I dont know how cool you will look wearing ear plugs. Really it's not the whine ,it's the chatter when you back off.The drop gears are much loader,no need for a stereo or chit chat when you put your foot down. Buying the right rubber is key,nothing from China. Imho , a cam makes a car sound tuff.

Thanks.  My interest in the SC gears was mainly only for the cool sound.  I was wondering if you just do SC transmission gears, and not the drop gears, whether the resulting sound would be more bearable than the noise with both, but nevertheless still give you that distinctive whine.   

I thought I had read that it was hard to find good rubber donuts now (people experiencing failures on the new replacements, etc.).  I guess I was scared away from the traditional set up by these reports.

^^^^^^

Post of the year by the rooster!

Go to sleep and pray for brains you CTRLC CTRLV internets genius...

SC drop and tranny gears are for motors with huge hp. You should replace all of your shifter and clutch pins,basicly tighten up your whole shifter mechanicals.You dont want coilover shocks,you are thinking of coil springs.I like mine,but some times it feels like Iam floating. In next mini I will go back to rubber. Cheers

Yeah !!!!! Rooster he will get right on that.

if you want to build a fast mini, as far as mods go on your mini the only thing I'd do is a straight downtube, a larger intercooler, and an RMW dyno tune. 

Due to the short supply of 1275 cores I'm building a couple of 850s and some 998s. Having a couple of 1960 shells on hand I'm thinking of building a small bore autocross car. A 998 A+ block, crank, press fit rods, .100 O/S flat tops, two part damper, ultra light flywheel and back plate, SC/CR gear set and drops, 295 cyl head, O/S valves, 997 Cam, a 4.20 semi S/C CWP on a tranex posi. with twin tricked out 1 1/4 SUs. Not practical in any way but could be a lot of fun. Steve (CTR) 

A SC gearbox and SC drop gears would be a waste of money on a 998 imo way too noisey for normal street driving, just my opinion. The quick ratio rack is really not needed also, i have heard from more than one person who has installed one and taken it off. As for coilovers try to get a ride in a Mini with them installed, some like the stock donuts others like coil springs most who do the coilover conversion are running HO engines Vtec's etc and i believe there is a fair amount of welding and fabricating to make the rears fit. A good set of adjustable shocks with HI LO's would be a better idea imo. Like Steve said do some reading on modifications and see what suits you and your driving style and conditions.

Might I suggest you do a little reading and ask a few more questions before spending money. While I have installed quick racks ( give the customer what he wants ) I would not use one myself. A std MK2 and later rack is just fine. As for SC/CR gears the better quality the less noise and you can have them REM treated and reduce evern more. Of course that's another $750. plus the cost of the gears. There are helical cut CR sets as used in Cooper S and GTs. 

Recently someone posted 100 back issues of Mini World on this board for sale. I paid $1 each plus $50 shipping and handling. Each one has several articles on what works and what don't. Many have articles about famous mini people who are no longer with us. Other ones written by those people. My love affair began maybe four years before buying my first in 1968. I now work on them just about every day. I still read and study everything I can find about them.

Take your time and research these things and ask questions. It's a hobby people love to share. Steve (CTR) 

Thanks for the advice.  Sounds like the RC40 / free flow would be best to help get some extra power.  Forgive my ignorance, but on a road car, do the SC gears offer any advantage other than making a lot of rally car type noises?  And I thought I read that the SC drop gears were what caused the real loud noise. Would a car with the regular drop gears but SC gearbox be a little less loud?

My basic aim is to compensate somewhat for the lack of power by making the car as aurally pleasurable as possible, while also improving the handling feel (coil overs? Quick ratio rack?) and feel of the transmission.

I agree with Malsal.When we were finishing up notabmw we took the car for a drive around the block. With only a single box RC-40 the engine note was that of a Civic with a sewer pipe. Bloody awful . So we put the second box on and now you hear the cam . A RC-40 will help your motor make power,why do people want to make noise that draws the police , to you. Years ago I had a peco muffler on my woodie and still got a ticket for too much noise.If you are not making huge power I would also use a freeflow header,it is easy to fit and can handle 90 hp. Our SC gearboxes and SC dropgears make way more noise than our cars do.

