WELCOME TO THE MINI EXPERIMENT
Welcome back 22 September 2011...
Yep been missing in action for quite a while hey. Good news is that I have moved from Canberra to Sydney. So I had a bit on and changing jobs means I still have a lot on. However, I found my FTP passwords so I am about to start loading a few updates. First of all I am going to finally do a dash. As I finally sick of driving around without being able to know, how hot the engine is, what speed i am doing, how many revs I am pulling and whether I am about to run out of petrol. So on that basis I bought some Autometer guages and I am in the process of hooking them up.
Also guess what I did a trial run of the petrol tank one and it actually showed a petrol guage level. My god I was flabbergasted anyway. I promise over the next couple of weeks to sort out a few things on the site included a new dash section and also the things I am doing to the car generally. A bit has happened while you were away...
Yes I know the feedback system doesn't work
And yes I intend to fix it. Soon. Watch this space.
Bigger Wheels
Well I finally bit the bullet and got bigger wheels and tyres, 13 x 7 inch rims. I was looking for something different to the standard Minilites which are a great wheel but look pretty historic in my view. I came across the Star Trax from Huddersfield spares which a mate of mine put me onto. These are awesome wheels and really compliment the style I am going for of "cheap and shitty". Actually not quite as the wheels look excellent it is just the rest of the car that doesn't. However, my wife is slowly getting worn down by the constant requests from friends and family to actually spray the car a decent colour that I might actually get the opportunity. However, this will not be until at least February or March next year as already it is too hot in Canberra (really hot temperatures with low humidity make spraying a real pain).
Here are some photos...
Coming real soon.
Latest Dyno Result - October 2009
Well as you may or may not know, the Mini has always had an ongoing issue with running very rich (including a very strong petrol smell entering the cabin, to the point where I can't drive it for long periods otherwise I get ill). Obviously this became an ongoing problem. Even after being tuned by Pulse up in Sydney (who did a great job and solved the problems generated by my first tuner Ordocheck, but it still ran extremely rich. I figure this to be a bit of a case of hedging their bets in some ways as running very rich will obviously reduce the chances of detonation considerably. However, it makes it very bad to drive.
As a last ditch effort I talked to a mate at work who has a tuned Subaru. He recommended Ultimate Tunes in Phillip. I had heard good things about them previously so off I went. Dropped it down expecting to blow more money and not really get a result. How wrong (and happily so) could I have been. First of all they had it done by 3pm (I was expecting days/weeks), and for a very reasonably price but most of all it is what was generated:
- 168.2 kW at the wheels (up from 145.7 kW) OR 225 bhp.
- 303 Nm (no previous rating but I believe about 35Nm)
That is some pretty impressive figures. That means about 270 bhp at the crank. And given that all engine figures for production cars including such things as Lamborghinis and Ferraris are crank or flywheel power, this is the figure that should be used. This results in:
- 203 bhp per litre OR;
- 415 bhp per ton
For instance the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 weighs x and puts out 460hp, so has a power to weight ratio of X. Get the idea. Now if only I could get the power to the ground! Watch this space as I have just order 13x7 Supertrax for the beast.
Cheers
Matt
A New Beginning July 2009
Well not that much to report but I am going to update the website a bit. The one bit of news is that I finally saved up and got myself a customer aluminium front mount radiator, a new section will be added to the Performance Modifications section shortly. It is working very well and the car is quite a bit cooler. Plus due to the perfect dimensions it now sits straight across the engine bay and I have a thermo fan as well, so now I can go in street parades and everything...! I might have a surprise for all those person wanting to do this conversion but not knowing where to start. Watch this space...
Equally our club has recently got CAMS affiliation so I may enter a few hillclimbs and motorkhanas which should be both exciting and interesting.
Thanks Andy
Oh I forgot to thank my brother Andy for following me up to Sydney and bringing me back both times. Made life obviously so much easier and so I simply say thanks mate it was appreciated.
Freaking Awesome!
Well I was very optimistic but alas things never seem to go to plan. I bought the unit...
That was then this is now. Welcome to new beginning in state of the art technological Mini's, Mini's so fast they stretch 3 feet during flight! So powerful, they do not move they spin the earth, so explosive the acceleration that the tuner recommended I get new breaks, so impressive he literally said driving an WRX Sti after driving the Mini "felt slow"!
