Here we have the beginning of Patch, named so after the amount of repair work we had to do for 3 years leading up to this point. Back in October 2014 the 1275 engine thermostat went pop so like any good car enthusiast we repaired it, and then some. The winter months were upon us and the car was not going to be used so we pulled out the 1275 lump and began work on something much more sinister.
After pulling the engine out, we sat down and began to draw up a spec for the engine work that needed doing. We sourced a Mercedes C180 supercharger primarily because it was cheap. From here we worked wrote down all the work that would need machining and took it to our local engine machinists.
The block was bored out to 1380cc, the head and block faces were skimmed, we had bigger valves put in the head and had it dry decked. A lot of time went into making the engine assemble with ease, all the block, flywheel casing and gearbox were all sprayed black gloss. The gearbox itself is a work of art, 4 speed straight cut close ratio gears supplied by guess works, center oil pickup and brand new baulk rings made the gearbox the best we have ever had on a mini. A windage tray was put in as an experiment, don't really know if it is making a difference but it hasn't hindered the power.
The head had new valves put in to increase performance since we were planning forced induction we could make the exhaust valves smaller. More work was done to the head in the form of a dry deck and some rather tasty 1:5 roller tip rockers to accompany the kent 286 cam.
With the engine coming together nicely and fully assembled you can see the extent of our black paint obsession :p You will also notice the shiny aluminium casing that houses a MED timing belt kit.
Then we cut that out of steel. And finally bolted it all together, and would you look at that it fits, there's even a handy little notch so you can access the dipstick.
And finally after many months there car is looking a lot more mean sat on new 10 inch wheels and braked by 7.9 inch minisport 4 pot alloy brakes. Not to mention coilover suspension and an anti roll bar. The trolley jack has to be one of the best tool buys.
