305 replies to this topic

[Down&Out]

nice looking mini i think you should have made it look totally standard with a vtec so you could shock a few chavs at the lights

[Chris C]

standard front, no badges, nothing fancy. will look like any other sportspack-styled mini. no mention of what lurks underneath haha.

and no real updates at the moment, a few little things but i need to accomplish something major (like finishing that trunk). i hate grinding in there. after i finish this welding work, i dont ever want to overhead weld or grind again. i think i ruined 3 shirts? with big burn holes in them.

[grasstrackmini]

hi mate that mini looks mint cant wait to see it finished it makes me want a road mini unfortunately im only 14 so ive got 3 years to wait lol oh well ive got my autograss mini so im nearly there keep us updated

[Down&Out]

im 14 too and i have 2 minis ill add ya matey

[MB1380]

UPDATES

Intake manifold is almost finished, credit goes to my dad for all that hard work

Im just wondering what size pipe are you using here as i am going to do the same myself, and do they have a 90 degree bend on them too ya?

[crispy]

Hey, I'm a new poster here, this one's the very first post!

I just wanted to say that is coming together AWESOME, great read, I'm bookmarking this for reference when I get home.

~Chris

[Down&Out]

welcome to the madhouse mr. crispy

[BigRed8]

Hi,
Chris' dad here. Since the manifold has been mostly my sub-project, and since Chris has been fully occupied for the last month with finishing high school and getting ready to go to University in the Fall, I thought I'd respond to MB1380's question.

The tubing we used are 1 3/4" 90 degree SAMCO silicon hoses from sporthoses.com. This was the second set of tubes we bought, having tried the 45 degree tubes specified by MiniTec. Modifying the manifold has been a major project and we had to deviate significantly from the instructions provided by MiniTec to make it fit. There was no way we could make the manifold fit with the 45 degree tubes. Even with the 90 degree bend tubing and the drastically cut away intake runners we have had to notch the box section of the firewall to provide clearance. Everything is a VERY tight fit - notice that the runners on the throttle body side of the manifold are cut in alternating long and short lengths. This was necessary so the hose clamps could be staggered slightly because the there isn't room between the tubes to fit two hose clamps side by side.

Here are a few updated pictures of the (nearly) complete manifold installed on the engine. We fabricated the aluminum brace in front to connect the two sections of the manifold (so it's not just the silicon tubing holding it together). The brace also provides a mount for the relocated throttle cable and fuel injector wiring.

We're not exactly sure how well this contorted manifold is going to work when we get it running. We've tried to keep the interior of the runners as smooth as possible and are keeping our fingers crossed.

Stay tuned and we'll let you know how it works out...

Attached Files

•  Mini_Manifold_1_w.gif   163.17K   167 downloads
•  Mini_Manifold_2_w.gif   160.61K   129 downloads
•  Mini_Manifold_3_w.gif   157.26K   100 downloads
•  Mini_Manifold_4_w.gif   176.78K   155 downloads
•  Mini_Manifold_5_w.gif   168.66K   94 downloads

Edited by BigRed8, 02 June 2008 - 04:26 AM.

[PhotoguyUSA]

Chris,
Its been awhile........project is looking fantastic. Let me know when is running so we can meet up sometime.
Lyle

[Chris C]

Wow, it has been a while.

I really just haven't touched the thing in months, my dad has been working away on the plumbing however.

I honestly just got kind of burnt out on it. I bought an old bug as a daily driver (blasphemous, i know) and i finished up high school and leave for oregon late september.

I started working full time in a hot rod shop, however, which has opened up access for all kinds of neat tools (mill, tig welder, mandrel bender, etc.) and its made me want to up my quality level more, after seeing some of the $200,000 pieces of rolling artwork that come into the shop.

expect big things in the near future.

[mini lover]

where did u get the front subby

[Chris C]

it's a minitec d-series subframe.

http://www.superfast...s.com/index.htm

haven't done much, my bug is being difficult as of the late and since that is my daily driver it is my priority unfortunately

[jordie 08]

hi mate that mini looks mint cant wait to see it finished it makes me want a road mini unfortunately im only 14 so ive got 3 years to wait lol oh well ive got my autograss mini so im nearly there keep us updated

im 15 and have 4 minis that were on the road,some getting light restoration
thats realy good lookin project you got there,you tempt me with a v-tec now

[BigRed8]

Hello, Chris’ dad again,

Well the chief mechanic on the 73 mini VTEC project (Chris) has been off at college in Oregon since September. The garage owner (me) is continuing to work on it at a limited pace as time allows.

Some progress was made over the past few months, including:
1) Installation of intake manifold and air intake.
2) Plumbing of clutch and front half of the brake system.
3) Mounting the radiator and plumbing the cooling system.
4) Fabrication of dash and installation of gauges, switches, and lights.
5) Modification and installation of shift linkage and shifter.

Over the next couple of weeks I will post individual updates with photos for each of the above steps. I will do my best to update this thread more timely as further progress is made. Hopefully our experiences with this D-series motor conversion will be of use to some of you.
Stay tuned, John

[BigRed8]

Installation of intake manifold.

Our adventures in modifying the intake manifold and getting it to fit have been covered in previous posts and most of the installation was covered in my June 1st update. The last couple of steps were to route the throttle cable and fuel injector wiring. As part of the brace that holds the two halves of the intake manifold we attached a bracket for the adjuster on the engine end of the throttle cable. The plastic casing that routes the fuel injector wiring now sits above the injector rail and is connected at the same points that the injector rail mounts to the manifold bracket.

 Manifold_Throttle_103.jpg   899.15K   48 downloads

We used a standard Honda civic cable and fabricated an end piece to mount the cable housing where it passes through the firewall so that there is a straight run for the cable to the end of the shortened Lokar aluminum throttle pedal.
 Manifold_Throttle_204.jpg   573.6K   56 downloads

Like I said before we have no idea what the power characteristics of our "folded in half" manifold will be but everything fits and everything appears to work.

Edited by BigRed8, 15 November 2008 - 01:33 PM.