33 replies to this topic

[Spiffingly Good]

Well I finally took the plunge and bought a micra, hopefully it will be a fairly quick conversion, although my time is limited over the next few weeks.

Micra 1.3 SI



And what the engine will finally end up in





Today I got started and began removing the engine, and loom.






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Dash out to find all the wiring


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The all important ECU seeming as i'll be keeping the Injection


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The engine out and waiting for a new life in a better car!

Already ordered the new engine mounts today, and when I get chance next week I'll pop away from work to get some steel so I can hopefully start making the subframe soon, I'll be using a second mini to mock things up ready to pop straight into my daily for minimal downtime

Edited by Spiffingly Good, 24 May 2012 - 07:36 PM.

[Jordie]

knock up a second frame for me, :) will pay ya ofcourse.

[Spiffingly Good]

Always a posibility, but wouldn't you rather have the satisfaction of creating your own

[Jordie]

would mean needing the car/engine allready. havent got the space at the moment. I am planning on sticking one in my clubman estate project but it will be quite a while before I get a micra to strip.

[rids]

good to see another 1 started.. and fairly local too!

[Spiffingly Good]

Hopefully it won't take too long to finish, but we all know how these things turn out longer than we think.

I've read all the old project threads including yours rids, so I can gain from your experience's, just a little undecided on some aspects at the moment, such as intake, and exhaust mainfolds, and weather to use plate or sectional steel.

Also Rids is there any hurdles/problems i should know about which you learnt from your build?

[rids]

watch your tie rod on the sump. if you mount yr engine to far over it can foul . it can be overlooked untill you start rebuilding your suspension. are you ever in newcastle? if so, call in have a look, have a go and a chat

[Spiffingly Good]

It's not very often i'm up that way to be honest, tho i may just make the journey up there to accept your invite, can be good to see things in real life just to get a idea how things should work out.

Well all the things I want are out the micra now, ripped out the complete loom, I can always use the spare wire for other things, just about to start measuring qnd compiling ideas on the frame.

I've been thing about a tubular design, and seeing what price a local engineers would charge to bend it.

[rids]

if you go tubular i think you'll have to alter your inner wings a bit. feel free to call up anytime, just p.m me to arrange

[Spiffingly Good]

Well i think i've made good progress this weekend, knocked together a jig for the original subframe and started cutting, it's amazing how pictures make it look like you have more space than you really do, I was truley shocked at how tight all the tolerence's are.

And before I start I want to thank, l_jonez, rids and of course bigchief for there build threads, i've read them all thoughly and refered back to them on many occasions for reference.

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Original subframe in the jig waiting to be cut.

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My subframe all tacked together.

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Trial fitted into a clubman bulkhead

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 2012-05-20_16-01-17_258.jpg   72.73K   32 downloads

Just need to trial fit in a roundnose now, then weld and strengthen the frame.

i'm still undecided what to do regarding the inlet mainfold, not sure if i'm keeping the orginal and modifying the bulkhead, or attempting to make another.

Also I ordered the wrong engine mounts, there from a landrover, but i'd ordered gearbox one's instead, there the same design only a smaller diameter I think they should be ok, what do people think?

[Jordie]

looks good. so do you have a jig ready to build others?

[rids]

Frames looking good, well done. my engine hardly moves on 2 landrover mounts and 1 original mini mount so i think there is scope to go smaller, How much smaller?

[Spiffingly Good]

The jig is just to hold the subframe square as you cut away, Although if this one fit's ok, it would be alot quicker to build a nother from measurements from this one, and next time I do this I will be investing is in a metal cut of saw, slow going using hacksaws and angel grinders.

I will be making others once this is done, we have 3 more minis between my and my brother.

[Spiffingly Good]

There about 60mm diameter rids, I'm not sure the size of the ones others use, but from the pictures they do look smaller, and also have a different part number

[Jordie]

interested in a frame if you make another ;)