I'm Selling the Supercharger - The Full Story Why...

[@flatinsixth]

I've an injected s/c from VMAX fully mappable Emerald K6 ECU. Runs perfect, even better since getting re-mapped down with Stuart last year on his new rolling road setup. Could not agree more, he is super helpful nice chap and what he does not know about this and minis in general you could write on a pin head!

[@hosrow]

Wow, this was very surprising because you had been working on it a long time and you were driving around with it. I thought it was done. Well, it was very honest and courageous of you to make this video. Well you always wanted to do a turbo engine, so here is the opportunity. Good luck.

[@craigslistofprojects3451]

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you, had a mini turbo in the past, heaps of fun. Now living in Australia, only have a little 1098cc, was close to pulling the trigger on the charger. But knew it had to be a turbo, really looking forward to your turbo set-up. It'll be wild.

[@idiedandcamehere5435]

***COLE*** - I HAD THE SAME ISSUE WITH MY VMAX SUPERCHARGER. I took the Chinese made dcoe to specialist, who stripped it and measured all of the tolerances and realised they were so poor the fuel would pass around the jets. This lead to me never finding the right idle jets, the car would be extremely lean until 2k rpm because I had artificial small idle jets. It would then become extremely rich 2-3k, especially on part throttle to the point the car would cut out with wet plugs, as there was enough vacuum to pull fuel around the jet. When the main jet kicked in, it would initially be fine, as again I had artificially small main jets, but as the revs increased it would become extremely rich again, as the fuel was pulled around the jet. At the very top it would go back to being lean, as the main jet was too small. I replaced it for a proper weber, ended up with larger idle and main jets and got rid of all my lean and rich issues. I have a 1380 and with the Chinese dcoe had 40F12 idles, 155 F2 mains. With the weber I had 45F8 idles, 165 F2 mains

[@alexaceedee7000]

Sorry to hear that it couldn’t tune up. Reminds me of when Chrysler Adelaide tried putting triple Webers on the Chrysler Charger. Turned out in the end to be one thing. The gasket between the manifold and carby has to be flexible to cut out vibrations. The vibrations cause mixture issues.

[@paulkeen1371]

Feel for your frustration Cole. I wish I had stumbled across your channel sooner. I have a similar set up drawing through a 45 DCOE on a 1.3l early Nissan engine and have road tuned the car and have achieved great drivability. I look forward to seeing your turbo project. Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺

[@mesco8200]

I went back to NA. Reliable 90bhp day or night. Super smooth and revs to 7500 and never been happier. Goes OK will hit 100mph which is plenty, aim for handling and stopping. My supercharger did the same as yours I think Stuart is lying, the fuel always eats the Teflon coating off, unless you have an earlier one that was not coated, I chased big numbers for few years with same supercharger kit but was a nightmare over anything past 5 mile journey. Honestly wished I had never started.

[@philtucker1224]

Cole, you may have been in trepidation over doing this video, but it was so interesting, helpful and instructive that (your already high) respect levels have probably doubled just by doing this. Keep up the good work young man and thank you for sharing. Stay safe 👍🇬🇧

[@classicminidiy]

Thank you so much for the kind words. It means a lot. :-)

[@starprdfooduction3884]

can you please put a link or heads up to this in your first Supercharger video. watched, got excited. spent 3 hours researching. Just pleased I cam across this before ordering.

[@classicminidiy]

That’s a good idea. I will add that today. Sorry for the roller coaster of emotion I sent you on. 😅

[@grayfool]

What a shame. No one can say you didn't try your hardest. Still, looking forward to the turbo though. It's getting harder to find good people to work on carbs now. A lot of the older guys are retired now. I grew up with this stuff so find it strange that younger guys just don't get it.

[@markbarker7754]

Hi Cole , chin up mate , you put in a big effort , learned a lot on the journey , inspired many among us and kept us entertained and in suspense for well over a year and ran an awesome giveaway competition - none of these achievements are insignificant, it is what we ‘do’ that gives life meaning and purpose and you’ve done much and informed and entertained many so thankyou. And now another adventure begins in turboland 🤷🏼‍♂️ Ok, another learning curve to climb but I for one will be just as interested to watch this build evolve also.

[@AndyMarsh]

I feel for you, I think we have all been there with a project. Interesting that Mighty Car Mods couldn't make a similar system work, even with the help of Haltech.

[@classicminidiy]

I think theirs had issues due to the location of the SU carb so far away from the supercharger. Never could get the fuel up and into the charger.

[@brentmeredith5295]

The problem was with only having 2 intake ports when forcing air and fuel into them you cause a pooling affect on the aposing valve which makes it nearly impossible to tune for closed loop efi the longer the runner the better with mini heads gives the air fuel time to mix .

[@turbocoopersport3730]

Theirs was a compression ratio issue too. It was detonating without having to pull buckets of timing out, then it was gutless.

[@AndyMarsh]

@@brentmeredith5295 I remember years ago, I think when aftermarket injection system were first introduced that people were saying the A series could never be fuel injected properly because of the siamesed ports. Also, when Rover added the original TBI injection to the Mini there was quite a lot of talk at the time because they had managed what many people considered impossible. Not really relevant to supercharging but may be interesting nonetheless.

[@MiniMattTV]

Such a shame that it didn’t just work as it should! Such a bummer, however, I think you will love the turbo build and we will all enjoy watching it! 👍

[@eduardodedios8213]

All I I gotta say is good luck, I’ve been watching so many of your videos and have learned a lot, I have a 998 with automatic transmission and I’m trying to decide what engine should I get next, here in So. California I can’t even find parts, Jack and Mike have been great help at 7mini parts, thanks Cole.

[@classicminidiy]

Thanks Eduardo! I am feeling good about the turbo direction as its a very common reliable power route.

[@daverolls8565]

Thanks for a great and honest video: sometimes we have to admit that we can go no further. look forward to the turbo build. I had to stop with a 1430 Howley engine car using a 46IDA weber through the bonnet/hood that I used for rallying: the engine was fantastic, but the transmission just could not take the power. Cheers

[@theblackbear211]

Sometimes you just have to walk away. It can tough to separate the ego from logic, but sometimes enough, is enough.

[@Jack2eaton1989]

Good luck I had this same fuelling problem with my turbo setup. Spent 7 years and thousands of £ to have the car running very poorly for 12 months. I sold up and installed a Honda B18c.

[@buggerlugz6753]

These carbs are well known for this, Its not a lack of fuel off the line, its way too much on initial squirt! But yes they're so completely difficult to balance when under load as opposed to idle. What were the spark plugs looking like? Black by any chance? I had these issues on a sierra with twin 45's and solved it by drilling out the air jets on the top of the main jets to lean it out.

[@mergedown]

Well done Cole!

[@Tommy-pr2ie]

What size main keys did you run on your dcoe? I run a supercharger setup on my 1275 sprite that I dabbed up from scratch… I use a different blower but I use an Fajs 40 dcoe and it runs like demon. It sounds like the pump jets weren’t the issue to me… I’ve built setups like this one for my 66 inline 6 mustang as well as a 1776 Vw thing motor and it always takes a bit of main jet sizing to find what is ideal for each setup.

[@nicamor2188]

Well done Cole. I run my own business and sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and give people news that they may not want to hear. Good job of explaining the reasons why and good luck with the new build. Nic. Bristol UK

[@classicminidiy]

Thank you Nic!

[@thebluep0tat0]

Wow man....complexities like this can cause so much headaches.

[@gavinferguson]

there a set of 3dprinted posable models you can use to mock up turbo manifolds on thingverse amazing tool ive seen it under mx5 models.

[@benoitdupont9125]

Hi man, sorry to hear, it's always hard when you have a project that just grinds you down to this level. I've been there and I totally relate to the humbling experience. 18 months on this really shows quite a lot of dedication: it's the time it takes to restore a complete mini after all! After owning my mini for 15y+ now, I came to realise that "bolt-and-play" parts are actually rarely like that on A engines. Even simple and stupid things like tuning an carb needle properly take days. I once spent a WEEK diagnosing a slightly oval carb jet... that I bought new, straight from the carburator manufacturer. the car was impossible to tune. So when you had fuel delivery, compressor, and non-genuine carb in the mix, I'm quite sure it's just a living hell to tune and really, no shame to that, you really gave it your best of the best shots ! With mini engines, I came to the conclusion that I'd rather have a little tuned engine and spend my days driving than a high power racing engine and spend my days figuring out why it does not work. Those days I go with a 1275cc cooper high compression, a decent carb and exhaust line and a slightly tuned camshaft. Maby in the future I'll slap a new cylinder head but that's it. I won't ever go near 100HP. But that's good enough. the car is light enough and you can even make it lighter. :)

[@pauljeffries]

Unfortunately these things happen sometimes, but it's time to move forward and I can't wait for the turbo build series 👍

[@classicminidiy]

Thanks Paul! :-)

[@classicminidetails8887]

Having known about this for a while all i will say is your patience lasting this long is a credit to you. I would have spat my dummy out a LONG time ago.

[@classicminidiy]

"spat my dummy" - what in tarnation?

[@emmajacobs5575]

@@classicminidiy thrown my teddy/toys out of the pram? Basically to lose your temper or run out of patience with something.

[@D4VE26]

Whats dummy in 'merican?

[@emmajacobs5575]

@@D4VE26 pacifier

[@briangrant2426]

I understand and feel for you Cole. It couldn't have worked out better for me however - I'm going to be doing a side mounted turbo build this spring! What kit are you using? I'm waiting for Jet Motors to finish their next generation kit and then I'm on it! Also, I feel your pain over the lack of dynos here in the states. How would it be to just pop over for a dyno tune with someone who knows A series engines!

[@classicminidiy]

Sounds like a quite a few people are happy I’m going turbo 😂. I’m using the one from fusion fabrications in the UK to do mine.

[@briangrant2426]

@@classicminidiy Very interested to see what pressure you will run and what you come up with for cooling - Intercooler? Water/meth injection? Just wait and see if it needs any? Excited about this one!

[@JohnSmith-qy2vl]

What jet setup did you have on the 40?

[@AA-zh5dt]

Nothing wrong with knowing when you've reached the limit of your knowledge and ability. I'd be blaming the Chinese Weber copy. It may look just like the real thing, but start measuring and you'll probably find it is all wrong. Good luck with the turbo, it's possibly going to be more challenging than the supercharger to setup. Looking forward to seeing how you design and build the exhaust manifold and intake piping!

[@classicminidiy]

Thank you for the encouragement! I wont be building the piping for the exhaust and downpipe, thats being done by Fusion Fabrications but I will be doing the intake piping myself.

[@davesnothereman699]

I feel like my dads having the same issue with his 49 Merc with the twin webers. Sputters off the line.

[@MandurahRC]

I have just watched your video and then clicked on the link for the sale and looking through the photos of the set up and get to the last 2 and I see where your problem is Its the uneven intake runners if the supercharger's outlet is into a plenum chamber you will have equal inlet pressures and it will be heaps better you should have no lag at all Good Luck

[@turbocoopersport3730]

You clearly know nothing about boosted set ups. If you'd paid attention to the video, Cole's issue was with fuelling on quick acceleration, ie fuel.

[@turbocoopersport3730]

@S B I'm agreeing with you chap, my comment was to the OP.

[@mazdaman1286]

I wonder how it would have gone with a SU setup HS6 or HS8 and a longish ram pipe ? Sometimes DCOE 's can be more trouble than they are worth, maybe less is more

[@classicminidiy]

Those long ram pipe models actually have more issues. The fuel delivery is so far down away from the SC and the intake ports that it really struggles to start especially from cold as it doesn't have enough pull to get it up the long ram pipe. (At least this is how stuart explained it to me)

[@shovelrickshovelhead8713]

Your introduction pun is Superb

[@tubabloke]

What distributor were you using with the supercharger? Shame it didnt work out Cole. Looking forward to the turbo build!

[@classicminidiy]

The standard one stuart provides in his kits. Not sure what modifications it had done to it though.

[@ronpilchowski9898]

Was your efi a "super sniper" or Just a sniper. The 2300 sniper isn't Suitable for boost however the 2300 Super sniper is supposed to be for boost. I'd like to know because I'm About to go down that road myself Thanks for your advice

[@johnclegg6739]

Do you have any vid / photos of the damage , are you sure it was the supercharger housing and not parts of the carb being sucked in ?

[@josh5531]

Thanks for sharing, and there is no harm in knowing when you're too far gone with a project. But super excited for the turbo build!

[@charlesrockwell3923]

You have to be kidding me! You are swapping a supercharger system that you cannot tune for a turbocharger system? Turbos are MUCH harder to get correctly set up than a super charger. The reason is simple, at any RPM and any throttle position a turbo can have any boost level. Good luck mate! I used to dyno tune a lot of British sports cars on a chassis dyno. I feel a lot of sympathy for your plight. It is very difficult to set up a simple high performance normally aspirated engine with a single carb. When you start adding more carbs, different heads, four port exhaust manifolds, and fuel injection, it just starts to overwhelm the DIY mechanic. Add to that a supercharger or turbocharger and BELIEVE ME it challenges even the OEM engineers to get it set up to run reliably. You earned my respect just to get all the parts bolted on and running! My advice to anybody running a modified car is to keep it as simple as possible. Every little thing you add is another layer of complexity. I find it hard to believe that many people have added this supercharger and achieved any real miles with it. Chances are they had the supercharger bolted on for a photo shoot and have had nothing but trouble it since it rolled out the garage. Most of the super exotic Minis you see in the magazines are not running today. thatYouThatstarted their turbo project. Too late now but.....if you were having trouble getting your "Weber" to pull from low throttle, did you use 30 mm chokes, F2 emulsion tubes, 100 air jets, and maybe 50 idle jets? 30 mm allows the vacuum to pull the main circuit sooner (you are pulling from both chokes at once so you need smaller size than pulling through one choke at once like a normally aspirated situation), F2 is the best tube for getting fuel at the low end, 100 air jet also allows more fuel at the low end, and MAYBE a size 50 idea jet, though 45 should be PLENTY big. Your ignition timing with a supercharger will be very similar to normally aspirated motor, say 10 degrees at idle and 32 degrees at 3000 rpm, if not then the compression ratio is incorrect. Maybe I say this for the next owner.... Good luck on your next project, you learned a lot and certainly EARNED our respect!

[@turbocoopersport3730]

Turbos seem difficult to tune, but he's treading an already very trodden path with many experienced people to aid him. My MPi turbo has been more straight forward to set up then my vans supercharger so far.

[@charlesrockwell3923]

@@turbocoopersport3730 Yes, I should not discourage people from trying turbo engines. If you are modifying and engine that came with a turbo a lot of people achieve some real success.

[@charlesrockwell3923]

WHOOPS! I made a mistake in my original post. When you are trying to increase low end fuel enrichment, you use the largest air jet, usually around a 220-230. The larger the air jet, the more effect of leaning the mixture as fuel flow increases. So you can use a larger main jet which will increase fuel flow at lower RPM's. Sorry for the mistake in the original post .

[@NecromancerGarage]

That's the one downside. The packaging is easier, the power is better, the efficiency is better, and the pricing is much cheaper.

[@wadeeb]

Its ok to admit when you are done. Time to move on

[@evansisgreat]

Path of a mini owner, stock A series, tuned N/A A series, forced induction or 8 port A series, B series, happiness.

[@classicminidiy]

I'm not a big fan of VTEC minis personally I really love the 7/8 ports though O_O

[@evansisgreat]

@@classicminidiy after you have the same experience with a 7/8 port you'll be thinking of engine conversions. I'm working on a CGA3DE on individual throttle bodies at the moment.

[@shaneblacklord3313]

As I stated when you started this project supercharging a mini is plagued with problems not the least of which is parasitic horsepower less difficulty tuning etc as an example I point to the problems encountered by other channels trying the same thing and giving up. Moog from Mighty car mods hadvery similar problems and dumped his supercharger just as I predicted you would.

[@chadanderson391]

Your in charlotte nc?

[@SpeedyDad1]

Now you've got me a little scared as I have the same setup.

[@classicminidiy]

Dont be! It's still a really solid kit and I think I am the exception, not the rule in this case. Either way Stuart is super helpful and will make sure you're taken care of.

[@brokenagain_mini6897]

Don't worry. I had the same setup on my mini and it drove great. Just need to set the carbs up correctly

[@tommaxwell]

Refreshing and candid mate, sucks it hasn’t worked for you, but that’s the way it goes. The turbo build will be interesting for sure, and unique. I won’t lie, early on in the vid I was like “he faked me out, he actually is going K1100 instead!” 😂

[@classicminidiy]

Thanks! Haha my pockets aren't deep enough for a K1100 swap just yet..... :-)

[@HREIRL]

Top marks Cole, There comes a point where enough is enough. Here on the island of Ireland I have come up against similar problems and over coming them has been immensely difficult. The supercharger builds are probably one of the most complex setups to get working right. My experience with them leads me to believe that the only way to get them to truly work well on a road car is to blow through an injection system. The suck threw seems to work well for all out power but drivability is a struggle. Excited to see you turbo build if I can be of help don't hesitate to contact me 👍

[@briangrant2426]

Just found your channel a few hours ago. Good stuff!

[@classicminidiy]

Thank you so much! I may end up taking you up on that offer.

[@HREIRL]

No prob buddy you know where to find me 😊

[@theogall9930]

Still waiting 8 months down the line on a headlight alignment video specifically for the mini , mine need alignment badly would be great if you could think about releasing a headlight alignment video

[@theogall9930]

And it’s so sad it didn’t work out , but it is what it is 👍

[@mad-maxx2211]

How fast are you trying to go? I’m just wondering. I will be buying a new engine soon I’m thinking about getting a 1380 . Any thoughts about an angina that size ? I currently have an 850.

[@classicminidiy]

Top speed isnt really my goal with my engine. I very rarely would be anywhere that I would hit my top speed. I want power in the mid-low range where I can put it to the ground in the curvy mountain roads near my house. If I was buying a new engine I would go for a 1293 or a 1310. They run more reliably in my opinion and are more than enough power for the majority of the people owning minis!

[@jasonblann33]

The problem with this setvupmis the fuel,goes throw the super charger and there not designed for this.have looked at specialist components super charger set up

[@jerimiahbanuelos9579]

Sounds like the emulsion tubes

[@Spiyda]

Thats a pity Cole, the injection route is not so hard, add a megasquirt and you have a self tuning system. Admittedly we had a G13b engine in our mini, but the self tuning aspect of the megasquirt was awesome www.16vminiclub.com/forum/builds/suzuki-builds/4575-eaton-supercharged-g13b-engined-roundnose-mini. ps, we are thinking of adding a turbo to the supercharger to get the best of both worlds. ! Oh and thanks for the mention of the Guage Wizard.

[@classicminidiy]

Yeah in retrospect I do wish I had done a complete injection system instead of the Holley setup. I think the turbo carb setup, with the DTAFast electric ignition, should be a nice middle ground. If I ever want to go full injection later it'll be a simple task as well.

[@markwillems7765]

Hey Cole, love the channel.. Plan on selling any other parts? What's your ebay name so I can search. In FL with a 93 SPI from Japan.

[@classicminidiy]

I’m classicminidiy on eBay as well. I will toss pets up there from time to time but I don’t sell a ton of stuff unless I am not needing it anymore.

[@anthonybrown7959]

Bring on the turbo build. Superchargers are over rated anyway lol. Look forward to seeing your posts 😉

[@ianroberts8692]

👍

[@thatdudeinorange2297]

An american talking down Holley Efi, isnt that close to treason?

[@classicminidiy]

😂 I’m half Italian it must be that side coming out in me. Although by that logic i should have been able to get the DCOE working.

[@patkaye6739]

I ran a Vmaxscart supercharger with the Weber 40 DCOE on a 998. I did it long before Cole even considered the set up. It kicked butt for over a year and easily would run away from 1275s in the mountains here on the west coast. What I didn't like about it was that it ate the belt every 5k miles. Like Cole says, the carb sent by Stuart Gurr was a chinese knock off. Tuning it was problematic for Boot2Bonnet guru Nick Upton. I bought a Spanish-built Weber from MOSS. These ARE the Weber factory built carbs. The assembly moved from Italy to Spain over 30 yrs sgo. I also had issues with a leaky carb and my 998 was getting tired so I got a long time Mini racer in CA to build me a 1293. I sold off a Seven rebuilt, big valve 12g295 head to a guy in OK for $400 and have sold my Vmaxscart supercharger/Weber carb set up to a Canadian builder for $1500. Both sales wete paid forward as a club mate sold me a brand new Keith Calver Fast Road ported & polished head for only $500

[@detroitbluesguy]

Who needs to go faster in a MINI?

[@classicminidiy]

needs? wants!! :-)

[@Paul_VanGo]

You'll probably end up with a stock Honda engine in your Mini. No shame in that; many people who took the same route as you did, ended there and never looked back. 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@christiand.cabrera158]

Greay videos!!!

[@classicminidiy]

Glad you like them! Thanks Christian