28 replies to this topic

[daveyp]

Hi all, myself and my engineer/fabricator friend Jimmy are currently building a blackbird rear engined RWD mini (well Jimmy's doing most of the building, I'm just supplying a long list of parts/metal!)
The mini is a '79 round nose 850 originally which I bought with the intention of reliving a bit of my youth having had a few minis in the distant past, but as you all probably know these things have a habit of snowballing into something that you had no intention of doing.
We are currently fabricating the rear frame/suspension mounts etc, and the diff is also being converted to run the sprocket and a new casing made for it (xr4x4 diff, shafts and drive flanges etc). Its going to run on ford gear front and back, with a spaceframe front end as well, similar to z cars but hopefully a bit cheaper!
I will try and post some photos when I figure out how to get them from my phone into here.

regards Dave

[miniblade81]

good look with build keep posting

[daveyp]

Hi again, have managed to extract some pics from the phone, gives an idea of what stage its at. Been neglected for a few weeks because Jimmy so busy with 'normal' work.
ETA on the road early summer hopefully. Wiil post progress as it happens.

cheers Dave

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[daveeeeee]

Cool. Keep it coming!

[daveyp]

Hi again, some recent progress to update- some views of the cut away floor and the fixing flange to keep the floor tight, new floor pans and cage fixings and the rear drive flanges and tubes, also pic of the ( bit dusty) power plant , 160 horses of screaming honda power. Jimmy putting a lot of thought into the rear frame at the minute so should have some pics in the near future as it takes shape.

Do apologize for some of the pics being inverted- ok if you've got a laptop, not so handy if its a desktop!

cheers dave
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[miniblade81]

any updates

[MINI-TURBO]

looks realy good, keep it up. im getting a custom spaceframe made for my R1 mini.

[daveyp]

Hi all , bit of progress on the mini blackbird. Too much real work getting in the way unfortunately but its definetly getting there.

pics of rear trailing arm assemblies, the lovely diff unit built from scratch and the power unit sitting in its (roughly) final position.

waiting on BB exhaust manifold and sprockets to arrive to get on with the next stage. think i am at upload limit for photos.

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[cptkirk]

Suggestion:

Consider adding the facility to alter the camber of the rear wheels. You can do this by allowing one of the bolts that are holding the rear swingarm (possibly prefer the inner bolts) to move up and down, with an adjuster. Just throwing it in the mix for you......

[daveyp]

Suggestion:

Consider adding the facility to alter the camber of the rear wheels. You can do this by allowing one of the bolts that are holding the rear swingarm (possibly prefer the inner bolts) to move up and down, with an adjuster. Just throwing it in the mix for you......

Hi captain,
we did consider camber adjustment for the rear wheels with a concentric adjuster built into inner part of rear arm, but it was going to be a lot of hassle and pretty inaccessible at the end of the day. So the swingarms have been made with 1.5 neg which is a pretty good place to be. Have found in the past that once you've adjusted once they never get touched again......

Dave

Edited by daveyp, 17 July 2011 - 07:51 PM.

[alowry]

Hi Dave,

Great project. I've been building a Zcars blackbird mini, so if you've any questions surrounding the engine, electrics etc let me know if I can help. My cars mechanically finished & running more or less although i've yet to take it for a decent run. Are you planning on using a baffled sump, accsump etc to look after the engine?

Adam.

[daveyp]

Hi Adam,
My colleague Jim keeps banging on about the accusump going in as he's an autocross buggy racer and he swears by them, but I'm not so sure we need one as its mainly for road use. Do you have one on yours?
We were going to try and keep the electrics as seperate as possible, did you use bb clocks or a digi dash type unit?

Probably will have a few more questions soon!

You got any pictures of your project available?

cheers Dave

[daveyp]

Adam,
Just found your project in the z cars section, so ignore the photos request

Dave

[alowry]

Hi Dave,

Bit slow replying as I'd forgotten I'd posted on your thread. I've no accusump but plan to use one especially as I've a shortened sump to fit. I've the bird clocks fitted at the moment but ill switch to something else eventually, just more simple to use the original clocks initially. I'll try & get a few more pics up soon as the cars driving now & I'm finishing the bodyword to send it to the paintshop.
Ask away here or on my thread if you've questions.

Adam.

[sayli]

looks great, I'm getting a custom frame for my R1 mini.