Ladies and gentlemen, I require some guidance.
I have an old, but sound, mini in the garage which currently has a crazy 5 port A series in it. This engine is lots of fun, but annoyingly bad on fuel (6-7mpg at WOT) and eats plugs at an alarming rate. It also needs rebuilding every few thousand miles. The plan is this: Get a 2.5 duratec V6 from Madteg for free, get a gearbox and slap it in the back of the mini. I apprecaite it's a bit more complex than that, but you get the idea!
Now, are there any problems any one can forsee with this? Making a de-dion and sorting out the back end isn't too much of a problem, but I'm unsure what parts would be best. Seirra? I only need the outer ends, as I will get driveshafts made to go from the new ford inner, to the old ford outer (assuming they're actually different? )
Now, the front end. I'm thinking about keeping the normal mini stuff to start with, but is it possible to remove the inner end of the driveshaft, and just run with a little stubby bit, enough to do the hub nut up and allow everything to run as it should? Possible? Wise? I'm doing this as funds are tight, and I'll probably be selling the indy soon, as I can't use it as much as I want, and it just annoys me walking past it everyday.
Any other issues I may come across, apart from the silly amounts of wheel spin!?

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Originally posted by DIY Si
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Now, the front end. I'm thinking about keeping the normal mini stuff to start with, but is it possible to remove the inner end of the driveshaft, and just run with a little stubby bit, enough to do the hub nut up and allow everything to run as it should? Possible? Wise?
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Any other issues I may come across, apart from the silly amounts of wheel spin!?

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Keep us updated

It gets enough attention as it is, you can hear me coming 2 miles away!!! There's about as much induction roar as there is exhaust, due to it running a 48 IDA! But it does mean I have some nice engine bits to sell to help fund it all.

yea no probs with the cv coming of the shaft, just taps of with a hammer, did the oher day infact

sounds like a very interesting project

is it possible to use a dedion with a transverse engine and gearbox since it might be in the way

sounds brilliant to me

What about the sparks Si? I went with an aftermarket ecu but I would probably go for Mega if I did it all again. I have got a good base map if you need one.

You will also want to disable / remove the secondary butterflies - trust me on that one

p.s. Did you get the pdf file?

[Edited on 16-5-07 by RazMan]

Nice plan, currently fitting a rover 2.5 V6 into the back of my renault 5.

Are you fitting it transverse or inline? i only ask as its a tight fit for the reno so it must b close to impossible for the min inline.

What box u using? ive used a modded audi A4 1.8 turbo job as these are the smallest on the market i could find. i think theres some pics of it in my photo album.

one day i might get back onto it and get it on the road.

Shotgun the weber 48. Am i right in thinking they are the ones that are a straight swap for a weber 38 dgas?

You might want to check out what Z-Cars do with a Honda Type R motor in the back of a mini... sounds very similar to what you are proposing.

Cheers
Richard

Calvin, I hadn't thought about doing that as I assumed it would all weigh a lot more than a simple de-dion set up. Probably easier though.
Raz, not checked the e-mail yet, but that's next on the list.
Jon-Boy, no idea about the 48 compatability, but it is a very big carb, and downdraught, so may fit, but I'm sure it'll need a new manifold, due to being 10mm bigger bores! Could be wrong, it's been known to happen.
Mooron, inline would look good, but would also be a fair bit of extra hassle and expense, and wouldn't fit! Standard MTX75 gearbox for me.

[Edited on 16/5/07 by DIY Si]

Right, now I've gotten the measurements for both the engine and box, I reckon it's game on! The engine is a bit less 700mm from the fron to the back of the inlet, so the actual engine is roughly 650mm. The gearbox is 410mm (cheers Raz) from the mounting face to it's furthest point. So looking at 1150mm, being a bit pessimistic. The inside of the mini, is 1260mm at the back, so I have about enough clearance for any hoses and bits that might get in the way. It's going to be tight, but it'll go. Just.

Just a quick update, as not a lot except cleaning and planning will be happening for a while. Having looked into the Mondeo subframe idea, it's just too big to fit, and since the track is way more than that of a mini, I'd either have huge arches, which I don't want, or still have to make the suspension up, so I'm going for an engine cradle thing and de-dion.
Efforts so far are this

Image deleted by owner
to this

Image deleted by owner
Not a lot to show as yet, but I am just getting started. Also, both cam covers now have shiny new cap head bolts, which makes it looks sooo much better.

[Edited on 26/5/07 by DIY Si]