i bought a 1979 mini and i have to change it to left hand drive. how hard, is there a kit, any info is a help thanks

 

1. Why do you "have to change it?" I drive a RHD and there's no law against it.

2. Is it really a '79? Show some pictures of the engine compartment cuz a pure 79 vs a re-vin'd 99 can be significantly different issues....

3. I'm aware of no 'kit' . . .

 

the reason i have to change it its my daughter's first car and i think that seh should learn to drive on our side first. yea its a real 79, plus when she gets older if she would want to change it i can do it all over again ha ha thanks for the info rick

 

I hear it takes about 400 bucks in parts. I guess at minimum you would need a different steering box. The wipers need put in the other holes so they park on the correct side. I think you can reconfigure the wiper system to work the other way but I may be wrong. The turn signal stalk will be on the wrong side. You need to move the master cylinders over which may require additional hydraulic hose. Theres probably more that i'm not thinking about.

Kinda besides the point but this is a pretty poor choice for a first car. Puny manual brakes, manual steering, absolutely no crash protection, and questionable reliability. You may want to consider letting your daughter borrow your jeep or whatever you have at least for a while.

 

Yes, you did not ask for editorial comments but I agree with Strat ... poor choice for a first car.

I'm not saying that a first car needs to be a tank, and actually a good handling car is desirable in my opinion but reliability and modern crash protection are wise points..My son drove a Miata for his first few years and some said I was crazy to go that route. But it was very reliable (a Miata trait) with side door beams air bags et al. And had the advantage of not allowing multiple friends to pile in . . . heck the seats aren't even mounted very strongly in my 79 and the seat belt attachments something of a joke...non-existant in the back. I've a roll cage in mine for piece of mind. And a fire ext' immediately at hand ... not for looks!

One might argue that you'll actually decrease the value of the Mini by switching it over to LHD ... I know people seem more interested in mine because of the RHD. Collector car policies also disallow young drivers in my experience and in some states collector car tags are a no-no for daily drivers so two possible cost savers for a toy car go out the window.

But back to point you'll need to dig around for a good guide on this....check MiniMania.com In theory it is easy but in practice I can't say I know anyone that's actually done it.

 

Well, I have done the conversion for some friends of mine as they are more comfortable with LHD. There is no kit.....sorry. It is alot of work. First you woud have to get used parts as getting the linkage for the brake pedal to go right to left is no longer available. The master cylinder will stay right where it is mounted. The clutch cylinder will have to be moved over, so a longer line for it is required, but is easy to do. You have to get a LHD steering rack. the wiper motor is the same but you have to move it to the left side and get the linkage for the wipers to park on that side, along with the wipers arms as the are different as well. Also you have to extend the wiring harness inside to move your steering wheel over for ignition, wipers, horn, turn signals...etc. Being a 79, I am assuming that it has a center speedo so you don't have to get a shorter speedo cable and extend the wiring for the gauges. Also as for the switches on the steering column, you can use the ones that are already there, but they are switched the other way on a LHD. Good news is that most of the mounting holes that you will need are already punched into the body or have the idents so you know where to mount everything. Hope I gave you some what of a good insight on what you are in for. Good luck

 

I would like to add my two cents and say keep it a RHD. I have a RHD and I love it. You get looks because it is a mini but then you gets more looks because it is a RHD. My brother is looking into turning a LHD into a RHD. It takes some time and money for the parts. I would get a car that you don't care about to beat up until she learns how to drive ok.

 

Heyy Miniroll, nice answer. will be intouch shortly as I need to export some minis from Japan to the states and have the conversion done here first.

 

The conversion is as above. If you do it, I have a left hand steering rack that I would trade for your right hand rack because I want my Countryman Estate to be RHD when it is ready for the road.

 

Hi Guys,

I am Erik from www.blueberryhillmotors.ca and we have over 40 MINIS in our collection. We are doing a LHD conversion from a RHD for a client and we need to copy the BRAKE BOOSTER LINKAGE - we have all the other parts and will be offering a complete KIT that will allow you to convert a ARHD MINI to LHD. So if someone out there in the MINI community has a spare LHD BRAKE BOOSTER LINKAGE - WE WOULD LIKE TO BORROW IT as our machine shop will do the rest. Please help us and my email is mityminis@rogers.com

Our website will be up next week and we have some of the rarest MINIS in the world, inclduing 2 ERA TURBO from Japan.

Thanks,

Erik

PS - we have RHD STEERING RACKS FOR SALE - if any wants a good used RHD rack.

 

I'm looking at my steering rack and it appears i can simply be inverted 180 degrees. I must be oversimplifying this but if there's a bit of interference from the pinion case on the firewall why not simply make a bit of room with a hammer?

Also seems a trip to the hardware store and a bit of welding can make a simple pedal assembly. a few nylon bushings later and a bearing or two and you have it done.

Yes it's odd no kit can be easily found for this. If one exists please advise.

cheers