90 replies to this topic

[Howzter]

Howzter would you like me to split this threads and make your it into your own project thread?

Hi miniboo,
Yer please, if you could, that would be great

Seeing as miniboo has very kindly split the thread for me, thankyou miniboo.........i'll give a rundown on what ive done so far.

3" roof chop ( 3" at front 1 1/2" at rear.....to level up the roof )
Fully deseamed
Spaceframe chassis within the original body, which is now a bathtub type affair
cut outs for gullwing doors - doors to follow!
17" alloys
stock wide arch mini wheelarches extended 6" !! But they need modifying
Fully fitted 2.5 V6 - But its coming out this week, because ive had a funny turn and want a V8 now!

Been chatting to a couple of people in the know the last few days, and they have given me a pretty good idea of how to go about the change, just trying to source parts now. But in the meantime i will be getting it all back on a roller without the V6 in ther, ready to fabricate the new mountings for the V8.

Also, a friend of a friend is known to have a f**k off big supercharger! with all the modified components to go with it.......what do you reckon??!!

[PoLonY]

seriously why not stick with the V6 and supercharge that?less weight and suspension issues and will still F*&k off!!

[ed4ran]

Because the gearbox makes it hard to tune the engine successfully due to the ecu controlling the Auto gearbox.

[Howzter]

Because the gearbox makes it hard to tune the engine successfully due to the ecu controlling the Auto gearbox.

EXACTLY! Cant remember how many people i have spoken to about getting the V6 running well........its just one big headache, and an expensive one at that!

[PoLonY]

ok so its an auto gearbox, didn't know that, my bad...

still i would rather find another V6, like a VR6 or something and use that - in my opinion a V8 although amazing, will present such huge engineering and suspension headaches on its own that it would cease to be fun...everything is set up for a V6 so i would jus look at getting another one with a manual box...

jus my 2c...

[Howzter]

V8mini
nice looking project,
depending on what your after a V8 might not be the best choice, the Rover lump in particular. you don't get a lot of power for the cc's compared to some modern engines with out spending loads. i think I'll be lucky to see 180BHP out of my 3.5 V8, plus using the Austin princess gearbox like I've used needs custom adapter plates and crank flywheel adapter making, plus they are getting rare now and not too sure how long it will last with the extra power through it.
if you could find a V8 and gearbox as a package like your V6 is, that would probably be the best starting point.
if i was doing mine again i would probably give the V8 a miss and use a Honda Vtec or similar, unless your really after the sound


Hi V8 mini,
Cheers for the input, i agree with what your saying about the modern engines, but after hearing yours in the vid, that was it. Ive now found out about the princess gearbox (i new nothing at the begining of the week) and it seems to be a pretty robust piece of engineering, spoken to a chap who thinks it can withstand a fair bit of power. And yes, it will be expensive to get the V8 running bigish BHP.............but i think i am that stupid enough to spend, spend, spend!!......going to see a bloke over the weekend that ran a rover V8 in a grasstracker, he has a audi quattro lump now, so has a garage full of V8 spares and a blower!!......If the blowers nice and shiney........im 100% going for the conversion!

[Howzter]

ok so its an auto gearbox, didn't know that, my bad...

still i would rather find another V6, like a VR6 or something and use that - in my opinion a V8 although amazing, will present such huge engineering and suspension headaches on its own that it would cease to be fun...everything is set up for a V6 so i would jus look at getting another one with a manual box...

jus my 2c...

I relish a challenge............keeps me brain active (of what little ther is!) Yes its not the easiet route to take........but i think it suits the car.................never forgive meself if i took the easy way out. I'll put me engineering hat on for the coming month, see where i get.

[PoLonY]

well good luck then, im gonna watch this with alot of interest:)

[chairchild]

First thing I can suggest, is to add some cross-bracing to your front subframe section, just to add that extra needed stiffness to it, I'd also add some extra supports to those upper suspension wishbones, as they just seem to be supported on 2 small points at the very front. There's a good chance it may work, but there's just as much chance that it may just fall off at the first small pebble in the road!

And seeing as though you've removed the sloped sections of the footwells, you may find that you wont have any actual footroom. So a possible idea would be to remove the seat locking bars, and fix the seats down behind the crossmember, making the crossmember a partial leg-rest. Also has the added bonus of lowering your seating position substantially!

What sort of steering arrangement where you planning on using? It may be possible to utilsie a standard mini rack+ column, but only if you raise it up by around 7" to level out the column


Looks like an interesting project though

[Howzter]

First thing I can suggest, is to add some cross-bracing to your front subframe section, just to add that extra needed stiffness to it, I'd also add some extra supports to those upper suspension wishbones, as they just seem to be supported on 2 small points at the very front. There's a good chance it may work, but there's just as much chance that it may just fall off at the first small pebble in the road!

And seeing as though you've removed the sloped sections of the footwells, you may find that you wont have any actual footroom. So a possible idea would be to remove the seat locking bars, and fix the seats down behind the crossmember, making the crossmember a partial leg-rest. Also has the added bonus of lowering your seating position substantially!

What sort of steering arrangement where you planning on using? It may be possible to utilsie a standard mini rack+ column, but only if you raise it up by around 7" to level out the column


Looks like an interesting project though

Hi Chairchild,
Thanks for looking and having some input. The front end isnt finished yet, didnt want to start triangulating it until i know exactly where the coilovers will sit. Ive got a ford puma steering rack which sits in ther pretty good, once all the main components are in i will brace and web all of the vunerable areas.............hopefully by the end of the week, i'll stick another pic up. As for the seats, i havnt even started to looking yet..............know what u mean about having them back tho, really need them as low as poss, the 3" roof chop makes a hell of a difference for head room. I know a chap who does fibreglass and carbon fibre seats, if ive got the wedge at the time, i may go for some custom made ones!!

[chairchild]

what I described for the seats, it exactly what I'll be doing - but I'll be using standard seats (hey, I just like the look of them, and they're the original ones too) which will have modified lower sections, so they'll sit lower down - gonna swap the crossmember around though, so the standard mounts will be on the back of it. It needs to come off, so it's not as if it's going to be anymore work for me

lol, and I was REALLY hoping that was the reply I'd get regarding the front subframe. But then again, there are people out there who would honestly think that was enough bracing



but as for the interior - is it going to be stripped-out, or are you gonna use the extra available power, and turn it into a high-comfort, sound-deadened, luxury-mobile?

[Howzter]

I used to work for a tooling firm, we made tooling for car intieriors including bentley, jag etc etc........... So i think id be silly not to make it a bit plush, put some of me old knowledge back into use!

I know me mini isnt gonna be the quickest, so im not too concerned about what weight im adding..........my goal for this one is to make it look good, sound good and go with a little bit of sauce.

May not create luxury.......but it will definatly be comfortable, because i want to go to lemans and other such events in it in the future.....................dont really want helicopter style radio systems to talk to me passenger!! lol

[chairchild]

have you thought about supercharging/turbo'ing it?

[Howzter]

have you thought about supercharging/turbo'ing it?

Yeh, i mentioned it further back in the thread...............was going to see a chap last weekend, but couldnt make it.............hes got a garage full of V8 bits, including a blower. Dont know what make or what condition yet, but hopefully i will contact him soon.

[chairchild]

well, let me know if he has any other RV8 bit's he might have to sell

especially if he's got an SD1 rear axle, and an R380 gearbox - really need these parts