I am in Calgary. I grew up with minis. I had minis as daily drivers for over twenty years, and have travelled through much of North America in minis. I have a mini vintage race car. 

I can probably offer valuable insight. You can email me at skinnersunion at Yahoo dot com and leave your number and I can call you. 

 Mods would be the last thing I do. I definitely want it to be able to be driven as my daily driver don't need a turbo or supercharger but would like to get a tad bit more power out of it if possible don't know what little things can be done to achieve a small gain in HP. First thing I'm gonna do is all maintenance stuff to make sure its up and running healthy then I'll move onto arches, wheels basic appearance mods etc. 

I do not normally post on threads that appear to be discussing performance modifications for the Mini including turbos, nitrous, or Webbers.  

I suggest not rushing into a purchase without doing a lot of online research about performance mods.  Remember that the Mini is a 50+ year old design.  It is small and may not ever meet your expectations.  If you have not driven one yet, find a local owner and go for a drive before investing.

You will find that a lot of work like you are planning has been documented already.  For example, the A-series turbo already exists in the form of the Metro Turbo.  While many fit Webbers to A-series engines, there are versions of the SU that work with the turbo so research a lot before buying parts that may not be very compatible.

As you plan, remember that as you increase power and the number of modifications you will decrease reliability.  If you are building a dragster you don't expect long engine and drivetrain life.  If you are building for the track you expect frequent rebuilds.  However, if you are planning on a car to regularly take you to work (or even the grocery store) excessive modifications are likely to leave you spending more hours and money making weekend and evening repairs than behind the wheel.  Give careful thought to your long-term expectations for how you plan to use car.  If you want to have a sleeper with power and reliability, consider the VTEC conversion.  

 Weather must be nice in Florida compared to where I'm at haha Alex is there anything else about these minis? Is there a certain year or model I should be looking for? Planning on doing a side draft weber 40 carb manifold and full exhaust and possibly a small turbo or supercharger. Just wondering if there were certain models or years that were best for engine mods etc.. Doesn't matter if its a sports pack model or not if it isn't I'm still gonna do the wide arches and deep dish wheels. Getting ready to buy one in auction within the next 2 weeks so trying to take in as much helpful/useful information as I can. 

Thanks! 

For the next 48 hours I'm actually on the other side of the pond, in Florida with the Funshine boys !

 Sportspack is what I'm interested in the most just trying to get as much info as possible before I make my final decision.

I've seen others post on here about the sportpack cars. They say they rust more than most around the headlights and such. And the synchos and bearings in the transmission are weak and will need attention. It's just what I've heard, I have no experience other than the Spi Rovers which I've have 2 of. I like the look of the sportspack cars though. I would probably have one if they weren't so pricey. Todd

Thanks a bunch!

Thank you I'll check it out tonight after work!

Alex is "across the pond" and his time is a little different than ours. I'll send him a link, he should pop in tomorrow.

Welcome!

The briefest of history lessons:

Way back when... the Mini started off branded as a "Seven", then became branded "Morris" or "Austin", two old car makers under Britisk Leyland. Over time the Rover group took over British Leyland and the "Austin" and "Morris" names carried on.  (My Mini, for example, was made by Rover but is labelled "Austin" on the grille and elsewhere.) Later still, as the new MINI was coming to life,  BMW acquired the British carmaker, which is how they have the rights to the name Mini, along with the variant names such as Clubman, Countryman etc. (though their application of them bears little resemblance to how they were originally used).

Use of the "Cooper" name is another story. "Cooper" does not apply to all Minis, even if they have bonnet stripes! 

Enjoy this video, (link oroginally posted by Abelclasico... thanks Abel!) which will give you a bit of the "Mini Cooper" background.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8F6CZi7sXw

 Is there a way you can direct Alex to this thread I'm not to familiar on how to work this forum yet haha

 And I'm looking for a nice 4 speed cooper that I can get some power out of planning on arches, front air dam, 7x13's, full suspension upgrade, Weber side draft carb full manifold and exhaust and maybe a 25hp shot of nitrous. So just wondering what minis have the engine that's most desirable for power mods.

Alex would be a good brain to pick.

Down here in the "colonies" we are limited to the older minis. There are a few newer cars but most are older.

It also depends on what you're looking for in a car. 

I'll take a look and see what I can find. Thanks. 

 Also being a complete noob lol Is there a big difference between Austin mini cooper and the rover mini cooper? If so which one would be the better one to purchase. 

First,

At the top to the left of Social there is Articles you can search for.

Below that is a search feature for frequent questions.

SxS

 Well I'm definitely not that guy haha I assume I'll be making quite a bit of posts on this forum once I get my mini and start doing things to it. Is there a section on the forum designated just for the classic minis? Or stickys about frequently asked questions? 

Glad you introduced yourself. There has been a guy here recently posting all sorts of new and fake names, and fake stories.

 I'll be through Calgary next week, but not in my mini.

 Definitely won't be an automatic looking for a 4 speed for sure. Just wondering of maintenance parts that I should start ordering or anything that's a known or common problem on them.

Big AL