Im slow and methodical when it comes to working on the mini haha. Its to new to mess up. anyone in the san antonio area know of a reliable place to actually port polish the head??

 

one word...turbo

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=8

"Anticipated Power Output 200 bhp depending upon car*."

 

haha I looked into that... it basically requires rebuilding the car ^__^ fun yes, also pricey.. very very pricey

 

My family has a lot of experience with neons (I've witnessed a 30 min motor swap). One brother has an '95 ACR with #14 Crane Cam and a race ported/ big valve head, headers, minus cat exhaust. It has the interior totally stripped out and runs faster than my other brother's 2nd Stage SRT-4. Still another brother built a turbo (since its in the garage, he's upgrading to a larger turbo) into his '96 ACR along with a new (on its 3rd BTW) bottom end. It doesn't run much, but when it did, would smoke pretty much ANY car you put against it.

My brother (I have 5) with the '95 ACR estimates his power to be around 190 wheel, but compared to the SRT, I believe is under estimated. This is with a 2.0L, I believe SOHC (the 30 min swap earlier may have been to a DOHC, I don't recall). The Schrick MINI cam is more mild than the Crane #14 neon. Nobody makes a more agressive cam for the MC, yet. The MCS cams (which would fit) might (cause nobody's done it) be too aggressive for NA. The flywheel is already pretty light compared to what is offered aftermarket. I would keep it stock just to keep torque in the lower revs.

If we (MC'ers) do a race port/big valve head, cam, headers/exhaust, intake, injectors, and a mad (read, not a FLASH) ECU, we might see 165hp. But the biggest power is going to be had by a genius ECU tune. Mini Mania offers competition outdrives (the trannys weak link) along with a close ratio dog gearset, the latter of which would take skilz to be streetable.

My brothers believe I can get my MC into MCS territory. I agree, but it will rely most on the ECU tune (they think the head and cam will get me close). My first stage is going to be a fully ported/big valved JCW head (why, cause I can), and the sickest MC cam (TBD) I can come up with. I haven't determined where I want to go with the ECU. Unless somebody wants to send me some free parts, I'll have to wait to find out when I have it paid off in 1.5 yrs. Coinsidently, the MC will be garaged and I'll take over the (by then) wife's neon. I've pretty much talked her into the Mazdaspeed3. But then, she " won't " drive a stick.

 

The stock cam for both the Cooper and the MCS are the same. The Schrick cam is being used on the Cooper, but it is not necessary to make power. Here is my number one recommendation for head work http://www.theoldone.com/Facility/Facility.htm , if you lack patience there are number two and number three recommendations.

 

will the MCS head add more power, or increase airflow? or are the dimensions virtually the same with heavier valves?

 

where is that facility located? and do they just do the head or would they require to send in the whole block?

what do yall think of a do it yourself job? buy the price of a head 200-400? the tools required. or should i not even try to touch this
http://www.sa-motorsports.com/diyport.shtm

 

have someone else do it. One guy on line here cut into the water jacket on his first try. But don't let me stop you, just have two cores!

Endyne just wants the head... No cam, no valve train. You can find the address on the Endyne site.

Don't waste your money on a JCW head. It's the standard head with a bit of a machine job on it.

There are some more cams coming to market, but it's a pretty easy swap, so don't sweat it too much if you don't get one now.

Matt

 

I agree with Dr. 110% the head/cam is where all the magic works, and in my opinion the most important area to look at when dealing with a NA engine. After that comes intake/fuel supply. To make big HP you gotta have a high flowing cfm head with a cam to back it. You could have ITB's on the mini like that picture, but if you have no head/cam to move that air in and out of the chamber, its money wasted.

(Ok dont flame me) but toda racing procduces a ITB setup for honda engines. they also make a super high lift cam. The cam lobes are so big, you actully have to disable the V-TEC system on the car and remove the parts from the head. this allows you to run 2 very large cams all the time, and gets rid of the economy lobes for the lower RPM range (V-TEC). The cam is hallow and reduces alot of weight in the head. Ive known people with the ITB's and V-TEC killer cams (one was a interga type-R) and it was capable of spinning 11k RPM red-line. The cams only produce good power above 5-6k RPM but make high top end power (250-300HP range) on a NA 1.8L. The car with the ITB's and Killer cams sounded like a mini V8. it rumbled at idial, and sounded fantastic.

I would love to see stuff like this offered for the MC. Then you would be able to make some serious HP! I guess only time will tell.

here is a link to the toda website if you want to look at the parts. Click on products at the top, (click on sports injection, on the product page for ITB's) then click on b16a, b16b, b18c to find the "Killer Cams"
http://www.toda-racing.jp/new/frame_new.html

 

that would be pretty cool, but theres not many places in an autox where you would ever get up to 11k haha.

 

You are right, dont think you would see 11k rpm a whole lot, unless you drasticaly changed your gearing. But when tracking the car, when the turns are alot wider and carry alot more speed, this could be useful. Espesically with long straightaways in the mix.

 

yup, yup, that brings up another question with the head.

the mini is tuned so it cant blow the engine correct? would that feature if its actually there still keep the car going up past 7k or whatever it is?? the new headwork would give it a higher rpm range right?

