You Need This: ERA Mini Turbo | A slightly faster take on a favorite

In a world of Minis, here’s something you don’t see every day: An ERA Turbo Mini wearing a Japanese-market, wide-body kit.  

This Rover Mini stands as one of 436 produced between 1989 and 1991, and sports a 1.3-liter A-series turbocharged engine. This ERA Turbo also rocks the unique widebody kit exclusive to the Japanese market.  

But that’s not all, this …

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My back hurts just thinking about working on it, but dang! That is cool. 

Oh my...

I'd love one of those, but right now is not the time unfortunately.

Call me a rivet counter, but that looks like the standard ERA turbo bodykit - see here: http://eraturbo.co.uk/

While I like the look of the Wats a lot, it also doesn't have the original wheels, and the interior looks rather dog eared for the comparatively low mileage. If you look at the pedals, I would suspect that the odometer has rolled over at least once. That would make a lot more sense. What makes me nervous is that there are no photos of the underside at all and that doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence for a Mini that's potentially done 100,000+ kilometers.

Frankly, if I didn't have to travel for work the week after next and this one would be cheap enough, I might be doing something dumb.

Let's see, early 90's 1.3L turbo, so let's say....100hp when new?  Looks like this one was probably driven hard, I'd be shocked if it made 85hp today. Still looks rad though

Paris Van Gorder said:

 

I immediately envisioned this in my brain:

In reply to calteg :

It does look rad. We had fun with our Mini. 

calteg said:

Let's see, early 90's 1.3L turbo, so let's say....100hp when new?  Looks like this one was probably driven hard, I'd be shocked if it made 85hp today. Still looks rad though

Ah, but technologically it is a 60s 1.3l turbo 

Appears to be a blow through SU carb. I didn't know you could do that.

I LOVE the Minis. Even having lost some weight this year, I still might not fit too well! 
I like the BMW MINI as well, but actually have not driven one. 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

calteg said:

Let's see, early 90's 1.3L turbo, so let's say....100hp when new?  Looks like this one was probably driven hard, I'd be shocked if it made 85hp today. Still looks rad though

Ah, but technologically it is a 60s 1.3l turbo 

 

Appears to be a blow through SU carb. I didn't know you could do that.

IIRC it's a similar, if not the same system used in the MG Metro Turbo. As BL tended to SU All The Things, they tended to try and make this work. They also used a similar system on the MG Maestro Turbo, which ran a 2L (I think O-series) engine. Interestingly enough, according to the official specs, the Metro Turbo made about 93 bhp (supposed underrated) and the Maestro made "only" 150 bhp out of its 2L so the blown A+ series wasn't a slouch.

I think BL somehow managed to simplify the turbo system with the SU - IIRC the carb'd Biturbos had the carbs in boost-tight boxes so Mr Weber wasn't confused by the additional compressed air, whereas the SUs were specially modified but didn't need something that fancy. But yeah, not surprising that people went fuel injection on turbo cars pretty quickly.

There are other examples of the UK aftermarket using SUs and turbos, for example the RX7 Elford Turbo, but that was actually a draw-through setup (ie, carb in front of the turbo). Those were surprisingly quick for the time with a boosted 12A (and yes, unsurprisingly, I owned one for a short time).

I'm actually a little familiar with the Elford

I know SUs have been used on draw throughs in many applications (heck, there's a really nice Europa in the builds section) and I was expecting to see this also as a draw through, until I saw the air filter tucked up near the radiator.  I'm wondering how the carburetor mechanism copes with positive pressure when it's not placed in a box. 

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Everything open to atmospheric pressure has to be sealed, including the throttle shaft(s) and any vents. Sometimes they just put the entire carb assemblies inside a box.

Watching Minis battle 1960s Barracudas and Galaxies has me intered in vintage Minis. This certainly looks like fun.

In reply to J.A. Ackley :

I've watched those same videos, but come away wanting the galaxie 

there's a guy locally selling one cheap with a big block and a 4 speed that seems like it could be my next mistake