The problem with a small bore Mini is you do not want to make the exhaust system too large as it will have a negative effect on the power output. The RC40 single box has a good sound but does get a drone at cruising speeds, the twin box system is better at cruising speeds but looses some of the deeper note at lower speeds (to my ears anyway). It's all a matter of compromise when you are working with a limited amount of HP and CC's.

We have a "fast" Mini that we run in the 24Hours of Lemons. As the years go by we have worked on getting it quicker, while using the A-series setup. We use Austin America Automatic blocks, machined to work with the standard trans and they have been surprisingly reliable.

We ran a 24 hour event last year with an over bored 1275 and a 3:44 final drive. We had some cooling issues related to a water pump, but she ran for 24 hours straight at 6-6500 rpm. It was almost 1000 miles at full race speed.

we replaced the 3-4th synchros and ran the car again in August.

"Throaty" is not a word that I would use to describe any sound I have ever heard coming from a 4-cylinder engine!  It takes a V-8 with a big Cat-back on it, like a Mustang or Camaro, to get that kind of sound.  Personally, I prefer the note from a V-12 Ferrari or Lambo at redline, or best of all, an F-1 engine! I suspect "louder" is more what you want; that's easy, just drill some big holes in the muffler end-plates.

there is a stage 1 kit on this website that has a "large bore" option for the 998cc.  I was assuming that would provide a slightly louder, deeper note than the regular stage 1 kit. Any suggestions on what exhaust would provide the "throatiest" note would be greatly appreciated. 

this is exactly how i feel about my mini...the feeling is fantastic everytime i drive my mini...(that is if it's running at all,lol, still woring on it)

Thank you Turbo Dave your my hero. Hamilton if a RC 40 is what you mean ,when you say big bore.Good on you. A really big bore will do nothing for you, keep it simple. Have fun.

I purchased a 1L mini this past summer and despite the fact that it is VERY slow in a straight line, I've never had more fun in a car, especially on a twisty road.  My other car is a 2013 Focus ST, and it is plenty fast and handles nicely, but it has never put a stupid smile on my face like the Mini.  Modern cars may be faster, etc., but they cannot touch a nicely set up vintage car for pure driving fun.  Everything feels faster and more direct in the Mini.  I took my 10 year old daughter for a spin in the car, and she was screaming in terror before we even left our driveway.

My mini has a long way to go before it is "properly set up," but even in its current state it is terrifying, addicting fun on a nice road . . . with the engine roaring at 4K, flat out in a tight turn, non-boosted steering . . . just wonderful.    After thinking about doing an engine swap, I've decided to stick with the 1L, get a stage 1 kit with the "big bore" muffler (to really give it a nice engine note), an SW-5 cam, and maybe a new head to get some small gains in grunt.  With those changes, a freshened suspension and some body work I will be completely satisfied (that is, until I can afford a 1960s Lancia or Alfa...which may be never).   

We are speaking from our own experience here.......That may be Rob's.   I worked on my first Minis far more than I drove them; but not so anymore.  I drove my yellow car 3,600 miles round-trip, to a Minimeet west Canada, just a few days after completing the engine swap......only lost a cam cover nut and got a stress crack in the alternator belt tensioner.  I have thousands of freeway miles logged by now with only a couple oil/filter changes for the drive train maintenence.   Before anyone jumps on me, I have to mention one blown up engine, suffered while giving a demo-ride; I managed to miss 5th gear during a redline shift, getting 3rd gear instead.....probably spun up over 11,000 rpm. (crappy-driver error).  That would be impossible to happen with a stock 1275 lump....no 5th gear to miss!

What? You don't think your car can make it that far? I'm shocked. Shocked I'll tell you.

If you do make an attempt at driving that sort of distance make sure you take a case of WD40.