8 replies to this topic

[kingcreaky]

Hey people

My Brothers got a Mini 25, just a 998 flavour silver mini, 1984.

Him being a little naive judges a cars performance by the speedo, and what it says is the top speed.

As most mini speedos maximum reading is 90mph, or 100mph in some cases, He is convinced that because his says 120, thats its quicker!! LOL

can I have your thoughts please? why do they have a 120mph speedo? i havent seen any others that have this? im sure there are but I havent seen them....

or, better. If somebody could tell me exactly why the maximum reading is 120mph? as if a 998 could propel you that speed?

what bhp would you guess it is as standard? he wont believe me when I tell him about 35 with the wind behind him!!!

cheers

[TOMMO0302]

Haha, sorry mate, i don't know the answer, but thats funny as hell.

If only it was that easy, one 200mph speedo ordered and in the post to me right now

[minivanman]

theres 120mph speedos for coopers - go for a fair bit on ebay. not sure on the spec of a 25 but i wouldnt have thought they had them as standard. its not a hard job to swap speedos though. he think he's going faster because the gearings are different on the speedo drive.

[pikey7]

I seem to recall chatting to Karl about this. His mini25 has a 120mph speedo too, in grey IIRC which is quite "rare". So yeah it's a standard fitment.

Why its there........ no idea! I suppose it is "cooper-esque" so a bit flash! It certainly doen't make 'em go faster!

[minivanman]

you learn something every day!

[1984mini25]

seem to recall chatting to Karl about this. His mini25 has a 120mph speedo too, in grey IIRC which is quite "rare". So yeah it's a standard fitment.

All mini25's had a 3-instrument binnacle. Speedo is calibrated, rather optimistically, up to 120mph

Why I don't know, may be it was something they used to help sell them?

They also have an ultra high 2.95 ratio final drive, but even with that I’ve only ever got mine up to 95ish
screaming it's off, don't know what it was reving at as the rev counter stoped on 3k Lol,
But I can't see how without playing with the engine it would ever do more.

what bhp would you guess it is as standard?

Austin rover quoted it a 40bhp, but as they are getting on a bit it's probably more like 35ish or less

Although as mine has been looked after (mechanically) it's around the standard figure.

Although if he is totally convinced that it will do 120mph, don't be surprised when he starts moaning that the engine has blown up in to tiny pieces.

[taffy1967]

Well it had pretty much the same dash as the Mini 1275GT and the clocks were still of the Smiths variety (before they sadly went Nippon Seiki), but I always thought the Mini 25's speedo only went up to 90mph? Well i'm pretty sure all the ones I've seen have anyway and I almost bought a 25 back in late 1990, but the bloke wouldn't drop the price and it wasn't in that great a knick so I walked away and ended up buying a 1985 Mini City E for less instead.

[1984mini25]

but I always thought the Mini 25's speedo only went up to 90mph? Well i'm pretty sure all the ones I've seen have anyway and I almost bought a 25 back in late 1990

All standard mini25's came with a 120mph Speedo (unless changed at a later date), I have various sales sheets and the original handbook and other slips (pikey stop laughing) that prove this

Although technically as there are only a 998 and based on a Mayfair they should really of had a 90 Speedo.

This is how mine looked soon after I bought it; only changes being the carpets are now red and changed the steering wheel, but kept it in a very safe place to go back on some time in the future.

[taffy1967]

Well that's something I've obviously missed all these years then? But the Mini Sprite LE of 1983 also got the same 1275GT type clocks which would have been of the Smiths variety, so did they also get a 120mph speedo too?