 

assuming you had different valve/springs/retainers with the new head, then i would say yes it should be able to go higher then the current factory rev-limiter. BUT you would need some sort of software upgrade/reprograming to allow the rev limiter to be raised higher.

Edit: by "new" i mean equal to or higher quality, retainers should be chromoly or titanium, and springs should be a higher rate then factory to keep cam float from happening.

 

no ones reallly answered my question about the s head haha. will the s head with the s cam throw out more hp? or would it actually have less? and im talking without it being port and polished...

 

The only difference is the valves. And that's materials, not size. I think the S exhaust valves are Inconel. It's to take the higher exhaust temps and gas flow of the boosted motor. So if you're going to change valve size, then it doesn't matter what core you use. If you're not going to change valve size, the S valves can take more punishment.

Matt

 

Yup... cams and everything are the same, except the valves, which are Inconel. The weight difference between the valves on the Cooper head vs. the S head are remarkable. I used S valves when I ported/polished the head for my Cooper. The Schrick camshaft is quite awesome.

I dunno what kinda hp/torque I am running now - my baseline dyno was 106 hp/108 lb.ft at the wheels stock; modded with CAI, MTH and cat-back I was only at 112/110. The car is considerably quicker with the ported/polished head and Schrick cam, but I haven't put it back on the dyno yet. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say I'm around 130ish right now, though.

Other data points - prior top speed on the front straight of a local track was ~120 before heavy braking for a fast turn 2, and now it's about 128 with the only change being the head and cam... Top speed (closed course) before was 124 and now it's ~140. YMMV!

 

Ok so I’m a little late with the reply but to reiterate; no extra gains from doing the MCS head and camshaft because they are identical to the Cooper parts. The only difference is the valve material, the S exhaust valves are made of Inconel to tolerate the extra heat generated by forced induction.

There is a time and a place for those other retainer materials; titanium is not the best material for your intended application. Titanium is not long lived; the valve spring will have to be modified so as not to wear into the retainer. There is nothing inherently wrong with the MINI valve train including the camshaft. Remember the Cooper pistons have a flat crown so if you go for radical lift then appropriate pistons and a few other tweaks are required. Lift isn’t everything.

When you send the head to Endyn (it’s ok to leave the valve assemblies in place) Larry will inspect and gauge all components to be sure nothing is out of whack and make improvements as needed. You may not even need larger valves.

Here’s a primer on DIY http://engr.smu.edu/rcam/cpm3v/minih...nihead_21.html , Scobib has done a good job of documenting his efforts on this forum. He was able to perform the porting because he had guidance from someone with experience and although improvements in flow can be had by doing a cursory clean up of casting flash & flaws; it is advisable to have a professional do the work not only for safety sake but also so nothing power wise is still left on the table.

 

Not to mention that we put about 80 hours into my head (including install) - overall, it was a major, MAJOR beating. It's not for the faint of heart, and I would recommend that you send it off to someone for the work. ENDYN does great, great work.

I had the luxury of the guidance of someone that's been working over engines for a long, long time, with a lot of experience with Alfa heads and 4-bangers. In the end, he ended up doing the lion's share of the head work, but the end result was flippin' beautiful.

 

To comment on the camshaft, scobib can not objectively tell you what the Schrick camshaft contributed in performance. An aftermarket camshaft is absolutely not necessary to make power.

 

and cam by itself w/out being port and polished push around 4-10 hp? seeems cheaper and possibly the same gains being they arnt combined...

 

You are mistaken; you can’t be faulted because of over exuberant marketing and purports from those who feel they have superior derriere sensitivity. Eric Savage has done the before and after dynos with only the Schrick installed and saw one hp gain. It all starts with flow improvements in the head, then perhaps a moderate enhancement adding a different profile camshaft. From there it’s a matter of improving intake at high RPM and maintaining exhaust velocity while discouraging reversion on both ends. Of course tuning is involved but it still goes back to improving flow where it counts.

 

well guess thats the route ill take, however what class would that put you in autox?

 

From who, when, what are the durations? The schrick's MC cam is 260/260.

Assuming the Schrick cam is designed for street (?), and knowing the Crane's SOHC 2.0L Neon #14 cam is 262/262 What more aggressive (than Schrick) duration would benefit the NA Cooper similarly to the #14 Neon cam?

Even Crane's "all-around street" #10 Neon Cam is 242/250. Schrick's MCS cam is 264/272, and from reading similar Crane profiles for the Neon would suggest this MCS cam in the MC would need forced induction for any benefit. Anyone know what the MINI's OEM cam duration is?

 

Headwork and/or cams would put you into Street Modified, Prepared (not street prepared - prepared), or Modified. Not legal for ST, SP, or (obviously) stock.

 

I am very happy to see that it appears the (bolt-on) community is beginning to recognize what I have been trying to get across: head work is the only way you will see serious HP gains. I’ve recently done two non-S heads with lightened valve trains (and software) and it seems to make a significant performance improvement. An exhaust system would be the next step.