74 replies to this topic

[R1minimagic]

everyone is banging on about BHP...................its the torque that you need to make a car quick........not BHP............thats why all these guys with bike engined cars have to rev the tits off them all the time to make them go quickly,
bike engines may have loads of BHP but they have no torque to speak of.....pretty pointless for road use.

Not true, a 998cc R1 engine still has quite a bit of torque compared to a Mini engine (around 70lbft from 3000rpm and a fairly flat torque curve all the way to 11000rpm), i could be driving along in 6th gear put my foot down and overtake a line of cars no problem. My Mini only weighed 450Kg though.

[CooperMad93]

I just had a thought, what about putting a turbo on? shud just fit on with it being a metro engine? im sure that will give a fair boost

[The Matt]

That's my kinda horsepower!

Seriously though, a mini with 100bhp is a reasonably quick car. OK, you're not going to be accellerating off the lights and destroying Ferarris and the like, but you'll have some fun.

In terms of how to build 100bhp, didn't MiniWorld do a feature DVD some time ago about building a 1380motor with a target of 100bhp.

When I built my 1380, I didn't aim for a figure as such, I just built it. 286, ultralight flywheel, 1.5:1 roller rockers, 45 DCOE, Megajolt, SC gearbox and drops..... the usual stuff really. It was really fun to drive but the biggest problem I find with Minis is that people often overlook the gearing. To me it's far more important to get the FD right for your driving requirements than it is to achieve the 100bhp mark. A well geared and reasonably tuned 1275 Mini would be a great little car.

I still say go to an engine builder and tell them what you've got to spend and how you drive, what the intended use for the car is and go from there.

[Black.Ghost]

I'd love a 100 BHP Mini.

I understand it's torque that's needed for fast acceleration, but I'm a bit confused. mk3coopers suggested if you want torque, go for a mildly tuned 1100, but Brams suggests you need more cc's? Why is the 1100 good for torque if you want big capacity?

[R1minimagic]

Torque = force x distance

So you can increase force by increasing cc, and increase distance by increasing stroke. If you increase both you get even more....

[Brams96]

Coopermad93 - Try reading through this post on another site about some mods you can do before spending serious money on a new engine build it might help.
If you want 100+bhp & 100ft/lb the a K-series head conversion would be the way to go but again your limit is your wallet K-head LINK

[Black.Ghost]

Got it. Thanks.

[mk3 Cooper S]

I'd love a 100 BHP Mini.

I understand it's torque that's needed for fast acceleration, but I'm a bit confused. mk3coopers suggested if you want torque, go for a mildly tuned 1100, but Brams suggests you need more cc's? Why is the 1100 good for torque if you want big capacity?

A mildy tuned 1100 gives good torque but is reliable and ideal as a daily driver

[mini-luke]

I just had a thought, what about putting a turbo on? shud just fit on with it being a metro engine? im sure that will give a fair boost

You can['t just bolt a turbo on a NA engine. Also, metro and mini engine's are essentially the same engine, so that makes no odds unless it's a metro turbo engine then it'll already have one!

[mk3 Cooper S]

everyone is banging on about BHP...................its the torque that you need to make a car quick........not BHP............thats why all these guys with bike engined cars have to rev the tits off them all the time to make them go quickly,
bike engines may have loads of BHP but they have no torque to speak of.....pretty pointless for road use.

Not true, a 998cc R1 engine still has quite a bit of torque compared to a Mini engine (around 70lbft from 3000rpm and a fairly flat torque curve all the way to 11000rpm), i could be driving along in 6th gear put my foot down and overtake a line of cars no problem. My Mini only weighed 450Kg though.

Agreed but not too much torque at the bottom end.

[R1minimagic]

3000rpm is just above idle for a bike engine!

[Prawn]

I've been running 100bhp + minie engines for 5-6 years now, and I love them.

I think 'quick' is entirely relative, because it depends on what you're used to, if you drive an M3 dailly, the Mini will always feel slow!

Straight line speed aside though, 100bhp in a mini is more than enough to get you into plenty of trouble, and a whole heap of fun too!

[Joseph-C]

could you build a reliable 100 bhp a series that could be used everyday? in traffic etc.

[Furyblade_Lee]

oltonlad, have you ever been in a bike-engined car? I have an R1 powered kitcar, probobly about 100kgs lighter than an R1 mini would be, its about 450 kgs . Scaling it up, it's equivalent to a 1 tonne car with 190lb/ft of torque. or an impreza with 270lb/ft. Contrary to belief they are not bad low down, its all relative, they are quick enough low down, f****** quick between 7 -12,000rpm. If you do feel you are lacking a little "torque" all you do is whack the sequential gearstick forwards 1/2" once and floor it, you are gone. If I coast at 1,000 rpm in second and open the taps hard it will spin its wheels up no problem , smooth as silk from tickover to red-line. It certainly does not cough, splutter and struggle wheezing until it comes "on cam" like my (expensive) Swiftune 1380 would if I tried the same trick.... They are not ideal granted, not for everybody and can be too loud tiresome for some folk. But they are also exciting as hell to drive and certainly not slow. And I have been lucky enough to drive "the daddy" Caterham R500 250 miles home from Belgium after a trackday at Zolder. The Caterham was quicker granted but not as much as you would expect from £10,000 of K-series and £1,000 of Yamaha! Just don't believe the internet torque stories written by folk who have never tried one, it all bull. I have had bike-engined cars since 2002, building one of the very first Fury Fireblades, and done over 35,000 road and track miles in them.

[ANON]

horse power?