 12G295 at hand and a GT15)

Rusty by nature

23/2
Removed upper arms to fit hi los

Rusty by nature

24/2
Nurse left early, stuck at home ...

Rusty by nature

25/2
Bought an air filter and fitted it to my mother's car.
Also been playing around with turbo location regarding vertical oil flow and arrangement of exhaust housing.
I have been thinking of fitting turbo at the back not going past mechanical fuel pump then went back to clutch mount.
I once considered tilting the wok to fit turbo at the back "clutch mount wise".
It is do-able but I'll see what I can do with exhaust manifold and downpipe first as these have to be done anyway

Rusty by nature

27/2
I had to find a replacement window for my mother's R19 in the breakersyard and a breakersyard as well.
The car has been broken in and kids, these days, don't know how to break in an 80's car without actually breaking it, what do they learn in school ?

Rusty by nature

02/03
I assembled my front Hi-Lo's.
One of the balls got badly corroded so I had to use a lot of persuasion - also known as hammer - to get it out.

Is there a particular grease to use ?

Also received my part from minispares :
- fuel sender for injection car (missing on my Spi tank)
- HiF 44 turbo rebuild kit
- T piece for oil pressure switch
- upper arm dust seals
- driveshaft ball joint seal.


Fundamental question :
What to choose between my 998, complete and running and the 1275 I just bought (needs at least a valve job) ?

According to the calculations I made, the 998 on standart cam, 12G295 head (8.7), IC and 10 PSi should give in the 100 bananas mark.
On the other hand, the 1275 on standart small valve head (8.7), standart cam, IC and 10 PSi tells me 115 or so.

For both I want to use a GT15 (I have it already), I don't want to change pistons and want to leave the transmission as it was (no straight cut drops or cross pin diff).

Am I right thinking the torque curve of the 998 will be nicer to transmission ?

Also, does the low comp metro piston will stand 10 PSi ?

I have been told the 998 pistons can stand up to that boost if IC is on.

Rusty by nature

03/03
Nurse had to visit someone, so just some juggling around with the turbo and IC.

Clucth actuator will remain in position, there is only some trimming down of the bracket and a new routing of the pipe in order.
Ho and obviously heat shielding all over the place.

My concern is now the turbo to brake booster distance (I have a brake booster and as it is a RHD car, the assembly is a pain to replace by a master cylinder)

Can anybody kindly measure the clutch to booster distance from above the clucth to the booster in strictly vertical coordonates ?

Rusty by nature

04/03
Nurse had to go to the dentist ...

Rusty by nature

05/03
Removed the RH driveshaft to replace ball joint (gearbox side) and started stripping down and cleaning the driveshaft

Rusty by nature

blimey thats a lot of posts good to see you're making progress
got any pics for us to look at!!
luke

keep up the hard work, any pics?
i know i promissed a few!! :$

No pics, I know it is not fair play but can't get round to it.

Thingd have changed a little since the beginnning of the thread but basically I still get to work on the car once in a while for a few minutes (say half an hour) so progress are SLOOOOOOOOWWWW

But now I have a deadline, I am booked for a track day the 28th of April.
The event I am gonna attempt in the N/A trim.

OK so the car is really about to hit the street.
Now I am stuck with a non working clutch master cylindrer.
I have to decide between a rebuild kit and a new one so I have to remove it tomorrow to check on it then order the parts ...

The garage lot in which it is parked is like 3 floors, 60 to 70 garage on each floor

ANd one of them burned the 1st of March.

Luckily not on my floor so no damage to the car but that was scary and involved a lot of work from the firemen.
We had no lights for a while and now there is still that burned tire smell, phew !

Good news is I got in touch with a friend who now works for a water cutting facility and I am gonna purchase some flanges made to my drawings from him.

I still h

Rusty by nature

No pics, I know it is not fair play but can't get round to it.

Things have changed a little since the beginnning of the thread but basically I still get to work on the car once in a while for a few minutes (say half an hour) so progress are SLOOOOOOOOWWWW

But now I have a deadline, I am booked for a track day the 28th of April.
The event I am gonna attempt in the N/A trim.

OK so the car is really about to hit the street.
Now I am stuck with a non working clutch master cylindrer.
I have to decide between a rebuild kit and a new one so I have to remove it tomorrow to check on it then order the parts ...

The garage lot in which it is parked is like 3 floors, 60 to 70 garage on each floor

And a fire started in one of them the 1st of March.

Luckily not on my floor so no damage to the car but that was scary and involved a lot of work from the firemen.
We had no lights for a while and now there is still that burned tire smell, phew !

Good news is I got in touch with a friend who now works for a water cutting facility and I am gonna purchase some flanges made to my drawings from him.

I still have to fit camber brackets on the back but appart from that the whole road holding department is renewed.

As seen on other threads, lowering the car on the front would require to cut the wings for the wheels to clear on full lock.
Not happy with that but hey ...

I will start with 4,5" wide wheels just to get it MOT'd and all then it can go to my buddy metal worker to replace the floor pans and have the wings done.

Edited by Advantage on 11th Mar, 2010.

Rusty by nature

Removed the clutch master cylinder today.

Bloody pin was a pain to remove (door was opened only a few inches as it is in my parking lot wich is crowdy ...)

Rusty by nature