My '95 Cooper Turbo
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi all,

I've been a member here for years but have never posted anything about my car. It started out as a '95 Cooper 1.3 SPI. Which I completely restored and converted to a turbo setup. Here were the engine specs:

1275 block rehoned, new bearings and turbo oil pump
Metro Turbo Pistons with new Hastings rings
MG Metro cam
Ported head with 29/35 valves
Rebuilt Gearbox with x-pin diff
MED lightened verto flywheel
Minispares performance clutch plate and cover
Renault 5 T2 and skyline intercooler
Baileys dumpvalve
Mitsubishi Evo fuel pump

Stupidly, I ran the engine in too rich and now after 2000 miles the bores are worn. The car still somehow put out 109.3bhp at a recent rolling road day, and the operator said the fuelling was perfect, but unfortunately the damage has already been done. The oil cloud behind the car got embarrassing so wisely I decided to strip the engine down.

When I stripped the engine, I found the magnetic sump plug covered in metal filings and the oil inside was full of them. The main bearings are worn to the copper below the white metal, is this due to the metal filings or were the bearings not up to the job?



The block is currently getting bored to 1293 and the crank ground down 0.010", I will also be fitting an AEM AFR gauge this time

Thanks for all the advice and help I've taken from this site!

Edited by jarmour116 on 28th May, 2015.

Here's a picture of the car :)

Edited by jarmour116 on 28th May, 2015.

Now i see it... looks nice, where abouts are you? How does emissions fair being a 95?

Edited by D4VE on 28th May, 2015.

Should be there now, knew someone would notice the cock up!

that looks tidy, shame about the engine

BHP sells engines, but Torque wins races!

lovely car 😊

Pedro Silva

http://miniciados.blogspot.pt/

That looks like debris in the oil to me. Good clean out and investigate. Have you had the pump apart?

Haven't had a chance to get the pump apart yet. The sump is full of filings though. Going to have to flush it all out properly....

very nice looking car indeed ......... i would fit a new oil pump and a minispares central oil pickk up pipe and i would block the bypass valve off in the oil filter housing, this would save the bearings in the future!

investigate the origin of the debris in the sump and sort it ........... dont forget to change the oil filter regular after blocking the bypass off.............. i would review you choice of oil.......... my choice and proven is Shell Rimula R4X 15/40

Thanks Benross. I've already got the central pick up pipe fitted so I'll give it a good clean out. Is it possible to clean the oil pump out or am I best replacing it?
I'll have a look into the oil bypass. Is there any disadvantages to blocking it off?

IMO and in short, i would dump the oil pump and fit new, it will be scored and they are not costley ........... disadvantages of the bypass blocking off is th oil pressure takes a second or two to come up from cold, this wont affect the the bearings at all.

i remove the ball and spring and drill it a little down the first part of the housing and fit a 3/8" bsp hex plug with a little shake proof thread lock

i would fit a magnet to the underside of the filter this does stop the micro particles going through as well, after stripping many filters with the magnet fitted this does work, theres a very fine silt of particles on there which would go through most filters as most of them only go down to around 5 microns................. every little helps in this department IMO

hope this helps.

Edited by BENROSS on 28th May, 2015.

Good stuff, will give it a go.