compare this with other twincam heads on the market for cost though.

i'd say at $3000 -> 3500 the twinky is very similar in cost and power increase, with no bonnet bulge.

*edit...... actually, NO...... wasnt the KAD kit over 10 grand???

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[NATHAN] -- Sold everything mini related and am back in big beautiful BMWs

kad heads were 10-12 grand, bmw conversion is heaps cheaper. i'll tell you all full costs when i get my kit, from removing the engine tomod's and then roaring down the road in perfectly tuned smoothness

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

Yeah, last reports for the KAD head is $10K plus fitting kit, Plus inlet system , plus exaust system etc etc etc

My brother lives in Japan & he rang me a while ago & was holding a Jack Knight twin Cam cyl head in his arms & asked me to guess what it cost... $13K was the answer ,,, & yes plus inlet system , plus exhaust system plus plus plus etc etc etc

To be honest , i have only ever seen one "DECENT" jap engine transplant , (Stuarts Turbo swift from the sunny coast, dam good frame design & manufacture) all the others that i have seen are pretty woe-full make-shift "THINGS" that really will show their uglyness both in the handling dept & in lack of longetivety, most of those are simply "STUCK" in there with very little thought for tortional & lateral rigidity & will surely start cracking & breaking up after a while.(just like many allready have) Many others that i have seen that are strong enough in those depts are very much an overkill & heavy as lead. It`s funny where some people "under-kill" with little or no thought to making it handle & last, when others tend to over-kill & forget about all that weight & unbalanced handling because of it all.

Heaps of people think that jap engines are lightweight but their end result becomes heavier & more unbalanced because the bare engine weight is not all that they`re throwing in there, they then add the monsterous subframe & yards & yards of wiring & dash assy & big disc brakes & 13" wheels etc etc etc & most of them end up as lead sleds that still don`t handle.

Now in saying all that i must be fair here, as i have not seen "ALL" the jap engine transplants there is to see so i havn`t & won`t say i`ve seen it all.

The Bimmer Twinky is just way better than lots of other options, smooth, reliable, sweet quiet & grunt to burn

PommyGeorge, it`s cool , we`re ok, i know exactly where you`re comming from & understand totally, & you`re mostly right for people who want cheap grunt

cheers

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Hi folks - quick update on my gold 16v twin cam road burner- had it on the rollers last friday after fitting the SC manifold and 38mm throttle bodies. Interesting results, peak bananas haven't changed but the delivery of grunt has, pulls hard to 5500 from 2000 (though the 8v 1293 has it beat on torque till this point - what was I saying about the 8v hemi being a good road engine??!!) at 5500 the 16v takes a skyrocket ride to the stars. All I'll be drawn on is that peak power was very very close to having a 9 in it and the torque was so strong at this point and the power curve hadn't "turned over" that you could easily pull 9.5k as a change up point

so thats a 1380 16v A series which pulls from 2000 - 9000k, not bad I'm sure you'll agree?lol!

Johnk

So John... Roughly 20-25hp gain from basically a manifold and carbies..? Not bad! Are those figures at the treads, at the flywheels, or calculated back to the flywheel..? Whatever they are, they're good, just thought I'd ask as it's one of the regular questions on here at the moment.
Those numbers are probably the difference between just throwing a blower/turbo on a Mini and a Twinky head - your air flow is much better with either head than the standard 5 port Mini heads, so your base power figures, and ultimate power figures are higher. Sure, if you want cheap power on an A series, a blower/turbo will give it to you. But, while it won't cost as much, neither will it ultimately give you as much. A Twinky head - especially blown/turbo'd - could have you fighting with engine conversions... Without anywhere near as much engineering work. Matt, do you even need to get it engineered, given it's the original engine, gearbox, etc..? Would it only be if you add a blower/turbo?
That said, John and Matt, as an interested observer, what do you have to say about people like DrMini's questions over the reliability of the bottom end in handling all this goodness? And gearboxes? I know, Matt, you've personally told me you believe there isn't a drama, based off your experiences with Blue, but, if posted here, it would probably save other threads and probably a few dozen PM's...

