49 replies to this topic

[Jammy]

I've heard a couple of people who were unhappy with the finish of the Minisport 7 port head. I think Ollieracer1380 was one?

I agree with Bud in that forced induction is a good bet for lots of torque. Personally I like the idea of a supercharger (Moss are bringing out a new kit very soon that looks very interesting), or I wouldn't rule out a turbo.

[preston-pill]

yeh id go for a supercharger but not a turbo.. never liked the lag on them or having to alter the bulkhead.. i know you can use the other garet one so you dont need to but never really floated my boat..
superchargers are good, i like them my mate has the rotex one i think its called.. thats a proper twin screw one and it works a treat but they cost £2500 just for the charger.
as for the new mini chargers i would use one of them because i really dont think there much cop..
i did go all the way to hull with the intention of buying a supercharged mini boasting 140bhp. this used the eaton m12 supercharger as used on the aston martins db7's, range roversports, jag's etc this is also a twin screw one and i was expecting it to be a monster and i was bitterly disapointed. unfortunaly it was a flat as a pancake so i decided to leave it alone..
i know if you want proper cost effective powerfull torquey engine conversion go for a vauxhal red top but my shells honeslty that good i dont want to take the front end off its brand new shell, and to be honest i prefer the sound of an a series

i had a search on 7ports through the forum and i must admit it very usefull but there isnt many people with them and i did notice that minisports build quality was annoying people.. a helpfull hint was to buy the bare head and have swifttune do the work but from what i can gather your looking at in excess of £2000 just to get the head back, then you'v to buy twin webbers or jenvys or what ever you want to use then roller rockers etc.. its not cheap is it!!

anyone know anyone selling one done? lol

[Jammy]

Dunno if Dan has sold his KAD head yet?!

[JetBLICK]

Don't think Dans breaking the motor Jammy, and he wants half of the total build cost if you want to buy it, bearing in mind the total build (just for the motor) cost him more than most peoples cars

A friend in Malverns got a 7-port... its still in the running in phase, so we're yet to know what its capable of. But he's had a hard time getting this far with it. The first one he bought was cracked and he sent it backand got another, which was also rubbish, then he got fed up and sent the whole motor to slark who sent the head back again and started from a bare casting.

Now its working it sounds lovely. The only downside to the 7 port is the stubby inlets, which have the affect of raising the point where peak power is reached, apart from that in theory its a 'bolt on' conversion which looses you an insignificant amount of power compared to a much more expensive 8-port conversion.

Hold on for a while and you'll see there are a few more conversions comming soon, westlake are due to be producing a batch of 8-ports (the version with the inlets at the back), and MED have got something up their sleeve too

[who_loves_the_mini?]

There's a KAD big valve head on ebay at the moment

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...e...A:IT&ih=018

I like the idea of 7 port, still get good power from them but i would buy a bare casing and take it to someone who knows how to get the most from it.

[mini93]

the 7 ports, because of the ingnition cycle the middle 2 exhaust ports shouldnt have a problem with the overlap unless i think i really long duration cam is used, but i also think a midler cam can be used with better results on a 7port due to not having spared inlets

the 8ports, aparently MED have been bringing out a 8port head for ages now, meaning wouldnt have to have a cam change. for the arden one have to have a different cam and longer pushrods, i think the height from the deck height and top of the head it taller/more so thats why longer push rods are needed

the KAD, most probably awesome set up, but heared that to fit the head 2 of the head studs actualy have to be bent in a way to fit :S bit strange really but dont quote me on that

personly id give MED a call see what there doing about there 8 port design. if thats not far off id wait. or get the arden you would have to remove the block to do the plugging for the K1100 head so pulling it apart to bosh a cam in shoudlnt be a problem and then i think its basicly a bolt on process

one last thing, remember to budget for carburettor/throttle bodie set up, would get more power with injection

