MINI SPARES 1000CC STAGE ONE KIT

Both Keith Calver and Keith Dodd have fitted the Mini Spares kit to their 1000cc cars.  Keith Calver was involved in getting the ignitions and needle settings correct at Peter Baldwin’s (Marshalls) rolling road in Cambridge.

Many people already have some of the parts on their car without know how close they are to extra power.  The parts required are the original Competition Silencers exhaust RC40, Mini Spares special inlet manifold, Maniflow freeflow exhaust manifold, a K & N air filter element and a different SU needle (Spring type only).  The timing is set at 5 degrees before TDC with the vac disconnection at 100 rpm (strobe setting).  Keith Calver’s standard 998 cc engine produced 49 bhp at the wheels after fitting the kit, which leaves standard Coopers behind.

Both cars’ power units have the 3-1 final drive, which is the standard ratio on all late Minis.  This means the car with the stage one kit loves motorway driving and is very responsive from 60 mph to 80 mph and a pleasure to drive.  The engine has always suffered from the final drive at low revs, but once 2000 rpm have been reached the car comes to life.  We cannot wait to put a 3.4 final drive five speed gearbox in the car which should give the optimum performance form the 1000cc power unit.

Although the car has 20% more power and 12% more torque, the petrol consumption around town never seems to be much less than 40 mpg with Keith Calver getting up to 58 mpg on long runs.  The kit is terrific value at £155.10 in total, complete with all fitting and timing instructions and parts required.

Both cars also use the Mini Spares 5 x 12 old special tuning lookalike wheel (Minilite) which enhances road holding enormously because of the balanced increase on track width of nearly 2”, which is 4” more than the old standard Cooper.  These wheels were designed for the standard 145 x 12 tyre, which fits snugly out to the legal limit of the standard Mini wheel arches, used currently by Rover.  The standard 145 x 12 tyres wear and work very well and save buying the wider type, which do not seem much better in the road holding department, but wear quicker.  The 5 x 12 wheel, C-21A1968 @ £42.30 each, includes centre caps plus chrome wheel nuts.

All prices are historical.

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