Mini Clubman 1795cc (yes you read that right)

[xkjagnz]

Get one of these

Chuck this bit away

Get one of these

Polish the inside of it a bit

Stick it in here

Uprate these a bit

Drill some holes in this

Stick some of these on

Take some pictures 

Put it on TradeMe

Job done

[somewhatfoolish]

Not a mini; fast I'm sure but unless there's a crappy siamese port OHV head and a sump full of gears it's not a mini any more than those Jag Mk2 shells with X306 innards are Jag Mk2s. Most vestiges of the original vehicle are gone leaving an unsatisfactory pastiche with awful ergonomics, which is apparently very popular and people will fork over £££ for it but it's still a load of pony in the same vein as ironic beards, check shirts and drinking beer out of jam jars.

[wuvvum]

Hopefully he sold the engine to an Allegro owner.  Seeing a Mini engine-raped to get an Allegro back on the road would restore a modicum of equilibrium to the cosmos.

[big_al_granvia]

Not bad. Good to see a modified clubman

[Crackers]

I'd drive that,

a) because childish lol

b) to upset all the purists

c) really slowly to Tesco 

 

 

[New POD]

For every planned mental conversion, that goes well, there's another 10 that are still unfinished 10 years later. 

That looks great.  

[High Jetter]

Yea, if it worked?

[sloth]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Not a mini; fast I'm sure but unless there's a crappy siamese port OHV head and a sump full of gears it's not a mini any more than those Jag Mk2 shells with X306 innards are Jag Mk2s. Most vestiges of the original vehicle are gone leaving an unsatisfactory pastiche with awful ergonomics, which is apparently very popular and people will fork over £££ for it but it's still a load of pony in the same vein as ironic beards, check shirts and drinking beer out of jam jars.

says mini on it, looks like a mini and is a mini. therefore mini. just cos it has a honda engine, doesnt make it a mini.  does that make heart transplant receivers not the same person any more? should we call em "bob smith & dave turps" as its now 2 people?

 

didnt think so.

[xkjagnz]

Well engineered and 194 bhp

I'd drive it (once) 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Looks a very nice job to me. No alloy window winders/headlamp peaks/pissing on a BMW logo sticker either. Just a Mini, but better

[GrumpiusMaximus]

10 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Not a mini; fast I'm sure but unless there's a crappy siamese port OHV head and a sump full of gears it's not a mini any more than those Jag Mk2 shells with X306 innards are Jag Mk2s. Most vestiges of the original vehicle are gone leaving an unsatisfactory pastiche with awful ergonomics, which is apparently very popular and people will fork over £££ for it but it's still a load of pony in the same vein as ironic beards, check shirts and drinking beer out of jam jars.

*Checks comments on Project Binky*

[UltraWomble]

Bet it was quicker to nail together than Binky too....

Ive commented before that Binky should really go on a Q plate but I bet it wont.

[OwdChina]

A buddy of mine in California imported 6 mini's from Australia, then built 5 all standard show cars with them (sold them) and with the sixth one decided to do something of a sleeper. I drove this thing around the Temecula hills one day...........fookin fast is understated.

 

[warch]

I don't think a 1800 VTEC and box weigh much more than the (sodding heavy for what it is) A series so it shouldn't be too dynamically challenged. Does it have to have different suspension and hubs too?

I can't get used to any Mini which doesn't have a choke start (I used two clothes pegs on mine to hold the choke on until it had warmed up as the mechanism holding it out no longer did so).

[OwdChina]

10 minutes ago, warch said:

I don't think a 1800 VTEC and box weigh much more than the (sodding heavy for what it is) A series so it shouldn't be too dynamically challenged. Does it have to have different suspension and hubs too?

I can't get used to any Mini which doesn't have a choke start (I used two clothes pegs on mine to hold the choke on until it had warmed up as the mechanism holding it out not longer did so).

