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[Pastarelli]

I bought a 1977 998cc Austin Mini almost a year ago as a project car and it's been sitting in my backyard, waiting for me to decide what to do with it. The previous owner cut the roof off making it into a "convertible" but got too busy with his other Mini project to do anything with this one. Since the roof was gone the car was depleted of a lot of structural strength, so the guy welded two metal beams under the frame as an attempt to beef the car up a little more. I haven't got it running yet but the guy said that it started. I was hoping to do one of those VTEC swaps with this car, but I have a feeling that the car's weak body wouldn't be able to hold up with the power or weight of the new engine. Now what I need help with. I want to strip the car, reinforce the body, add a roll bar, and then work on a VTEC swap. I just don't want to put money into this if I know the car won't be able to hold it's own. I don't want to put more than $4500 into this if I don't have to. If I could get your guys input on this that would be great, and If you don't think the VTEC swap will work, give me some more suggestions on what I could do. I am trying to lean away from a factory restoration though.

 

Thanks for your time,

 

-Matthew

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[Batmini]

In all honesty i think you will be hard pushed to do all of the work involved for $4500. You might be able to do the conversion to roofless for that money, but not roofless and engine conversion (unless they're alot cheaper over your way).
Good luck with it though, sounds like fun.