Potter
Part of things
'E who dares wins,eh Rodders??!
Posts: 304
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Jun 26, 2011 19:47:07 GMT
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Just thought I'd run this stupid idea past you knowledgeable lot before I do something silly!
So I've got this old Mini which is my daily driver and recently it's started burning fantastic amounts of oil,which frankly is not very desirable. Therefore I started thinking about changing the engine.Now I've got at least have a dozen other 998 engines in half decent condition which I could swap in in half a day and be done with it. But I got to thinking,if I'm going to go to all that trouble why not go to some more trouble and make it much faster? I have a 1.3 Turbo from a metro but don't want to fit it because it needs putting together again and I'm afraid what with the heat over here it won't last long. So I started looking for alternative engines. I was going for a 1.6 Ford Crossflow on a Mini 'box but the conversion kit is either unavailable or mega money so am currently thinking of going for a 1.8 Zetec on a standard Ford FWD gearbox. Engine will remain standard as well. I'm liking this option as they're quite cheap on Ebay,come in FWD,should be reasonably economical and quite fast due to lack of weight and the license will only be about €150 whereas a 2l is nearly €500 and probably impossible to insure. I'd like to keep it on 10 inch wheels all round but will obviously be fitting disc brakes. What do you lads think? The thing I'm worried about most is whether it will fit physically due to the gearbox being on the end of the engine.I will be making all mounts etc myself:I'm pretty handy with a welder.
Cheers lads! ;D All help and/or suggestions of other engine very welcome!Prefer to keep it british though!
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More cars than sense or money!🙄
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RobinJI
Posted a lot
"Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
Posts: 2,995
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Jun 26, 2011 20:15:45 GMT
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I think the reason it's a rare swap (I think someone down under's done it, or was doing it, but that's the only one I know of) is that the gearbox's are really quite large, you can't fit them inbetween/around the mini's suspension arms. I don't know if you could get around this with a mk2/3 fiesta box, as I thiiinnkkk they fit the Zetec lumps.
It'd be an interesting swap, but unless you're trying to do to be a bit different, the tried and tested k-series would be my choice, it's lighter, more economical and easier to fit than the Zetec. It's always nice to see people doing things differently though.
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Mike D
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,196
Club RR Member Number: 57
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Zetec conversionMike D
@v8mike
Club Retro Rides Member 57
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Jun 26, 2011 20:31:57 GMT
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I'd use a K11 Micra 1300, they're all alloy, lightweight, compact, 5 speed, reliable, and quite easy to get a bit more power from...
I was actually going to do the exact conversion on mine, I even bought the Micra, however was offered silly money for the mini so sold it on
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conrad
Posted a lot
Here to fix your cabin.......
Posts: 1,678
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Jun 26, 2011 20:53:17 GMT
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I think an 1800 zetec can be paired with a 4spd mk2 fiesta box alright, know someone who started off a project doing that in a fiesta but i don't think he finished it, got the engine in and that but hasnt got around to fitting out the car
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Jun 26, 2011 21:04:04 GMT
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Cvh will fit
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Potter
Part of things
'E who dares wins,eh Rodders??!
Posts: 304
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Jun 29, 2011 18:54:32 GMT
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Ooherr!! Some great ideas there chaps! Would the 'box from a 1.3 petrol Mk 4 Escort be the same as the Fiesta one? And would a 5 speed box from a 1.6 diesel Mk2 Fiesta fit the Zetec? I can get the former from a mate and have the latter in a Mk2 to be broken up!
And Bomber I heard CVHs in N/A form absolutely wasted petrol. Is this true? And is the unit in the pic an RS Turbo engine?
Many thanks for all the help lads.This is starting to look like a possibility after all!;D
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More cars than sense or money!🙄
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Jun 29, 2011 19:05:14 GMT
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That does look like an RS Turbo lump You would have problems keeping the 10" wheels, they would physicaly go on and i recon Mini sport or KAD brakes would be powerfull enough but the problem would be the gearing, diff ratio in the Ford box would be suited to at least 13" wheels, 10" with the same ratio would leave you with no 1st gear and wheelspinning up to 4th, sounds fun but driving along at 50 mph with the motor screaming as you've ran out of gears wont be fun. Tons of ratios available for the Ford box's though, may be able to get a suitable CWP for it. Either that or just run 13" wheels on the Mini.
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72 Pontiac Firebird Formula 400. 95 BMW E34 525i Manual. 80 Lotus Elite, sold 86 Mk4 Escort RWD V8, sold
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Potter
Part of things
'E who dares wins,eh Rodders??!
