hi, as the title really. have seen a few rover mpi 'S's', as well as a couple of 'Si's'. whats the differnce between the two? thanks
Difference Between Cooper Garages Converted 'si' And 's'?
Started by
welshdan
, Feb 27 2009 01:13 PM
4 replies to this topic
#2
sirweste
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Posted 27 February 2009 - 04:03 PM
the MPi S - aka - MPi Sport. is the normal MPi car but with sportspack arches and 13inch wheels.
The cooper garages cars, Si (badge is actually off a fiesta) are a mpi with some engine mods which increase the power of the engine by around 1/3. The MPi Si cars are made up from minisport spares and then have "Cooper" stamped on em. Some usfull bits, and some stupid marketing mods like the 1.5 roller rockers and high poundage valve springs. But the cylinder head is a very good one.
The cooper garages cars, Si (badge is actually off a fiesta) are a mpi with some engine mods which increase the power of the engine by around 1/3. The MPi Si cars are made up from minisport spares and then have "Cooper" stamped on em. Some usfull bits, and some stupid marketing mods like the 1.5 roller rockers and high poundage valve springs. But the cylinder head is a very good one.
#3
welshdan
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Posted 27 February 2009 - 06:34 PM
the MPi S - aka - MPi Sport. is the normal MPi car but with sportspack arches and 13inch wheels.
The cooper garages cars, Si (badge is actually off a fiesta) are a mpi with some engine mods which increase the power of the engine by around 1/3. The MPi Si cars are made up from minisport spares and then have "Cooper" stamped on em. Some usfull bits, and some stupid marketing mods like the 1.5 roller rockers and high poundage valve springs. But the cylinder head is a very good one.
rover didnt make a cooper 'S''s. s and 'Si's' both came from cooper works garage. am just wondering if there was any difference between the s and si kit?
#4
sirweste
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Posted 01 March 2009 - 11:25 AM
In the MPi's Rover produced the mini cooper s, aka mini cooper sport. Which was the sports pack. The Si was a garages car. JCG produced S cars but they were not MPi's. If you have seen a S badge on the back of a MPi then it will be after market
#5
miniboy1971
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Posted 01 March 2009 - 02:07 PM
Rover (and all those before) had not made an ‘S’ since 1971. The nearest thing to an 'S' were the John Cooper Garages engine conversion that were approved by Rover.
The MPi model had the option of the Sports Pack, which were cosmetic changes only and these were actually detrimental to the performance due to heavier 13” wheels. Rover never marketed this as an ‘S’, but people frequently call them this, but it should never be confused with an performance enhanced models that are synonymous with this tag.
John Cooper Garages starting offering a selection of performance enhancing kits from the late eighties for the carburetor Minis. They expanded the range of kits in the early nineties when the SPi fuel injection models appeared and latterly with the Mpi. These are often called ‘S’ models and are the closest you’ll find as they offered true performance upgrades over the standard Rover engine.
I've tried to summarise all the JCG conversions below, but the Si badged ones were for the Spi model.
Circa 1992, JCG released the Si Pack for the new injection cars. This included things like a Stage 3 head, Janspeed Exhaust, oil cooler and other items increasing the power to 74 bhp. There was also an Si ‘plus pack’ which was the same as the Si, but had larger valves in the head, high lift rockers and a K&N filter. This gave 78 bhp.
They also continued to offer their Twin Carb S Pack and other carb variants, but we’ll stick to injection here.
In 1997, John Cooper Garages released another conversion kit specifically for the Mpi.
This included stage 3 head, inlet manifold, Janspeed exhaust, etc. and increased power to around 85 bhp. You could have this fitted to your own car, but JCG also had their own exclusive models which included this engine upgrade and were called the Cooper S Touring and Cooper S Sport 5. The former was based on the 12” wheeled cooper, but had 165 profile tyres fitted, along with some cosmetic changes. The latter was based on the 13” sports pack model, but with a 5 speed gearbox and cosmetics changes.
In 1999, JCG released the S-Works 90 bhp kit, which was the same as the 85bhp kit above, but with an LCB and different air filter casing. If you already had the 85 bhp kit, you could upgrade to 90bhp if you bought the extra bits.
