Can a mini with 250hp worth of mods be reliable?
How long could you expect such a engine to last?

Thanks

 

>>Can a mini with 250hp worth of mods be reliable?
>>How long could you expect such a engine to last?


Given the quality of the components, probably a lot more reliable than most other boosted engines on which you have increased the hp by over 50% primarily by increasing boost.

'Bout two weeks.

 

I would say based on what you have stated it is impossible to provide a response. I am not sure where your mods are going or what kind of power you are talking about. Is this 250hp at the crank or at the wheels?

In general terms, I think it can be done. Not sure what you mean by reliable. Going 100,000 miles? 150,000 miles or just 75,000 miles? As a side note. John Cooper Works has built a 250hp one of a kind setup for a customer. I am not sure what all the mods were.

Are you trying to go with 250hp, because this seems like a good number based on some other cars you have seen? If you are looking for a certain performance figure you may want to look at other ways such as reducing weight in the car. Horsepower does not necessarily mean anything. The Super Seven only has a Ford Zetec 2.0 with 143hp and goes 0-60 in 4.5seconds. This performance is accomplished because of the light weight of the vehicle. If you are dedicated, you can easily loose 300 or more pounds off the car, which is a good 12% in weight reduction. This would keep the reliability the same (for the most part) and increase the performance by roughly 12%. Do this and add about 210-220hp and you could be pushing into the mid 5 seconds range. Not sure if this is the performance you are going for, if not then there are other ways to go. Provide some more specifics and we might be able to help.

 

How smooth is your driving? A stock engine may not last long if you abuse it. A heavily modified engine could last fine if it is not always being hammered. I understand your question, but there are too many variables that can impact engine life to answer this question now. Time will tell as more of these modified MINIs start racking up the miles. Only then will we have a statistically valid sample to give a meaningful answer.

 

>>Can a mini with 250hp worth of mods be reliable?
>>How long could you expect such a engine to last?

A MINI with 250 HP is definitely possible. There is nothing magic about 250 HP. It's possible to do a great job of modding and come up with a very good MINI with 20 or 30 HP less and you could not tell the difference. At some point more HP isn't going to be the problem. Turbo would get an MC or MCS up into the 250+ HP range.

Upgrades like larger intercooler, 19% reduction pulley, larger throttlebody, ECU software, polished and ported heads with larger valves, a shrick cam, Exhaust header and cat-back exhaust would get a MINI above 225 HP.

Reliability would be very good as long as you are doing mostly street driving and not excessively hard on the engine by doing alot of track driving. Just keep up with standard maintenance and oil changes. The upgraded parts are durable and don't really need excessively high maintenance.

Properly driven and maintained the engine could last easily from 100,000 to 150,000+ miles. Results will vary.

 

Thanks for the replys, sorry I was so broad in my question.
I was looking at the mini mania 245hp (i think) stage 3 kit.
And I was just asking in general terms of being reliable.

Thanks Again

 

There are main variables to consider as stated already. Again, the quality of parts and labour for the parts, and how you drive the car of course. But in all, I think you may want to consider what parts to use for that much of an increase. There's all kinds of combinations you can use to get to that power number. But as stock, the MCS engine is under 12 psi for blower pressure. Increasing that would be a lot for a little engine to take, IMO. So depending on what you bolt on or change, and how you drive it, would make or break it. Not sure what the MINI Mania kit includes. With the right mods and change over of vital parts such as driveshaft, cylinder heads, pistons, etc, plus the addition of other parts you could have one mean machine that'll last awhile. One would just have to be smart with what and how they modify. With 250hp, depending on whether that's at the crank or wheels, you're looking at only an addition of 87hp. So that's not really such a big deal. A lot of vehicles can withstand up to 100hp added without major issues, some even more than that. But then again depending on how and what you modify, and how you drive it.
Cheers,