Ok I recently got my hands on a 11/83 BMW K100 8valve engine. After pulling the head off I played around with the block and had a brain spark....the BMW is a "boxer" type engine (basically cylinder 1 & 4 are both at TDC at the same time and cylinder 2 & 3 are at Bottom Dead Center). I then remembered Swift tune in the UK now make the came crank for the mini http://www.swiftune.com/Product/972/swi ... n-set.aspx

Now I know this is an expensive option at 3199 pounds but it dose come with brand new special rods and pistons.
So a couple of questions;
Is their a major advantage in this design compared to the normal type of crank
Is this design really worth the money considering it's what the BMW has
IMO the twinky should run and perform better with this new crank but will it really

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

Kenno,,, the mini already has 2 pistons up while the other 2 are down,,, the difference with that swifttne crank (& many other similar cranks) is that the counterbalancing is far better

that`s all

the "Boxer" engines are horizontally opposed,,, like early R80 Bimmer bike engines,,,, the Vee-dub donk & the Subaru WRX engine

but yes it`s a nice crank

& yes it will be smoother

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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.

Yeah I was thinking about it after I posted and realized my mistake their .
Do you reckon it's really worth the price for the gain?

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

That all depends on how much all that money is worth to you. For me personally, no way is that money worth it. For someone that goes to sleep on a pile of cash then yea sure go for it.

But i'm sure lots of people will tell you a standard crank works just fine, but yes that crank would most likely be better.

Someone told me once that when modifying cars you spend 20% of the money getting the first 80% in gains, and the remaining 80% getting the last 20% gains.

I think this crank represents spending 95% to get a 5% gain.

Ask pristic, to go very fast all you need is a 1100 and a turbocharger. No need for BMW heads, trick cranks etc etc

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--Insert legal disclaimer here--

and as for the cams and timing, firing order 1432 becomes 1342, changing two leads around is much cheaper.

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--Insert legal disclaimer here--

one of the beautys & major benefits of the Bimmer Twinky is it`s smooth-ness,,, the power delivery is just sooo sooo sweeeet... it`s effortless & niffty & responsive & it`s ability to produce a nice quiet smooth beautiful power curve is just the thing

the fact that they also produce a far greater quantity of that beautiful power is just a bonus

these new-cranks are similar ,,, where the "smoothness" of the engine is improved via the better counterbalancing ,,, & also "should" (i believe) have an extended life span compared to a std 40 year old fatigued mini crank

so yeah i like them,,, but yeah they`re expensive

& yes the twinkys design allows for the leads to be swapped around & can run on the mini engine in reverse direction, because the cams are "Concentrically" ground ,,, IE--> same opening ramp as the closing ramp.... (yes the Bimmer bike engines run anticlockwise & when we put the bike cyl head onto the mini motor we run them clockwise) so no need to change cams for the conversion

but again , having a pair of cams made to suit would be optimum if you had the money to spend,,, just like that special crank,,, & the turbo,,, & the sequential injection & the etc,,,,

if you have the money & you want the nice stuff that works well,,, then why not?... once you`ve driven a turbo injected twin cam mini , you will realize just how sweet they really are ,,,, it`s simply a far higher level of sophistication

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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.

if it was me i would go

http://www.twinkam.co.uk/shop/article_S ... CK002.A%26

crank & rods

matt
have you had a twinky running with the K injection using the computer from the bike?

Yep that's way cheaper but not available to buy now .
I'll probably just end up running the standard crank but it would be nice to have one of these cams .

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

yeh they sold out.

more being made you can put your name down it is a few weeks wait.

Nah, just went straight for the after-market sequential job

the 8v computer is very old agricultural thing using the crappy "Trap-door" type air-flow meter & a simple "on-off" TPS,,, but the 16v computer may well be worth a go, it has a true "potentiometer TPS (Volume/Reostat type switch) & not a bad looking set-up really,,, i havn`t bothered with it either tho because aftermarket stuff is so good these days,,, also very good value for money,,, & we can easily & simply have a little "Play" to make it suit whatever engine configuration we want.... Oh & also Forced induction-able

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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.

I think Graham Russell also makes eight-counterweight cranks... GR, how do yours compare (both performance and pricing-wise)?
I'd love one of these for my K1200RS conversion, I figure that the better balancing would be a big help at the revs that the head likes. Obviously 3200UKP is not an option (well not a sensible option anyway). The fancy pistons and rods offset that price a bit but it still seems way too much to me.
AV

I think GR's 8 counterweight cranks (made in Melbourne) were around $4K.
But then you'd want some nice H beam rods to go with it...

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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.