2 replies to this topic

[jamesmpi]

I guess this is a true one off. A mini estate converted to run on electric motors via the original gearbox. Would make a very interesting display piece at shows



http://pages.ebay.co...lobalID=EBAY-GB

[sledgehammer]

I'm wondering what the oil filter housing is doing bolted to the bulkhead ?

 

looks like the drive belt is the weak link in the system

 

definitely interesting

[ibrooks]

I've often thought a Mini would be relatively easy to convert if you leave the existing gearbox in place.

 

I think that's just showing some of the limitations of it's time. Nowadays you would get the power with one motor (and with an enclosed commutator - because those ones look scary). The electronics for speed control are far more elegant nowadays. The question is how many batteries and of what type you could cram into a Mini without having space and weight problems.

 

The oil filter housing will presumably be a home-made version of a remote filter using the available Mini parts - again there are far more elegant ones easily available nowadays for a few tens of pounds. It implies there's also a pump somewhere that's circulating the oil in the box for filtering and cooling purposes. I'd question whether it was necessary and whether it would have been better just to close the box in and run a "gearbox" oil rather than the Mini compromise of "engine" oil.

 

What to do with that van is a good question I suppose whoever buys it can make that choice for themselves. Restoring it as the original owner intended might be nice but re-doing the conversion with more modern parts and methods would result in a far better conversion and might well be what the original owner would have done given the chance so I wouldn't exactly feel bad about throwing half his stuff out. Or convert it back to more standard mechanicals.....

 

Iain