24 replies to this topic

[Reet deet]

Oh yes after a year of sitting next to my house it has finally been decided that its do or die time for the mini. And rather than see it die i want it to liiive!!!

My dad wants to whack the biggest vtec he can get his hands on into the beast once the body has been sorted (not a whole lot of rust but enough) so hopefully its gona be a stripped out 2l 200bhp+ beast

I just need to clean out the garage...

[Kernal H]

PICS PICS PICS!!!! Good luck with it... Are you going front or back conversion?

[Reet deet]

Thats a really good question! A 2l lump at the front would make it a bit understeer happy lol

Just now its more in the "ooh we should do that!" "or that" stage, so pretty open to suggestions

Back in the day when she used to be the daily driver

[blue redtop]

its got to be rear wheel drive.
uuuummmm dddrriifting mini

[Reet deet]

lol, i was checking out http://www.letstorqu...com/default.asp and it'd be about 4.5secs to 60 front wheel drive and 3.6 rear wheel! (theoretically of course)

Didnt realise how much i missed driving my mini until the other weekend when i was speaking to a random (i met a year ago at my brother in-laws stag do) about mini's, drunk at the time i just wanted to go home and fix her! lol

[Jammy]

Thats a really good question! A 2l lump at the front would make it a bit understeer happy lol

Not neccessarily. I don't think the 2l Vtec (which is a frankenstein motor, unless you go for the K series), is that much heavier than the B16/B18. It would be a bit front heavy, unless you can find things to move to the back of the car, but the handling depends more on how you have the suspension set up.

[TimS]

Putting a heavy engine in the back isn't going to help much eiter. What is your budget on this project?

[Reet deet]

No real set budget, hoping around the 3 grand mark. Like i said its still in the stage where nothing is set in stone, not even on paper yet

[Reet deet]

And so it begins!



took me long enough, but after almost another year of not doing anything i decided to give me and my dad a kick in the ass.

So i bought a B16A1 engine, i realise that the mounts are slightly different to the A2 but that is a minor detail

Gona buy a shed at the weekend to 'dispose' of all of the gardening *rubbish* thats cluttering the garage just now to make way for the mini

[Reet deet]

Started the shed base today, lots of digging to get the slope level. Then decided the best way to keep all of the dirt back would be to make a granite wall



it needs some hardcore, sand and then some pathing slabs are going down.

So next week i should be able to get the mini into the garage to start the big strip!

[Reet deet]

Ok, so after more time we finally got the car into the garage at the weekend!

One B16A1 engine


One old A series


A few pictures of the rust, most of its surface so not too bad.























Panels that i know need replacing are the boot floor, the scuttle and then a few tiny patches. Not too bad considering its been sitting in the rain outside for the last 2 years!

[BigDave99]

Hey mate
Good luck with the project, im very jealous! i want to do a similar thing with my mini next year, Out of curiosity how much did you pay for the engine and where did you get it from?

Cheers
Dave

[Reet deet]

I got the engine off eBay, came to £465 including delivery, it came from a rear ended 91 CRX that had done about 89k miles. We got basically the whole front end only bit that really needs sourcing is a gear selector but that shouldn't be too hard to get hold of.

[Reet deet]

Probably should add what the actual plans are.

Its going to get treated to a Clubby flip front, custom subframe, weld in 6 point roll cage, smooth fibreglass boot, possibly fibreglass doors, pollycarbonate windows, tinted front windscreen, mk1 rear light conversion, bucket seats, stick with the 12" revolution alloys with some über sticky rubber, custom dash

Thats all i can think of so far.

Edited by Reet deet, 24 December 2008 - 06:18 PM.

[Reet deet]

Update:

Been busy but not with the mini. Moved out of my folks place back in February so i havent done much atall to the car.

My dad and me removed the A series a while back and then he set about chopping the front wings off and removed the rusty scuttle panel.

This weekend i've been busy stripping the rest of the car back. So nothing left to the rear, took out the lights, fuel tank, battery and what was left of the loom. Also i spent a good few hours chopping the rear seat overhang off since nobody will be in the back and then cut out the rear pockets.

No pictures just now because i forgot to take any, and i cant be bothered to drive back to my parents