Considering the rumors of the future MINI "SUV" having AWD, that might become much easier to do to the R53 in a few years time....

I'd still rather have a rwd one.

 

Wow, where are they located?
What caught my eye was the GT's
Those Hondas are quite amazing to say the least...

 

The reason I've asked for a VTEC swap is because of two things mainly. I'd like the way it pushes at high revs and the chances you've got to mod it. Also, you won't have problems with spare parts as we'll do soon with OEM parts.
Actually, last week I ordered a pair of fabric JCW seats, and after a week they said to me that they are no longer making them. So I had to order the pair in 'alcantara' (suede) with the seat heating system which I didn't want.
So far, we've been talking about VTECs on modern Minis, but any other suggestion?
Well, there's been a 4WD suggestion, too.
I don't want to have more than 300hp in a Mini because when you push really hard with a 210 JCW it sometimes loses grip.

 

Hes located in florida but goies all aorund like Jan, my girlfriends dad my start working on the side with him on bringing more drifiting parts etc. That gT is nasty, and to second to none about pulling up on a turbo civic and pulling away, he must not have been racing or running some weak cheap sh^&

Jack

 

I'd like to see someone do a Justacooper or MCS motor into a Classic, you know - keep it in the family so to speak.............an R56 Turbo motor could be slick too!

 

As stated before, there are much easier/less costly ways to get to that power number. However, if you really just want to put a Honda engine in a MINI I guess that's your right. Personally, if I wanted to go that route I'd look to the guys of fireballed. Because that's just HOT!

 

I am of the persuasion that once you think of doing this sort of thing, you know longer like Minis. I would pour my money into another car with everything you want. I'm all for modifying cars; I think it's really cool to do. But if you want 300+ horsepower in your mini you will encounter:

a) ghastly handling brought about by excess torque steer + a gazillion pounds in the front end of the car
b) the impossibility of putting that power down onto the road in a front wheel drive car (If you try to make it rear wheel drive, the car will not go around corners - short wheel base)
c) much better options out there of cars pushing that sort of power/weight ratio for the same price.

I'm not going to stop any of you though LOL

My $00.02

 

So you think an R56 Turbo engine will fit in a R50/R53 Mini?I mean would it be enough space in the engine bay?

 

or lets think out the box here.

RWD.........

Problems are you will always need to do major rear end work to incorperate the rear shock towers!! but the addvantages are pretty cool and we all know them.

2.0-2.2ecotec trubo running thouhgt a TKO gerabox
350Z V6 SCed or turboed (should fit)
LS1,2,3,6,7 with either the TKO or a T56 would be the dady!

FWD........

going to be easier to do but with Jan's New 2.0ltr conversion is it really going to be worth it???

Vetec, see above thread for what these little beasts can do.
K20, already beeen put into everything form a lotus to a mini (old ones)
VAG1.8T, great motor
Ford Duratec. pretty cool piece of kit.

now let get bonkers MID ENGINED!!

not as mad as it sounds and with a rear subframe you can incorperate all the mounting pints for the engine and suspension. i have seen it done here in the UK with the old MINI's and they work....reallyly F*CKING well!!

have a look here for how the did it http://www.zcars.org.uk/mini/index.htm

first you can fit all of the FWD stuff into the back but how about something a little differant?? how about the Ford/volvo 5cylinder turbo engine?? would be pretty special! lol

cheers

Chris.

 

Man, that little Zcar with the Civic Type R engine is awesome.

 

Well...just for S&G...what about a 2JZ-GTE? They have crammed them in S2000's. If someone is going after a straight six and is going to cut it up...why not the best I6 to ever be produced?

 

Want to expand on that some more?

 

i know i would love one!

it wouldn't be too hard to do. if you have a look on Z-cars site you can see they have done a similar thing to a Eruo Hatch. on that conversion they used the stock seatbelt mounting points to mount the rear subframe. i guess we all forget that the seatbelt mounting points have to be pretty strong and are designed to take big loadings....like and engine and gearbox! lol

i think tuls was looking at mid mounting for a short time. he was put off for some reason though. would be nice if someone could make a kit for the New minis though.

thanks

Chris.

 

Yeah! That's the point, conversions for new Minis could be awesome!!!

 

A 2jz would never fit. And there set up for RWD. Would be very hard, I think a civic motor would be FTW

Jack

 

the mini isn't very planted in the front end, that's why more than anything it tends to understeer. put power in the back wheel and it will just spin out of control. Watch the Top Gear when he test drives the VW golf with the w12 engine in it. It can't go around corners. Although that is a bunch more horsepower, the same concept applies. Like I said, i don't really care what you guys do to your minis as long as you don't crash into me or anyone else.

 

I'm gonna put a flux capacitor in mine and travel back in time...

 

The reason the MINI understeers is because it's FWD with most of the weight up front. I don't see any innate reason the car wouldn't handle with better weight distribution and RWD.

 

If you put 100s of lbs of ballast in the back end maybe. But I still think the short wheelbase is a problem. Did you watch the top gear?

 

Miatas wheelbases are 8" shorter and they don't seem to have any problem turning...

 

Keep in mind the Miata is only putting out 140 - 180 horsepower (at the very best). If you do what you're planning (putting a 200 - 300 horsepower engine) in the mini, there will be problems guarenteed.

 

I disagree about a 2JZ not fitting. It would fit nicely in the back seat. Ever see a Ford SHOgun?

 

sorry mate but you are wrong! its in the setup. Miatas can make loads of power and not understeer. if you want i could post some links to cars with LS1 engines in.

the mini understeers cos you are overloading the front tyers. they have to deal with problaby 60% of the cars weight, put all the power down and still try and steer around a corner! not easy. now when you interduce a corner you are also putting most of the load on to the outside tyer so you now only have one tyer takeing most of the laod!

this is why race cars run very flat and hard suspension, to try and get all the tyers working equally.

you can setup the chassis to "lift off oversteer" but thats not the total answer but it can help...and its very fun!

mid engined min iwould be very cool and intresting. i posted a link avbove to a company that will do it to and older mini.

thanks Chris.

 

I meant to say they'd oversteer worse than a rwd car with a longer wheelbase. I've never driven a tricked out Miata though.

 

The under steer in our MINIs is an inherent design flaw in all front wheel drive cars. You are asking the front tires to both pull the car and steer it. So you are combining 2 forces in one place. This tends to make things go all wonky. It can be countered to a limit with a good limited slip differential and fine tuning the suspension. It's impossible to tune out %100 of the under steer in a front driver but you can get really close.

So if you push the power of the engine past what the chassis can handle you will end up with an under steering dyno queen. A lot of auto engineers are of the consensus that much over 275HP on a modern FWD car is going to start getting diminishing returns. Don't get me wrong, it will blast down the straights & will be an awesome drag car. It will just be difficult to put the power down in the corner.

Over the last 10 years Dave Coleman at Sport Compact Car has written some awesome articles that go really in depth on the exact physics that cause FWD understeer. He explains it a lot better than I do so go over to their site and check it out.