Ladies and gentleman I present Matt's Mini mark 27 (yes there have been that many saga's to get to this point) with:
195.4 Bhp at the wheels
145.7 Kw, at the wheels
260Nm of torque (actually that bit really isn't that impressive!). Yes that is a revised figure, I was basing it on a lower newtons figure from the dyno chart. 260 actually is pretty good.
With a top speed of 427Kmh, out pacing the Veyron and the Koenigsegg CCCRHRHX (yeah made that up).
Anyway after Pulse Racing taking 4 weeks to tune it and causing me to miss the annual Ausmini dyno day (goddamit), I have at least got it back and as you can tell I am pretty happy. All is forgiven Pulse Racing! To be fair while I still think they pissed around a bit (hey I was 300Km away), they did do a very professional job, the tune is excellent, they obviously know what they are doing and it was a one stop job, in other words I turned up with a problem I left with a complete solution. And yes I would recommend them, ask for Phil and tell him Matt with the turbo Mini sent you (he talked about it for 20 minutes and genuinely seemed impressed and yes he really did say that the Sti after being in the Mini felt slow.
Pulse Racing - 788 Illawarra Road, Phone 02 9543 5007 and ask for Phil or Paul, good blokes too.
Anyway enough of my yabbering here is the dyno sheet(s)
As for performance, absolute wild but I can't actually tell you really as the car was unregistered and I am not game to take it for a spin until it is as obviously the thought of having a crash without third party isn't worth talking about so I will update this again soon (plus a video I promise) once the sticker turns up. And yes it is extremely frustrating!
But lets just say what little I have experience is just stupid. Oh and did I tell you, I finally lashed out and got them to install a Profec B Series II electronic boost controller, soooo coool compared to having to get an allen key out and hope for the best.
I will update this again this week where all will be revealed...
Cheers
Matt
Adaptronic soon to go in...
As stated in the side bar I did initially want to go with the DFA but thought to myself I am really only treating the symptoms rather than the disease so after receiving a cash injection courtesy of my place of employment I have lashed out and bought an Adaptronic ECU. I am hoping for big things from this, the main one being to get the air-fuel ration back to normal. This should take care of the fumes but also increase mid-range and possibly top end power but also make throttle response that much better. See the Adaptronic page under performance for more info.
Big News - Top output 136kw at 15-16psi.
Well guys and gals the big news is that I finally got it on the dyno and the fuel situation sorted out (see the news next column). As you can see some pretty impressive figures. Basically 184hp on 15-16psi and 171hp at 12psi. I dropped it down to 12 as I have a turbotech valve and if I want to go up for special occassions I can...
Welcome
Welcome to my webpage on all things Mini. Why another Mini webpage when there is literally a plethora of the things already in existence. Well simply put this is my experience of the Mini. I dare say like alot of other people I came to this by chance.
But my real reason for doing this website is because I am attempting to put a Starlet GT engine in the Mini. I am not the first and I won't be the last. But the difference with mine is that I am going to do it all by myself and I will be showing you all the stages involved and the problems I ran into. So if you are considering the same thing then this is the place.
As at July 10 when I first really started on this webpage (and the car) very little had happened but I received my halfcut towards the end of July 2004 (July 27th to be exact) and since then it has been go go go. I have the engine out now and have almost completed welding the subframe. I have also almost completed work on the suspension so by the end of November 2004, she should be back on 4 wheels for the first time in about 3 months. I have contacted the engineer a second time with photos of my subframe design and he seemed pretty happy with that, so keep coming back for updates.
Update 15 March 2005: Well simply I am still finalising the subframe but am pretty happy with the way it is turning out. Very close to finalising it, then I can paint it. Once painted it can go back in the car and I can start on the rear subframe. Once that is done then comes the installation of the electrics and the fuel system. Theoretically once that is all done, then it is just a case of getting the thing to run, oh and of course getting the driveshafts put in and the exhaust system.
Update 2 August 2005: Finally a bit to report. I have finally resolved the gearchange issue which is great news as that was the thing really holding me back. I have also finalised the rear cross member so now I can also finalise the exhaust as well. So hopefully within the next month (possibly 2) the engine will be in the car and bolted in the for the last time (yippee), and a few of the final tasks will be completed, these are:
- install both the clutch and brake mastercylinders;
- install the remote oil filter system;
- finish 2.5" exhaust system;
- create bracket and install alternator and hook up battery lead;
- finalise radiator system;
- hook up gearchange;
- install wiring loom; and finally...
