Speeding Along Now
Posted 16 June 2013 - 09:14 AM
Ahahaha I'm guessing by the responses that a diesel engine in a mini isnt popular.. although I suppose it would have been a good idea if BMC put an A series diesel into the van versions for continental europe.
by the way just to make it clear im not converting my mini into a diesel aha :)
Traders Area Specialist Mod, North and Scotland Area Manager
Posted 16 June 2013 - 05:39 PM
the metro diesel i had seen was virtually silent, we didnt know it was diesel. it was home made conversion too so nowt fancy to make it quiet.
Learner Driver
Posted 16 June 2013 - 08:11 PM
Super Mini Mad
Posted 16 June 2013 - 08:21 PM
I quite like the idea...
Compare how many rover/vauxhall/suzuki/honda/nissan etc engine mini's you see and how many diesel one's you see?
Something a little different... think of all that torque!
Destruction Daddy!!
Posted 16 June 2013 - 09:18 PM
there is a red estate with a derv lump in, dont know much about it other than its a fwd diesel
Camshaft & Stage Two Head
Posted 17 June 2013 - 02:17 AM
thats a horrid idea..
i can imagine it now...
"hi nice mini there, but your tappets need serious adjustment"
Ay, no its a diesel conversion
Oh god puke in the mouth and look of disgust...
I had a merc 4 cylinder 2.3 litre diesel that put some of that bag-of-bolts A series "fast road" engines to shame with smoothness, noise and economy figures.
Actually if you look at some of the economy figures bandied around on the forum - you'd come to the conclusion that at worst, the A series was a gutless gas guzzler - it must be the charm that makes it so attractive.
You've clearly never driven a modern diesel.
Up Into Fourth
Posted 17 June 2013 - 07:34 AM
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 17 June 2013 - 10:27 AM
The A-Series diesel is going to be a pointless one. They are from a time when diesels didn't do much more MPG than the petrols but that didn't matter because the fuel was far cheaper, they were also down on power but that didn't matter because they weren't used on stuff that had to do much more than single figure speeds.
A modern diesel can be a far better bet but..... gearing is going to be the biggest issue after physically shoe-horning the thing in there (which even BMW struggled with on their MINI). Modern cars have big wheels - transplant their engine and box into something with small wheels (even 13" is small by today's standards) and the designed gearing goes out of the window. You find that the torque is great but to get a reasonable top speed out of it the engine has to be screaming. Petrol engines you can often get away with but even then you find people with V-Tec and the like conversions fitting longer diffs - Diesels just don't have the rev range to carry it off. If a conversion is popular then someone will manufacture a special diff ratio outside what's available on the source car but for a one off the price will be prohibitive so it's not a practical proposition from the start.
Hence the Metro diesel conversion as it still had reasonably small wheels as do some of the smaller Japanese cars but looking at Vauxhall or Audi stuff is just going to be a pointless exercise unless you can throw silly money at the car in which case why go for a diesel?
Iain
Formerly known as TneMini.
Posted 17 June 2013 - 02:12 PM
Edited by Black.Ghost, 17 June 2013 - 02:13 PM.
Mini Mad
Posted 17 June 2013 - 02:25 PM
Agree with 90's diesel engines not being refined or returning much more MPG than a decent petrol. My other car is a 1990 Volvo 760 TD (2.4 6 cylinder VW engine - basically same engine as the Golf 1.6TD but with 2 more cylinders). It's incredibly rattly, only gets just over 30MPG on a run, which is about 10% average more than the petrol versions.
But, I got an extra 30+bhp by just turning a couple of screws and fitting an MBC - and it runs on veg oil so I don't really care much about the MPG. As for the sound - I actually like it - because it's a 6, it sounds very much like a large truck. Suiting in a large Volvo, but in a Mini would make me cry a little...
Mini Mad
Posted 17 June 2013 - 02:28 PM
Actually, thinking about it. if you were going to fit a diesel to a Mini, the 1.6TD Golf engine would be a decent choice (depending on size and weight). For some reason these old VW diesels aren't sluggish slow-revving diesels - they rev to 5k standard, and after mods to the limiters can rev to 6k like a petrol. So, with MPi gearing would probably be fine!
Learner Driver
Posted 18 August 2015 - 03:38 PM
how about a VW 3 cylinder diesel in a mini. looks tiny engine and the 1.4 has a turbo. I'm thnking of buying a lupo 1.4 tdi and using it while I build I fiberglass pickup and the putting the diesel into the mini and then scraping the lupo or selling it for parts. Anyone interested or think its a good idea?
Mill Road Garage
Posted 18 August 2015 - 03:45 PM
how about a VW 3 cylinder diesel in a mini. looks tiny engine and the 1.4 has a turbo. I'm thnking of buying a lupo 1.4 tdi and using it while I build I fiberglass pickup and the putting the diesel into the mini and then scraping the lupo or selling it for parts. Anyone interested or think its a good idea?
I would love to see that.
It's just something a bit different..
Someone on another forum has put an Aygo engine into an old Fiat 126. That looked good
One Carb Or Two?
Posted 18 August 2015 - 08:45 PM
how about a VW 3 cylinder diesel in a mini. looks tiny engine and the 1.4 has a turbo. I'm thnking of buying a lupo 1.4 tdi and using it while I build I fiberglass pickup and the putting the diesel into the mini and then scraping the lupo or selling it for parts. Anyone interested or think its a good idea?
I would love to see that.
It's just something a bit different..
Someone on another forum has put an Aygo engine into an old Fiat 126. That looked good
Two mental ideas, i love it.
Formerly known as TneMini.
Posted 18 August 2015 - 09:10 PM
https://www.carthrot...om/post/9S6Asl/
Don't throw away the Lupo....just get a bigger engine.
I really hope that is real and not just a photoshop.
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