78 replies to this topic

[Thelooneytuner]

Hello everyone, I'm Russ from Sheffield. I'm an auto electrician by trade but do alot of motorsport work with my best mate.

Previously put a vvc lump in a mini and this is now my 4th mini at 21 ;)

So here goes

Originally a 1978 1275 GT, bought it off a guy in Doncaster who had done a hell of a lot of work on it. First job is to finish the shell off :).

Then eventually i'm going to get cracking and fit a 1.4 k series with a turbo running a bar of boost to start with which should see 200bhpish

Anyway lets go!

Special Delivery ;)



And some pics of the first day of arrival

Edited by Thelooneytuner, 01 September 2012 - 06:11 PM.

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Ohhhh nice. R65 or PG1? Looks a tidy shell too

[Thelooneytuner]

Just realised the one in the back of the van is one of my previous shells..... oops

Anyway, this weekend was spent mostly working out what needs what on the shell. Some panels need the welds tidying up and the floorpans need properley fitting.
Just other bits and bobs really but spent an hour finishing off the rear quarters welding

Was also planning on lengths of CDS needed to build a cage , oh and spent a good hour bolting the pipe bender to the unit floor haha

[Thelooneytuner]

Ohhhh nice. R65 or PG1? Looks a tidy shell too

Undecided yet to be honest, having a good weigh up of the pros and cons

Very tidy shell! came with reskinned doors too and all the panels to finish. Just needs some untidy welding sorting and some unfinished welding

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

R65 would be ideal for the 1.4, nice short ratios. Which loom and subby are you going for? MEMS 1.9 Rover 214 16v will be going in my Minbin, no worries on loom conversions on an mpi metro loom then.

Interested in this build, keep the updates coming!

[Thelooneytuner]

I'm hopefully going for the r65 as then I can use the whole metro running gear.
It will be running the metro frame so seems daft to start switching things.

As for the loom it will be using a standalone ecu so I will be making up one of my looms :)

[charie t]

200hp on a r65, box is smaller but will be pushing its boundarys, the pg1 can take more but is bigger, also lsd easier to get hold of for the pg1 making traction a little easier with that power
Look forward to the progress

Edited by charie t, 30 April 2012 - 09:43 PM.

[Thelooneytuner]

Agreed, I went pg1 on my vvc conversion and it didn't cause too much hassle to fit. I prefer the r65 due to ease and ratios but is it really worth the problems reliability wise.

Hence the reason in having a good think about it

[MiniLandy]

...also lsd easier to get hold of for the pg1 making traction a little easier with that power

People say this a lot, but when you try and track one down, they aren't exactly common.

Interesting build, look forward to see how you fit it all in!

[charie t]

depends where you look.

[Thelooneytuner]

Ive already seen a few as ive been snooping :)

Anyway just an update, been busy at work so not had much time to work on mini but been and picked up a metro gti subby today :)

The whole running gear £50 Bargain!!!!

[Thelooneytuner]

Had a fair crack at it today, decided to strip the subframe down bare so I can shotblast a few bits and fit some new bushes etc.

We made a couple of side mount plates up for the fitting of the frame seems to be sat nicely. Just need to finish the welding now before it gets permanantly fitted.

So whipped the plates back off so they can get cleaned up.

Lovely template ;)






Seems to be sat right, what do you guys think?

[charie t]

how does it sit with the floor on the car?
As you look from the front, look down to see if it sits loower or higher than the car

Edited by charie t, 07 May 2012 - 09:16 PM.

[Thelooneytuner]

I believ it sits a tad higher. It's not far off to be honest nice and snug with a 1mm difference on the left to right measuring on the bulkhead height wise but I'm sure that can be sorted when its refitted

[jonny f]

Looks like a good project, is the valance not welded on properly? looks a bit off in this picture!