Fuel Setup

My mini came with a 35L tank, which wasnt very common in Minis until the 1970s. The mini had a mechanical fuel pump so the only thing attached to the fuel tank was the fuel level sender unit. I did a fair bit of studying and calculating and found that if i soldered a 200 ohm resistor in parrallel with the fuel level sender unit of the mini.. it would send almost the same resistance at high and low levels as the standard glanza fuel level sender.

I used an external bosch fuel pump rated up to 500hp to feed my 4EFTE with a low pressure fuel filter before the pump and a high pressure reusable billet aluminum fuel filter before the fuel rail. The fuel pump and LP filter were mounted in the boot. I used the standard mini fuel line as a return and ran a new 5/16" (8mm) fuel line as a supply. The standard fuel pressure regulator was used as im not planning on running higher than 12psi, but ill see how that goes in the future....

With all my other systems, i tend to paintshop pro them up for reference. Here's another.

Air Filter and Blow Off Valve

There wasnt much options when it came to the air filter as i had already taken most of the engine bay space where fresh air would enter so i went with a simple short location, right infront of the exhaust manifold. I used a dome air filter mounted to 2" pipe with 2 outlets for the stock boost controller and for the blow off valve recirculation. While on the subject of the BOV, it was mounted inbetween the heat exchanger and the intake plenum. There have been many arguments on the where abouts of where the BOV should be mounted but in the end of the day it will still do its job effectively. The BOV i went with is a Greddy RS that was given to me by a friend. I'm pretty certain it is a copy but it will suffice as not many have the option of recirculating the air back to the turbo. The recirc hose does look a little ugly in the engine bay but it is a must for the car to pass registration requirements as it was standard on the 4EFTE engine.

Brake and Clutch

Onto the brakes and clutch... This wasnt the most fun job but was still enjoyable.

To jog your memory, i will be using Minisport 4 pot calipers with vented disc brakes at the front and standard drums on the rear all fed from a brand new 'yellow tag' dual circuit master cylinder. I chose not to use a brake booster for simplicity and that i dont mind the feel of the brakes without, on the rear i have a proportioning valve that eliminates the rear brakes from locking up under hard braking. The clutch master cylinder is also brand new and is the standard mini one which from research was perfectly fine using with the clutch slave clyinder of the 4EFTE gearbox providing you used the 7/8" bore slave.

I had originally posted a topic on Ausmini.com covering a dual circuit brake master system setup as there was mixed answers on the forums from years ago. So i concluded that i would use the following and drew it up for future (now current) reference. Very simple.

You will now see my brake and clutch lines all done up and flared by me. Not 100% perfect but i think they still look nice. The most annoying part was removing the engine and ancillaries.

Here is the clutch slave piping. I purchased a custom made flexible hose from Perth Brake Parts to allow for engine movement.

Dashboard and Switch Panel

For my dash, i wanted to use the glanza cluster as it was a simple plug and play option with the wiring loom, but i wanted to retain the standard mini look. I first made up the mini dashboard from a template found on one of the mini forums using 12mm thick mdf. I modified the dashboard to fit my boost and oil gauges, a stereo unit, two 4" speakers mounted on either end and a glove box on the passenger side. The mdf was coated with fibreglass resin for a smoother surface which i had intended on painting but eventually went with vinyl wrapping. The odometer cluster was a fiddly job also as the standard cluster had a curved plastic face. I modified the stock unit to fit a flat piece of plastic.

The next part of my dash was the switch panel on which i had intended on keeping pretty stock glanza / mini looking. I used the glanza demister, hazard and low boost buttons and intergrated them into a custom switch panel which would sit where the existing mini panel sat. I also installed three switches and of coarse a cigarette lighter to charge my phone etc..  

 

Only two of the three switches are used but it is always good to have a spare. The two switches are for the water to air radiator fan override and the engine radiator fan override.

 

Mounting of the standard glanza switches werent easy. And although the demister is for the rear, i will have rewired it to the windscreen.

Lastly is the dash and switch panel temporarily installed. Its obviously missing all its ancillaries.

Radiator Fan

You would have seen from the previous post the overflow tank mounted in between the engine radiator and the w2a radiator. They are cheap chinese tanks which i will eventually replace. I dont know what i was thinking but i guess i was in a rush to get the car up and running. You will also see in the picture below the amount of room i had left for a fan to be mounted to the radiator and the new locations of the radiator inlet and outlet. You may need to look carefully as it wasnt easy to take a picture with everything installed.

Intercooler Install

Its definitely been a while again so i think im due for an update.


The 4EFTE engine came with a standard top mount intercooler. I have seen these retained by fellow Mini 4EFTE builds but i wont be going down that path. To maximize the use of a TMIC you would need a bonnet scoop and i personally dont like the look of these on a Clubman bonnet or the fact that they stick out.. it would ruin the clean look im aiming for.

I opted for a Water to Air intercooler system for the main reason that there wasnt really any place to put a front mount intercooler without hacking away at the body of the mini. The W2A system consists of a heat exchanger which the air passes through and by the use of water, cools this air. Water travels from a separate radiator and fan through a water pump to the heat exchanger, taking note* of which way the water passes through, then to an overflow tank back to the radiator. I used the largest radiator and overflow tank i could, to maximize the amount of water to cool the system. The radiator also has a thermo installed to control the radiator fan, as well as an override switch mounted inside.

*It is important to position the water feeding the heat exchanger in a 'counter-current' design.This means that cold water from the radiator should be fed into the 'cold (outlet)' end of the exchanger and the hot water that has absorbed all the exchangers heat comes out of the 'turbo end of the unit. The reason for this is that the coldest water is keeping the coolest end of the exchanger cool, and the slightly warmed water at the hot end will not actually increase the temps at the 'hot end'. If the water flow is changed to a 'concurrent' design, so the cold water cools the hot end, then like wise, the water temps will heat up, and thus the 'cold' end of the exchanger can not be any colder than the temperature of the heated water. (This info was taken from another site)

The Water to Air intercooler system was purchased from frozenboost.com.


Pictures explain better than words.

You'll find below my setup temporary installed.

The radiator mounted where the existing mini radiator once sat. Looks pretty snug to me.