9 replies to this topic

[Granmas_car]

mini clubman with 1.8 rover k series
unknown year
i am watching a mini shell on ebay which i intend to transplant my race engine but i cant fit my radiator in the front so i want to rear mount it and i was wondering if anyone has attempted to do it before and basically get some advice before i buy thanks for any advice

[Ethel]

Certainly a fair few Z cars with rear rads (& engines) suppose it depends on what body chopping you are prepared to do.

[Granmas_car]

i want to put the engine in the front and radiator in the boot im not to worried about chopping it as i will probably replace a lot of panels with fibreglass or carbon anyway and space will be a premium with my intended engine spec

[crazycoleman118]

i would have thought it would be better to keep the rad in the front.. and maybe use an extended/clubman front if space is an issue.. in the back you'd have to make quite a few body mods such as vents to channel air to it, and for it to keep the engine running at its best

[Granmas_car]

looking at this engine conversion guide i found on the 16 valve forum the blokes using a mini radiator which i don't think will be man enough to handle my setup i was originally planning to fit a large oil cooler where they have put the radiator.the radiator i intended to use was a radtec Elise radiator with twin fans i was thinking of putting vents round the rear arches and putting some sort of air ram ducted straight onto the radiator and huge side vents on the rear just like the maxi rally car

[crazycoleman118]

well as long as your prepared to do it and you can get enough air flow to the radiator you should be ok, but remember you'll have to run 2 long lines to carry the water around, probably inside the car...

[Granmas_car]

that's the bit i am unsure of i am thinking of running it through the passenger door and boxing it in or under the car haven't quiet worked it out yet

[mikeb 16v]

im running a rad in the boot of my car , the water pipes are running through the inner sills , the door steps have been raised to accommodate the pipes , i then have the rad in the boot ,its off a 2 litre vauxhall running 2 fans , the boot floor and rear valance has been removed and the rad is sitting quite low in the boot level with the bottom of the rear valance , as far as airflow goes then its coming from the underneath of the car through the rad and out of rear valance , its yet to go on the road but i cant see it not working

[chris alderman]

i have a c20xe powered mini, and i ran the rad in the boot. in the garage i could leave it running for ages with an electric fan on. it seemed really good,
i had a big duct in the rear window and cut the boot floor out.

however after 2 laps of oulton park it would start to boil up. (

the water system never seemed to pressure up like it should (this keeps it cooler) what i put the problems down to is there being too much water and the pump struggling. plus not as much air as the rad would get in the front. also i dont know how efficiant the air flow was because weired things happen with aero dynamics

from my experiance its a lot of work getting a rad in the boot ( pipe work, ducting, boxing in the pipes, )

i now have an alloy 2 core rad from a honda civic in the front with a 300mm pacet fan. i cant have headlights anymore but i only use it on the track.
the whole system is now very simple less pipes to have problems with.

i can run the engine up to temp (80 deg) the system pressures up. but does not blow through the cap, and when i turn the fan on you can see the temp drop on the gauge quite quickly. it goes down to 40 ish in about 5 mins. the other system never was this efficiant.

and all the air in to it is square on to it, so that is even better, i have not tried it at a track but i dont think i am going to have any problems.

[Granmas_car]

what water pump were you using chris? im planning on using an uprated electric water pump and my engine will be hammered for about 1/2 mile and then potter about back to the start gate again im also going to cut the rear floor about and cut the rear screen about im hoping for about 250hp without nos