JCG released their own exclusive ‘S-works’ model using the S-works engine conversion and this had some cosmetic changes, including an engine turned dash which was much more impressive than the ‘fablon’ version in the Mini 40 and Cooper Sport models. You could have the S-works model based on the standard cooper or with the sports pack.
In 2000, JCG released another set of exclusive models based on the three ‘last of the line’ Minis. Each of these had the 90bhp S-works conversion and were called Mini Seven S, Mini Cooper SE and Mini Cooper Sport SE.
JCG also did other exclusive models, for example, the Grand Prix which was based on the Spi.
It’s fair to say there is a lot of confusion about all these models and having a badge on the back or calling a car an ‘S’ because it has the Sports Pack option only adds to the confusion.
Since JCG closed their doors, the only way of checking to see if a car has had a JCG conversion, is to go to www.classicminis-online.co.uk. This is run by one of their former employers, but that’s not to say that the parts are still fitted to the car…
The JCG conversions were either retro-fitted to your own car, or included as part of one of their exclusive models which you could only buy direct from JCG.
The MPi model had the option of the Sports Pack, which were cosmetic changes only and these were actually detrimental to the performance due to heavier 13” wheels. Rover never marketed this as an ‘S’, but people frequently call them this, but it should never be confused with an performance enhanced models that are synonymous with this tag.
John Cooper Garages starting offering a selection of performance enhancing kits from the late eighties for the carburetor Minis. They expanded the range of kits in the early nineties when the SPi fuel injection models appeared and latterly with the Mpi. These are often called ‘S’ models and are the closest you’ll find as they offered true performance upgrades over the standard Rover engine.
I've tried to summarise all the JCG conversions below, but the Si badged ones were for the Spi model.
Circa 1992, JCG released the Si Pack for the new injection cars. This included things like a Stage 3 head, Janspeed Exhaust, oil cooler and other items increasing the power to 74 bhp. There was also an Si ‘plus pack’ which was the same as the Si, but had larger valves in the head, high lift rockers and a K&N filter. This gave 78 bhp.
They also continued to offer their Twin Carb S Pack and other carb variants, but we’ll stick to injection here.
In 1997, John Cooper Garages released another conversion kit specifically for the Mpi.
This included stage 3 head, inlet manifold, Janspeed exhaust, etc. and increased power to around 85 bhp. You could have this fitted to your own car, but JCG also had their own exclusive models which included this engine upgrade and were called the Cooper S Touring and Cooper S Sport 5. The former was based on the 12” wheeled cooper, but had 165 profile tyres fitted, along with some cosmetic changes. The latter was based on the 13” sports pack model, but with a 5 speed gearbox and cosmetics changes.
In 1999, JCG released the S-Works 90 bhp kit, which was the same as the 85bhp kit above, but with an LCB and different air filter casing. If you already had the 85 bhp kit, you could upgrade to 90bhp if you bought the extra bits.
JCG released their own exclusive ‘S-works’ model using the S-works engine conversion and this had some cosmetic changes, including an engine turned dash which was much more impressive than the ‘fablon’ version in the Mini 40 and Cooper Sport models. You could have the S-works model based on the standard cooper or with the sports pack.
In 2000, JCG released another set of exclusive models based on the three ‘last of the line’ Minis. Each of these had the 90bhp S-works conversion and were called Mini Seven S, Mini Cooper SE and Mini Cooper Sport SE.
JCG also did other exclusive models, for example, the Grand Prix which was based on the Spi.
It’s fair to say there is a lot of confusion about all these models and having a badge on the back or calling a car an ‘S’ because it has the Sports Pack option only adds to the confusion.
Since JCG closed their doors, the only way of checking to see if a car has had a JCG conversion, is to go to www.classicminis-online.co.uk. This is run by one of their former employers, but that’s not to say that the parts are still fitted to the car…
The JCG conversions were either retro-fitted to your own car, or included as part of one of their exclusive models which you could only buy direct from JCG.
Edited by miniboy1971, 01 March 2009 - 02:25 PM.
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