Most liked posts in thread: Rally Mini Cooper

Gracias WMWNY tambien. With the help of some monkeys the Mini is now back on the road. The mechanic seemed to have loosened the intake and forgot to tighten it up again.......the problem was a lot of water in the engine harness????? I dried it out, soldered in some new wires and boom the engine ran like a champ. Also I got to do some test driving.

 

EBC are supporting me again and will be sending a full set of rotors/pads the Outback. The conversion is going to be AWD and NA. I went with the SOHC engine because then I can get the spark plugs out.and have a little more room. Currently, I'm selling off all the Mini stuff

 

yes, you're correct. I looked at adaptors and for the cost, I could buy some wheel rims and with a 2" ofset....no thanks.

 

Thanks but this is not the S...I wish it was!

 

Wow that looks low! I'm going to run the Cooper on rough gravel rallies and some tarmac. Home made skid plate. I'm going to look for a smaller belt if one exists. My Suzuki GTI belt is small so I might start there.

 

I'm in the Boston area.

Kicked off the build today and hit problems. As reliability wins rallies I'm replacing the water pump with a new one but the bolts were scary stuck until I slowly got them out. Then I found the metal coolant pipe was really coroded, also the radiator fan sounded a bit suppect so I'm replacing that too. I got the "S" cylinder head on but not connected everything up yet.

The original raditor will be toast in no time being plastic ends so I've opted for a 4 core rally aluminum Subaru WRX radiator which will fit after some modification. I plan to junk the plastic surround and make the bumper a one piece off for easy access. Also I found a belt to run the alternator/water pump without the need for the dummy A/C pulley.

 

That was some week! finally got the Subaru WRX radiator in, a 165F thermostat, Way motor mounts, Lowes CAI hahaha, Computer servo fan for the power steering pump, custom mesh grille plus putting the head back on. I hope tomorrow to have the car running.

 

Last week was an all out attack on removing the extra wiring I don't need, such as rear wiper/window heater, airbags, speakers and door mirror. This is best done with scissors and gloves as the black mess thet wrap around the wires is very sticky and messy. I managed to remove all the wires up to the bulk head, and then I cut and taped them off until I get the car to Costa Rica when I will remove the dash and heater to remove those wires I can't get at. Everything else is about done apart from some brackets to drill out.
As I only get a few hours a night so I have to make a good progress! I finished drilling out brackets I don’t need, wrapped electrical tape around the wiring loom, moved the fuse box to a better location. Stripped the front seats to make a temporary support for the OMP seats until I get the cage in which will also support the seats. I used the base of the seat with welded on brackets to bolt the seat to. This give me some driving position adjustment before I permanently secure the seat in. Looks like a jet fighter seat! Hahaha.
Today was the first time I really got to drive the car and I can say it's pretty good. Seems to be nearly as fast as the Swift but the handling is very nice, even got a bit sideways this morning which I like! The D1 set at SP9 makes the throttle respond as I like it.

I'm happy to report that the WRX raditor performs better than I expected. Driving around the temp reads about 1/4" below normal and in traffic goes up to normal without the use of the cooling fan which I have a manual switch. I sat for 40 mins in traffic at 75F outside temp with the needle at normal. If I flicked the fan on the temp needle dropped 1/4"

 

D1 is the throttle controler similar to Sprint booster

 

A few photos