53 replies to this topic

[Oldskoolbaby]

It sounds like a similar sort of engine as the Daihatsu charade engine Im building up soon. Ill be looking at 250bhp but its 250cc bigger than the Suzuki engine and every thing in the 999cc charade motor is forged with excellent material. Bike & bike derived motors are superb peices of engineering as there sole perpose is to develope as much horse power as possible from standard. Look at the Hyabusa for instance. With a few small streangtening parts they can take 400+ bhp with a turbo/supercharger conversion. And if youve ever seen drag bike racing they produce loads more than that.

[binge]

Well. Come to think about it. I agree that the mini is a very good cornering car...

I was out in town once with a mate, In my Automatic Mini when a 1.4 Punto wanted to race me.
Ok, he wasted me off the lights (In maidstone, they like to do outrun", so you get the lead, then loose them).

Anyway, I was behind, but not far behind. He hit a corner and I was up his ass right away because I had the cornering advantage. :tongue:

Eventually on the dual carrage way I got the lead. Went straight for the one way system, Hit a 90 degree bend at about 40 mph, Took the lead big time. Saw him in my mirror come round the bend Soooo wide, and sooo slow. :tongue:

Didnt see him after that...

Ive a feeling the 1.8 GTi Pug 205 is a quick car tho.

<|Ben|>

[Jammy]

Watched a repeat of Top Gear last night where they had the drag races of old against the new over the 1/5th mile. One of them was the old Pug 205 Gti against the new 206 Gti....the new one won. BUT, out of the five races the old won!

[binge]

[quote name='Dan' date='Aug 25 2005, 06:17 PM'] [QUOTE]
63 BHP
63 LbFt
Redline about 8300 RPM
Kerb Weight
725 KG
Thats about 86BHP/Ton.

But that's because it's a K car (a Japanese class of car which avoids paying road tax by being small and environmentally friendly) and that means it's only allowed to produce 63 BHP. It's very capable of a lot (a real lot) more. [/quote]
Yep. unfortionatly It restricts its self at 95 - 100 mph. And you feel it bounce off the rev limiter.
There is a de restrictor kit for it, BUt to be honnset, I think it would be pretty damn dangerous at those sorts of speeds without some sort of air dam on the front.


<|Ben|>

[Oldskoolbaby]

My best mate had a 1.9 205 gti and it was excellent around corners but it lacked the turn in of a mini. In terms of grip I was keeping up with him on the country roads around Silverstone(where I go college). And that was with 145 budget tyres. Once I had it set up and fitted with yokos finest it was "bye bye" time for me.

Needless to say he got a bit jelous and did some suspension work him self. Once he did this though it was far too twitchy and it was well easy to loose it.

[binge]

My mini is a bog standard 1.3i auto, with standard wheels and tyres. I find that sometimes I can easily hit a roundabout / corner at a good 20+ mph, and it will pull around it solid.
And other times the car just carries on in a straight line when the wheels are turned. :tongue: and I find myself having to back right off the revs and regain control of the car.

what would be a cheapo way of getting the car to drive like its on rails?


<|Ben|>

[ed4ran]

Put it on rails!!! :tongue:

[Sprocket]

Remove the extra weight from the front by fitting a Manual box and engine :cheese:

Seriously though, the auto engine is a heavy mother. Try some uprated dampers and a slightly wider tyre. Replace all the tie bar/ bottom arm bushes at least with new standerd ones and ensure that all the geometry is correct . Unfortunate thing is the extra weight is what is pushing it out of the corner and also not being able to choose the gear to feather the power round the corner.

[binge]

Im actually a bit naughty. I do drive the car in the gears. I find it easier. I cant stand the "Drop down" feature. Its so slow and always drops down one gear too far, then screams its balls off for a second or two.

I took all the interior out a few weeks ago, Ive put it all back in now. But havnt put the sound proofing back in. There was about 3 stone of it! :gasp:

Would love a manual engine for it. But I think it will be more practical of I was to sell up and go for a manual Mini.
its just, i know that MY mini is generally a sound car. Its got the odd patch of surface rust which Ive got to rub down and touch up every few months. BUt nothing drastic. Im just worried about getting another mini and finding out the subframes are rust ridden or somthing. :erm:

Would LOVE to buy a cheap mini and just blow all my spair cash on Aftermarked bits Like Hi-los and wide wheels. :grin: