Yr2000 1275cc Mini Cooper Mk7

Hello, welcome to the forum.

Nice Mini, great combination of colours

A side exit RC40 or Play Mini system would look and sound tasty

Sweet mini, last year of production, cool.
And, even better, it's not a posepack sportpack.
Excellent work mate ;D

laaaaaaaarvely!

I've often thought about buying a very late mini like that, then re-registering it on a random old numberplate from the early 70's (black 'n' silver plates, hobvioulsy). That would confuse the fark out if everyone!

Great colour combo. It's nice to see late model Minis in the more unusual colours.
I don't know if you've noticed this, but I find there's a little bit of snobery from some people in the 'Mini community' (no one on here I'm glad to say) towards these later 'softer' Minis. I must admit to a bit of it myself before I bought my MPI, but I actually found them to be great useable daily cars, especially for anyone who covers longer journeys on a daily basis. They are a lot more refined without losing any of the cheeky charm that made Minis so endearing in the first place.
Keeping it standard is a good idea, the injection Minis are very expensive to tune once you start getting to (comparatively) high power figures, due to the need for upgraded ECUs and the restricted cam choice for injections.

Don't get me started on those BMW things dminifreak, YUK!! My brother has had two of them. I borrowed one of them for a day once, while my car was off the road. I hated it with a passion!

I'm not saying that MPIs aren't tuneable, but they are more expensive to tune than the earlier carb models. The main problem is the stricter emissions test they are subjected to for the MOT. They have to pass the so called 'cat test'. The problem is, any MPI with serious mods really struggles to pass it. I know this from expensive personal experience. My own 1380 MPI is modified along fairly typical lines; 1380 bottom end, big valve head, 1.5 rockers, 274i cam, LCB, K&N, etc. To provide sufficient fueling for these mods it had been fitted with an uprated (3.5 bar) fuel pressure regulator from JC garages. It would not pass the emissions test by a long shot. It also ran like a total dog. I had a piggy back ECU fitted and correctly mapped on an RR but it still wouldnt pass an emissions test, although it did clean up the running of the engine a treat, making it more useable in traffic. This £600 ECU and RR session is the equivalent to a needle costing £10 on my old GT! Also, cam choice is restricted to relatively mild profiles due to availability and the aforementioned emissions problems. This means that realistically to get any more than 105bhp you have got to really pull out all the stops in other areas, such as trick induction systems which are expensive. The power is available, but it is more expensive. The price of progress I guess. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not dissing MPIs. Far from it, I would go so far as to say my current MPI is the best Mini I have ever owned, and I've had everything from MK1s upwards in standard, mild and high states of tune. But this MPI is the best allrounder as a day to day fast road car, and Chris (snapdragonclubman) knows I like to drive 'em hard ;-)

I have found that quite a few in the mini community are abit snobby towards him. I don't really get why, apparently if it has an airbag and doesn't brake down regularly it's not a 'true' mini :/

For the most part though people have nothing but praise for it

Clubby > other minis in my eyes...I just prefer the way they look...

*n

and you can put bigger engines in them

And sometimes they start coughing and spluttering and chucking out fire, ey Minestrone?