Hi, new to the forum and its my forst post.


Recently picked up a LHD 1990 Mini over in Japan where I live in preparation to move back to the states.
As a result, been hitting the junk yards and besides what you would expect, I found this green ERA turbo Mini in pretty full condition.
Although it is literally falling apart, it has most of the unique parts.
So, I made an offer and am buying it to strip.
It seems that this is a unicorn of sorts and as such, most of the parts would be sought after or am I wrong?


Unfortunately, the ERA's are all RHD, so much of the interior couldn't be transplanted into my beater.


I have don't some searches for ERA parts being sold and doesn't seem to be much out there. I'll assume that 1 of 4oo something is in fact so rare its not a thing yet.


So next week I'll arrange pickup and begin the stripping. Anyone have any suggestions as to what to save and not to? As you can see in the attached pictures, its literally falling apart. The current owner said it ran when it arrived years ago, then rusted into this.


I'll post more pics as we get into it.

 

Just looking at it.....

Definitely save the engine/trans and all the suspension, the rear wiper is rare, seats.....

 

Thanks for the suggestions MINIdave, I was thinking the same. So scared to see the bottom of the car as its been sitting there for who knows how many years. The large rust holes must have let the water inside as well too. Hope to check more on Monday.

 

save the whole car Mini ERA Turbo were made in 1989 and 1990 only 200 were made for the english market and 700 for the japs once you have destroyed this car you will never get the chance to own a rare mini.......the ERA was made from a mini city basic model then the shell was altered to strengthen the shell to allow the fitment of a metro slightly tuned engine....you can get most of the metal panels from British Motor Heritage and Avonbar do most of the engine parts once you have restored this ERA it could fetch well over £20,000 most REAs has half leather/ cloth seats but some had full leather, some had Jack Knight 5speed gear boxes fitted. check out this site for more info... http://www.eraturbo.co.uk/eraturbo/

 

The ERA Mini Turbo

The ERA Mini Turbo was conceived as a 1980’s replacement for the Mini Cooper S. A car with all the key characteristics of the Cooper – speed, handling, excitement; but one which would introduce into the concept the refinement and comfort lacking in the original but so necessary for modern motoring.
E.R.A set out to engineer a car to the highest automotive standards. There would be no compromise on engineering quality. The car should use as many tried and tested standard Austin Rover components as possible. It should minimise the use of special tooling to avoid lengthy testing and uneconomic production batches. It should be easily and readily serviceable by any Austin Rover dealer.
The car should be styled so as to be instantly recognisable as a Mini, and yet to be distinctive. It was to be trimmed and equipped internally to modern standards, but with a hint of classicism – no digital instruments or super modern gimmicks.
It was to be the fastest ever production Mini, but not by using an intractable high revving competition engine. It must have excellent torque and mid range performance to cope with modern traffic conditions.
It was to be safe and predictable in the hands of the inexperienced.
E.R.A believes that these demanding criteria have been met satisfactorily.
The body modifications and spoilers were styled by Dennis Adams, the designer of the Marcos sports cars and the Probe concept car.
It is aggressive without being boy racer. And the body kit is properly tooled to provide a good fit on the Mini shell and be of considerable strength.
The interior is almost totally changed. Gone are the standard Mini seats and the 'bus driver' position. Gone also is the noise and harshness of the standard car. Specially designed and tested sports style seats have been installed, giving excellent support and comfort.
The car has a full range of VDO traditional dial instrumentation on an entirely new instrument panel. A sunroof lightens the interior and the car is trimmed in a careful combination of best Connolly hide, cloth, ambla and deep sound deadening carpet.
The power for the E.R.A Mini comes from the well tried Austin Rover A series 1300 turbo engine which gives a smooth and reliable 94 bhp at 6200 rpm but, more important than out and out power, the mid range torque has been matched by careful testing on the E.R.A test beds to suit the required performance of the car. It is easily sufficient to provide excitement and satisfaction to the user, yet docile in traffic.
Installation of the turbo unit in a Mini involved modification of the body shell and many hours of development to ensure that the tight squeeze did nothing to impair reliability. Modifications to the water and oil cooling systems ensure that the power unit and transmission remain adequately cool even in high ambient temperatures.
Of course more power in a Mini would be useless and potentially dangerous without adequate suspension and brakes. Suspension modification was planned using computer simulation and then tried out in practice at racing speeds on high speed test tracks and at Castle Combe race track.
Specially made lower front suspension arms provide the necessary 1.5 degrees of negative camber which, combined with increased front wheel toe-out, minimises torque steer; a common problem with powerful front wheel drive cars. New adjustable damper units and bump stops are fitted all round and the car is lowered.
The car is fitted with ventilated front discs and four pot callipers and modified drum rear brakes. A servo system ensures acceptably light pedal pressures. Extensive development work has been carried out on the braking system to optimise stability under harsh braking conditions.
All alloy, one piece, 6” x 13” wheels are used all round with either Goodyear or Dunlop 165:13:60 section, low profile tyres HR rated. The wheels have been fully impact and fatigue tested and each wheel is fitted with a disc type knave plate and tamper proof lock.

 

http://www.eraturbo.co.uk/eraturbo/ERAUKCarRegister

http://www.eraturbo.co.uk/eraturbo/ERAJapanCarRegister

 

 

Thanks mk1leg , up early today to get the ERA moved to the wrecking yard and then to strip.
I, unfortunately don't have the money or skill involved to actually bring her back to pristine condition, that and the current owner doesn't have the proper paperwork to even register it again. I'll take a bunch of photos from today and post tonight after work. I did notice through the window that the original grill and wheel covers were in there! I'm really hoping the seats and interior are in decent shape, but with the extreme rust holes, I'm doubtful.

