how to nicely upgrade a rover mini cooper

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Make it bigger

04/24/2015 - 18:05 |
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NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

04/24/2015 - 18:18 |
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Sam Newey

I will give you a breakdown of some mods I have done, and how they help.

Firstly, essentials. These are things that I think are completely necessary to bring any Mini up to standards so it is safer to drive on the modern roads.

1 - Headlights. Upgrade to at least halogen or if possible Xenon fittings. The standard Mini lights are dim at best, and when you are on a road with everyone blinding you, they are even less effective.

2 - Electronic Ignition. If you are running a distributor, there are always problems that occur. Upgrading your points and distributor internals to electronic will be much more reliable and efficient. Whilst you are at that end of the distributor, I would suggest putting a bit of plastic infront of it, on the back of the grill. When driving in rain, the distributor gets soaked in water and no word of a lie, your car will just stop, leaving you 100% screwed until it dries out.

3 - Decent guages. A Mini is temperamental, because of this it is useful to know exactly what is going on at all times. The standard oil, temperature and battery guages will not be enough to properly know what is going on in that engine. I would suggest decent temperature and oil pressure guages, this should help you keep an eye on what is happening.

Performance mods:

1 - Stage 1 kit. If you are running a 998 engine with standard carbs and manifolds then you will know the pain of having no power. This can be remedied a little by going to stage 1. This includes a larger bore exhaust system, and separate intakes and exhaust manifolds. It also gives a different profile needle for the carb which will up the power. If you are running 1275, I highly suggest going to weber carbs that will make it run like a monster.

2 - Suspension. A good mod is shock absorbers. The original ones always fail and offer no adjustability. You can’t just slap on coilovers on a Mini or even lowering springs due to the design, but adjustable shocks give you control over the firmness of the ride and also the comfort.

3 - Wheels. You can fit some pretty slick 13” wheels to a Mini (Mine has 175x13R wheels) which give plenty more grip than the standard option.

Comfort mods - These are mods I think are a bit more necessary to make a Mini more usable.

1 - Decent speakers. The Mini is LOUD. They have thin windows, thin panels and minimal soundproofing. This means if you are driving fast, you wont be able to hear your radio. Its worth the time to put some decent speakers underneath the rear seats.

2 - Soundproofing. On a similar note, it is a good idea to get some soundproofing upgrades. You can redo the bulkhead which should help block out engine noises, and the cabin can have more soundproofing all over.

3 - Glove Box. My glovebox had a rubbish bit of fibreglass that deteriorated and left all my things rolling around behind the dash. I spent the time to make a hardboard glovebox with carpet and a light so that it became usable, and also a auxiliary feed to the radio.

4 - Interior lights. The Mini comes with a piddly incandescent fitting that emits approximately 0.00001 matchsticks worth of light. I bought some strip LED which can be found at most hardware places, and fitted it to the same circuit with strips under the footwells, and in the rear companion boxes (Or whatever they’re called). They run on 12V and let out tonnes of light.

5 - A good in car toolkit. I understand that you can’t carry round all your tools. But I would definitely spend the time to assemble some useful tools incase you ever need to do some emergency work on your car. god knows I have. Things like a small jack, full AF spanner set, a socket set too. Importantly spare parts. Wheel lug nuts, spare wire, crimps, fanbelts, spare gaskets are all things worth having incase of an emergency. If you can’t keep them in your car, keep them somewhere safe at home so that someone can always pick them up for you if you are stranded.

If I can think of anything else I will respond again, but this should be plenty to consider.

04/24/2015 - 18:18 |
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