6 replies to this topic

[bigaircoby]

Hey all, iv been wanting to buy a mini for a long time now and i cant make my mind up on what i want to get, so i was wondering if you could give me some advice ?

i would ether like to do a restoration from the ground up but with a honda lump at the frount, or buy a standard mini 1275 or 1380 and tune it up.

i use my car alot for work and cover about 250 to 300 miles a week and it would need to be reliable. im also very interested in the car being quick (as im sure you can tell)

so can somone tell me the pro's and con's of doing ether/or both ?

Cheers
rob

p.s this is my first post. sorry if i should have found another topic first but i couldnt find anywhere to search for one ?

Edited by bigaircoby, 07 March 2012 - 05:20 PM.

[billok]

vtec would be cheaper than a tuned big bore and it will easy do the miles. you could think about a duratec, 2.3 of course

[AVV IT]

Having briefly looked into a V-Tec conversion myself, my understanding is that in order to get a similar level of power and reliability out of an A-series, then it would cost an awful lot more money. The downsides of the V-Tec for me, were that unlike a modified A-Series you can't just drop it in because of all the modifications needed in order to make it fit. Plus there's always part of me that thinks that a classic mini somehow ceases to be a mini in some way, if you put something other than an A-series under the bonnet.

[bigaircoby]

Having briefly looked into a V-Tec conversion myself, my understanding is that in order to get a similar level of power and reliability out of an A-series, then it would cost an awful lot more money. The downsides of the V-Tec for me, were that unlike a modified A-Series you can't just drop it in because of all the modifications needed in order to make it fit. Plus there's always part of me that thinks that a classic mini somehow ceases to be a mini in some way, if you put something other than an A-series under the bonnet.

that has always been my thinking .... is it a real mini ? but im am very turned on by the amound on power a honda has in comparison.

vtec would be cheaper than a tuned big bore and it will easy do the miles. you could think about a duratec, 2.3 of course

duratec 2.3 ? bit of a noob sorry.


how dos the honda stack mpg wise compaired to a mini ?

[Kam]

Any hybrid swap you choose will be an effort to fit and to try and keep the costs down, but if your just worried about MPG then stick with an a-series thats running on top of its game, a very mildly tuned one thats maintained well will give you good MPG

The bigger the engine you got the more you will floor it, otherwise whats the point? Catch 22

Little example:

I ran a 1275 stage three kit, car was rolling roaded and 110% spot on running (70hp), brimmed it and took it from my house to the docks (dover) with a fully laiden roof rack, flooring it with (maybe?) three figures along the way, did half a tank

Same car year later with a honda 1.6 vtec (165hp) roof rack fully laiden the same, brimmed it and same trip to the docks with the same (maybe?) three figures along the way, hit reserve when in dover...

MPG when flooring it = a-series wins

[johny:)]

Like Kam said an a series Is good for fuel I used to put £30 I'n my minI mpi and drive flat out every where and still have petrol at the end of the week I can use 30 a nite I'n my starlet

But I for 1 don't really like a series I think there out dated ok they work wen they want to and I'n there day they was a good engine but there's nothing I hate more than an a series that refuses to run and looses oil and water at least with a Honda engine you shouldn't have that problem and there lighter 5 speed and you should have no starting problems on a could morning

[Carlzilla]

The upside to an a series is though, if anything goes wrong, 90% of the time you can have a play at the side of the road and it'll get you home.
With modern engines on management, 90% of the time you're stuck and that's that.
I'm going down both routes, at the moment I'm persuing A series power, then later on I'm going for a comfy estate/van with a vtec lump in the front.