Well guys, im new to the forum and MINI world (just got a 2002), but i have been into cars all my life.

I have been trying to find a Turbo kit for the MC without any luck, and also have read some of the posts in this forum, and most people say it is a bad idea to install a turbo in the MC because of compression and the stock pistons and rods.

I have been supercharging/Turbo cars for many years, mostly Mustangs, and to contribute with my grain of salt i can say that you can TURBO a non S Mini without breaking it. It is all in how much boost, timing and fuel you run, and also improving the intake and exhaust, meaning getting the air in and out FAST.

The other important aspect is tuning the PCM, i have seen some PCM chips and tuners for the MINI but most of them require an "expert" to program it.
I find this shocking since the MINI is so popular, havent been able to find a true "programmer" where the user can tweak things as injector size, MAF transfer table and RPM curves..hope someone can shed some light into this....(using the stock PCM not an aftermarket one)

Anyways i have a simple plan for a Turbo mini, using available turbos T25s or T20s which are available at a low price. The second thing is the exhaust manifold and piping which are pretty simple to fabricate with the right skills or the right exhaust shop.

The intercooler is a no brainer, buy one from other car, something that fits over the engine or somewhere in that small space in the engine bay.

Im probably making this sound simple but trust me, it is compared to what you need to do in a V8.

The real trick is in the PCM, intake and exhaust flow. Porting the heads will improve things, but also using a thicker gasket and removing some material from the chamber to reduce compression a bit... but i dont really think you need to reduce compression if you have enough fuel and not too much boost and the right ammount of timing advance.

There is one other thing that can make this possible: WATER-METHANOL injection. If you spray WM into the chamber when you have X ammount boost you can reduce detonation by the cooling and OCTANE rise effect of H2O-Methanol.

There are easy ways to fabricate that system or buy it from [SIZE=-1]www.snowperformance.net. The same gizmo can work wonders for S owners.

Well.. i am probably only speculating at this time with the limited knowledge i have of the mini engine, but i think we could come up with a nice plan together.

So...ideas? suggestions? tips?

 

So do you have a solution for the tranny that barely handles 115bhp?

 

I dont, but it all depends on what you want to do with the car.

I dont think there would be problems on the street or autoX as long as you dont plan on drag race it at every corner. Most of the time a gearbox will fail in the weakest gear, because of a bad shift (bent or broken fork) or snaping one of the shafts bcause of too TORQUE (like on a drag start).
There has to be a way to get some of those components with stronger materials.

And as i said, "limited knowledge i have of the mini", i dont have the all the answers, but it seems to me very few have in this forums (as far as i have read in all the turbo related threads). All i can offer is my honest experience with supercharging / turbo Ford V8s... and my 25 year experience with engines in general and PCMs.

I expected the BMW MINI to have some decent internals, at least the crank and rods which in real life dont suffer from the additional compression of a supercharger or turbo. The problem with rods and cranks is RPMs, where the rods "extend" and "compress" very quickly, it is not compression what kills a rod or crank, it is piston speed and counteracting the piston mass. Keep the rpms on a safe limit and use a quality forged piston.

What i have been told so far is that the most you can get out of a MC is 130 HP (is that RW or FW?).

If that is the case then the MC is a piece of crap. You can add a turbo/sc to almost any car and gain around 30-50% with a safe tune, and we are talking cars that also have hypereutic pistons (non forged).

So my point is; i really dont think the problem is in the engine internals, i think the problem is the PCM tuning.

BTW.. im here to learn but scuse me if i am a bit [SIZE=-1]exceptic..there must be a way to make a reliable Turbo MC. And by reliable i mean in the street and ocassional autox or solo racing, where the mini really belongs.
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This has been a dream of mine for a while now and I think that I have looked at it from every angle and I no longer think its a good idea. I will probably either just get all the mods I can for the NA engine or trade up for an S and convert it to turbo only.

 

Do you know how to rebuild the transmissions? If so, call Adam at Mini Mania UK. He can provide you with uprated syncros, gears and bearings. I just recently purchased a uprated gearbox from him. This is part of they're turbo kit for the Cooper. No engine internal upgrades necessary he says. Motor is good for up to 170hp. Unlike North America, Coopers out number S models in the UK. So they focus on aftermarket parts for the Cooper more so then North America.

But in my opinion, 170hp is basically an S and thats as far as you can go... I hate to say this but maybe an S would be a better option. At least you'll get a warranty.

 

Yes, i have done a couple but never one from a mini, but i have access to someone that might be able to help me.

BTW..nice to have a straight answer, seems like info like this is probably lost inside all these threads, should be nice to have a good HOW TO TECH section.

Anyway...my feelings about the MC engine are the same, no need to upgrade if you keep the power under a certain level. Most cars will respond well to a 40-50% increase in power without breaking them appart. The trick is always the PCM tune, taking care of fuel, intake and exhaust restrictions.

