Cooper Road Mini Update
Very overdue for an update here! Yes I’ve been very busy with our delightful now 18 month old Son Xavy Cooper! Getting a good start as a young ‘car guy’, he loves our Rotary Pick-up and points and says “TRUCK” whenever he sees it, AND he points to the hibernating 66 Cooper S in the garage and says “MINI”, so we’re off to a very good start!
In the meantime, we HAVE done a few projects, and I have continued to put short videos up on Cooper Road Mini’s YouTube channel… you get to those by clicking on the “Videos” tab above, nearly 150 in all, dealing with all sorts of automotive projects, fixes, and how-tos!
One of the most interesting, and with fantastic dyno results to boot, is the Austin Healey Sprite race engine I built over last Summer and Fall. I spent considerable time developing a fantastic package that included exotic Billet bottom end components from MED Racing in England, including longer, ultra light weight connecting rods and forged flat-top Omega pistons. I’ll talk about the details of this engine and the incredible power it makes, and show the ultra-trick aluminum head I built for it, with some very special components to allow more than 1/2 inch of valve lift with our nearly 1 1/2 inch intake valves!
Here is a short clip showing the bottom end and discussing the advantages of longer connecting rods: