My Studio 2 to Studio Turbo
Turbo Mini Forums

Thought I'd post this up, will give you a bit of a brief up to where I am now and will also tell you that you can read about me in this month's Mini Magazine on pages 32-34.

So I start off with my first car, a 1990 Studio 2, not bad, bit of rust situated around the front end but I wanted it to look a bit nicer; plan was to take it back to standard but then it progressed and progressed and now it's going to be a bitchin' turbo.

Was a little rusty and paint was a bit aged but that was it really.
















So I cut shit off and stripped it bare.









powahhhhh



So then I made the decision to go with a removable front end after a post on here and so did this.




Then I found a bit of grot so cut it out and made up a patch.










Then I welded it in.



Was pretty happy with the patch as it was the first time I'd ever fabricated a panel and first time I had properly welded.

So that's pretty much it in brief. Going to aim for about 150horses from the engine but pretty sure I'll get more but the spec is remaining a secret.

gettin there brad! for your 1st patch and 1st weldin it dont look to bad! it'll look alot tidier once dressed down with a flappy wheel on ur grinder im sure! i spy my legs and trainers in 1 of the pics lol

Looks like you have a pretty solid base to work off and your off to a good start.Dont take this the wrong way but I would cut that patch back out and practice welding on scrap pieces off the car until you get the hang of it.

Im going to write up a beginners guide to mig welding with lots of pics in the next couple of days that might be helpful.Also check out www.mig-welding.co.uk

Cheers Ross.

What you need is a joggler.

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

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

Penetration was pretty much spot on and it's solid as a rock. Belted it with a hammer and it didn't move a bit.
Had a wire feed issue at one point so went over those welds and had to fill a couple of holes I had blown through. Bottom left corner was alright though
I've been practising on the scrap I cut off and was getting the hang of it. Been on mig-welding.co.uk and had a mate giving me some tips.
May not look the best but it's functional. Once I've dressed the welds I'll assess it and see whether I need to redo it.

Cheers for advice and concerns though :)

not a bad basis to start off from.

The welding will come on with practice ; i'm sure its far better than my first attempts!

your getting there use red oxide first!
................ before you apply all the other anti rust applications under all the panells
i can ensure you the rust dont come back through

Edited by BENROSS on 16th Feb, 2011.

Ive got a studio 2 but in black. Im planning on doing the same thing but using the 998 thats in there already.
I cant do anything yet until i get my garage built. Hope the project goes well.

looks good

No pictures really, I need to order some gas to make progress with the body work but I've stripped my subframes so they'll get cleaned up in the next day or so then built back up.

I've also dropped my block off at MRA Minis for some work. We've specced up my engine and it's safe to say I am going to be skint over the next... very long time.
We just about decided on a spec...

Gearbox will be a six piece straight cut gear set with straight cut drops, custom lay shaft, centre oil pick up, 4 pin diff and a fairly high final drive.
The block is going to be offset bored to 1380 with 11cc cast Omega pistons. The crank will be hardened, wedged, cross drilled (I think that's it) and I'll be using standard rods. Cam will either be an NA Metro cam or an Avonbar Phase 2. Duplex vernier timing chain but clutch and flywheel are still to be decided on (however the aluminium flywheels are looking tempting).
Head will be using the standard but modified casting with 1.22" exhaust valves and 1.5 forged rockers; the rest is still to be confirmed.

Turbo wise... T3 on a metro manifold; if I feel it's not working for me then I'll probably go for a GT17 but due to the price of the T3 I think it should serve me well in the car's first incarnation. This will also of course be intercooled. Other cooling will be done by a Cinquecento radiator and I'll be using an oil cooler aswell.
In its first incarnation it will also be on Megajolt but I've been doing some reading up on the DTA ECUs.

I think I'm going to be running on 13" wheels despite my love of tens. Few reasons for this, larger tyre footprint being one of them but the main reason is brakes. I think I can forgo 10" wheel styling for a bit of safety.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but any thoughts on the above?

Another pictureless update (I'll try and get some next time I'm at MRA Minis)
Martin has ordered my 11cc Cast Omega 73.5mm Pistons and my Avonbar Phase 2 cam! Oh yes!

good luck with the car try turning up the amps on your welder it will burn in beter

1293 Turbo mini

Cheers Jimmy.
I should bet getting some more gas soon, I've been trying to find a decent, local supplier of refillable stuff and I think I may have done!
Now the engine is on its way I should get the shell done.

what gas you using ? and wire size ?

1293 Turbo mini

I've got some 0.8mm wire (and a tangled reel of 0.6 that i could sort out).
The supplier I've found (who are 2 minutes down the road from me) only do CO2. I've welded with both CO2 (above (mostly)) and a light Argon/CO2 mix. I preferred the latter but as I can get refillable cannisters of CO2 so locally I thought I might as well go with that.

use 0.8 wire 0.6 is shit and use light Argon/CO2 mix. it is better gas then CO2

1293 Turbo mini

:)

Edited by DaveVader on 19th May, 2011.