313 replies to this topic

[captainjack15]

Seriously. Why do you care so much as to how we, we being everyone that doesn't have a standard Mini, modify them??

Seriously, does it matter?? They are still on the road, and in all fairness surely thats all that matters??

And young-uns. No offense meant to Martin aka Roofless, he isn't young.

Regardless of engine size, engine make and anything other than non standard parts, its STILL A MINI!!

(Did that make sense??) :S

[The Matt]

Wwooooooah!

Stop with the cross-continent insults or I'll remove them!

[ZED]

how many mini's are there?

rather then the scrap heap, modify away!
you know what they say, if you don't like it, look away...

Zed

Edited by ZED, 20 February 2009 - 06:44 PM.

[Purple Tom]

Brilliant thread, and a good question! Its just a shame that a few people seem to have misunderstood the question that was asked

Anyway, I've owned my Clubby for nearly 6 years now. It was the first car that I bought myself when I was 19, having previously used my Dad's cars. After doing some bodywork, I ran it for almost a year as standard, with a 1098 lump. Then I upgraded to a 1275, primarily because I wanted more speed. Before doing this though I upgraded the front brakes to 7.5" discs, so it had the stopping power to match its going power. Then I did a bare shell rebuild and upgraded to a 100bhp 1293 lump from Morspeed, again because I wanted more speed, or actually, more accleration. Again, I fitted suspension, braking and shell components to match up with the performance provided by the engine.

The 1293 was great, really fast and very good fun, but with its hot cam and peak torque at 5000rpm, a bit too undriveable for the sort of driving I was doing 95% of the time. It was also not particularly great on durability, needing constant attention to maintain it in peak condition. I did around 7000 miles and it was beginning to show signs of needing a rebuild.

So, you asked why engine conversions? I did it mainly because I wanted an engine that was long-lasting, economical and also gave a fairly decent amount of power. The Vauxhall C16SE fitted the bill for me, around 100bhp, lots of torque from low RPM, and 100,000 miles between rebuilds. All its cost me in the 2.5 years since I did the conversion is basic servicing costs (oil, filters, plugs, leads etc), although I'm not counting the blown gearbox or the dodgy engine I fitted first, as if I'd stripped them down before doing the conversion I would have realised! It is also very driveable, and will easily return 45mpg on a run.

I'm not a fan of massive stereos or bodykits or neons or whatever, and you'll probably find that neither are the majority of Mini owners. Most Mini owners have a taste for the subtle modification, and the Mini itself isn't a shout out loud sort of car. I can however appreciate all types of car modification, as I know that no matter how horrible I personally think it looks/sounds/whatever, someone somewhere has put a lot of effort into doing the work.

[maph2]

people, young and old have been modifying cars for years. i think you need to wake up and smell the petrol. people are entitled to do whatever they want to their cars. are you one of those flat cap, purist types? i think coming on a forum and bleating on about modding to a car that has a massive modding history isn't the wisest move. if it wasn't for cooper, downton etc...........

[Laaly_30]

I'm 21, and I hate the body kit modifications, more than anything, it actually quite annoys me, but thats just my personal taste.
Theres nothing worse than huge kits which leave about a millimeter between the ground and the car.
examples being:






(im sorry if someone on here owns that but i really dont like it)

But I'm the type who likes to keep modifications to little things like adding spotlights etc, and keeping it as orig as possible.

[feybrand]

i modify my cars because 1 ive had to strip them both to sort rust and the things like the original interior etc were to old and worn
and i modify the looks because the eightys was a bad time for mini with too many poor ugly parts like the rubbish black bumpers and grey interior so i change them to look like earlir cars beacause they were built to a higher quility and the engine in the first one i didnt touch because it was for the missus and for the latest addition the engine is an 850 wich is just to slow for todays roads and motorways etc so i shall be putting a bigger engine in but will stick to a proper mini engine
i agree with you though big bodykits loud speakers and neons do not look good on a mini and look a bit trashy in my opinion but having said that if someone does add that stuff its upto them its not really my business

[feybrand]

oh and im 23

[mighty mini jack]

Is rust original then.. shame on all who have taken it off!

[feybrand]

oh and im thinking of putting a fibregall flip front on aswell 1 because the front end rusts too much and 2 it makes it easy to work on the engine and clean things

[imaparana]

its not really destroying a classic because the are people building new bodys and stuff but still i would rather keep it origanal than havinng massive body kits on lol

[The_Mistro]

some of the minis with body kits are truley unique, and as much as I hate them, and think that they look god awful, they are unique, just like my mini is unique, and alex'a mini is unique, and martins mini is unique, and lukes mini is unique see the link yet?

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

What did people think of the shorting break, that was different, but because it was a Pro Conversion i guess its ok Dan?

[EatSleepJDM]

I loved the Shorting break
As a 14 year old who owns a mini i'm up for modifying minis but I wouldn't modify a mk1, mk2, rare limited edition, pickup or a van. Only period mods for them

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

i was a traineed teacher so whats happening to the worlds i used to teach, lol i hope to go back to teaching and teach the younger genreations how to work on cars as i feel this is one of the most important things in life

if i hadnt found cars at 17 id still be a fat geek that spent all my time playin the nintendo thanks henry ford