184 replies to this topic

[McMini 22]

Looking good.
Your engine looks much higher than mine but it could be that my front cross beam is higher than yours.

Must be a coincidence that i have brought my speedo sensor in to modify today. I hope it's ok as at will be an engine out job to remove it.

[micraminiman]

Great minds..... as they say! lol

 

 Ive coated the top of mine with epoxy to seal the wires. Should give more clearance now.

 

 I made my crossmember lower than others so I could keep the hinge line for the flip front low, allowing it to hinge right forwards to vertical. Great idea, but now I have to cut the OS bottom bar and make the bend further back to clear the front panels bottom edge as it flips forward. Never thought of that until I tried it all on the other night!

 Theres about an inch and a half clearance under the bonnet to the front edge of the engine, and about an inch between the oil filler cap and the underneath of the bonnet. Benefits of no inner wings in the way for a look.

[micraminiman]

Delighted today, the Mgf exhaust manifold arrived home today, as did the Mpi Mini fuel tank.
Nearly have everything required to complete this conversion over the Winter now!
Still cost the better part of £1000 for it all mind you, including two new cheap welders. Don't tell the Wife tho.... lol

[McMini 22]

Great minds..... as they say! lol
 
 Ive coated the top of mine with epoxy to seal the wires. Should give more clearance now.
 
 I made my crossmember lower than others so I could keep the hinge line for the flip front low, allowing it to hinge right forwards to vertical. Great idea, but now I have to cut the OS bottom bar and make the bend further back to clear the front panels bottom edge as it flips forward. Never thought of that until I tried it all on the other night!
 Theres about an inch and a half clearance under the bonnet to the front edge of the engine, and about an inch between the oil filler cap and the underneath of the bonnet. Benefits of no inner wings in the way for a look.

Does lowering the front bar not throw your tie bar mounts a bit lower. Some move the position of these mounts bit when I ran a string through the middle of both the lower arm mounts on the original subframe it lined up perfectly with tie bar mount.

[l_jonez]

 

Great minds..... as they say! lol
 
 Ive coated the top of mine with epoxy to seal the wires. Should give more clearance now.
 
 I made my crossmember lower than others so I could keep the hinge line for the flip front low, allowing it to hinge right forwards to vertical. Great idea, but now I have to cut the OS bottom bar and make the bend further back to clear the front panels bottom edge as it flips forward. Never thought of that until I tried it all on the other night!
 Theres about an inch and a half clearance under the bonnet to the front edge of the engine, and about an inch between the oil filler cap and the underneath of the bonnet. Benefits of no inner wings in the way for a look.

Does lowering the front bar not throw your tie bar mounts a bit lower. Some move the position of these mounts bit when I ran a string through the middle of both the lower arm mounts on the original subframe it lined up perfectly with tie bar mount.

 

 

 

I was going to raise that point earlier but forgot,  now that the tie rods mountings are lower you will be twisting the lower arms  which will affect camber etc unless you are going to go for adjustable cranked tie rods? 

 

Also don't forget the speedo drive/sensor is the oil filling point and level check so either you need clearance to remove it or fill the oil before fitting the engine but that means the pot joints have to be installed and the make engine fitting a bit more awkward.

[McMini 22]

My gearbox has a plug at the front just next to the mounting bracket. Is that not for filling and level?

[micraminiman]

I havent changed the tie rod mounts position. They are the same as always, I just trimmed the top of them a bit more than normal. The bar sits 18mm lower than the top of the normal Mini subframe so no huge difference.

 

 Why is the speedo the fill point for the gearbox? There is a plug like normal on the front for filling and level check. Strange.....

 The sensor was modified to clear the bulkhead nicely, which it now does. If the bar above it needs to be changed to allow removal, then I will do it. I would like to give more clearance for that area anyway.

[Artstu]

My gearbox has a plug at the front just next to the mounting bracket. Is that not for filling and level?

 

Mine has too, I think the earlier gearboxes could only be filled via the speedo drive hole.

[micraminiman]

 

My gearbox has a plug at the front just next to the mounting bracket. Is that not for filling and level?

 

Mine has too, I think the earlier gearboxes could only be filled via the speedo drive hole.

 

 

That makes a wee bit of sense then. I Googled it and saw some of the Micra boys couldnt undo the fill plug and just removed the speedo sensor/drive to fill it.

  Im having a very love-hate relationship with the Mincer lately.

[McMini 22]

I checked that my filler plug could be removed before I painted the gearbox. Sometimes my forward thinking astounds me!
Then again that's probably the reason it's taken me a year and half to achieve what micraminiman has in I few months.

[Artstu]

I need to remove my fill plug and put some sort of sealant on, it's leaking after I removed it.

[micraminiman]

I checked that my filler plug could be removed before I painted the gearbox. Sometimes my forward thinking astounds me!
Then again that's probably the reason it's taken me a year and half to achieve what micraminiman has in I few months.

 

Your doing it right though, and Im just making a purge on the Mini before my yacht comes out the water for its Winter overhaul.

 I will strip and rebuild the whole engine and box after the conversion is finished and running/driving. All has to come apart for the final paint and clean before its finished.

 Artstu, maybe a wee bit of ptfe tape will do the job for you?

[l_jonez]

If you have the oil plug up front then it's happy days, not all boxes have them.

[micraminiman]

Thats the bits for the rear engine mount cut out and machined, ready to get welded up in position later on. Then I suppose its engine out the frame time AGAIN for welding all the mounts up fully and adding gussets to beef it all up.

Must go and make a set of plates to mount on the head front for slinging it better as well, leaning back a bit to make it easier to get in and out.

 

 Whats next after the engine is mounted? Im waiting on an inlet manifold coming from Fusion Fabs, so might start on the exhaust manifold.

[micraminiman]

Engine lift plates made now, ready to have some more fun this weekend.

They are 4mm thick plate bent at a right angle and M8 rigging eyes fitted at the top to accept rope or chain. Then I can adjust the angle of dangle by turning them one way or the other on the head to give more or less tilt back as required.