165 replies to this topic

[Dale_]

Hello, really quick question what year micra has the best engine in to do the conversion? This build looks awesome! And has really swayed me into doing this with my mini! Thanks :)

[l_jonez]

Depends... Personally I'd stick to a 1.3 and not bother with the 1.0 in which case find a pre 96 car as it won't have the nats anti theft system ( Nat's is a pain to bypass).

[StewartB]

Hello, really quick question what year micra has the best engine in to do the conversion? This build looks awesome! And has really swayed me into doing this with my mini! Thanks :)

i believe they remained mostly unchanged (excluding nats), im using a 99 donor and cant see nats being an issue, went with a later car due to lower milage whereas the earlier ones i seen were either done up in classic chav style so i assumed engine will have been abused or super high milage ones

[Dale_]

I'm going to get hunting!! oh any help would be very much appreciated :)

[al_reidy]

All I can say is drive it first. No NATS is definitely better and simpler. However if you don't mind an aftermarket ecu a newer facelift engine would be better I think.
Or hack out and use the imobiliser ring and loom from the micra.
I must say its a lot of fun, knowing the engine is far more robust and turn key reliable makes the whole mini feel more fun to use.

[Dale_]

All I can say is drive it first. No NATS is definitely better and simpler. However if you don't mind an aftermarket ecu a newer facelift engine would be better I think.
Or hack out and use the imobiliser ring and loom from the micra.
I must say its a lot of fun, knowing the engine is far more robust and turn key reliable makes the whole mini feel more fun to use.

Any idea what the 0-60 times are?
What sort of horse power are the engines?
And is there ALOT of work involved?

[Down&Out]

 

All I can say is drive it first. No NATS is definitely better and simpler. However if you don't mind an aftermarket ecu a newer facelift engine would be better I think.
Or hack out and use the imobiliser ring and loom from the micra.
I must say its a lot of fun, knowing the engine is far more robust and turn key reliable makes the whole mini feel more fun to use.

Any idea what the 0-60 times are?
What sort of horse power are the engines?
And is there ALOT of work involved?

 

 

I can answer the HP, 75 ish as standard (for the 1275), which is what a mk3 cooper S  used to kick out, with a decent air filter and exhaust you're apparently looking at around the 100hp mark. Which when you consider the Micra engine is reportedly just over half the weight of a mini engine, you'd be getting about 160bhp per tonne minimum.

 

I cannot prove any of this with accurate evidence but this is just what i've gleamed from other projects and google searching. When you consider donor costs and benefits, its almost the best engine conversion in my eyes.

Edited by Down&Out, 05 November 2014 - 11:19 PM.

[al_reidy]

I'm hoping to use my mates corner weight scales to aid the suspension setup at the weekend. That will give a car total weight to help with calculations.
It is definitely lighter than the a-series though as I'm currently on hi-lo's with then at the lowest it will go and it's still got loads to travel! Plus the handling is far better, much less understeer and that's with awful suspension settings.

[al_reidy]

still attempting to make the wheels point in the right direction... however this was an interesting measurement :

 

 IMG_1954.jpg   63.74K   75 downloads

 

[Artstu]

Nicely balanced, and amazingly light too.

[al_reidy]

I can make it further balanced, I'm going to sit in it and do the setup then.
This is a road going mini with full interior and full of dynamat sound proofing.
Full tank of fuel also.
Only missing the washer bottle.

[Down&Out]

Does the dynamat actually make a difference to road noise?

[al_reidy]

yeah, i was going to add dynapad also. dynamat was great on the roof and wheel arches as it cuts the tinniness / dulls out the noise. changing its pitch to be lower.

im also going to wrap the inlet manifold in it i think. might help with the whistling.

[joakwin]

Can you post up a picture of how you did the mini slave mount for the clutch

[al_reidy]

its a very tight gap, if you need further info let me know. perhaps a small video in action might be better?

 

 wilwood1.jpg   31.54K   79 downloads

 wilwood2.jpg   51.95K   72 downloads

 wilwood3.jpg   51.5K   59 downloads

 wilwood4.jpg   49.97K   60 downloads

 

 

plus i managed to get the interior to look like a normal mini with all the instruments doing what they should

ECU hidden under the dash.

 interior.jpg   44.54K   56 downloads

Edited by al_reidy, 11 November 2014 - 08:50 PM.