10 replies to this topic

[Squipper]

Hi,  Located in Ipswich, does anyone know somewhere in East Anglia ish, that can or would be able to fit this kit.  Cheers.

 

Fluff

[Lord Oversill]

Hi Fluff,

I have this system and fitted it myself, I had a few problems and ended up sending the car to SC for setting up. The car had a few other issues and needed other work. That they could not carry out.

Fortunately they put me in touch with James from Mini Farm, (Norwich area) 01603 898280 Sure he may be able to help you in some way. 
I was more than happy with his work and very reasonable.

[Squipper]

Hiya

 

Thats great thanks, what sort of problems did you have?  How is your car now and what improvements did the kit make, bhp, speed etc.  Was it worth the hassle lol!

[Squipper]

Little worried that Specialist components couldn't solve a problem for their own equipment??

[Lord Oversill]

Hi,

my original Rover Spi system was giving me all sorts of headaches after I had fitted Minisport John Cooper conversion ( Cylinder head , 1:5 rockers, manifold etc, ) So I decided to fit the SC system, plug & play....

Still ran like a dog ,so had the car transported to SC for setting up.

Like I say, it had a few problems whilst it was there. Which were sorted by Mini farm. Can’t recommend there work enough. Wish I had someone as good near here.

The car now, starts very well at all temperatures , ticks over cleanly.

Bhp is not so much with the other top end modifications at about 82/4 Bhp confirmed on SC rollers.

Speed wise it picks its feet up quite nicely when you need it. Can’t tell about top speed as my ears bleed at 70/80 mph. I have the 45 mm throttle body with the supplied filter, not quiet by any means!

What is massively improved is the mid range pull. Feels a lot different and does make it worth it. ( even with a £600+  Shipley bill)

It is a bit juicy now, but suppose that’s the trade off. 
The only other small gripe is it a very on/ off throttle with no dampening as the Spi system has.

Pretty sure you’ll be happy when it’s on and set up though.

[Lord Oversill]

Hi , the “ other” problems were not SC related. It was things arising due to the cars inactivity. 
Which had to be sorted before going on the rollers.

[Squipper]

Hi

 

Thats great to hear, I am hoping to make a genuine 90-95 bhp at engine, is that what you reckon you make? I was told the JCW Stage would make 82-85 bhp and the Throttle body kit 6-8 bhp, so hopefully 90-95 ish  

[DeadSquare]

Hi

 

Thats great to hear, I am hoping to make a genuine 90-95 bhp at engine, is that what you reckon you make? I was told the JCW Stage would make 82-85 bhp and the Throttle body kit 6-8 bhp, so hopefully 90-95 ish  

 

95 BHP is ample, but you won't often use it.   85 is sufficient on our crowded roads and leaves scope to tune for torque, which is what gives acceleration.

[Wazzah]

I have a SC 45mm throttle body and SC delta 400 ECU.

I also fitted the SC Super Sport head, 1.5 rockers and LCB.

Let me say that SC were very helpful along the way.

I have since removed the entire kit and gone back to the SPI gear.

Kept the head on the car of course.

I drive my car to work most days and race in an improved production formula on weekends.

This includes circuit, hillclimb, motorkhana and autcross

My car is a 98 Japanese Domestic Market SPI with air conditioning.

The delta ecu accepted AC switched inputs but could not increase revs to cater for the extra load at idle.

I had to set idle at 1050 rpm as a compromise.

The delta ecu also accepted and switched temp signals from the auxiliary electric fan that comes with these cars.

My MEMS ECU is a twin plug with only one wire in the smaller plug in use.

This is one of the wasted spark coil feeds.

This single wire needs to be removed from the small MEMS plug and relocated into the large MEMS plug.

SC supply these instructions and there are heaps of Youtube videos on how to remove and replace individual wires in factory plugs.

This is a cool skill to have.

On fitting the car would not run at all well.

It is definitely not plug and play.

SC sent me a number of calibration downloads and lots of suggestions.

I live in Australia so you appreciate the patience shown by them and me using emails and the huge time difference.

Time on a rolling road was fruitless.

I went home after that session and started playing with the various settings and discovered that the engines running improved considerably using the Rover K Series 36-4 timing source.

Even though mine is an SPI it has an MPI block and a 36-4 MPI flywheel.