 

So today was a wash. Wasn't able to get the car moved. Wasted the whole day.
Took a few more pictures of the car while trying to get things done.


No idea what ERA number the car is due to the poor condition.


Maybe tomorrow... who knows...

 

if a *** import than RJ than 1*** .....if you are scrapping it would you be willing to sell the all the Instrument gauges please and steering wheel and Front spoiler as My friends is broken and they are not repairable cheers Mark

 

The engine is worth saving for sure - save everything under the hood (bonnet) for sure.....where is the car located?

 

mk1leg , The body kit is lightly damaged, but complete. Its what drew me to the car. Before a week ago I didn't know what a ERA Mini was or how rare. As the rest of the car is in such poor condition, I fear how many parts will break during disassembly.


I'm not sure if we will sell everything off in one lot or in pieces. I also vision a LHD ERA possible if enough of the suspension and brakes are intact, assuming the engine and trans are still good as the previous owner said.


MINIdave, still located in Japan until I get my orders to Virginia in a few months. So trying to collect as many useful items off the junkers here as I get a free move. Found some stainless steel rain/wind guards for the windows that seem rare. A bit of surface rust, but cleaned up shiny.

 

Unless you already have a use for it I might be interested in buying the engine/trans......

 

if you could get your hands on a set of Clubman or 1275GT bumpers i would buy them off you. Also any sort of light bar.

I have no input on the era... sorry. Moar power is always nice!

 

rhcp4life, Please post pics of what the bumpers look like.


I've not been a mini guy long enough here. Been a Japanese car car for most of my time here and then became a TVR guy when a nice Cerbera came my way. Sadly cant import that when I go back, so Mini and proud!!

 

The interior isn't too bad considering the gaping rust holes all over


Another view of before


Seats gone


I hope they are fine under all that rust


Engine before removing the wiring harness


Day 1 complete, Another hour and a half till I got home to clean up and eat dinner

An exhausting day. Finally got to stripping the ERA down. We were able to pull out the interior, cut out the sunroof and remove the wiring harness almost intact. Had to make 2 cuts in the loom that runs to the rear of the car. Tomorrow, hopefully we can make away with the engine and trans, wheels, brakes and any suspension that's not WAAAY to rusted....


I'll put out the parts and take pictures in a few days.


Someone said something about the bulkhead being different on the ERA, should I remove that too? Or just a portion? Love the plasma cutter!!

 

yes for sure as its modded to accept the turbo

 

that car is worth reshelling for sure buy the lot. buy a new shell. get it re registered they are on ebay for £15000-£20000

 

As its raining quite hard today, we decided to put off the engine/trans pull till tomorrow.


So I emptied the van and cleaned up the ERA information plate to see if we could get a number.


What do you guys think?


R1055 or R1056??


As we are in Japan, shouldn't it be RJ ? Where is the J?


Anyone have some idears?

 

R1068

OK, Had my work buddy look at the numbers with me and we inverted the pictures and have come up with R1068.



So it was originally made for the UK market and exported to Japan and ended up in a junk yard 27/28 years later.


Forgot to add earlier in the post, the wheels are all good, one has light rub rash and have the 4 center caps too, although the locking nut/key is missing, but I did find the key...

Check it out! Anyone agree or not?

 

Hi..is the jack bag still with car as the key is with the jack
R1068 was sent to Japan from New to Tanaka along with R1066- R1067 all with full leather trim

 

mk1leg, I didn't notice a jack, in there, but it could have been, pile of junk and carpet next to the shell. Going to take a day off and on Monday, try to pull the engine/trans. Sadly, only the 4 speed.

 

only a handful were built with a 5speed gearbox by Jack Knight

 

ERA on forklift notice the engine drooping down due to excess rust


And she is out


Engine in its turbo beauty

And finally the engine/trans are out. For such a rusty machine it put up a huge fight.


So that ends the disassembly. Rust busting to begin.


Should I pull the turbo off the engine and separate the transmission for cleaning or leave it all together? I'm still not sure if I want to make a ERA replica or sell the parts.

 

since you are going to strip it down give a pressure wash first then start to strip engine.....the best way to do this is remove the carb/turbo part first bit you will need to undo the banjo bolt on front of engine block with the oil pipe that feeds the turbo front easy rear much more difficult as actuator is in the way....lol once this is done the nuts on back of head where exhaust and inlet studs are these are fiddly, next remove cylinder head 9 nuts +4 on rocker shaft start with middle front nut then loosen gently a bit at a time as you may crack head, then remove clutch bell housung then bearing cover from clutch/flywheel then large bolt (make sure the NO 1 piston (water pump end is TDC(top dead center) as you will never remove flywheel to undo fbolt you will need to lock the flywheel to do this remove starter motor and then use a large blade screwdriver and pop into teeth of flywheel then undo this will be difficult as sometimes they are stuck with thread lock so good luck use a proper flywheel puller and pop an old cussion on the floor as sometimes these fly off with a bang, once this is off remove the clutch casing then you can remove the gearbox (trans) 12 bolts and 2 nuts (2 bolts are bebind timing cover once this is done then split block from box, the rest is easy