Okay, so, I have been looking for a fuel efficient alternative to my daily driver soobie. And I had settled on a charade. But then I had the thought of putting a rover engine into my project mini, hopefully killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

So my questions for you guys are these:
1. What's the average fuel consumption numbers for these injected minis?
2. Who would supply a half cut for this project
3. Would it be harder than I'm thinking?
4. Is it actually worth it?

Mind you, I'm not chasing power numbers, I have a 180kw liberty for that. I want reliability and some good fuel consumption numbers.

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I have a problem.. apparently

not qualified to answer any but #3, but still

1. apparently very good
2. Mini Imports is one of the few bringing them in still
3. probably not
4.



good - they're gutless!!

good - they're gutless!![/quote]

The rated hp figure for the 1275 spi engine I have in the garage is almost exactly the same as a stock cooper s.

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Noli Illegitimi Carborundum

1. I get 38-40 mpg
2. I got mine from Josh at mini imports.
3. Changed mine over in a weekend including the wiring.
4. For a daily it is, I do about 400km a week in mine and it has been happy motoring for the last 3 years.
Cheers Pete

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A recent study found the average Aussie walks about 900 miles a year
Another study found Aussies drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year
That means, on average, Australians get about 41 miles per gallon

Kind of makes you proud to be an AUSSIE

The injected models are brilliant.
I am not sure why people are actually bothered about how "fast" (it's a bloody Mini afterall) they are.
I am sure they wouldn't be considering an injected A+ if they were wanting "fast".

Starts perfectly every time, no stinky carby smells, no real maintenance required.

They really are a good thing.

1. Fuel consumption is oddly enough not all that much less than a small carby car tuned to be fuel efficient. They can get around 7 l/100km (combined cycle), but tend to average a bit more as lots of mini owners are lead foots.
2. As Simon says: contact Josh at mini-imports. I'd get on it quick though as most stock is from Japan and I've no idea what'll happen from here on with pricing availablity if it'll be effected.
3. The process is relatively straight forward, it depends how much of the front cut you're using and if anything gets changed. Hardest parts are the prep work for the AC system if using the late type, and getting the fuel lines in.
4. 'Worth it' is defined by the individual. I wanted EFI, AC, and a quiet smooth running engine without a conversion so it worked for me. Some though don't care for AC and others ditch the EFI, leaving the question of why they bought a front cut in the first place.



Cooper S's were 75 hp I think, 1.3 SPI is 63 on a cooper variant and 45 on any auto model.

Great responses guys thanks! Keep opinions/experiences coming!
What kind of cost am I looking at?

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I have a problem.. apparently

fella in my car club has an SPi motor with 19,000 original km on it in a Deluxe, my cooper eats it for breakfast*, and my mate Rod's 1098 pulls away from it easily

*used to eat it for breakfast, I've put a blower on now, and I'm sure it's like crunching a single corn flake

My SPI only pumped out 43hp at a local ausmini dyno day not so long ago.
Non Cooper 1.3 with air so I think that's about right even though I found out later that I had two inlet valves on one cylinder.

It's just like a new car to run, but with more oil changes and less power but fuel consumption is reasonable.
As stated before, it can be as good as 7l/100km, I even got it down to around 6l/100km on a slow trip to Adelaide.
But I rarely see figures anywhere near those unless I make an effort.

I am starting to think about getting an aftermarket comp for it though.
Just so I can have a play around with it and have a bit more flexibility with the tuning.

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'72 English Van...'72 Export Moke ...63' 850...KZ 750E1...'74 P76

Hmm...I would have expected a little better economy than that! My 78' 998 gets ~7l/100km combined, and that's 'spirited' driving too. I suppose it depends on how the engine's set up, and if you have the air con on.

Its entirely dependent on how you drive and the engine state of tune.
Rovers are heavier cars than the 60s and 70s counterparts, and fuel economy of under 6 l/100 probably isn't too bad on the freeway given the engines ancient design, limited number of gears, etc.

Compare it to a carby 1275: one with a 1.5 SU and standard internals may get the same, but most are probably using more fuel than the rovers.

Smaller engines will always use less fuel, I mean an 850 engine would use less than a 998.

I have an auto SPI Rover and until it had all its "tweaks" worked out of it, it was a PITA. Its running sweet now. Fuel is about 8L or 9L per 100km on a rotating cycle but thats auto and I run air con a lot too.

The power on the Dyno was 38hp.

I tell you one thing though, its friggin SILENT when she is running nice.

Hi. I think you'd get slightly better fuel consumption with a Megasquirt ECU. Just a gut feeling based on the mileage I'm getting out of my MS TBI 1310. I recently got 23l for 430Km's which works out to 5.35l/100km or 52.79MPG for the older ones amongst us. Now to be fair, this was mainly freeway Km's between Werribee and Kew with some local driving whilst I'm still tuning the ECU fuel map and also some full bore take-off's as well etc.

I do have my cruising AFR set fairly lean though at about 15.9:1 for highyway speeds.

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'68 Morris Mini 1310 A+ (Now Sold!)

Thats the same as what the 1.3i is claimed to be on the freeway cycle.

If at any point you're getting better economy than the factory, I'd be wondering if something is set too lean, wouldn't want to damage anything in the long run.

awesome - well done