So.. I happen to get my hands on a 1972 Austin 850... Holy cow its slow. Its actually the same car MINIUSA had for several years sitting on top of a Countryman as a promotion gig.. Well, I own it..


Its green, its rusty and too damn slow for my liking.. I've heard of the Vtec swap, but don't want to cut the front end off the car to make it happen, as well as mine is a RHD, so the conversion is even more tedious.


Heard of a company in Germany that makes a kit for a R1 bike motor swap..


Anyone actually seen one or know of anyone with one.. Would like to pick there mind and see the goods and bad before I commit to it.


FYI.. not new to the MINI community, just to the classic side..


Been working a Chicagoland area dealer for 15 years on MINI.

 

So... nearly 1000 people have looked at this post, yet not a single person knows anyone with the R1 conversion in a Classic?!? Will I have the only one known of in the MINI community?

FYI, bought the bike, the gearbox, and the conversion axles on a whim... waiting to toss the money for the chassis to show up from Germany in 6-8 weeks..

 

Do you read MiniWorld?

I've seen many Mini with bike engines in them profiled in this publication in the 10 odd years I've been reading.

Dunno that any of these mentioned using the R1 kit, but in general this type of project does not interest me so I may just not remember it . . .

http://miniworld.co.uk/

 

These are big in the UK, but I don't think they are so much here....

 

I used the kit from Pro-Motive and have been happy with the results. I'm still working on getting R1 gauges figured out but once that's done I'll be able to get the car back on the road.

There are a lot of build threads in the Engine Conversions section on theminiforum.co.uk.

Good luck!