Posts: 304
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Jun 29, 2011 19:44:56 GMT
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I see where your coming from Mark. I've got 2 pairs of Metro disc brakes so I could modify 1 pair to fit under the 10s and try it out like that,then change if I don't like it. Still wheelspin in fourth would be kewl! Definitely surprise all the idiots who've been laughing at me lately!!;D
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More cars than sense or money!🙄
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Jun 29, 2011 19:55:06 GMT
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I think you might want to have a little look over on the 16vminiclub forums.... There's a whole wealth of experiance of people who've done conversions and will know the answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet!!
Seriously though, it's a good forum!
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Current fleet: '58 A35 (half mine) '67 11 window splitscreen vw (half mine) '77 mini 1000 (not quite 1000 any more!!) '86 Armstrong MT500 '89 XR4X4 '94 Corrado VR6 Some sort of sevenesque kit car (no age yet!!) '01 Mondeo estate 2.0 (engine eventually destined for kit car!) - scrapped, engine only left! '98 E300 estate, rusty but seemingly reliable, fast-ish tat hauler. eventual engine donor A35 van, or whats left of it after it lived in a field for many years
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Potter
Part of things
'E who dares wins,eh Rodders??!
Posts: 304
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Cheers mate forgot that place! Lurking as we speak! Any one know about the Ford gearboxes? i.e. will a 5 speed from a Mk2 Fiesta diesel fit a zetec?
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More cars than sense or money!🙄
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Should do. A MkII diesel box would be a BC5. Smaller Zetecs were used with the IB5 gearbox which is very similar.
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1989 Peugeot 205. You know, the one that was parked in a ditch on the campsite at RRG'17... the glass is always full. but the ratio of air to water may vary.
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I could swear i read somewhere on the 16v mini club or The Mini Forum that these engines aren't that commonly used as they are a tall engine.. Or am i thinking of a different engine?
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I put a stock 1.6 Zetec into a Quantum 2+2 (originally 1.6 CVH based), and that's a fairly straight swap, physically. The gearboxes on those are all basically the same externally, so I'd imagine the diesel box should work. IIRC the Zetecs were designed nominally as a 1.8, so the 1.6 block will be the same size externally.
The Zetec is a little longer than the CVH, but not much. Being 16V the head is somewhat wider, so getting it under the bonnet may take some head-scratching. It might fit under a Clubman front end more easily as I think was done for the V8 Mini conversion.
Darryl
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have you thaught about the vauxhall engine conversion? the 1.6 16v fits under a standard roundnose and theres subframes avaible for them from allspeed. They also do the K series, vtec and suzuki swift subframes
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Nobody dies a virgin, because lifes curse word us ALL
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Cvh will fit ...if you cut the front of the car off first ;D
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...proper medallion man chest wig motoring.
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Cvh will fit WOW that is an excellent conversion, what power is it putting out? also how hard was it to do?
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Nobody dies a virgin, because lifes curse word us ALL
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Potter
Part of things
'E who dares wins,eh Rodders??!
Posts: 304
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Jul 25, 2011 20:30:53 GMT
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Finally caught up with this thread!! Many thanks for all the help lads! This will hopefully be happening sometime later this year after I've done up my Land Rover a bit and got the Mini through the MOT. By the way,I did think about a Vtec or a Vauxhall but I can't affford a subframe and I like to do things differently anyway
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More cars than sense or money!🙄
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Jul 25, 2011 21:20:22 GMT
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you said your handy with the welder make your own subframe
check out the 16v mini forum
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Jul 25, 2011 22:16:35 GMT
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Suzuki G13B is also a pretty nice swap. And bike engines are pretty quick and cheapish DIY conversion, not if you want it road legal and driveability. I have yet to see a Ford Zetec SE/ Yamaha swap, should be pretty sweet as well. (don't know if the block is smaller)
I always gets the impression when seeing a VTEC swap, that the engine bay is 1cm too small in every direction.
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Click picture for more
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crazymonkey
Posted a lot
ummm....what was I doing again???
Posts: 1,981
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Jul 25, 2011 22:38:06 GMT
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best 2 Ive seen (in the metal) were a 2.0 honda engine (in the front) and a vauxhall (think it was a 2.0 16v) don't ask me how they fit them because I'm still wondering the same thing. ;D
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whoever said dogs were man's best friend....obviously never heard of cable ties
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