749 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

Well then people, I think it's time for the next update, it's three days of work :)

Day one!

Bike carbs have arrived :) got them at a good price too which is nice

Started on the front engine mounts. It's difficult to think where to put them that will be stable and strong yet you can still undo the bolts!

Closeup of the ps one

Close up of the ds one

And the rear mount



I chose those positions because they are the most out of the way of anything, plus they are using the standard mounting points the micra used so should be strong enough :)

Day two
Engine hovering in the air :)

It's trial fit time :)

Had to trim the lower leg to get more clearance


And there we are, mr engine tucked into mini.


It took me almost and hour the get the engine into the car without damaging the car (doing all this on my own)
I decided to trim most of the inner wings, I know physically it can be got away with but it's going to mean most work to do on the car will be an engine out job. I'm also going to make the front slam panel removable so she's easier to work on

Exhaust trial fitment and everything clears

Carbs in their rough position

Tightest part


So that's day two. I got the frame in the car and the mounts on the engine, bits and bobs need trimming but nothing too drastic which is nice :) onwards to day three

Day three
Engine and frame back out again for final welding and strengthening


Engine mounts beefed up




Tacked together the lower leg on the left


Frame in primer


Frame painted :)


And frame back in the car, scratched everywhere which is mildly annoying


And voila engine back in the car


So that's day three
In conclusion folks the engine is now solidly mounted in the subframe, everything clears and lines up nicely.
Next update will be alternator and intake manifold based. I'm intending to use the standard nissan alternator and use the manifold that came with the carbs, it just needs a trim first of course :)

Hope you all like this update
Feel free to comment
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 25 March 2014 - 08:03 AM.

[TheMiniDream]

Hi, I havnt read this thread from start to finish, but is that a gasless welder, and did you teach yourself to weld? If so how hard was it?

[alex-95]

Excellent work, I'm tempted to go for a micra engine one day.

Hi, I havnt read this thread from start to finish, but is that a gasless welder, and did you teach yourself to weld? If so how hard was it?

Looks like gas with the gas bottle on the back of the welder

[LosLandenos]

Lovely.. hope that tuning the carbs wont give you an headache..

[lawrence]

Cheers for the replies people :) it's always nice to get comments to urge you on! In reference to your question theminidream it's a gas welder, I use the mini bottles as I don't use the welder a lot so a big bottle wouldn't be so portable. And yes I did teach myself to weld, got all the gear and gave it a go :) there's bits and bobs about welding toward the start of my thread.

And cheers Alex, hopefully it'll be as nice to drive as the old a series, I didn't have the heart to go injection, it's just so boring on an interesting car haha!

And in reference to you loslandenos I'm not sure about the carbs to be honest, I've no previous experience with bike carbs but there's alot of tuning information about the cbr600s so I think I have gone with a good choice.

There's going to be another post tommorow afternoon, I'm going to attempt to get the carb manifold welded up and mounted. The carbs I won on ebay has a zetec manifold included and hopefully I can mod it to fit

Lawrence

[lawrence]

Time for my update from Friday :)
Started making the input manifold

All fits inside the outline of the gasket which is nice

Intake partly welded for mocking up of the carbs


Carbs in place. Looking awesome!


Bulkhead cleaned off and primed, wiper wheel box relocated inside the car for the cleaner look :)

Brake cylinder mocked up, I've got space between the carbs and master cylinder or about a cm :)


So that's the other day people :)
Intake manifold needs fully welding and the accelerator and choke cable set up but the intake is now mocked up at least :)

Alternator next :)
Hope you like this update, feel free to comment!
Lawrence

[lawrence]

So people, next update :) today I've been cracking on with the cluch, inlet manifold and gear shifter :)
Also finished primering the bulkhead :)

Bit of cheeky radiant red for the rocker cover :)

Bulkhead painted and bits and pieces put back In place, all looking pretty awesome to be honest

Plenty of clearance between the carbs and brake master cylinder

Not so much for the bonnet, looks like a bonnet scoop may be in order :)

New rad position also

Made a start in the clutch

Tacked together and working nicely :)

Clutch arm removed for final welding

Inlet manifold fully welded up


As I've left her tonight


I've made a start on the gar shifter, welded it up once but I've left it too long so the gear throw is awful!
I'll finish off the shifter tommorow :)
Alternator mocking up tommorow possibly or I may build up my megajolt system!
Hope you like this update
Lawrence

[Minidarren83]

Hi mate the build is looking great love the speed your doing it. Just one thing I think you will struggle getting those carbs to work at that angle you may get away with about 45deg

[Ben_O]

Just read this all the way through!

 

Love the way it has come along from the early days.

 

Good luck with the micra transplant, looks great so far!

 

Ben

[lawrence]

Cheers for the comments guys, in reference to the carbs I did some researching on the angle of the carbs and I saw on other bike carb related builds people had done the same, some googling also said that due to the carbs having the rubber diaphragms inside then they should work at any angle, if I have to change it then it's not the end of the world. But I've got my fingers crossed it'll be fine :)

And cheers ben o, I read it myself the other day too haha, I forgot how rusty she used to be!

I've got a bit of an update from the other day guys
I've started thinking about the alternator and cooling for the engine
Welded on the alternator mount

Alternator on, it's nice and snug in the inner wing, should be loads of clearance for wheels tho which is good!

I'm trying to get my head around the adjustment system, where to mount it etc. it's taken a lot of thinking as I don't want to run a tensioner. This is how I left it. I like how it's hidden down the left of the engine :)


So I just need to get my head round the alternator belt tensioner now and find the right size belt
Onwards to the cooling system
I've sorted out some of the piping, I'm keeping the mini heater valve and mini rad, my aux fan fits lovely in the mini radiator shroud which was a nice suprise :)

I've got about 1 1/2 cm clearance between the clutch cable and fan but nothing's going to move and the rad will be mounted to the engine also

So that's my update from the other day. I've also found someone to make my driveshafts for me which is good, they just need measuring. I've also made a long to do list! :)

Hope people like this update :)
Lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 07 April 2014 - 07:52 PM.

[Minidarren83]

If you bolt your alternator to the frame like that and don't run a sprung tensioner or super super stiff engine mounts you will either snap the belt or rip the alt off the mount. This happened to a bloke on the 16v forum. The force of the it sheared off his rear engine mount under acceleration

[lawrence]

Thanks mini Darren, you can't give me a link for that chap could you? My engine on the landrover mounts isn't moving at all hence why I chose them. However the engine isn't running currently so that could change once the mounts are under load. Thankyou for letting me know however. I may have to look into a sprung tensioner then or redesign it all
Thanks
Lawrence

[Minidarren83]

Sorry mate can't seem to find the link he was using and allspeed frame and mounts and also an allspeed alt mount but there was play in the two side engine mounts that was not evident until hard hammer down time and as the engine rocked it twisted on his solid alt mount and belt and sheered the rear mount that was 8mm thick! Would hate it to happen after all the work your doing

[Minidarren83]

You could always just mount it to the engine then it can swing around all it liked

[l_jonez]

Had not spotted this build, its nice to see another conversion.

A few comments id make are...

Those land rover engine mounts are designed for compression not sheer forces. The rear mounts won't last long!
Also as pointed out you need to mount the alternator to the engine not the frame, the engine movement will snap the belt or the mounts.
You will have a hard time tunning the carbs with the floats so far off level


Other than that good work