Classic mini 16V turbo A series, 6 speed seqential

[Matty...]

smilo996 said:

That must be quite a ride. Nice manifold work. The interior could use a professional touch.

What a great idea

Yeah the interior has been some what neglected. I have plans to get the dash board flocked, but this will probably wait until after the shakedown drive now.

[Matty...]

Ruaraidh_Gamma said:

Spectacular.

Do you have more details of the K series head build onto the A series block?

Yeah I have some pictures somewhere, will try and find them. I did the bike head conversion about 8-9 years ago now.

I used Honda Integra pulleys for the belt drive conversion, and machined up cam shaft adaptors to fix then onto the head cams and originals camshaft in the block.

[turboslippers]

Matty... said:

Haha no not the same Matt, I know who you mean though it's Matt Woods your probably thinking of, he still has his mini over 300bhp now. He is still regularly at Santa pod but mainly photo shoots these days I think.

Ah, yes, Matt Woods was the guy I recalled. I use to watch his car with amusement and awe....I think he had some straight cut Jack Knight racing gearbox with an incredibly tall 1st gear...something like 60 or 70mph. So he would start off at one end of the car park and you'd hear this high pitch whining and it would slowly accelerate off-boost. Then at about 40-50mph and nearing the end of the car park the huge (relatively) turbo would spool up and all hell would break loose as it exploded into life and torque steered violently from side to side. It looked hilarious..

I must say the work you've done is truly awesome..some great pics and inspired engineering there. Thumbs up from me

[jackpe]

Hey man, love an old mini and this one seems particularly nuts!!

I drove a 1991 mini mayfair recently in Italy, pretty standard but oh my was it still fun! especially compared to the utterly disappointing and hopeless Twingo I had as a hire car. If you're interested theres a short video on my impressions here.. lovely roads on lake orta: Classic mini Vs Modern twingo

[Yazza54]

Great work especially the gearbox! When will you test it?

[Matty...]

So it's been a while since the last update!

I have pulled my finger out and finally got stuck into this again, I have been plodding along since Christmas.

Lots has gone on since the last update.

Interior all finished
New gear linkage made up (gone back to 4 sync to box for now)
Rear diffuser fabricated
rear wing fabricated
Front splitter/undertray in progress
Front end/air dam modifications
Intercooler modifications
New inlet plenum
6 pot vented brakes
And probably lots that I have forgotten about!

Edited by Matty... on Wednesday 24th July 21:43

[Matty...]

Edited by Matty... on Wednesday 24th July 21:49

[Matty...]

New intercooler duct, undertray and air dam in progress...

Edited by Matty... on Wednesday 24th July 21:51

[v8ben]

Awesome, just awesome, keep up the fantastic work!

[M4CK 1]

Nice update, keep them coming nevermind how small.
What's the story on your gearbox??

[Yazza54]

Awesome work can't wait to see some vids of it going through the gears in anger. I read in your earlier post you have been told the VFR box can handle 400hp in a bike so I just hope it holds up for you given it's weight and grip that kills boxes as much as power and torque. I'm sure there's plenty that could be developed like billet gears etc but hopefully not necessary!!

[Dr G]

Great to see this is still moving along

[duds100]

I've been following your updates closely on instagram Matty. The build is really coming together and it's going to be an animal once done! Looking forward to seeing it fly up the strip.

Are you sticking to 1/4 miles or do you intend taking it round a circuit too?

Was FD ratio are you using & what is peak HP rpm at?

[Matty...]

M4CK 1 said:

Nice update, keep them coming nevermind how small.
What's the story on your gearbox??

Ah basically after being stood for a couple of years I noticed the engine had dropped on the passenger side, and the engine mount (comes off the gearbox) has distorted so it needs strengthening. I should imagine the material has annealed after welding it, and not as strong as it once was. This meant removing the gearbox to sort out. I also had a few blanking bungs to make.

I decided that I would rather use it this year than spend another year messing about with the gearbox. It is also one less thing to worry about on the shakedown run, as I have a fresh engine build, loom, suspension, wiring all to test at the same time.

The box will get revisted once everything else is sorted.

[Matty...]

Yazza54 said:

Awesome work can't wait to see some vids of it going through the gears in anger. I read in your earlier post you have been told the VFR box can handle 400hp in a bike so I just hope it holds up for you given it's weight and grip that kills boxes as much as power and torque. I'm sure there's plenty that could be developed like billet gears etc but hopefully not necessary!!

Thanks, yeah I have read they are very strong gearsets and usually the casing lets go first, which shouldn't be so much of an issue with this. I have now swapped it for a standard box for now, as I need to do some more work on the sequential before testing it.

[Matty...]

duds100 said:

I've been following your updates closely on instagram Matty. The build is really coming together and it's going to be an animal once done! Looking forward to seeing it fly up the strip.

Are you sticking to 1/4 miles or do you intend taking it round a circuit too?

Was FD ratio are you using & what is peak HP rpm at?

Yeah it is really starting to get somewhere now, I spent several weeks working out where I had got to, and realised I stopped at all the awkward points on most jobs! So it was a struggle to get motivated on it.

The front end shoukd be going for paint in 2 weeks, in the mean time I can finish tinkering with the rest of it.

To be honest I have forgotten where the power curve is, I think peak torque is around 5500rpm and limiter set to 8500rpm.

The plan is hill climbs and circuit use, the queues just seem to be longer at 1/4 mile events.

I'm running a 3.1:1 final drive on this.

[Matty...]

A bit more progress on the front end. All ready for some fresh paint.

[scottos]

What an awesome read! So happy to see you've kept with the A series too (in some form!).

Sounds like it's been off the road a real good while now so I bet you can't wait to get back out in it. Understand your position on the gearbox, I had a full rebuild to think about a few months ago and you can't keep your thoughts focused on potential problems when EVERYTHING could be the potential problem!

Also very envious of the fab skills and engineering

[Matty...]

scottos said:

What an awesome read! So happy to see you've kept with the A series too (in some form!).

Sounds like it's been off the road a real good while now so I bet you can't wait to get back out in it. Understand your position on the gearbox, I had a full rebuild to think about a few months ago and you can't keep your thoughts focused on potential problems when EVERYTHING could be the potential problem!

Also very envious of the fab skills and engineering

Yeah exactly my thoughts. It has been off the road 6 years now! If I can get it usable in the next couple of months and get everything tested and run in, then I will be much happier just having to focus on the gearbox itself.

It's not a massive job to swap it all over, I could have it all swapped over and working in a week, once all the final mods to the box are finished. I can plod along with these over winter.

[ChocolateFrog]

Matty... said:

Yeah it is really starting to get somewhere now, I spent several weeks working out where I had got to, and realised I stopped at all the awkward points on most jobs! So it was a struggle to get motivated on it.

Why does this always happen haha. I find it's usually when something you have done that hasn't worked or failed prematurely and the willpower to redo something you've already done disappears.