small budget mini conversion...

[Wil]

Hi, im looking at getting an old 80s mini and putting in a 1.3 swife engine in, i dont know that much about cars, and im hoping my dad will agree to give me a hand (as he does)...
basicly i want it to look really rubbish, and plaster it with racing stickers and put some 10" wheels and 4pot disk brakes on, and rip the rest out and sell it to make some money back.
How much would i be looking at spending after ive got the car and the engine?
people keep telling me its fairly easy, you just have to get new mounts welded on and get some drive shafts made, and that it will fit into the standard engine bay. Is this true, what does it really involve?
ideally id like to spend £1000 on the whole thing, is this at all possible?
thanks
wil

[bodgeit]

It's alot harder than welding a few new mounts and changing the shafts im afraid!!! Have a look at the gallery at the various subframes and you will see what is involved :shock:

You will be very hard pushed to produce a decent hybrid mini for under a grand im afraid

Do some searching on this site and you will soon learn what is involved. The build diaries are probably a good place to start

Matt

[Smurfy]

My actual engine conversion has cost me probably no more than £500 but I already had the car, brakes, uprated suspension componets etc. The money went on the engine, steel for fabricating and other bitls like a fuel pump etc.

[Wil]

yeah i thought it would be harder than people said, otherwise everyone would be doing it! Is it completely necessary to make a new subframe? i cant weld, neither can my dad, but i know a few people who can. someone else told me that a swift engine will go into a clubman better?

[mrbell]

There are subframes available for purchasing, so that's one option, but it's usually expensive.
Im' pretty sure that you'll never get swift motor in w/o cutting away quite a bit of the standard subframe. And since you've cut all of that away, you won't have anything to mount the swift motor to.
There is more room under the hood of a clubman, but the swift motor is pretty compact so you shouldn't have problems fitting it in a regular mini. A clubman will give you more room to play with and allow you to be less precise tho...

[Wil]

can someone outline what i would have todo then?
thanks!

[pickup76]

Theres pently of info on here if you look, but i'll give you the basics. The subframe needs to be sorted, its not just a case of new engine mounts more a complete redesign of the subframe from the turrets forward. The gearlinkage needs to be modified, an exhaust system needs to be fabricated and the wiring needs to be joined or another method of fueling sorted (mega squirt)
Thats just the basics in sure ive missed out lots and there alot of little things to change.
Dont let me put you off tho its a very doable conversion but i would not describe it as easy.

good luck
Chris

[miniswift]

Hi,

For what you are after and sell it.
Why don't you try 1000cc swift engines?

They are more compact, good power(55bhp), 5 speed gearbox and cost £200-ish on ebay for MOT failure due to rust.
You will need whole car to make your life easier and you might even get electric windows!
The engine will be narrower by about 100mm, gearbox is same.
You will have to make drive shafts for sure but using 1 litre engine, you might only need to cut one side of subframe rather than whole like many of our conversion dose end up with.

I think you might be able to do it for £1k, if you have a car and skill and all of the tools.
I'm sure you can double what you want to pay for sure.

Good luck anyway!

Atchi

[Andy_S]

Not meaning to pour water on your fire, but take a look at this link.

http://www.16vminiclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4037

Out of te 86 people building 16v Minis only 6 of them have said they didi it for less that £1000.

I would assume that these guys either built there own subframes (requiring good welding skills) or went for Rover power & used a Rover 100/Metro Subframe.

Don't be put off though, save up some pennies & buy a Subframe from MattG (16vMinishop) or Allspeed. The rest of the work is 'relatively' straight forward (ish) once you've got the frame.

The reality is though you need either plenty of money or plenty of skill to contemplate sticking any 16v motor into a Mini.

Good luck

Andy

[XEValver]

i'm sure that many people here will agree that the cost soon mounts up.

I started an excel spreadsheet when i started my mini, listing everything i've bought to date...and its still a good month off being done. the total has come to over £2500 :shock: which is a shock, considering i was planning on "doing it on the cheap"

tbh tho, even though its not on the road yet, its still been worth every penny. and i'm confident i'll get my money back when(/if) the time comes to sell it

[Minicooper]

I would of thought you could do a 1.4 105bhp metro conversion for that type of money, especially if you buy a MOT faliure Metro for next to nothing say a hundred quid tops.

Cheers
David

[Swiftmini]

Hi will, If you look here

http://www.16vminiclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6543

I have made a sticky with some links, there sre links to peoples own frames and also a link to 3 cylinder conversion pics. if you can make everything yourself it will cost very little for the basic conversion. Mine cost about £250 to get an engine and get it in. I have spent much more than that though on go faster bits.

Cheers
kev

[Wil]

hehe, the more i look at it the less i want todo it, but i think im going to do a welding course or something, or get a mate to teach me. then buy the car, engine, loads of metal and make a subframe, put in some metro 4pot brakes from the scrapyard and then get a mate to sort out the driveshafts. I dont want to paint it, put different carbs on it, or tune it massively. I basicly want it to run and for it to be a bit nippy.
How did most people start the construction of their subframes? is it easy once you have the engine in a stand and part of the old subframe attached?

[XEValver]

i made my frame by starting with the old mini frame, then trying to offer the engine in, seeing what was in the way, and then cut it out. but BEFORE i cut any of the old frame, i first welded in some brace bars so as not to lose any strength and to prevent it from bending, have a look at my build thread, although its for a C20XE you get the idea of how i made a frame:

http://www.16vminiclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6984

[Wil]

sick. im seriously considering this now. what kind of welder should i buy?what kind of ampage should i look at? i just remembered a mates family own a welding firm, so i could get it finished by them for cheap, but im not sure... Thanks for all your help!

[miniswift]

Hi,

I would say you need to buy high amps as you can afford.
If you buy 90amps like I did, you will be using it at higher capacity for welding subframe works. So, you will reduce welders life.

I would buy 180ams or something like that.

Cheers
Atchi

[Wil]

ah cool. yeah i was looking at a high ampage one, is a mig welder the way togo, or will a flux cored or arc be just as good?

[Allan McD]

I use a 130amp mig its up to the job no problem.
Allan

[Wil]

is that with gas, or gasless flux cored? does either make thatmuch a difference? i want to spend under £200 on it...

[evolotion]

buy a gas one. from my little experience of gassless mig, its much harder to get good penetration and good clean welds.

[Allan McD]

Yup a gas one I tryed gasles wire once I chucked it away it was na geed.
Allan

[Wil]

ah cool. whats a decent welder to buy under £200? is picking up a second hand one off ebay worth it?

[miniswift]

Hi,

I got my snap-on 180amp for £100 from ebay and refurbished for £100.
If you buy Snap-on new, it will be £380.
So I did save money there.

Don't buy cheapone like I did.
I bought 90amps from machine mart.
After 2 bottles, valve went on a trigger and needed a new torch for £80.....
Not worth it.

good luck
Atchi