Guest username Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 OK so this is a bit out of the blue and very much just a spur of the moment thought, but as the missus just mentioned (and I have to admit to feeling the same) the old 1.6 CVH does seem to lack a bit of torque in the low-mid range and a thought crossed my mind. The MINI Cooper S is a 1.6 lump and runs a small supercharger, and I like doing things differently. Although there's not a lot of room for such things in the CVH bay at first glance (loads more room for a turbo but a supercharger would likely mean ditching/relocating the PAS pump as well as other bits), I'm wondering how hard it could be to fit said Cooper S blower to our EFI equipped car. I'm not thinking about huge levels of boost, simply enough to increase the midrange to more acceptable levels. Anyone done something as daft before, or any major pitfalls I'm missing aside from the ECU's capability (or otherwise) to deal with slight positive pressure readings from the MAP/injectors having enough reserve in the duty cycle etc. (another thing aside from that is if the standard ECU can run a lambda sensor in place of the CO potentiometer) Part of me feels a very low boost setup would be not too hard to run, give us the midrange we're after whilst keeping the original engine in place and being a different solution to the more common/easier Zetec/ZVH/RST conversion... Failing that, I might just look into a more conventional build and swap the engine/management wholesale for something else keep all the standard kit in the garage for the future or even just add a few choice upgrades (and maybe carbs) to what we have already. After all it's proven itself mechanically sound and isn't on mega miles.... Head swimming now haha, hopefully you guys can add a few ideas/advice on the whole direction to go as really this part of the project isn't even in it's infancy yet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 You can see what i was on about now,i have also been looking into upgrades without puttting in the 1.8 zetec i have laying around. Looking on various sites i am told if you change the pistons from a fiesta/escort rs,fit a turbo thats pretty much it except the ecu controler i think needs upgrading. This comes to quite a few quid tho when you add it all up. Cheap zetec is prob cheapest option Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted August 21, 2016 Share Posted August 21, 2016 Mine is running a bit quicker since i took the cat off,upgraded the fuel pressure regulator and fitted a kn air filter,prob not as good on fuel tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest username Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 You're on the later setup with a lambda sensor then so (by the book at least) 3bhp down on our earlier pre-cat version. I do see where you're coming from now, specially the hills on motorway journeys fully loaded up (at times I had to mash the pedal to hold steady on the return with a headwind) but sadly we don't have a cat to remove so no extra horses hiding there. I have to wonder with your FPR upgrade improving things, that suggests to me (assuming you've upped the pressure) that the standard injectors are near the limit of their duty cycle when accelerating on standard fuel pressure. Or in other words, the injectors could be under specced from the factory. Guess it'd take a rolling road to find out, but I am seriously wondering if on a power run you'd see something approaching 90-95% duty cycle on the injectors. The more I think about this, the nicer a set of carbs is sounding... Actually I revise my original questions on supercharging etc, what I want to know now is has anyone driven an EFi and a carb equipped 1.6CVH back to back, and was the carbed version a lot more driveable/torquey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest username Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 If I can find my old multimeter I may actually do a rough & ready test on the injector capacity since that has a duty cycle function, if I can wire it's leads in series with one of the injectors and stick it to the dash with a bit of duck tape I should be able to turn the A roads round here into a makeshift injector dyno haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest username Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Wish you could edit posts more than 5min after making them! keep having to make new posts lol :/ just seen a Weber 28/32 TLDM new old stock for like 40 quid wonder if that would be an option with the right manifold... Oh so many ideas floating round my head haha, I really would like to keep the EFi and make it work like it should have done, just might be hard without access to a rolling road but I feel maybe playing round with fuel pressure and injector size might hold part of the answer... but carbs sound so good... but we managed nearly 50mpg flat stick on the motorway with the current set up... ugh, gonna bury my head in a cup of coffee and think of something else for a while lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 It's not the engine,early models were fine,my mfi runs like a dream as is throttle responsive,it's efi system and power steering that has made the engine underpowered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest username Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Of course, the PAS must have some effect. Would be interesting to know how much effect it does have, might try and rig up a shorter belt to check one day but the foremost thought in my head at the moment is now either a carb conversion or making the EFi work like it always should have done... Technically the former would likely be easier, but the latter more satisfying to me & there's no reason it can't work since it's perfectly acceptable on lots of other engines... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian71 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Twin down draughts would do the job,and sound awesome ,but be a bit juicy lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest username Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Have to admit I've been looking at DCOE manifolds but I have a feeling the trumpets would end up too close to the bulkhead to work any good, and covering twin 40's with an airbox would just be blasphemy. Another crazy thought last night is I do have a pair of old Zenith Strombergs off a Rover V8 sat in a draw, fitting a single one of those would tick the "different" box and likely give more low down/midrange than twins might. May even be fairly simple (in the grand scheme of things) to bodge one onto the EFi manifold temporarily and see if it can be made to pull any better before doing a tidy job of it. Assuming I can make one good carb out of the pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Himanshu Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Leave it standard. Insurance companies hate mods like this. You will find a really steep premium and some will flatly refuse to insure you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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