209 replies to this topic

[The Matt]

Woo iv now ordered the subframe and have picked up the bulkhead box, gear linkage box and drive shafts. Pics of these to come tomorrow!

PICS????

[TimS]

Just to keep you happy Matt.





The Subframe is currently being made at all speed and I’m picking up a fabricated 4-2-1 exhaust manifold and SBD individual throttle bodies this Friday,

I cant wait!!!


Have a brows of SBD, they are a well know tuning company for Vauxhall. Basically the MED of Vauxhall.

SBD WEBSITE

[The Matt]

Coolies!

[Purple Tom]

Spot on Tim, not long then!! Can't wait to see it, in answer to your question about driving Robs Equinox, it was really nice. Torquey and plenty of power but not lairy and very controlled. He had it set up very well suspension wise and it drove like a modern car.

[TimS]

I drove it the other day with the C14SE and I was surprised at how nice it was to drive. I couldn't believe the brakes with just standard 8.4" discs. With this amount of power though I may have to look at changing the 10's to 13's just for the extra grip so may sell my brakes now and revert to servo assisted 8.4's with Mintex pads like robs, would be cheaper on insurance too.

[TimS]

Next thing to do is find an engine. Im looking for a relitivly low millage X16Xe below 60k miles and then an F13 Wide Gearbox to keep thoes revs down.

[The Matt]

Congratulations on the name change Tim!

The F13 'box should be easy enough to find shouldn't it? nice and easy for clutch changes to them!

[TimS]

there are alot of F13's around, it's just difficult to tell if they are Long or Close ratio. Doing my best to search for one off a Corsa diesel.

[TimS]

Lol cheers on the coment on the name change. Bit easier for people to type than flappyplasticbits. Long live flappy (its been my name on forums for the last 5 years)

[The Matt]

I dunno if the gearboxes changed across the whole Vauxhall range, but on my old Astra there is a plate on the underside of the bell housing (held on by 4 M4 bolts) that you can take off to access the clutch plate. You can also take a little cover off the end of the box (under the N/S wing) and withdraw the shaft from the clutch plate. You then fit about 6 little 'C-clips' around the clutch plate and removed the clutch/flywheel bolts. This meant that you could then drop the clutch out and change it in half an hour. It may be worth looking for one of the earlier gearboxes as I know that facillity started to disappear on some of the later models.

I'm talking about late '80's and early '90's cars. Deffo worth looking into as the clutch change without splitting the engine/box is a real time saver.

[TimS]

I think I shall be going for a hydro clutch off one of the later boxes. Will just make sure that I change the clutch before it all goes together, then it will be fine for many miles to come. Cheers for the info though Matt, I will keep my eye out for them.

[TimS]

Usefull links for getting gearbox info.

[TimS]

Bit of an update. On Friday I drove down to Allspeed and picked up the SBD tapered throttle body kit and exhaust manifold which Rob used on his otherwise standard X16XE engine. His car one the rollers without any mapping changes, straight out of the box, produced 159bhp which I think shall be more than enough considering im only 20 still

Not only did I just get the bits in the kit, but I also got the shorter trumpets to fit within the bulkhead of the mini, some nicely fabricated 45 degree bends, and an air filter box, whihc is all made to fit within the standard round nose.

Here’s some pics....

One nice ITG filter


The air box


The throttle boddies


You could get lost down these


One Mapable MBE ECU. It's really simple to connect up and it comes with a built in shift light! Which is currently set at 7250rpm, but will hopfully go up to 7750rpm with just some ARP bolts as these bottom ends are STRONG!



Last one of the fabricated 45 degree bend.


All I need now is an engine to put them on. I may have found one with 67k on the clock from a 1.6 tigra but I am keeping my fingers crossed for now.

[TimS]

All built up

[Mincento]

This is pretty much exactly the conversion i want in the mini, i know these engines are bullet proof after watching my brother thrash his sport day in day out and doing so myself on various occasions and it never once gave in, it was also one of the oddest engines ever in the fact it actualy went better if you didnt warm it up and it got abused everywhere and it loved it and thats with near enough 90 thou on the clock and although it was sold on and wrote off as was a victim of attempted theft by some kids as far as we know its still going

im gonna ask the question we all hate though how much so far has this conversion cost you? just i have chance of a 1.4 16v with everything associated free off charge but i know from reading other threads that its the frame and shafts etc which work out expensive

wayne