The very begining - Engine Mods
Does the car have fuel injection or is it one of the last cars to get carbs ?
Not that it matters too much. Some people report problems with fuel injection systems, and perhaps some units weren't the most reliable, but a lot of people are quite happy and have had no problem.
Being a Cooper you'll probably find you already have a reasonably efficient exhaust manifold already.
The law says that you don't need a catalytic convertor unless the car was made after 1st August 1992, so in this case you could remove the cat, replaceing it with a link pipe and possibly gain a few HP there. if the rest of the exhaust needs to be changed, if it's old, then you can simply upgrade to something like an RC40 systrem, or a similar sports exhaust. It might cost you half as much as a full stage one kit. As for performance the difference would be very little to if you had fitted a whole new exhaust manifold too. There's a reason those Cooper manifolds were fitted to Coopers !
The next bit of money to get spent, if it were my car, would be on any suspension parts which were wearing, such as rear radius arm bushes, front suspension ball joints and shock absorbers....once yo know you have a skate which handles the road confidently it can be bestowed with more power.
To get more power , if it's power you want, then you would have to look at the cam, changing it for something like a fast road cam. These remain totally driveable in traffic but also let's you get more power if you require it.
This sort of engine mod should only be done once you're sure your engine and gearbox are in tip top condition. on higher power Mini's a couple of gearbox bearings take a bit of a hammering, and the 1275 is known to use oil as the miles creep over 50k or 60k. How much you sepnd on te engine comes down to how much work you can do yourself. For example sending a complete engine and gearbox for a rebuild to a specialist will cost you more than if ytou split the engine and gearbox yourself and take them to garages who quote you for doing only some of the work.
But if you're happy you have no smoke from the exhaust, or coming out of the oil filler cap, or that there are no ominous noises from the gearbox, and being that the Cooper already has a pretty interior, why not save the money for a ferry fare or a Chunnel fare and go to Italy with other Mini enthusisats....that's something I've always fancied doing, and might do it in the next 2 years all being well !
Posted: Aug 23, 2006 10:08 PM