I already have 2 possible sources for either a Garret T25 or T20 under $1000 (rebuilt). The headers and piping might set me up another 400 (custom made), a BOV i can either fabricate or get one in eBay.
The intercooler im going air-air..just have to check where to install.

For the methanol injection im using a cold start injector from a VW Jetta, a 4 psi pump, a regulator and a vacumm activated switch.

Now i need a good tech manual for the MINI, im checking Amazon for a Helms or Chilton.

 

You make a good and common point, but the counterpoint is that with the S everybody sees you coming from a mile away with the mail slot on the bonnet. You gotta admit, a 170 HP Cooper would be one hot sleeper. Imagine the look on the face of the guy in the S when you smoke 'em with your lighter, just as powerful Cooper!

 

Listen people...you say "I'll buy an S and convert it into a turbo ONLY motor". So, in fact you are building off of the same block on a MC as an S. True, the S has different internals...but why would you tear into the engine to do a turbo setup and not change the heart of it anyways (ie MC)? So...the only true difference is the gearbox, ECU to recognize boost and engine harness! There are easy solutions around that. More and more thought is going into this and I am gonna go ahead and plot my own setup. It wont be for awhile considering the money I slapped down for ALL my other goodies. Well...I'm with the original poster on this one!

 

The tranny is one weak point. Keep it under 160 and you're good...But my guess is that with a turbo, you won't want to do that. I read somewhere on here what the Midland transmissions are rated at. I think it was around 145 ft/lbs.

If you want to give it S power with a turbo, you can do that with just the tranny and a turbo. But I would be seriously worried about reliability. All it takes is one GOOD shift at high rpm and give it full throttle...and then you hear a bang and the engine dies...

If you find an S engine, you could either swap it out, or even better switch out the internals and get some forged high compression pistons. That would do the trick. While your at it swap out the tranny.

 

If you want to go bigger than 170bhp, then you need a new performance head, cams, and what else???

 

you would also need, an ecu tune, intake, exhaust, possibly nitrous haha. thats saying you stay NA oh throttle body wouldnt hurt either.

 

Its intresting that you feel that you might be able to make the midland trans work, I hope you do.

The Input spline is very small and I sell boxes on a regular basis to the Mini challange race teams, It seems the downshifting kills tham as well.

I'm sure the right driver could make the gearbox live however the cast crank & rods, again until someone takes them to the limit who knows, we have discussed the idea ourselves but as per usual its all down to time and there's not enough of that available.

The Firballed guys are switching to turbo only in there street cars but there all Cooper S based.

Good luck keep us posted how u get on.

 

what if you had a rebuilt transmission in your car because the first one failed. isn't the rebuilt one a whole lot stronger?

 

So if you get the uprated gearbox, and a better clutch, and an intercooled garrett turbo, and have a nice 170whp, will you need an ecu reflash? Or is that just if you go bigger?

Could I get this on my car, and then later decide to get a performance cylinder head, and cams, and an ecu reflash, and have a solid 200whp?

Where do you get garrett turbo's? All the Ebay ones sound fishy, and I wouldnt get one fron there.

 

you will have to tune the turbo, its kinda a big project if u want things to run smooth haha. and if I was to do it.. I wouldnt worry about getting the new head, cams, and exc. I would focus on building the motor to run more boost =]

 

Keep this thread alive!!! Im interested!!!

 

well if anyone wants to sponser my mini I will gladly turbo it haha

 

+1, I plan on doing it myself in 2 years during college.

 

I look back into this everyonce and a while. The tranny is what I see as the weak link, the internals can be upgraded but I think the only thing you could do is to swap a 6 speed in, and thats what keeping me back.

I would like to find used S engine internals, swap them in, find some forged cooper pistons and do the 6 speed swap. The problem for me is that this is my only car I can afford to have it in the garage all the time.

 

Dont bother. Ive checked into this so much. In order to have a safe reliable turbo MC its going to cost you probably more than your car is worth. I wanted to do it to my 2004. I asked my friend (Owns an import tuner Shop) to do it. He said for the parts and labor needed it was going to be about 12k+ Just face it the MC isnt made to handle a turbo and its a waste of money to do it. I say if you wanna turbo something then buy an "S" and go from there. It will cost less to build up an "S" to go fast. Or just call Fireballed and buy the m600.

 

its never as bad if you do your own labor haha.

 

True but who has the time to take on a project like this? Then once you get it all done you have to tune it. Your car would have to be out of order for along while.

 

I didn't think it would work. Putting a turbo on a non-S. The non-S has the lighter frame and all? Wouldn't you get some sort a torque twist? Maybe not, just thinking out loud.

 

graptor, good luck and keep us updated. The only thing I can advise is looking at the stock valves... theres reports of these burning on the MC. Otherwise... unchartered territory. You might just revise your first post with updates, so things don't get lost and post an "updated first" to the end.

dansmini, as for fitting the FMIC, just swap the stock MC bumper for MCS for more room (without "teeth").

Venom, the frames are identical. The SC and gearbox are different, and the suspension (shocks/springs/sways) on the non-sport+ MC.