MINI cooper modification project

Are you talking about a classic mini? What V8 the Rover SD1 unit? Are you planning on keeping the engine up front and driving the front wheels?

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OK, for BHP per tonne, a tuned 'Busa mounted at the rear, running the rear axle would be about right. Turbo and nitrous it, and you could be looking at 4-600bhp.

The V8 would need to be mounted up front, powering the rear wheels through a traditional driveshaft to a rear drive axle. Power would be resonable from the start, but you would need more work to get it in, and more work to get more power from it.

If the car is going to be street driven at all, the iVtec would probably be your best bet. Vtec Minis have/are being built. Still probaley a lot of seet metal work to do, plus getting all the electronics in for the Vtec/Fueling and ignition. But would be much more drivable.

All big jobs that would benefit from an experinced drag car builder if you want them done safely.

Twin R1 engines, 320bhp as it comes but I reckon as you'll only be running it flat out for 15s at a time then it should take a decent sized nitrous oxide kit.

It's all about power. And getting the car as light as possible.

Tim S Kemp raved thus:

::: btw, the MINI is intended for use as a dragster. :: ::

:: Twin R1 engines, 320bhp as it comes but I reckon as you'll only be :: running it flat out for 15s at a time then it should take a decent :: sized nitrous oxide kit. :: :: It's all about power. And getting the car as light as possible.

See, Zcars are running two bike engines in the back, putting all 320 brake to the rear wheels with only the tyres, clutch and driver to control it.

What is wrong with a more 'traditional' solution of 4 wheel drive and and engine at either end? You could have the front of the car in a removable single piece, it's a drag car so you could get away with any amount of power bulges etc. But I reckon you'd need to come up with an interesting cooling solution... How about replace the rear window with a custom rad made to fit the shape and curvature of the car, put a full height wall in at an appropriate place (you'll need a bulkhead anyway for the rear engine), fit a big-ass fan and duct air directly to the fan from a roof scoop and NACA ducts in the rear side windows or something?

Then add turbos and nitrous to the engines and hang on...

Oh, for a spare few quid!

¤¤¤ Abo ¤¤¤ raved thus:

:: What is wrong with a more 'traditional' solution of 4 wheel drive :: and and engine at either end?

Replying to my own post...

Generally, when people do twin engined cars, do they tend to keep 'em wet sumped, or do they dry sump them to save space? If they're dry sumped, can you do it with one large oil tank with two oil pumps drawing from it do you think, or would you need to do two individual dry sump systems each with it's own oil tank?

"¤¤¤ Abo ¤¤¤" wrote;

With engines like the busa costing around £3k the BEC lads do dry-sump them, though with your R1, Blade engines etc costing alot less the £1k dry-sump kit isn't really justified, sump-baffles and over-filling by about 20ml is the norm.

Steve.

Apart from that V8 Mini with the Rover lump and Maxi box, transverse fwd of course :)

Just use two, one front, one back.

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Bloody hell, though that would have been either far to wide, or far too high to work.

see here

and here

and there's others out there too...

Blimey, a transverse slant 8... I wonder if that's unique?

Evidently not. I like the way the whole bonnet is hinged, like on a Herald.

mini's are shit. period.

Well, they're noisy, uncomfortable, they leak, they rot, they're horribly unreliable, so from a pragmatic point of view, they're a bit crap, like any other old car. On the other hand they are amazingly good fun to drive, unlike most old cars. I swapped from driving a carlton to a mini, and didn't stop grinning for about a week - until the gearbox broke in fact. After sticking a 1380 lump in, some wide tyres and some spax shockers it was even more fun, and stayed that way until I put it through a wall 4 years later. It cost an absolute fortune in parts and effort to keep it on the road, but I don't regret a penny of it. I'll never get another one, mind.

give me the carlton any day.

Heh, yep, I thought that almost everyday on the 40-mile each way motorway commute in and out of manchester, at least until I got off the motorway and onto country lanes for the last 10 miles - then it all seemed worthwhile.

I reckon carltons handle extremely well, and are good fun on the twisties, we are talking GSi here right?

You, like, are the dude that buys that shiny tat at the local "motor factors", aren't you? ;p

I AM the local motor factor's :D

That really isn't much better you know :p

Still, you can't know less than my local one - I wanted to get their advice about LED rear light bulbs (because they last longer and draw a little less power), I'm not convinced the over the counter ones are legal. They didn't know either!

They've got a lovely range of mock leather and alloy stick on crap though, and alloys in the window, so they must be good..

we sell s**te, its true, but it sells! and if our stuff isnt EU approved we will tell you so, we are quality over price, and what was that about shiny tat buyers and carlton GSi's? didnt quite get the connection.