24 replies to this topic

[hippyinamini]

just thought id make a post about my winter project. as the title sudgests its gonna be vauxhall powered and look like a miglia! so with that out of the way some info!

basicaly i got an ex 1990's miglia project at the start of the year and never actualy managed to do anything with it! so ive decided to put it to use at last and make myself the track car ive been wanting for so long.
ive been waiting for the mot to run out on my other mini so i could nick the parts off it while its in for a rebuild too, this was supposed to include the turbo engine and running gear but the turbo gave up before i had chance to put it in. rather then spend yet more money on the old A series making it go faster ive decided to have a change and fit a vauxhall c20xe lump in it instead. it will give me the power i want and hopefully have a bit more reliability to boot. the other reason for red top power is because while the clubman is off the road for a more thorough rebuild it will leave me with a car i can go to shows and meets in without worry of it going bang at the first sign of a motorway! it'll no doubt still be incredably loud, smelly and uncomfortable but i can live with that!

looks wise it wont look to far removed from what its started out as hopefully! it'll be running some 10 x 6 mbs that came with it, miglia arches, a full cage, some form of bucket seats and not a real lot else! its primary role is a trackday car so thats how im trying tobuild it

engine wise its going to start basicaly standard and probibly develop as time goes by, the only initial mods will probibly be a set of bike itb's and megasquirt to keep everything working as it should. im still working everything out to be honest so ideas are still changing and nothings realy set in stone
anyway this is basicaly where its standing at the moment...



the racer has been stripped and ive been playing with colours, it was the green colour to start with, and ive been looking at using the blue colour. the idea being the light colour will hide a lot of imperfections i cant get rid off (im just planning on telling everyone ive left them in for history and it adds charactor!)



the wheels are just on bricks so i can work out how everything will sit. the front end is about good for scrap someone further back down the line has chopped the arches out but totaly messed it up and even the miglia arches wont cover what they've chopped! its going to have a clubman front now anyway so its not a worry.



thats basicaly how it stands, im waiting on finding parts for the conversion now but theres a lot of prep work to do, and i want to mock everything up before i paint it so when i finaly get enough time to paint it, it will just be a case of blather it on and build it up! hopefully in good time for minis v beetles! anyway will update as things change.

laters
steve

[marc]

Looks good!


Theres a conversion kit on ebay, mite be ending about now though! And also, i currently have a cav gsi sat doing nothing with a decent red top

[hippyinamini]

lol yeah i saw the conversion on ebay, if it wasnt so close to xmas and i had the money id have gone for that!
im afraid im about skint untill after xmas now or id snap your hand off for the cav! ive been looking round here but they seem to be thin on the ground all of a suden and now im skint bah!
steve

[marc]

Lol, tell me about it! Was looking at a c16xe (the 16v version of my engine conversion) but xmas really kills anything!!


I'll keep an eye on this anyway, be good to see it when its done.

[hippyinamini]

cheers mate i apreciate the intrest, i'll no doub't have many questions!

ive been talking with a mate of mine and after some looking about on the net and looking at the subframes people have made he seems to think we can probibly make a subframe for it too rather then go to allspeed or who ever. it would be nice to just get the kit and slap it in but its not a open cheque book project so anything that can make it cheaper is good! if it all goes belly up then ive lost a subframe and some box section but if it works it will save me some money to play with elsewhere!

the only downside to that is we need the engine first to work from so its gonna be fustrating waiting for xmas to go past and not seeing much progress! it will make it a bit more intresting to do i suppose

steve

[ed4ran]

Is this Iain's™ old Miglia by any chance??

[maph2]

what gearbox will you be running as you are running 10's?

[hippyinamini]

lol you get some points for that! yeah its iain's old miglia off turbominis. its basicaly just a rolling shell but it was a better base car than the old purple shell i was planning on race prepping at the time so i snapped it up. the ideas of racing next year have gone to pot tho sadly so its demoted to the odd trackday and dragracing!

from what ive been reading i need to look out for a f16 w gearbox? or i think thats what it's called.... aparently they have a lot longer 5th but thats only what ive read. any info would be very helpfull to be honest.. i know running it on 10's will cause problems but i dont want to move up in wheel size, i like the way 10's look and drive so im realy reluctant to change. im not too bothered about loosing top end speed or having a fairly high cruising speed. ive been running about on a 3.9 diff lately and it surely cant be any worse than that! or can it? :S

steve

[16vmini]

if you want to run tens , look at using the 1.6 16v engine , can get 150bhp + with ITB's , and then you can sort the gearing out using a TD corsa box.

f16W will only be good in 3rd and up , 1st will never be used .. dont bother.

also the 1.6 will fit better in the front of a mini

Matt

[hippyinamini]

cheers for the info matt i'll have a good look into that. to be honest the xe is only top of the list because its the quickest way to the most power and eventualy i'll be after every poney i can get (i know how i work! i can't leave anything alone!)
out of curiosity would the 1.6 16v still be capable of holding round the 200hp mark with some nitrous? (for on the strip)
and what sort of rpm's would the normal f20 box leave me running at on 10's at 70mph? (if i was to use the xe)
im afraid ive never had chance to have a go in a vauxhall conversion so im sort of stuck asking lots of questions and just working on what i think id like im only building it because its a change from the normal A series builds ive done for the last 5 years, so the whole point is its gonna be a challange and something to keep tinkering with.

steve

[16vmini]

where abouts are you ? will have the wifes 1.6 16v on the road soon you can have a drive.

f20 will be reving around 4.5k - 5k (on tens) depending on which F20 you get(different FD)

16xe will cope with nitrous ...

Matt

[supermotolee]

are there many 200bhp front wheel drive minis that are actually drivable even on a drag stip surley the 1.6 might be a better idea as you could actually use the power and still have options to ugrade it as you go? dont get me wrong it would be great for roll on speed on the motorway and that but trying to launch it without spinning all the power away has got to be alot of hassle

ah stuff that idea get the XE itl be awesome haha

Edited by supermotolee, 16 December 2006 - 01:32 AM.

[hippyinamini]

cheers for the offer matt, im right up near hull tho im afraid!

thats about the same rpm's as the old 3.9diff i used to run then :S round here on the back roads its great and i supppose on the track it would be ok, but motorways would still be a pain hmm need to do some thinking by the looks of it. if the 1.6 is capable of holding that sort of power for short bursts then that may be the best solution. lol yeah 200bhp in a mini on the road would probibly get a bit silly! my old turbo motor used to scare the C**p out of me and it was only round the 140 150bhp area. the 1.6 may make the better car.
thanks for the info i apreciate it will go do some more digging about.

steve

Edited by hippyinamini, 16 December 2006 - 02:02 PM.

[maph2]

you could turbo the 1.6 engine.using a mappable ecu would control progressive boost andmake it driveable for 200bhp.

[hippyinamini]

Oooo dont start me on turbo's i'll have enough trouble with fitting it all in as it is!! could be an intresting project once the base engine is in.... would probibly be a bit of a squeeze getting the rad, intercooler and turbo in tho?? unless the rad moved elswhere... damnit i was just settling on the xe too! back to the drawing board...
steve