- install FMIC.
So those are the big tasks, but as funny as it sounds they are also the easiest both physically and mentally. The biggest jobs left are the exhast and the wiring loom. The exhaust should take me a weekend to complete and the wiring loom? Well how long is a piece of string?
Update 21 September 2006
Well the car has been registered since March 2006. But as is always the way, I want more, more. Anyway it has been off the road as I have always had a few things that I wanted to do but felt that these were better left until a) it was registered and b) I had the money!
So go to the new Performance Mods page and check out what I am doing. Here is the list of mods below:
- New turbo - KKR 280 (similar to a T25 or TD04 not sure which), bloody nice turbo - CHECK
- New tuned length header - CHECK
- New HD Exedy Clutch - CHECK
- New Dump Pipe (mainly due to new turbo) - CHECK
- New FMIC (truly cool, always wanted this as a top mount is just a stupid way to cool the air from the turbo) - CHECK
Plus the sundry other bits and pieces like intecooler pipes (making my own as usual) and the air intake pipe. So check it out.
New Performance Mods Section!
I have raised a bit of cash so now stage two of the conversion is underway. I have created a new section title "Performance Mods", which will show one way to soup up the Starlie engine in your Mini. This should really be titled "Performance Mods on the cheap". But anyway, on the page there will be several semi tutorials on making such things as a turbo header for a larger turbo, to changing the clutch for a HD version, and instaling a front mount intercooler (well maybe that bit still has to be passed...). Anyway have a look at that section and tell me what you think. Cheers Matty.
Video Section
I will be putting the videos I take of the car into a new section called videos in the menu pane. There is only one there at the moment but that will soon change as I will put one on there of the dyno session and also one of the testing session. So keep an eye out for that.
Subframe Design & Manufacture
Hello All. Increasingly there seems to be a fair amount of interest in subframe designs including mine. I think I should state for the record that I can't unfortunately fabricate the subframe for anyone, mainly for two reasons, time and possible legal issues. Also feel free to use the design I came up with. I think it works pretty well. For those people having their subframes made by 3rd parties (eg engineering firms), no problems, but if you wouldn't mind letting them know where you found it. Cheers Matt.
How long has it been?
I was thinking today how long it had been since I started, I had a little javascript calculator that I wrote for the Start Page but decided that the index page was a good location too, so here is the total amount of time (and counting, since I started in July 2004). This should give you an idea of how long these projects take...
Well guys finally I can stop the javascript day counter. From the arrival of the halfcut on July 27, 2004. To registration on 29 March 2006, means that from conception to fruition as a period of 602 days or approximately 18 months. Man sometimes if felt so much longer than that...
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Updates
Just as a reminder, don't forget to hold down the control button and hit F5 to refresh the page as I make changes to the latest pages of the conversion fairly regularly (1-2 times a week). These won't show up unless you refresh the page for new content. This mainly applies to the latest pages dealing with the engine conversion.
My History with the Mini
A friend name Bo Griffiths had one, a 1976 Mini Clubman 1100 S. He went overseas and said could I look after it. I did so and after having driven it for a while began to enjoy the handling and somewhat zippy performance of this very small car. Eventually when it looked like he wasn't coming back I bought the vehicle of him for the princely sum of $700.
Having driven it for about 6 months I then got defected one fateful November day and took it off the road while I saved up the cash to really fix it. I eventually sold my other love, my motorcycle (1999 GSXR 750 EFI) to put all my energies and some of my new found cash into the Mini.
Some $3000 later I had a very straight Mini. But only three days after getting back from the workshop (Carby work) where they were putting the final touches on the car, a guy ran into the back of me writing off my precious Mini. But wait it gets worse!
I then spent weeks trying to get the other party to put in a claim as unfortunately I had not got around to getting insurance! But as of August 2001 this seems to be sorting itself out. So after having done all this work I then went around to my parents place to bash the rear quarter panel out and put in a new indicator assembly when this happened...
So I guess my main reason for doing this webpage is really as a form of mental therapy, and as a starting point for Mini Project Mark II. It is also a source of information for those budding Mini fans who want to work on their Mini but don't know where to start or find that the info on the web is lacking in some important areas. You can learn from my mistakes and God I've made a few...
Cheers
Matty
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