Interestingly it would not run on the Rover MPI 36-4 setting or the SPI 36-2 setting. 

I contacted SC with this news and they sent me an updated calibration and a wiring change to their supplied ECU harness.

They did say that it was an anomaly in the Delta 400 and mine was the first SPI fitted with the Delta 400 since they phased out the Delta Typhoon 

The car ran ok after these changes but was extremely rich and returned 22 mpg!

I gained 8 mph in top speed and it did accelerate nicely.

Rolling road showed 68hp at the wheels which I reckon is about 80 hp at the flywheel

At 55 mph around 3200 rpm up a gentle incline it would backfire consistently like a lean backfire.

Another rolling road session got rid of this backfire at 3200 only to be replaced with the same backfire at 2500!!

Such a pain in the arse.

3200 rpm is used a lot in my daily commute to work and 2500 rpm is basically the range you find yourself after a gear shift.

The backfire would disappear if you held the throttle flat out.

This was not an enjoyable car to drive.

I suspected an air leak and went over my entire intake and exhaust system several times replacing all gaskets at least twice.

Out on our motorway I would have friends and family drive me for hours and hours with a lap top in the passenger seat whilst I adjusted fuelling and timing at every throttle opening at all rev ranges in all gears.

I have saved hundreds of my own calibrations each with their own advantages and promises.

Combining them all I came up with 4 cals that I could live with and I would change them depending on what way I would drive to work and whether I was racing or not.

I upgraded the kit with a wideband O2 sensor and went through the whole process again.

No matter what I did it would backfire under light load somewhere in the rev range and always had awful fuel consumption.

Destroyed a cat with the richness.

Any attempt to lean of the fuelling would result in an instant backfire.

The wideband readings were either Lambda 0.2 or 2.

It was impossible to get it anywhere near the 0.8-1.0 range.

Inspection of the spark plugs had very rich 2 & 3 cylinders and better 1 & 4.

Closed loop running showed wild full scale fuel corrections (22.5%) in the positive and negative at idle!

I could not get it to idle at lambda 1 at any stage.

What do I think is happening?

Perhaps the 45mm TB is just too large for the application.

The injection timing is not adjustable and perhaps the K series injection intervals do not suit an A series.

Perhaps the Siamese ports have an affect this over and under fuelling.

Perhaps my engine just doesn't suck hard enough to take advantage of the extra fuel and air.

So, refitting the SPI gear was a pain but the car ran perfectly straight away and was back to 44mpg.

I havent checked top speed yet but it still goes well with just the SC Head.

Mid range torque may be slightly better with SPI gear.

A lot more fun and flexibility with SPI gear.

I think I will persevere with the SC kit and will build up a 1330 high comp engine (if I can find an MPI block in Australia) with a 36-1 timing wheel.

I am of the firm opinion that the Rover MEMS is simply awesome.

I have some ideas on future improvements see my side draught spi thread.

Losing 3 stone myself will help power to weight ratios.

Going deeper under brakes and shaving the door handles is always an option.

Tread carefully

[Squipper]

Hi Wazzah

 

Great info, I was aware of the idle problem with the Air Con, SC said best solution was fitting an Idle Speed Control actuator?  I also have A 1999, JDM SPI Mini Cooper. So after reading your post I am a little apprehensive about fitting the kit as i THINK it has a Stage 1kit fitted, Stainless Steel RC50 and LCB and is pretty nippy, easily zooms up to 85-90 and hits 100 mph (where legal lol) So maybe will just fit a Stage 3 kit and not take the risk Have to have a good ponder

[AndreasEzelius]

I have installed a sc kit for my mpi and have issues getting it to run good as well. Similar to what other people have mentioned. Full throttle is where its happiest. Will backfire around 2500 rpm mostly when the car is warmed up. I have changed coil, leads, plugs, no vacuum leaks. New fuel filter and pump. If i lean into the throttle slowöy the car wants to die. Regardless of fuel map. I can get it to idle fine at lambda 1. But as soon as I activate closed loop it starts fluctuating between maximum corrections both + and -. Eventually stalling the engine. SC has replied with saying a proper tune is needed. Ive had it at a tuner who said he had issues getting it running well. So he mostly focused on the high loads, which makes the car hard to drive in traffic. Now im contemplating where the issue lies. Should I switch to haltech which has more support in my part of the world? Or is this an inherent problem with this kit?