44 replies to this topic

[Mr Toakley]

Hello all,


Just joined up here and thought I would put up my build diary seeing as I'll be sticking around!!


I had a vtec mini a couple of years ago but then got a vauxhall engined one, a kind of surfy blue colour, it was featured in mini mag last year sometime with a vtec clubby you may remember it I don't know!


Anyway sorry about the masses of pics but this is the work we've done in the last couple of months, it's now back from the bodyshop and ready to be built up!


Sourced myself a new XE lump from Somerset, very nice in great nick and ready for modifying!
















































New ecu:






ARP Rod Bolts:




SBD:




























All the floor plating removed, absolute mess, ready for painting methinks!!

[Mr Toakley]

old paint job suddenly looks really good! (exhaust is now off too)





Flip front now removed and engine hoisted ready for driveshafts to come off:
















This is the part of the frame which is going to have to be slightly redesigned as the manifold currently completely gets in the way of it. It's going to be tricky to get the measurements exactly right but shouldn't be too much of a nightmare. I have also Spoken to zcars today who have 2.5" backboxes sitting on the shelf, they are centre exit though so they're just going to re-jig one to side exit for me which has cetainly saved a headache.







Few more bitties:

















Then a dash of engine cleaner and a tub of elbow grease:




Odd:




Bit messy:




Bit tidier:






AND LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS ADJUSTABLE!! LOL! goes to 600mm!!








New compact alternator:








We quickly lobbed the manifold on to measure it up, it hugs very nicely indeed to the engine, and is biiiiiig! It may be rather loud... :twisted:

[Mr Toakley]

We quickly lobbed the manifold on to measure it up, it hugs very nicely indeed to the engine, and is biiiiiig! It may be rather loud... :twisted:






The silver bar on the left, used to look like the right hand one:










Like a glove!!




Loads of room for the radiator too, well chuffed!




New sterring wheel















Ready to go!







Next to start on the engine, fitted the ARP rod bolts today being as careful as a mouse!








Very clean and no wears marks at all, spot on!:










All clean and back together ready for a bit of lacquer:




New GP wing mirrors, a test fit has proved successful










Had to tape it all up because it was RAINING!

[Mr Toakley]

Below are some pictures of the alternator bracket we made, consiating of three seperate pieces altogether. We wanted to make sure it was easy to adjust and easy to change a belt on it which is why we created a sliding mechanism so fine adjustments can be made and there's also enough room to use some washers if we need to align it up more but we won't know until it's running!














Sits nice a tidy and plenty of room for the manifold!





Now for the fun bit!



















Fuel rail and injectors fitted:

[Mr Toakley]

And the Air Filter, last but not least!














Speedo sensor for the Digidash has been installed on the driveshaft with a bracket we made up:



Back view of engine and speedo sensor visible





And cleaned up the thermostat housing and removed the thermostat





Right then moved onto some electronic things today for a change of scenery!















Cut into the fuel tank:




And all fitted! A test with the digidash has confirmed it all works fine. The fuel level gauge comes up on the LED display as a percentage (e.g. 75%) which is quite a cool little touch.






We decided to hook up the Digidash to a battery and connect the sensors to the engine to check we were getting correct signals through and to just have a play around with it:


Check out this vid I uploaded quickly of the dash starting up, Knightrider all the way baby yeah!!!

http://s6.photobucke...¤t=KIF_5562.flv

































I find the advice sheet that came with it rather hilarious... do you think these pictures are to scale?

[Mr Toakley]

On another note here's what we did do tonight, removing chrome evidence!!:



Headlight surrounds:






Grille:





One bumper and the Cibies (they are about 30 years old now! LOL!

[Mr Toakley]

Took the gear linkage apart and gave it a bit of black




Door/Window strips, now black!





And the cage now repainted:

[Mr Toakley]

More or less current state:

[Bounce]

Well done Mr. Toakley! Looks like your ready to bolt it all back together!

Was that a Quaife ATB i spied?? You must have more money than sence! (Im only jelous!) Thats a lovely set of ITB's you have as well. Do you have to make up your own linkage or do they come with some?

Final question. Do you fancy taking her to the 'Ring this year??

[looneyfitter]

Hi, im new to the site. Your build looks good, alot of work gone in there. Im currently researching converting a mini 1000 round nose w reg. to a c20xe. Could i ask where did you get your sub-frame from? what came with the kit and how much?

Edited by looneyfitter, 28 March 2007 - 07:51 PM.

[marc]

That looks awesome!! So jealous! I want!

Looks like a homemade subframe to me?

[Mr Toakley]

Thanks for the replies, sorry this page takes ages to load up because I've put so many pics up, sorry admin!


The best online place to take a look at is 16v Mini Shop Website as they can supply you a good frame for masses of conversions.

Was that a Quaife ATB i spied

Yarp, there's a seller on migweb forums, and I got it for a great price!

set of ITB's you have as well. Do you have to make up your own linkage or do they come with some?

No the kit I bought from SBD was the 208 Taper Throttle Kit they do, comes with everything to ger her running. The manifold in the above pictures is also from SBD to go with the kit, we've just got to make an exhaust that fits now!

Looks like a homemade subframe to me?

It's actually neither, and both. . It's an AMT subframe, but it's been modified to accept the manifold that I've got!


Bounce I'll check out that ring trip thing type thingy because it sounds like a mental laugh, I'm also going to Le Mans in it this year if there's an annual miniforum gethering down there at all??..


Sorry, only have BW pictures sorted right now, but we measured and levelled 2 bits of square piping to accept the bucket seats, and has worked well:

[Jammy]

Jesus, this is quite an awesome project! I actually had a look at this yesterday, but came back to it again today after it all loaded up. Those last few shots are real nice!

And yea, get your self on the BH2N!! Its the ONLY way to show off a new project like this!

[The Matt]

Well, what a minter of a project! Can't wait to see the bad boy finished!

[$way]

this is a wicked project. well done sir.

the car looks very tidy indeed.

J