I'd always toyed with the idea of increasing the power a bit. The 1275 non-Cooper models for the most part came with the hif38 carburettor and quite an easy way of getting a bit more power is to fit the larger carburettor from the hif range, the hif44. To buy them new is silly money, luckily there are plenty around as they were used on many different vehicles.
To compliment the new carburettor, a new exhaust manifold, inlet manifold and air filter were purchased.
The difference in size can be seen here. On the left is the hif38, and the right the hif44. The simple theory of more fuel in, more exhaust gasses out smoothly carries on when the shape of the exhaust manifold is considered..
The replacement manifold, as well as being lighter than the old one, is also a better shape. The 'LCB' or 'Long Centre Branch' exhaust supposedly increases torque over the standard manifold.
Quality piece of kit!
As my car is a 1994 model with a catalytic converter I needed to make a piece to fit between the end of the new manifold's Y-piece (seen at the far end of the pipe in the above picture) and the cat itself. I used the flange cut off the old exhaust and bent and welded a new short section in to bridge the gap.
The new carburettor fully mounted up on the new inlet manifold.
All fitted into the engine bay nicely.
The next step is to get it rolling road tuned properly. It's running at the moment and certainly feels like it's got more grunt than it did before but to really get the best out of it the rolling road is next!
