39 replies to this topic

[Jonny1812]

If you've got a smart engine out of the vehicle I'd recommend pulling the sump off to drill and tap the casing to put a sump plug in..... have known a few people to do it.

[Squat36]

Old engine is beyond repair and can't find any replacement units in the UK. New engine is to make it work rather than to upgrade. Crank gone and CVT lunched. Van is import and old so emissions not an issue. It's not the lack of sump plug that puts me off a smart, it's trying to find a car that is cheap that doesn't have engine issues from others not servicing properly. Would need the whole car pretty much to make sure I get all the electrics that I would need.
Will see if I can find a smart locally and measure up.
Meanwhile pics uploaded of van with manual mini engine suspended very crudely in the gap and old engine

[Squat36]

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[Spider]

I'm not sure that you'd get the A Series below floor level and you may have to use the original van radiator set up, but otherwise it almost looks a reasonably easy swap (that is as far as swaps go). There'll no doubt be a zillion small detailed items to resolve. Go for it.

[nicklouse]

I would not be rotating that if I could help it. Just modify and raise the engine cover.

[monkey]

Old engine is beyond repair and can't find any replacement units in the UK. New engine is to make it work rather than to upgrade. Crank gone and CVT lunched. Van is import and old so emissions not an issue. It's not the lack of sump plug that puts me off a smart, it's trying to find a car that is cheap that doesn't have engine issues from others not servicing properly. Would need the whole car pretty much to make sure I get all the electrics that I would need.
Will see if I can find a smart locally and measure up.
Meanwhile pics uploaded of van with manual mini engine suspended very crudely in the gap and old engine

Fair enough, that makes sense!

[Squat36]

You're right, won't be able to get it below floor level, will need to fit a raised floor. Turns it from rear engine to mid engine. Radiator is underneath at front so easier to reuse that. Thanks for all the help. No doubt will be back when I hit some issues! Cheers.

[nz_seamless]

Of all the motors in the world that you could use, the A series would be well down my list. I love my mini. I love making the A series go faster. However if I had a non-mini project that I had to remotor, and I was looking to fabricate custom mounts for it, I would be going small japanese from the ninties. M13 series from Suzuki, 2ZZ from Toyota...there's tons. They're plentiful, cheap, exponentially more reliable than motors designed in the fifties and you can still get a truckload of OEM parts.

[Squat36]

Agreed in principle but the critical dimension is the limited space i have in front of the drive shafts. Its not clear in the pictures but the van has fold down seats in the back that double over to make the flat bed van floor. The mini engine is tight up against this underfloor seat bulkhead and gives this a 45 degree drive shaft angle. If I rotate the engine backwards a bit it brings the drive shafts more in line with the wheels but still at a bit of an angle. Previous engine was behind the drive shafts but not many are made like that now. Smart is only modern one i can find.

I have looked at a few japanese engines but cant find any that are as slim as the mini engine (ie distance from drive shaft to front of engine. If there are any that you think would be as slim please shout up as I am after reliability and really don't want to be ripping it out to fix it all the time.

Will have another trawl around the scrapyards with a tape measure before i buy anything to check though.

[xrocketengineer]

Project thread anyone?