[maph2]

i think if you want to stick to an a series, the best bang per buck is the turbo. you say that you don't like turbos for the lag and bulkhead work but have you seen the mirage motorsport kit. £300 for a new exhaust manifold kit that does not require bulkhead mods. it uses a renault 5 T2 turbo as its smaller. are you aware of the power these turbos produce? don't knock them - espeically as the smaller turbo produces less lag.

this lot done on a sorted 1275 or 1293, with injection is superb!

personally i'd ditch the a series and go allspeed 1.6 16v under a standard round nose. better reliablility, fuel economy and 150bhp on TB's/mappable ecu

[preston-pill]

thanks jet black and mini93 its hard to find people that actually know what there on about for advice.. yeh the 8ports certainly is interesting me but hellishly more expensive.. iv also heard mixed reports about kad 16v heads like the verneir cams slipping and the spark plug holes filling with water when stud.. so i dunno.. seen that head on ebay looks like a gooden.. the only thing to mention is ideally id like the engine to go under a round nose with no bulges etc.. all the 16v conversions and 7port and 8port alike are hard to fit under without suffering power loss as you mentioned about.. i can live with 4 nice rampipes sticking out the front it does look s**t hot.. but air filters are better for obvious reasons but they do look a bit crapy..
regarding cracked heads where they supplyed from minisport?

[wolfys_mini]

MED already have a 8 port avaliable.

MED 8 port head



MED 1460 8 port engine



what a work of art this exhaust manifold is! id have the head just for the manifold!



edit: bugger its an arden head thought i was being clever then

Edited by wolfys_mini, 20 December 2007 - 12:22 PM.

[mini93]

for the k1100 head morspeed sell a 1inch manifold, couple that with some jenvy throttle bodies (35mm thick set!!!!) ram pipes then air filter will easy squeeze under

edit: wooolfy...that would be the arden 8port....as it says on the side there developing there own one too

Edited by mini93, 20 December 2007 - 12:24 PM.

[maph2]

/\/\/\ all nice, i'll just go and remorgage my house to buy one.

150bhp c20xe out the box for £300 FTW

Edited by maph2, 20 December 2007 - 12:25 PM.

[wolfys_mini]

i edited!



if anyone has any bench test results from various heads i wouldnt mind looking at them

[Pie]

As dan said Matt (navyseal) from malvern has just finished the running in session of his 7port.

It was a minisport head but the original casting cracked and they tried to blame him with various reasons, i.e wrong cam etc and then when they looked at his account saw that he had bought everything that was advised to him by them.
In the end he went to Slark. Brian then got a replacement head from minisport which he then returned telling them that the casting was pretty much scrap. Brian then started a war with minisport and ended up telling them to send him a bare casting and he would drill it himself and fit bigger valves!!
Matts head now has 37mm and 32mm valves, and produces and estimated 130bhp at the wheels on a MED1330 block and twin DCOE40's.

Before pouring money into something like this i would have a SERIOUS look into these things. Ring round the likes of slark and swiftune and see what they would advise. I know brians got about 3 other 7ports down in the workshop at the moment for next years race seaon, one of them being Tim Harber of minimag and minimail.

As i said matts is expected to get 130bhp at the wheels, this is only an estimate from a previous 1330 7port that slark did. so a 1380 7port should have a few more bannana's in it.

[preston-pill]

look if you where going to go to all the hassel of doing a non mini engined mini you wouldnt fit a 1.6 16v now would you. believe me i know, my boss has built a mini with a 16v 2lr astra gte engine in it with 187noddys. he lengthen it 38mm the minimum possible! and not 90mm like the soft arse easy way and you cannot tell its been lengthened of that enginges lurking under it.. believe me if i wanted to go that root i would have by now and he's the man to do it..

im still all for the k1100 head actually but im just gona put that on another engine..!! for some reason moorspeed seem to be dissed by people so i dont know who to go for the kitt.. yeh them jenvys are proper cool but the k1100 throttle boddies are short and sweet so i'l probably use them!

Edited by preston-pill, 20 December 2007 - 05:16 PM.

[preston-pill]

miniman pie thats for your input! do you know if brians selling any of these heads? also where abouts is he based contact number etc