Yup, everything was uprated, except the interior which is still standard, as is the exterior bodywork............. bar the arch flairs and wheels..........wolf in sheeps clothing, oh yes......and a bit more.

Oddly i was thinking of this vehicle a few days back, next time i'm in Cali i'm gonna see if he wants to sell.

[big_al_granvia]

There is a company that builds custom gearboxes for the mini convertors. Seen a few with the Honda vtec  from type r fitted. Scary fast

[Fumbler]

I'd be interested to see how a 3-pot Ecoboost engine would fis inside a Mini. In doing that one might be able to keep the wheels inboard as standard. No idea if that's practical though.

[Spurious]

3 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

I'd be interested to see how a 3-pot Ecoboost engine would fis inside a Mini. In doing that one might be able to keep the wheels inboard as standard. No idea if that's practical though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the marketing things for the ecoboost 1l when it first came out that the block would fit on the footprint of a A4 piece of paper?

[warch]

Apparently there is a FWD conversion using the engine out of a Yamaha R1 if you need something smaller and more sensible.

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, Spurious said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't one of the marketing things for the ecoboost 1l when it first came out that the block would fit on the footprint of a A4 piece of paper?

If that's true, then one of those engines and an end-on gearbox might just fit  perfectly in a Mini.

[Spurious]

8 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

If that's true, then one of those engines and an end-on gearbox might just fit  perfectly in a Mini.

Someone fit a block in a carry on bag so there might be some truth to it now that I've been on the google machine

 

[Fumbler]

Nicely done.

[New POD]

This is autoshite, surely we should be looking at 3 pot dihatsu diesel engines from the 90s as the way forward? 

[Spurious]

2 minutes ago, New POD said:

This is autoshite, surely we should be looking at 3 pot dihatsu diesel engines from the 90s as the way forward? 

I've an unhealthy fetish for a little TD Charade. Always wanted one .

[big_al_granvia]

28 minutes ago, Spurious said:

Someone fit a block in a carry on bag so there might be some truth to it now that I've been on the google machine

 

the 200 horsepower 1.5 unit from the fiesta st would be a good conversion

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, warch said:

I can't get used to any Mini which doesn't have a choke start (I used two clothes pegs on mine to hold the choke on until it had warmed up as the mechanism holding it out not longer did so).

That's standard BL.  Normally after 2-3 minutes' running you can reduce it to one clothes peg.

[New POD]

1 hour ago, Spurious said:

Someone fit a block in a carry on bag so there might be some truth to it now that I've been on the google machine

 

I Once took a Lucas Deisel Systems DPC mechanical pump in my carry on luggage.  From Paris to Manchester via Heathrow.  It was bigger than that picture. 

The fun I had explaining to a French Security Man, with a gun, what was in my luggage. And why I had it. 

Describe what is in your bag. That we see on the X ray machine. 

 

It was given to me, to show our employees in our factory, where our solenoid was used. 

 

[Merryck]

Z Cars moved down to Ashford a couple of years ago and were planning on releasing some new kits, they're also supplying and fitting kits from other companies now as well it seems. One of them uses the EcoBoost;

https://www.zcars.org.uk/ecoboost-1-0-fwd/

Having driven past recently however, it looks like they've moved again, so not sure what's going on with them now.

 

[bezzabsa]

Was anyone else expecting the Allegro 1750 lump under there????

 

[New POD]

3 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

Was anyone else expecting the Allegro 1750 lump under there????

 

With slightly oversized piston and offset bored ? With twin stromburgs or a single Su ? 

A few years ago, in a magazine, there was someone that somehow mated a rover v8 block to I think* an O series gearbox. And put it in a mini, (not a clubman)  driving the front wheels. 

*I remember it the oil was shared with the crank and gearbox, but it wasnt an a series gearbox

I also took a picture of a mini with a lotus twin cam driving the front wheels, at a mini show, but i remember thinking, that I'd rather see an A series in an esprit.