Brief History :-
After many years of enjoyable driving and owning many vehicles, including company cars, I had thought that I had outgrown the need to modify any car at the age of 42.
However I did not reckon on the lure of the MINI.

Initially I purchased a Pure Silver & Black Cooper, which, unfortunately, had a minor altercation with another vehicle, so I pursued the possibility of acquiring the most coveted and recently released Cooper “S”.
At no time did I ever consider altering the Cooper so it was with great surprise to me, that I should get urges to change the performance of an already exciting little hot hatch.

As a standard car the Cooper “S” is really worthy of the plaudits that it receives from the many car magazines that grace our newsagents and stores nationwide. Much so that I made many excuses to just “nip out” and get the vital piece of shopping that I would never normally venture out into the cold winters night for.
However, I was soon to discover that my valued car was to embark on a series of modifications that would break my bank manager’s heart.

Prior to modification my Cooper “S” was a revelation, easily coping with the combination of tight and twisty roads around where I lived though I felt there were some inherent “faults”.
For the car to perform at its peak I felt I had to push the car quite hard mainly by keeping the revs up over the 3500 rpm mark, gear changing was annoying with the engine rpm simply taking too long to decrease resulting in “lurchy” changes. In the lower gears the car seemed to reach the red line quickly but in the higher ratios the car climbed slowly but steadily.
My car also suffered from the yo-yo effect in 1st and 2nd gear, though not significant it was a distraction. At times during motorway driving I would find that when in 6th gear and sitting around 75 mph and very slowly passing another vehicle someone would appear in the rear view mirror urging you to speed up. By simply depressing the accelerator to get the desired increase in speed it invariably resulted in changing into 5th to get the required momentum.

Having been an active member of MINI2 since Sept 2002, I read with interest of the forthcoming engine conversions but didn’t give it much thought. One in particular though did catch my eye, namely the Hartge conversion.
Many posts later I was convinced that pound for pound the Hartge conversion suited my driving style and also my wallet. Compared to others this was truly an economical way to increase the BHP output to 212 BHP.

Taking the Plunge :-
So it was with great trepidation and anticipation that I dropped my car off to Birds Engineering in Uxbridge for the conversion.
Originally quoted as a 2 day operation I was overjoyed when I was informed that the car was completed in 1 day.
Having picked the car up and intending to drive home, some 500 miles as I live in Scotland, I was able to test the car in every aspect.
From the moment I started the engine I new there was a vast improvement in the engine department. The supercharger whine had increased, pleasantly, not intrusive and I actually sought the note whilst driving.
Immediately upon engaging 1st gear I was ready to be let down, nothing could be further from the truth, gone was the slight yo-yo effect and even more importantly the engine rpm reduced significantly between gears allowing for a much smoother gear change.
With a huge grin on my face I tackled the extremely busy roads out of Uxbridge and onto the motorways to take me home.
Though I would never recommend it, the engine easily climbs into the 7000 rpm range pulling strongly in every gear. The power really sprang to life from 3000 rpm and up which compares to the original set up though now it is applied slightly lower in the revs, but, there was definitely more power on offer.
One of my worries was that around town the car would be sluggish in higher gears, this again never materialised as the car is equally at home in all driving conditions.

Gone also is the hassle of changing down a gear when accelerating whilst overtaking, now the car pulls in 6th like it did in 5th.
Powering though corners has brought an extra edge to the cars performance as the engine revs more freely and allows for more adventurous driving.
Common sense has to prevail when starting off as simply just flooring the engine in 1st will only induce the DSC (if on) to kick in and restrict the power such that the wheels will not spin, however the take off is very responsive and exhilarating and will leave most cars stranded.

This particular conversion is TUV approved and a part of that means that the conversion must make use of the cars stock parts, including, suspension, brakes and exhaust. I would never suggest that the car would not benefit from upgrading those parts in particular.

All in all the car is an absolute joy to drive, whether you are out for a Sunday drive or a controlled excursion into the never ending testing roads that surround most towns.

One last point regards the fuel consumption, which I didn’t consider as I fully expected a significant reduction after the conversion as a matter of course, so, again I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was 15 miles worse off from a full tank.
However, since installing an aftermarket exhaust I can confirm that I have regained my 15 miles.

Review by: Alan Mercer, known as ‘Bonnie Scotland’ on the MINI2 forums.