329 replies to this topic

[KieranB]

Cheers Dougie, long time no speak, how are you?

 

Ye if you do decide on honda then i've got plenty of stuff to help you out. saying that i've probably got plenty of documents etc that will help you decide whether or not to go for Honda :)

 

I would quite like a bike engined mini but i think it would purely be for the sequential gears. If i did something else it would be a K20 in the boot.

 

Let us know what you decide on, you've just got your mini MOT'd haven't you?

 

Kieran

[dougie1142]

Im not bad thanks, how are you doing? This is a nice change from the Punto haha!

 

Anything to help would be greatly appreciated, i'm wanting to get kicked off in the next couple of months max, need to find a garage for it first, you renting a lock up?

 

The sequential gears and the weight/size enticed me with the bike, but now seeing yours and hearing opinions again i'm tempted to do  a b16! The price difference seems very significant as well.

 

Yup, but it needs so much work, I want to start from scratch again basically, so many things i'm not happy with. And I don't want to rush it this time, I was in a bit of a rush last time and it shows in areas.

 

Dougie

[KieranB]

Ye good thanks, haha i do miss the good old Punto, wish i had it rather than the Pug but never mind.

 

Can you Pm me your email address, i'll send you a couple of guides etc which will show you the basics of how to do the conversion, it will give you an idea of various different things to consider.

 

Nah its my own garage which is part of my house, i bought the house just over a year ago now, it isnt a great garage and i have plans to knock it down and rebuild once the mini is finished but it does me for now.

 

I'm starting to rush a bit on this build which is annoying me but thankfully money is limiting me so its nice to get stuff at the start of the month and then spend the next 3 weeks perfecting it.

 

Kieran

[dougie1142]

Wow you bought a house, that's amazing! Congrats on that. I would kill to have my own house with a garage, and have it exactly the way I want with tools where and how I want them.

 

I'll PM you my address now, much appreciated man.

 

Dougie

[KieranB]

Haha cheers, its my other on-going project, theres an album on facebook of the devistation. I would love to have all my tools in the garage but i just cant bring myself to leave them in there.

 

I got your message cheers, when i get home i'll email you

[dougie1142]

Got the email, much appreciated. Problem i'm going to run into with the Vtec over the bike engine is that i'm insisting on running 10's, I have driven 10's and 13's and I couldn't face going to 13's. So doing a lot of research just now regarding final drives etc. I think if I keep running my sticky Yoko's, and then get some 7.9" brakes, coupled with a 3.4 or less final drive it should be good. Getting a custom FD made is gonna be expensive though, so maybe another option is do get a D-series? I think lower FD's are a lot cheaper and readily available in real life, plus the engines are much cheaper. Would I be happy with a D-series instead of a B-series though?

 

Hmmmmm, decisions.

[KieranB]

Final drive mods are quite expensive, i was gonna do mine on this engine but its gonna have to wait until i enter stage 3 of my build ;)

 

As for D series vs B series the only thing i can recommend is try get a shot/lift in either ones. I will be heading to scotland in mine sometime in August/September so you are more than welcome to try mine out, its just a case of finding a D series mini. Some D series engines still come with vtec so you will get a slightly more driveable car with plenty of power.

 

At the end of the day its your car and your money, if it was me (and this is kinda what i'm doing anyway) i would do the conversion and run 12's, see how it goes and then when money allows do some tweaks to make it perfect.

 

Kieran

[dougie1142]

Yeah, I found a company selling FD's for B series, they are about £300-500, which on a build that is going to be done over some length of time isn't that unworldly to be honest. I think I might just bite the bullet and do it, I want a faster Mini, without spending thousands upgrading my injection A-series, I want reliable, usable & friendly power from a Honda engine. At the same time i'm not going to just be building it to make it faster, the bodywork on mine needs done again, improved on last time in many areas which I just didn't have time to do back then. Also getting a chance at a new suspension and geo setup is just what it needs, it's all loose and rattly at the moment and it's driving me crazy! I know there aren't many conversions out there on 10's, some people have done it and suffered with the unusable 1st & 2nd gears, but I think if I put the work into it I can get one of the few ones that are usable. Exciting stuff! And your build, and a few others have definitely inspired me to do it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when it's all done..

 

Dougie

[KieranB]

Got a small update, a kid came up to me in the garage today and was like "Is that a Honda engine?" to which I replied yes and his response was "That's very cool, you're in here all the time aren't you?". He pretty much summed up my life

 

Anyway since we last spoke i managed to get a hold of a grill for a good price and it was just down the road from me so managed to get that on tonight

 

 

Quite pleased with it, it will look a bit better when i spray the front end. I then decided the alternator needs a lick of paint, it was doing my nut in sat there all mucky especially next to the shiny exhaust. Put some matt black high temp paint and polished up the heat shield bit. I know its gonna be hidden behind the grill but its nice to know it'll look good when the front gets pulled off

 

 

 

And then I started hunting for arch liners, i didnt really want to spend any money on them because no matter what I got it would need modifying and chopping up. So I spoke to the guy with the V8 MR2 and he didn't have any spare BUT he gave me these

 

 

Its a boot liner with the recess for a full size spare wheel. So set about cutting, shaping and attaching them to the car

 

 

They don't look too bad actually, they are by no means a work of art but function over aesthetics besides you don't see them much and and they protect all the bits I don't want water to get on. And the best bit is they were free

 

Should be ordering some bits next weekend with a bit of luck. Can't wait to get the front end sprayed now.

 

Kieran

Edited by KieranB, 20 June 2013 - 07:03 AM.

[johny:)]

Looks like she is cuming together now Kieran it won't be long untill you are on the road top work as well well done

[KieranB]

Cheers bud, ye shouldnt be long now its just funds that are limiting my progress. Should be on the road mid/end of august. Just in time for the good weather to finish 

 

Oh did you get my PM i sent you about the exhaust?

Edited by KieranB, 21 June 2013 - 12:44 PM.

[dougie1142]

Knowing UK's luck, the good weather will just be starting then..

[thelegg]

Knowing UK's luck, the good weather will just be starting then..

This is the UK lol the word "Good" should never be put in a sentence describing our weather

 

Also great work with those arch covers

Edited by thelegg, 23 June 2013 - 11:52 AM.

[KieranB]

I think this thread has jinxed the weather  

 

Update time, i have been working on the car quite a bit in between enjoying the amazing weather. Firstly i wanted to get my old clock back on the car but I've used up all the space on the dash so took an idea from my mates capri.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks quite smart, its made from pine on the face then metal plates welded together and screwed onto the wooden face. It's also been wrapped in carbon fiber to tidy it up a bit. Next was to sort out all my carpet etc, so got some carpet from minisport and a roll from ebay and some spray glue

 

 

 

Lets be honest, carpet isn't very exciting

 

Also got my dash wrapped in carbon fiber 

 

 

 

 

Also arches, this was by far the hardest decision to go for. I like the miglia wide arches but they wouldn't look good with my wheels so in the end I settled on slightly wider group 2 but also kept my sportspack rear arches, looks quite good

 

 

Next photo shows the start of the painting as well

 

 

 

I only got one can of paint to check how it look, it wasn't so bad so ordered more and got the front painted today

 

 

 

 

 

And that is about it really. Get paid again next week so will buy all the remaining bits and hopefully doors I aim on getting the MOT done in about 5 weeks time......

 

Kieran

[thelegg]

amazing how much better it looks with some paint on well done mate