Performance cylinder heads for my 1275 Mini engine

Continuing with my Mini on-going project, and the constant want for more power, I have decided to finally bite the bullet and fork out for a new performance cylinder head – perhaps the single most efficient way of increasing power from the A-series. There are numerous companies that sell and produce cylinder heads for the Mini, such as Slark Racing, MED Engineering, Mini Spares, Rob Walker and many more.

However, after contacting my personal two favorites – Slark & MED. Both told me that their lead times on their cylinder heads are currently around 8-10 weeks which is way too long for me. Mini Spares always has heads on the shelf, but they bulk-produce heads (as far as I know) and they wouldn’t be of as good quality as the likes of Slarks or MED’s.

Rob Walker was my next phone call and he said about 3-4 weeks lead time on heads which wasn’t too bad. Then a friend of mine reminded/recommended me Vmax Scart. I phoned and spoke to Stuart and he said approx 3-4 days!! Brilliant.

So, as of Wednesday (tomorrow!) I am off to meet Stuart at Vmax Scart to pick up my new cylinder head. Its a stage 3.5 (approx) with 35.7mm x31mm valve sizes, along with double valve springs, bonze guides, and with the ability to accept Unleaded fuel. I’ll update with “install” pictures and how the car runs after its fitted!

Progress with my Mini rebuild

So my best efforts of keeping this blog up-to-date hasn’t gone all that well. I have been keeping myself very busy however, with work & getting my Mini done in time for this year’s London to Brighton Mini Run.

And talking of Mini, here’s some latest photos of mine…

And my MOT is booked for a week Saturday – very scary stuff since I’ve bulit this car pretty-much entirely from scatch and on my own! I’ve got lots of technical articles to write, and lots of photos to share, but for now this’ll have to do!

Aftermarket Race-style Pedal Box for my Classic Mini

My on-going Mini race replica project is coming along nicely now. I’ve fully committed myself into it now (not like I wasn’t before!) and I’ve spent a fair bit on it in the last month and-a-bit.

She currently looks a bit like this. Needs lowering though!!

I bought myself the very sexy KAD 4 pot caliper brake set-up for the front not so long ago which I’ve now fitted to my original hubs and are on the car. I was looking into also buying some sort of master cylinder replacement since (for many reasons) I hate the standard master cylinder braking set-up on the Mini. Its a pain-in-the-backside to change, it rusts, its awkward and expensive to replace parts. Needless to say I was looking into alternatives and I stumbled across OBP Performance who sell a Mini-specific aftermarket pedal box, including separate master cylinders, reservoirs, and the pedal box itself – completely replacing the master cylinders and standard pedal box.

So, whey! This morning I ordered it and it should be here later in the week.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the brake pipes and hoses – obviously replacing all of them anyway, but also hoping to “upgrade” them in someway. I thought it would be a good upgrade to ensure both front left/right and rear left/right brake hoses are equal length. This way surely it must equal out the braking power to further improve the braking-in-a-straight-line.

After some thought, I think I’m going to go with custom-made stainless steel braided brake hoses throughout the car, running the brake hoses through the inside of the car down the exhaust tunnel along with the fuel and battery cable which are already in place.

Fuel lines clipped down with P Clips – inside in need of a tidy!!

I’ve sent off a number of emails to various people to find out the union sizes of the different things I will need the hoses to connect to – the KAD calipers, the rear wheel cylinders and the new master cylinders on the pedal box. I’m unsure on the union sizes right now, but I will find out and when I do – its here you’ll find the answers

Photos from the latest of my build soon!

UPDATE: I can confirm the following union sizes so far…
Slave cylinder banjo-style union : Female 3/8th UNF
KAD 4 pot caliper union : Female 3/8th UNF
Rear wheel cylinder union : Female 3/8th UNF

Mini front subframe refurb & KAD brakes!

Its been a week or more since my last update and I’m in desperate need to update this place again, so this post calls for a “Mini” related post.

Progress with my Mini as it stands at the moment is going well, as you know from my previous posts my rear subframe is now in and rear wheels are re-attached – all is good on the back end.

I removed the front subframe a few weeks back, stripped it and sent it off to get powder coated white, just like the rear subframe. It was returned back to me within a few days and the progress of re-fitting all the suspension components was taking place.

Upper arms were high on my priority to get refurbed. They seem to end up being one of the things on a Mini which gets highly neglected, at least by me in the past, with little attention to their condition. If you don’t already know, the upper arm connect the top of the front hub to the front subframe. They are also what maintains the ride height since the rubber doughnut and knuckle joint sit on top. So you see, quite important I think.

Anyway, with an order from Minispares again, the parts arrived and were fitted in little time – making sure I got the upper arms around the correct way!!

Also, earlier this month, I treated myself a little bit – Christmas is approaching and I’ve already done all of my shopping and presents for people (I hope…) My Birthday was also on the 11th and with the help of a nice month’s pay, I got myself a brake-upgrade from the legendary Mini tuning company, KAD. Renowned as “the best” in terms of most things Mini!

Sweet, eh?

So, what’s left to get the front subframe on? Well I’ve refurbished my front hubs in the mean time, with new ball joints and bearings throughout, so they’re good to go. The upper arms have all new bearings and shafts with new knuckle joints as I’ve said, which are also fitted. To fit the front subframe, the steering rack must be already fitted, and since I’m replacing my steering rack, I’ve had to order a new one before re-fitting the front subframe.

A QuickRack was the order of the day, and I ordered this yesterday from Moss Europe (the only people who seemed to have any left in stock). A good company too, they seem, will report back when the rack arrives, hopefully today. After the rack is here, and fitted, the front subframe can then be bolted back up to the body.

Hubs, tie bars, bottom arms and drive shafts can be assembled in-situ, along with my new discs and calipers from KAD. Wheels pop on the front and I can drop her back down on 4 wheels! – The first time in over a year!!

More updates soon!…

Big Mini progress – rear subframe fitted!

Continuing on from my post about finally getting my rear subframe assembled for my Mini, ready for the big “fit”, this weekend saw a small amount of struggle in getting it fitted! As far as fitting rear subframes go, this went quite well.

Those horrible rear subframe mounts are a nightmare, but this time around they didn’t cause too many issues. Without going into too much detail, but if you’re attempting this job soon then literally the only method is … “poke and hope!!”

Its a near impossibility to see the bolt hole and to line the mounts up with them, so its just a case of attempting to screw the bolts into their correct positions and “hoping” its right. Just make sure you don’t cross-thread them!

Anyway, here’s some photos

You can clearly see the rear subframe with the rear valance removed, and I think it looks awesome! It also makes fitting the furthest back rear subframe mounts so much easier too!

Next up – time for removing and stripping the front subframe!