Budget

[Jim27]

Am just a beginner when it comes to these sorts of things but have been tinkering with cars (basic level of mechanical competence) for quite a while.

Next thing is to learn to weld properly!!

Am gonna be looking at replacing the tired old A-series in my Cooper with a Swift GTi lump & gearbox. Am guessing that a donor Swift can be picked up for under £500 but wanted to ask what people thought a realistic budget was for this project?

I intend to do all the work myself. Yes, it'll take a long time and yes, I'll have to learn things like welding along the way, and yes I'll be researching past builds etc. for info.

But seeing how I already own the Mini, have got all the tools (inc. engine crane) apart from a welder - what should I expect to have to pay to get a Swift GTi engined Mini up and running? :)

The (very!!) long term plan is to eventually get a Justy 4wd drivetrain in there and either turbocharge the engine or fit nitrous & bike carbs. Either way that's some way off, and without trying to run before I can walk my common sense tells me to get the GTi engine in and running before trying anything more complicated :)

[pengy666]

how long is a piece of string, its the age old 16v mini question? how much do you wanna spend?

think of a number double it divide it by 3 add 6000 and multiply it by 2?

It'll cost more than that!

Im at approx £10,000


http://www.16vminiclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4037&highlight=16v+mini+cost


this is a good post to give you an idea?

good luck

oh and welding, a basic tip, keep your gas low you get a nicer weld and if your outside forget it! wind blows gas away and it'll look a mess, if you welding close to stuff you want to keep nice buy anti spatter spray and spray it before you go to weld, and old mig wire is no good dont let it get moist!

[duck]

It all boils down to 3 things in my opinion:

1. How much of the work you do yourself.
2. The standard of finish you want to achieve.
3. If you are happy to use second hand parts rather than all new parts.

If you want a show car then the amount you spend has no limit.

If you are happy with you current mini and just want to pop a different engine into it without doing any other restoration/updating work then it should be possible to do it reasonably cheaply.

The reason people appear to spend so much money (in my opinion again) is the fact they end up doing a full restore on the mini as well as fitting the different engine, a professional respray/new interior/new wheels & tyres/new suspension etc etc is were a lot of the money goes.

Once you start it tends to escalate and you want the best of everything which obviously why the costs get more and more.

I have done a VTEC mini for 6.5k, this included buying the mini, if I had a mini that I was happy with at the start then I think I could have done it for 5k or less. I brought everything I possibly could second hand, this was through lack of funds as much as any other reason, I was determined to build a 16v mini but I was not prepared to spend an unlimited amount of money.

There are plenty of members on here that have built their minis on a reasonable budget (geehawk, evolution, spag to name a few)

pengy666 has said 10k, but in the link above he has said 6k of that was on tools which cannot really be considered the build cost of the mini as a lot of people would already have the required tools, I don't think I had to buy any tools specifically for the mini build.

Hope that helps.

[miniswift]

Hi,

I am middle of building G13B Zuki 16v with R1 carbs, Adjustable cam driver, under drive pulley, Lotus carbon fibre airbox, K+N filter from CRX, Suzuki sports Camshaft and LSD.

So far, I have spent...
'68 Car £600 sold bit I don't need off it(£200) so £400.
Engine and gearbox £300.
Cam driver £150
Suzuki sports camshaft £150
R1 carbs £86 but sold TPS for £30 so £66.
Under drive pulley £45
Lightened flywheel(machine work) £20.
Airbox £200, I think.
Cylinderhead work £200.
LSD £150
and so on.

So far it is about £2000.
I will be getting full body spray and may be seat recovered.

So, I hope mine will be finished with £5k.

Good luck with you build and Iwill be interested with turbo 4WD Mini using G13B motor!

Cheers
Atchi

[bodgeit]

I spent somewhere round 4000 doing mine. I did all the work myself and used mostly second hand parts. I could have done it alot cheaper if i made my own frame and got things right first time! It is still a bit 'rough' round the edges but to get it looking nicer wouldnt' cost much money just some time and effort.


Matt

[pengy666]

yeah that a fair point so i spent about £4000 including the original mini which i used for 4 years before starting project and the metro which i used for about 6 months too! But i've sourced a lot of bargains including a brand new engine for £400!