25 replies to this topic

[YIANO]

well, my lovely mk1 mini has finally blown its a series and im fed up with it. the crank appears to have siezed in the block so im dreaming of owning a mini which i can drive to shows and back without shittin myself everytime i come near a motorway

i dont want to cut the car much or put on a silly extended wing/bonnet combo

so ive got about 5k to play with what would you do?
here she is on her last a-series powered outing to himley hall !

[mike49]

it would be savage butchery to use any other engine other than an a series!

[Southy]

I say go for a 998 cooper +20thou with flat top pistons and a 12g295 head will be very retro then and still have a bit of grunt

[YIANO]

thanks guys, while i love the a-series engine ,for me they always seem to go pop and die somewhere along the line so i cant realistically spend 2k+ on a road burner to worry about it constantly .

[Geehawk]

I'd say Suzuki or 1.6 Vauxhall for the easiest in standard front conversions.

[16vmini]

1.6/1.4 vauxhall 8v .. will fit nice , and you can easily put a std A-series in it again if the next owner wishes.

easily doable for your budget with plenty of change

Matt

[ferrit]

In my opinion it would be sacrelidge to put anything but an A series in this car. The mini was designed with this engine and it spart of the cars history. Whilst I have nothing against engine conversions on later cars where performance/cost is the issue on a classic like this and given the 5k you have to play with it would be plain wrong to do anything other than A series. For the money your talking about you could build/have built a stomer of an engine, if performance is key then consetrait on that, if not the build for quality/reliability.

There is a reason these little motors keep going and thats because they were a gem of simple engineering, not sophisticated like todays modern engines but fantastic little workhorses. If you must have a conversion engine buy another car to put it in and either sell this one or put it back on the road as it was intended. Just my opinion by the way, you as with all mini owners are entitled to do as you please

[Geehawk]

Not this arguement again.

Yiano, you fit what engine you want, and you can deseam it, and convert it into a shorty pickup at the same time if you want it's yours to do with as you please.

[ferrit]

Not this arguement again.

Yiano, you fit what engine you want, and you can deseam it, and convert it into a shorty pickup at the same time if you want it's yours to do with as you please.

Is that a referense to my post Geehawk? because if it is if you actually read my post I could not have made it more obvious that it was my opinion only and Yiano can do as he pleases If not then just ignore me

[Geehawk]

Yes it was a reference to your post. Given that he was asking about engine conversions, you could have just ignored his post rather than go into lots of rhetoric about how wrong it would be and then justify your post with the universal "its only my opinion" get out clause

[alexcrosse]

A series with megajolt, HIF44 or any SU (webers can be a b***h sometimes) and itll run fine all the time. Or weber alfa injection or such. Nice and reliable but still an A series! yum yum.

If not shuv an R1 engine in the front, look at the promotive kits.

[16vmini]

bike engines are not the way if you want to keep it reliable and use it on the motorway for long periods of time.

Matt

[ferrit]

well, my lovely mk1 mini has finally blown its a series and im fed up with it. the crank appears to have siezed in the block so im dreaming of owning a mini which i can drive to shows and back without shittin myself everytime i come near a motorway

i dont want to cut the car much or put on a silly extended wing/bonnet combo

so ive got about 5k to play with what would you do?
here she is on her last a-series powered outing to himley hall !

Sorry Geehawk but when I read that it states, although I do paraphrase " a car I can drive on the motorway" and also " 5k to play with what would you do?"

Now you might interpret that differently than me but firstly a well set up and tuned A series engine is quite capable of handling motorway driving and secondly he asks for opinions. Now what part of those statements does my original post not fit with? Now I conceed the original post also states "here she is on her last A series pwered outing"

This is a forum after all and is all about opinion, if we all post the same information it is not a very rounded discussion. My use of a "get out clause" as you put it only reafirms the fact that its non of mine or your business what Yiano does with his car but offers another view on the situation.

[mike49]

an a series can be just as reliable if cared for, it is your car, but i cringe to see nice early minis being slaughtered!
where did you get the headlamp guards and the bumper mudflaps from by the way?
Its a lovely little car!

Edited by mike49, 28 May 2008 - 12:10 PM.