There is a claim in todays Independent that Raymond Baxter (who recently died) "drove a Mini with an Austin Healey 3000 engine in it." Baxter had been (among many other things) a successful rally driver so it would not be unlikely for him to have a hairy car, but how on earth could such a large cast iron lump be squeezed into a tiny mini and where would the gearbox have come from.
Roger realised it was Wed, 20 Sep 2006
17:10:08 +0100 and decided it was time to write:
Healey Sprite engine maybe, or more likely a Mini engine adorned with Sprite head, carbs and other ancilliaries. Journalists in general these days are not known to favour reporting the truth over reporting what they believe sounds good and therefore sells well.
Then again, there have been rear wheel driven specials, clothed in shells that resemble a Mini, powered by 7L V8's, so who knows.
Seeing as Rover V8's have been fitted into Reliant Robins on more than one occassion, it's not impossible.
Make it RWD, move the front seats backwards, job done.
I don't think it could. There have been all sorts of engines shoehorned into Minis, but I just don't think there's room for an engine of that size. The weight would also be too much for standard suspension.
However I will ask the question in the Mini forums, where there are experts who will know the answer...
It would be a fool indeed who would even attempt to make such a device as the BMC C Series engine had absolutely nothing going for it apart from low cost for an engine of that size.
Nor would it in any way fit a Mini which remained a Mini in anything other than perhaps external outline.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Roger saying something like:
Journalistic Pig Ignorance strikes again.
Perhaps it was a Mini van. I know someone who fitted a cow into one once...
I've heard of horse power, but 1 cow power? Seems a bit under powered, even for a Mini.
:-)
There are all sorts of ways you can get that kind of engine into a Mini. But not under the bonnet!
I can find no evidence so far to support this claim, and I would have thought something as remarkable as that would have been chronicled somewhere.
I have seen a 5.7 litre V8 in the front of a Mini van and a Rover V* fitted in the rear of a mini saloon.
Martin
There's a V8 FWD mini knocking around.
The message from Chris Bolus contains these words:
I thought it inherently unlikely as well.
The claimant was a Geoffrey Sherlock who presumably was also a journalist. The quote above was the meat in the following sandwich:
"He was a joy to work with and travelling to record interviews was memorable as he drove a Mini with an Austin Healey 3000 engine in it. We tended to leave most other traffic in our wake."
A reference earlier in the passage dates their collaboration to "the
1960s and the 1970s" which gives a a couple of decades to search through.Willy Eckerslyke (oss108no snipped-for-privacy@bangor.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :
Sounds like a load of bull to me.
I saw one at a hill climb many years ago. An 850 with a burnt valve would have been faster up the hill. But not so spectacular.
Not without cutting the bulkhead. And it would have to be RWD.
Like I said, not under the bonnet!
Chris Bolus realised it was Thu, 21 Sep 2006
19:30:08 GMT and decided it was time to write:
Not? A URL to a front engined, front wheel drive V8 Mini was posted here:
That was not what I was replying to...
On reflection however I have seen the V8mini website before. As well as the 2 litre Vauxhall turbo...
It is still true to say that such engines would be too heavy for the Mini's front end, so what you gain in raw power, you lose in the sheer ability to chuck it round corners at silly speeds!
Yes. I love my big-head 998!
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