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Longitudinal Mid Engine Mini


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#16 nicklouse

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 11:18 AM

not an easy set up to package in the Mini if you are talking real mid engine as behind the drivers seat.

 

an old SAAB 2.3 H engine that sat into of the gearbox would have been fun. seen a Hillman Imp with one in the back.

will post up pics of a Saab B204 in the back of a metro later on.



#17 Retroman

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 01:31 PM

   So sounds like you are going Scoobie route, mid engine RWD should work well, keep us all posted,

 

It will be a fresh noise for a Mini, and should give some serious traction/performance, nice low CoG too. Its ambitious and will need a lot of work, but worth it.

 

has it been done before ?



#18 Mini-dude

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 06:53 PM

So sounds like you are going Scoobie route, mid engine RWD should work well, keep us all posted,
 
It will be a fresh noise for a Mini, and should give some serious traction/performance, nice low CoG too. Its ambitious and will need a lot of work, but worth it.
 
has it been done before ?

The 2 build ones I saw is the one I posted. At first, I thought it a was bike engine connected to a transworks mini-diff but on a closer look of the photo I have no idea what they use and the 2nd one is this one (http://car-from-uk.c...le.php?id=16875) mini clubman so you have more space to work with. As for me doing this, it depends so far I have 2 possible design one that is like dpcars that use a central tunnel as the main load-bearing member and has a chain driven 4wd system power by a bike engine. This actually would work pretty well in a mini the only really complicated part is the left and right weight balance of the car. As for the mid-engine RWD idea this is my preferred design, and could actually be less complicated to build if you use the transaxle as a stressed member (then you just have to figure out your corner connection to the bell housing to spread the load to the chassis), some formula class use the ld200 in this configuration and their weight is on part with lightweight minis I saw.


Edited by Mini-dude, 16 June 2018 - 04:32 AM.


#19 nicklouse

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 09:39 PM

Metro with Saab B204 engine and trans

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Attached File  IMG_1481.JPG   72.67K   1 downloads



#20 Mini-dude

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 10:32 PM

When I google mid engine metro to see other examples i found this one:(https://racecarsdire...8/maguire-metro)
nicklouse by any chance do you have a photo of the gearbox?

Edited by Mini-dude, 19 April 2018 - 10:47 PM.


#21 nicklouse

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Posted 19 April 2018 - 10:59 PM

yep like i said at the start look at Hewland gearboxs.

 

and that is a bespoke silhouette saloon racer

 

then there is the original longitudinal mid engined Metro the 6R4

4c95f7d16b3bf9efdea25a8f2210d1e3.jpg

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but in most cases they have the box under the engine like the Saab engine above

 



#22 Mini-dude

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Posted 05 June 2018 - 11:17 PM

If anyone has a handy tape measure can you check if the 510 mm from the center of the rear wheel to the end of the mini body is an accurate dimension. I am working out the actual space i have now that my transmission came.

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Edited by Mini-dude, 05 June 2018 - 11:19 PM.


#23 Daz1968

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Posted 06 June 2018 - 05:14 PM

Could you not do anything with a porsche 924 transaxle, I know it is usually driven by a prop at engine speed but may be able to make an adaptor plate to fit a bell housing, pretty sure they don’t have much behind the diff.

#24 Mini-dude

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Posted 06 June 2018 - 05:36 PM

Could you not do anything with a porsche 924 transaxle, I know it is usually driven by a prop at engine speed but may be able to make an adaptor plate to fit a bell housing, pretty sure they don’t have much behind the diff.


I can't tell you reliably if the 924 transaxle would work, but if it is anything like the corvette one it possible could. The bigger problem is if it small enough. That is why I bought a ld200 (The one in the photo) the smallest and lightest transaxle within my budget.

Edited by Mini-dude, 06 June 2018 - 05:41 PM.


#25 MIGLIACARS

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Posted 06 June 2018 - 09:21 PM

 

Yes I mean proper mid engine right behind the driver. I been toying with several spaceframe design for my next build, i started with the typical hayabusa type design but then, I started looking into other chassis design and really like the idea of a mid engine mini. The hard part is just finding a small enough package to work with, every transaxle gearbox that I look into would be sticking out several inches out the rear end. But recently I went to a track day and someone had a car with a transaxle called ld200, it was almost a perfect match for it. The diff was right in the center of the case, its not offset like other cheaper gearbox option (audi,subaru, old vw bug gearbox) and it was relatively lightweight, the one major downfall of the ld200 from speaking to the owner was the low torque limit of 165 foot pounds of torque.

 

One of my long term projects is to make a RWD mid engine Mini, front subframe in the rear with the good old A series

 

I have a 1960 shell partly done my old 999 S engine and 2 of Allan Staniforths 7x10 sandcast 'Mamba' wheels.

 

Allan Staniforth set a lot of single seater Hillclimband Sprint records with the same setup in his Terrapins, he even used seat webbing as suspension.

 

I know its transverse rather than longitudinal, but its more up TMF street, there is not a lot of room between the back of the front seat and the rear wheel centre line.

 

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Allan Staniforth

did a lot of the setup on my race metro



#26 nicklouse

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Posted 06 June 2018 - 11:36 PM

Could you not do anything with a porsche 924 transaxle, I know it is usually driven by a prop at engine speed but may be able to make an adaptor plate to fit a bell housing, pretty sure they don’t have much behind the diff.

will have a look later this week do give you a rough idea.



#27 Mini-dude

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Posted 15 June 2018 - 02:11 AM

I talked to the people at absmotorsport and asked them if they could measure my sprint shell, from the photo they sent me you have around 16 inches from the center of the rear wheel to the inside edge of the shell and 19 inches to the outside of the shell. Hopefully these dimension's help anyone trying to do the same thing.

Edited by Mini-dude, 15 June 2018 - 02:13 AM.





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