Hello everyone! Meet Olivia (means Elf Army!). We call her Olive for short! She is a 2004 Mini Cooper S R53,we imported her from Italy. She is going to be a street legal go-kart! Olive will be daily driveable, functional and reliable. Oh did I mention she will be mental fast!

The Plan:

We are going to make her into a 1.8L stroker engine with a C38 Rotrex supercharger!


Here she is in stock form!











We will start the build off with the baseline dyno run! ENJOY!





Thanks for following:

 

I want a rotex!

 

Looking forward to the build.
However, I'm curious why you imported it?

 

I'm wondering that too....aren't there plenty of nice MINI's in the US you could have picked up for much less money

 

I think it adds flavor to the build! I got a great deal and was able to help a friend out! Very subtle differences I've found. The antenna, tail lights, medical pack,tool kit. Owners manual and med pack in Italian... Still finding odd things as I rip into the car! Still having issues getting the Mini warranty converted to USA Mini jurisdiction unfortunately!

 

Fuel system update:

One of the major shortcomings of the Mini is its fuel system. With the help of knowledgeable people we have come up with a high HP setup that will handle E85 fuel.

I am going to remove the stock fuel pump assembly and leave the sending unit in the passenger side of the fuel tank to retain the stock fuel gauge.

I will be adding sumps for each side of the "saddle tank" lobes. I have a 700hp Ford 6.0 turbo diesel that I borrowed the idea from when I upgraded the fuel system in that.

Sumps

Sumps


A fuelab 41401 Prodigy external pump will be controlled by the Vipec ECU. A 75 micron pre filter and a 40 micron post filter will be used to catch any contaminates floating around in the tank.

Pump


Fuel filter


Tying the whole system together with Fragola -6 braided racing hose and a fuel regulator. I will also be running a return line; splitting it with a Y-fitting feeding both tank lobes with bulkhead fittings in the top of the tank. Stainless braided line will be used around the tank to prevent any rubbing through.
Nylon braided line

Stainless braided line

Y-fittings to tie both sumps together and the return line.

Bulkhead fittings for return.

 

why cant I own a race car shop ;(

Looking good! cant wait to see the finished result.

 

A sneak peak of the powdercoated bits! Enjoy!

GP trailing arms!








Control Arms!

 

Quick update on new parts:

Just got my Supersprint header and race cat back from getting ceramic coating. The coating is “White lightening” from Swain Tech. It is a true ceramic heat insulating coating. It is rough and porous feeling just like a ceramic pot with a thickness around .015”.

I’ve used this coating in a few different applications with surprising results. I coated my diesel truck’s complete exhaust system from the headers, up-pipes ,turbo, downpipe to the middle of the exhaust down the truck. I’ve seen 350-400 degree drop in surface temperatures on the pipes themselves with my truck. It helped immensely to diminish the under-hood temps. Keeping the heat inside the pipes I saw a dramatic decrease in turbo lag due to increase drive pressure on the turbo!

I am hoping in this application to:

-Reduce under hood parasitic heat transfer.
- Increase the scavenging affect:

After heat has performed its function in the combustion chamber, it travels out the exhaust port and into the exhaust header or manifold. If the gases are allowed to cool they lose velocity and the scavenging effect is reduced. By insulating the exhaust system, gases inside are kept at the highest possible temperature resulting in greater exhaust gas velocity and higher efficiency.

I will be fastening the header down with a set of Stage 8 locking manifold bolts!

Supersprint Header and race cat:










Stage 8 locking fasteners

 

How are you planning on adapting the C38 Rotrex supercharger to fit on the Mini motor? I'm assuming you are going to have to do a lot of custom fab work...or do they make a retrofit kit?

Also...what benifits does the C38 Rotrex have over the OEM Eaton supercharger? How much boost are you planning on running?

 

A bunch of Fab work will go into this build! A new intake manifold, different radiator,electric water pump, and all new intake piping to name off a few of the custom parts needed to make this work.

As for a kit,I can get you in touch with the builder if you send me a PM!

Thanks for checking the build out! Stay tuned for updates!

 

Time lapse video of the disassembly process. The engine is currently being built as I type this. The engine was sleeved and ready for final honing last week. It will return as a fully built 1.8L Stroker engine.

Sleeves in the engine! Ready for final honing!

 

Do you fellas have a machine that you ride on to clean your floors??

 

The upper engine mount bolt was completely rounded off and rusted. On top of that I had some dull drill bits.

Spent way more time then I should have on that one portion of the car

 

Sub'd for updates! Cool build guys!

 

Where are you installing your flex fuel sensor?

The factory sending unit in the tank is a dead headed unit to the fuel rail with the regulated loop internal to the tank and then the small FPR on the fuel rail which doesnt really do that much.

I've been tinkering with different ideas for my setup but haven't decided if I am going to try and fit in a full return style system with the sensor in the return loop or somehow integrate the regulator and sensor close to the tank and Y off a line to go to the engine for a stock-modified type system.

Thoughts?

 

I am not using any of the factory fueling system except for the fuel gauge sender.I tried to come up with a way to make it work but kept getting stonewalled by little issues!

Complete new fuel rail, lines, pump, filters,regulator and return!

The sensor will be inline mounted coming out of the tank.

 

Sorry I haven't updated this thread yet, we have been quietly working away at this project among the thousand other projects/clients in the shop. The bigger items and custom fabrication has taken more time then anticipated. Quality will not be compromised!

I will have some updates to this build coming next week!

 

He who shall not be named, LOL.

 

Very cool stuff. Can wait to see the finished car.

Sounds like it's going to be a while though

 

Shouldn't be too long now actually. We are shooting for 3-5 months till completion!

 

Want to really make rotrex annihilate the competition? Install just a 25hp shot jet of nitrous to engage at wide open throttle around 2500rpms, it will spool up the rotrex in a fraction of the time, and such a low shot would mean a bottle would last forever. I've set similar systems on centrifugals and turbos and for so little money and no2 shot it's amazing how much more of a beast it becomes, I sell a few stages of mini nitrous kits. If you are interested PM me and I can hook you up with somthing basic and affordable, and your car will go from feeling like a forever accelerating rocket to feeling like a seat slamming catapult.

 

Super cool build, looking forward to see it come together!

 

What ever happened to this?

 

Wonder about that also. Maybe the 20 shot was a bit too much.