Wouter's ZC1 build

[Wouter]

[edit: I renamed the topic]
Hi,

first, let me introduce myself:
I'm Wouter from Dordrecht-the Netherlands. I'm driving a mini for more than 5 years now. Actually, I've never owned a car that was not a mini, until a month or so.

I was driving my 1275 cc equiped brown mini to Germany. After a few miles of speeding and going about 180 km/h (downhill - wind in the back), I went back to cruise-speed at 130 when it looked like the a-series started to make a strange noise. Not soon after that moment my eye glimpsed that the oil pressure gauge which told me that there was no pressure at all. Too late...

The car was brought back to the Netherlands and I continued my trip in a rented audi A2 diesel. :(

I already thought of changing the engine eventually with a Honda-engine, but still had to decide when. After the engine break-down, I almost immediately ran into an old civic crx 1.6 dohc, for very few money. This had been the first non-mini registered on my name.

I took the engine and all necessary bits and pieces out. The Honda (what was left of it) has been picked up the other week, and last weekend I started re-organising my garage to start building a subframe.

The ZC1 engine is now in front of the car, waiting for the first "fit".

I will keep you posted, as I probably have many questions.

Please check me at http://www.velde.co.uk; my mini-section at http://www.velde.co.uk/mini or pictures of the conversion at http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#mexiconda

Cheers,
Wouter

[Hugo]

Welcome, join the club! Good to see you've found your way to this forum, too. It's gonna be a Dutch invasion, soon...

BTW, de punt-komma zit in de link van je website, die link werkt daardoor niet.

Cheers,

[Wouter]

I almost feel to start chanting the Dutch National Anthem :) The car is invaded by the Japanese, in this forum though :)

BTW, de punt-komma zit in de link van je website, die link werkt daardoor niet.

I changed that, thanks for the tip. I was too lazy to use the url-tags.

Cheers,
Wouter

[marco gooyaers]

Hoi Wouter^^

[AssItch]

whoa... meer nederlanders...

[Wouter]

OK, a little update (I may have posted this in another topic as well, but since this topic is about my honda project, I'll post it here anyway).

My site has a few pictures, and as of tomorrow more and better pictures will appear as I'll get my new digital camera, yeehaa!

http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#mexiconda

The leveler for my engine lifter has been delivered, and I bought a new dremel to nicely cut out the edges of the inner wings. I'm ready test"drive" the honda engine in the engine bay :)

Cheers,
Wouter

[Lyle]

whoa... meer nederlanders...

Absolutely, there's Dutchmen all over the place. That's a good thing! Ok guys, stand proud....We're doing this for Wouter!!

Wilhelmus van Nassau
ben ik van duitschen bloed.
De vaderland getrouwe
ben ik tot in de doed.
Een prinschen van Oranje
ben ik vrij onverveerd
de koning van Hispanje
heb ik altijd geëerd.


Welcome aboard Wouter!

[Hugo]

Hmmmm, we Dutch have a funny national anthem, considering we think of our selves as an independent nation:

...ben ik van duitschen bloed.
(... am I of German origin.)

...de koning van Hispanje
heb ik altijd geëerd.
(... I've always honnored the King of Spain.)

Anyway, half the population doesn't know the words anyway. And I will go back on topic with my next posts...

Cheers,

[marco gooyaers]

Lyle,

We dont even know the words to that :wink:

[Wouter]

back on topic :)

There are new pictures on my site: http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#(10-12).

The zc1 has temporarily lived in the mini engine bay, me=happy.

Cheers,
Wouter

[Lyle]

Progress is good! That's a nice looking engine hoist. And don't worry about your hair, it looks fine. Did I mention that's a nice hoist?

[Wouter]

Did I mention that's a nice hoist

I can't recall, but I guess so :)
Nice part of this one, is that it can move sidewards, and when the arms are flipped up, it still has 4 wheels to roll.

Cheers,
Wouter

[marco gooyaers]

Seems like u driving a VTEC mini already. My hair (or whats left of it) looks that way after a good run :D .

looks like you got a lot of work done sine u started.

[Wouter]

looks like you got a lot of work done sine u started.

thanks :) I'm making slow progress, but my aim is to be driving in 6 months...

I like this quote from wheeler dealers: 'don't think you can put this car together in a weekend, it's not for nothing that it's called a project"

Seems like u driving a VTEC mini already.
Only at night, in my dreams! :)

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

Hi,

I've updated my site, new progress on the subframe:

http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#27-12-05

I welcome any input :)

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

seems like I'm just posting in my own thread :)
Here's some more progress on the subframe:

http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#20-2-2006.

I'd welcome any comments :)

Cheers,
Wouter

[Mave]

Looks good Wouter. Finally some progress! :D

[Wouter]

finished frame?

:) it's far from finished :). I just put it in the car to trial fit the engine and see what modifications I need to do.

More to come, hopefully later this week.

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

it has been quite a while that I actually worked on the subframe. I've been reorganising my workshop, sorting out many bits and pieces, and finally today made some progress! Photos to follow soon on my website.