Matt
Can you confirm that its is possible to buy the ECU full mapped ready to plug / wire in once the mechanical stuff has been sorted.

Also a twin cam injected Mini why, simply its just cool TWIN CAM
performance and drive ability is a very important factor and should not be over looked

Have we not forgotton the A series was designed original as as tractor engine

As for a kit, (which is a great idea for us lazy not so clever buggers)

It would be great if the ECU & headers where available as an extra option

If you are simply interested in bang for your buck buy a Vtex Honda, (they are cheap here in NZ) and sell you Mini .


Keep up the good work

Kiwiinwgtn

So why did they wait so long (15 years) before they stuck it in a tractor?

I guess some people maybe called the 803cc Austin A30 a bit of a tractor. I called it a mechanical mouse.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Tadhg-> the bottom end of a mini donk can handle big numbers, just that some good gear needs to be used & used the right way inside the donk, it`s the same with any performance build of any engine. BUT!!! i don`t believe in throwing money at all the race internals in the world, that`s not really what i mean when i say "Good gear" in this instance.

A std A plus large journal crank, A+ rods & decent pistons inside a good 1275 block, with a fully overhauled gearbox, drops & diff & away you go. that lot handles oodles of power for quite a long time & is readilly avaliable at reasonable prices from lots of mini engine importers.

Contrary to popular beliefs, the mini gearbox does cope very well with big HP numbers. It`s those sad old 2nd hand worn out boxes that people put new motors onto that give them a bad name... &/or very poor build can creat the same poor results also. if you know what i mean?

Kiwiinwgtn-> sorry but at this stage i`m yet to sort the base programs for all the types of donks that people will be using this conversion with, But i`m hoping that soon we will have a start & run program ready to go to suit a 1275 + Bimmer twinky,,, & a base start turbo version as well (because that`s what i`m doing now) ,,,for use with the "Adaptronic" ECU system if people choose to use that computer... & at a later date i will definately do the same for the small bore set up as well. But there are many many many types of computer avaliable & i`m no expert in what`s best in that dept i`m sorry (wish i was, i`d be rich ) But we are using the Adaptronic for heaps of reasons, some of them is exccelent value for money, very user friendly, & dam good back up & support.

choose you`re own computer tho, i`m definately not the one to ask what`s best in that dept.

normally asspirated extractors are easy to make, just about any exhaust shop worth their salt can do them for you.

There are a pile of other small items that need looking at too (like the water outlet from the cyl head , L/H engine steady bar braketry, top rad braket & oil feed to the head & oil drains & oil fillers etc etc etc) & as i`ve said earlier on many occasion, i have listed them all in the pamphlet that will come as part of my conversion kit. But, most of these items are easy enough for most handymen/women to be able to sort quite easilly without breaking into the master card

cheers & thanks to all the PMs & E-mails recently, i`ve been mega swamped so that`s a good thing, just that i`m spending way too much time typing on the computer instead of finishing my customers cars

John K, well done on the upgrades to your 1380, hope to see some real numbers soon, you`re getting things sorted way quicker than me & in a way i`m glad cause for the moment we can all use your numbers to show the proof. The seat of my pants was proof enough for me to pull my engine out & copy all my bits to make the kits I was just telling a whole heap of people that the reason my engine is out at the moment is that if it stayed in there then i`d be working on making the turbo pump out chunks more bannannas & i`d be at the race tracks every weekend & wouldn`t get all the kits made. There is only one of me

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Hi Matt - I agree with what you say about the gearboxes - the must be nicely built to survive any length.

I'm going to be "testing" a dog box for a well known mini specialist with the the SC supercharged motor - I'll try really hard to break it with all that lovely boost fed goodness! I'm hoping to have it built and running for October time - lets see how a charger makes the 16v wizz!

to be honest the 1380 is now a complete animal - just the way I like it! and will pin your head in all the gears - 4th gear feels like 2nd in terms of acceleration!

JK