I made some sketsches for the under bars, and grinding out the tie rod mounts from the original mini subframe. Tomorrow I'll prefit the engine again in the engine bay, to discover the ideal mounting place for the bars.

I made the bars a-symetric, so one is lower than the other, actually it's not a French garden, so I believe I'm allowed to. As said before, pics to follow soon!

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

As promised in my previous posting, here are my photos:
http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#2372006

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

Hi!

I wished I had more time! Yesterday I found a couple of hours to work on the engine mounts. You can view the pictures here: http://www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#1382006.

Now I'm only worrying about where to put the alternator, It seems like I will have to few space for the drive-belt between subframe and distribution cover. Any suggestions are welcome!

At Southern Mini Days I found a set of MK1 rear lights for a reasonable price. As you may have noticed I like the seventies-colors, so mexico-brown as well. At the same show I met some Italians with an even more beautiful teint of brown. Luckily I could write down the color-codes.

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

This evening I went up to BMC (Bart) to check out his project. Since he mounted the exact same engine as I am working on, I wanted to see in real life how he did it. I was lucky we could go for a drive...one word: W O W!!!!

This is 'only' 130 hp, so I wonder how cool the vtec would be!

Thanks again Bart!

Cheers,
Wouter

[BMC]

No problem!
hope you got some inspiration and new ideas!
CU BMC

[Wouter]

Hi,

in the last two weekends I spent a whole lot of time in my workshop. Although it seems I didn't do that much, it took me a whole lot of time to figure out the engine mounts. Finally I got all three of them in place, although I need to move them a bit. Luckily I didn't weld them through, so it's still easy to remove.

Pictures available on my site: www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#2782006

I welcome any comments (and compliments:P)

Cheers,
Wouter

[BMC]

looks good!
on mine the back sits a bit higher , and it s a bit more tilted forward, with the bottom of the oilpan level. but i dont think it matters much.
(btw the cabel is pull, and the mini clutch is push operated :wink: )
good luck!

[Wouter]

Two other days of measuring, welding, grinding, thinking and welding again have resulted in the fact that I finally have my engine in the correct position! yeehaa!

full report on www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#2982006

http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P8290087.jpg
http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P8290092.jpg
http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P8290091.jpg

next job: finish the rear mount and put the suspension & wheels back on, hopefully ready by the weekend!

Cheers,
Wouter

[strudel]

Wouter,
A question on the timing side mount. Will the oem ZC1 engine bracket fit inside the front wing without fouling on the headlight area? When I mocked mine up it was sticking out too far forward and I thought it would be in the way. JS

[Wouter]

A question on the timing side mount. Will the oem ZC1 engine bracket fit inside the front wing without fouling on the headlight area? When I mocked mine up it was sticking out too far forward and I thought it would be in the way.

Hi,

I fitted the engine with that subframemount already in the car (after measuring). The mount is about 26 cm's high, including the bolt still sticking out, measured from the front subframe mount. It comes only 2 cm outside the subframe towards the headlight area while there's about 7 cm space :)

I will need to figure out how to mount the alternator on this :) Probably tonight I'm going to fit the whole lot in the car again.

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

Hi,

today I finished the rear engine mount, but I realized I need to re-structure it and probably take away more of the original frame. It is hard to get it over the steering-rack. Did anybody say this was going to be easy? :)

Strudel, you were a bit right about the timingside engine mount. However, it will fit, in the engine bay but I can't get the subframe in the car with the mount on it. Luckily I just tagged it, and I will only need to weld on some strips, drill them through and mount them with nuts and bolts.

more tomorrow...

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

Good news: the engine is hanging in the subframe, in the enginebay! yeehaa, I've got it done. (yes, I know I'm only half way) As the digital camera is charging currently, pictures will be available tomorrow.

Now I'm going to continue with the JF (www.velde.co.uk/mini/jf.htm). This topic is going to be quiet for a while until I have that mini is ready for it's paintjob.

Cheers,
Wouter

[Wouter]

Here are some pictures, more info and pics on my site www.velde.co.uk/mini/mexico.htm#392006

@Strudel: see the last two imgs how I solved the front engine mount.
http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P9030021.jpg
http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P9030023.jpg
http://www.velde.co.uk/images/mini/mexico/P9030028.jpg
Cheers,
Wouter

[strudel]

Looks like you are geting closer to the end objective. In my test fits I have the engine tilted forward a bit more like in the doner car. Is the bottom of your oil pan even with the ground. It will most likely work OK in your set up and that is why you can use the oem mount bracket.

I think because I tilted it more forward it hits the grille area and I didn't like that. In the end I will probably make a custom mount. It will not be that difficult and I may even make it out of aluminum. JS

[Wouter]

Hi,

it is almost even to the ground. I can't go any further back as the towers are in the way and I need space for exhaust. I'm not using a flipfront, so that's an extra barrier :)

Cheers,
Wouter

[olsson_richard]

Hi Wouter

That is gonna be tight! You could make the section infront of the exuast manifold (The thing that you´ve cut away) removable if that helps. A friend of mine did that on his mini. It looked pretty neat! Keep up the good work!

/Richard