Rugd1022 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) This one's for "Rugd1022" - unusual things to find in a Mini. Looks like a Mk3 shell with tail lamps sans reversing lights (MkIV onwards had reversing lights), the Honda jobbie has been done a few times in Minis of various vintage, I saw a Mk1 with the same transplant at a show a couple of years ago, fully deseamed in bright yellow with a 5-speed 'box and still on ten inch wheels... bit of a screamer so the owner said! Quite a few Vauxhall 2 -litre conversions have been done over the years too. Just ordered some more old car books from Amazon including a long forgotten one on Lotus Elans and Europas. Goodbye, cruel world... Edited December 27, 2017 by Rugd1022 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Looks like a Mk3 shell with tail lamps sans reversing lights (MkIV onwards had reversing lights), the Honda jobbie has been done a few times in Minis of various vintage, I saw a Mk1 with the same transplant at a show a couple of years ago.... I'd imagine that the Honda VTEC changes the character of the Mini quite considerably.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 27, 2017 Also heard of them done with big bike engines like Yamaha R1 and the like. Certainly scream then. I wouldn't even want to thin of the price of the Insurance even for a wrinkly like me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 (edited) There were quite a few of these engine swaps done on Minis in the early to mid '90s, I think the first Vauxhall 2 litre conversion I saw was done c.1994 by a young lad in his late teens or early 20s at the time so the insurance must have been eye watering. It had its own bespoke subframe and engine mounts, can't remember which gearbox it had though. IIRC there is or was a Minivan featured in one of the magazines at the same time with a yank V8 mounted in the back...! Edited December 27, 2017 by Rugd1022 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 There was a mini pickup with a yank V8 in the bed racing at Santa Pod in the late 60s. I doubt it was road legal though. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 ....I think the first Vauxhall 2 litre conversion I saw was done c.1994 by a young lad in his late teens or early 20s at the time so the insurance must have been eye watering. ..... Speaking of which, does anyone remember the fashion for stuffing Vauxhall 2-litre engines into Vauxhall Novas? There was quite a lively industry turning these out for a while, and I imagine the insurance quotes on those must have been similarly crippling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugd1022 Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 They were in 'Max Power' magazine almost every month I'd imagine! Came across this wee Lotus gem from 1970 yesterday... https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=1970+Lotus+Europa&&view=detail&mid=8A3766D78975643F89F68A3766D78975643F89F6&&FORM=VDRVRV 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Speaking of which, does anyone remember the fashion for stuffing Vauxhall 2-litre engines into Vauxhall Novas? There was quite a lively industry turning these out for a while, and I imagine the insurance quotes on those must have been similarly crippling. Still plenty of them around, they come up for sale frequently on the usual auction marts. The 16v, 'red top' engines are the most popular although there are plenty of 8v versions as well. As the packaging for the Nova, Astra and Cavalier was all based around the same OHC engine envelope, its a fairly straightforward swap, although I gather the ancillaries and cooling pack can be bit of a tight squeeze. There was a white mk1 Astra GTE with a 16v conversion being touted for a while but the five figure price would have put most sane folks off. It was a bit of a shame that one really, a waste of a good mk1 which are scarce enough and even with a shot engine, it would have been easy enough to have found a replacement original spec' to transplant. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 There was a mini pickup with a yank V8 in the bed racing at Santa Pod in the late 60s. I doubt it was road legal though. I believe there was also a Mini van (or, at least, something vaguely Mini van shaped) with a Jag 6 in it at around the same time. Stripteaser, I think it was called. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 27, 2017 I recall back in the day (way back) there was someone who chopped two minis and welded them together so they could be driven from either end. Not too sure of how well that was done but I suspect not very. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I recall back in the day (way back) there was someone who chopped two minis and welded them together so they could be driven from either end. Not too sure of how well that was done but I suspect not very. Didn't BMC themselves do something not totally dissimilar with a double engined "Twini Moke" prototype in an attempt to turn the Moke into a real 4wd without too much new engineering work? OK, well, maybe quite dissimilar really . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 ......................As did Citroen [ducks shovels] for the French Army.... also I believe tried with the Renault R4..which was a jeep to their armies... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 Didn't BMC themselves do something not totally dissimilar with a double engined "Twini Moke" prototype in an attempt to turn the Moke into a real 4wd without too much new engineering work? OK, well, maybe quite dissimilar really . They built about a dozen 'Twini Mokes' and they were even tested by the US army but they were simply too complicated. Its a pity that the Austin Ant (ADO19) wasn't continued with. It was intended as a replacement for the Mini-Moke based on the 1100/1300 with a higher ground clearance and it was intended to produce a 4X4 version but with just one engine/transmission. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I'd dearly love a working Haflinger...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 They built about a dozen 'Twini Mokes' and they were even tested by the US army but they were simply too complicated. Its a pity that the Austin Ant (ADO19) wasn't continued with. It was intended as a replacement for the Mini-Moke based on the 1100/1300 with a higher ground clearance and it was intended to produce a 4X4 version but with just one engine/transmission. That would explain why, in the photos I half remember seeing, the driver was in decidedly un-British uniform . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chriswright03 Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 27, 2017 I seem to recall them (Haflinger's) when watching Rally Cross on Grandstand Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 This has doubtless been seen before.....but demonstrates the Haflinger's abilities well.. Even though they would now be in the same category as 'classic cars', they are that old....somehow they are the antithesis of all most enthusiasts look for.... Not a lot of power, not very big,not full of broohahahah! I love 'em [Plus, from these wee portal-hub'd, spine-chassied tots came the Pinzgauer, loved by the Royal Marines.] 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I recall back in the day (way back) there was someone who chopped two minis and welded them together so they could be driven from either end. Not too sure of how well that was done but I suspect not very. Hednesford Raceway had one built from two Austin 1100s which did its party piece between races at meetings there in the 1970s. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 I've seen a Mini with a BMW 16v bike engine head on the A series.....at least I think it was the original block - it certainly wasn't the rest of the BMW K100 engine. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanuts Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 I've seen a Mini with a BMW 16v bike engine head on the A series.....at least I think it was the original block - it certainly wasn't the rest of the BMW K100 engine.and then theres this https://www.zcars.org.uk/hayabusa/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium New Haven Neil Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 and then theres this https://www.zcars.org.uk/hayabusa/ Waste of a 'busa engine! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted December 27, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 27, 2017 This has doubtless been seen before.....but demonstrates the Haflinger's abilities well.. Even though they would now be in the same category as 'classic cars', they are that old....somehow they are the antithesis of all most enthusiasts look for.... Not a lot of power, not very big,not full of broohahahah! I love 'em [Plus, from these wee portal-hub'd, spine-chassied tots came the Pinzgauer, loved by the Royal Marines.] Thats the Haflingers bigger brother the Pinzgauer. Here is the two together >> And heres the Haflinger on its own >> 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianthesnail96 Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 Speaking of which, does anyone remember the fashion for stuffing Vauxhall 2-litre engines into Vauxhall Novas? There was quite a lively industry turning these out for a while, and I imagine the insurance quotes on those must have been similarly crippling. I well remember pulling into the overtaking lane coming up to a set of red lights alongside a boy racer'd Nova, the lights changed while we were both still rolling and he got ahead of me and stayed there. Considering I was in a 4.0 Jag XJ40 this was most embarrassing. Unfortunately we never had a repeat with in my friend's car- he had a XJR at the time, 4 litre supercharged V8 and just shy of 400bhp, there weren't many boyracermobiles that would upset that. Traffic light GPs ignored the XJ40 was a lovely car though, especially for the £950 it cost me. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
runs as required Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 What are those things that hill f armers swarm all over the N Pennines with these days, if not Haflingers? My favourite UK telly on returning from overseas at the end of the 1970s were events where things from Haflingers, Mokes and bikes to Alvis Saracens were pitted against one another in 'point to point' racing across open tank training terrain and filmed from helicopters. We were all brutalist macho modernist 'progresssives' in those pre-guiltridden days. dh 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 (edited) I'd dearly love a working Haflinger...... Happy to oblige... https://www.carsales.com.au/private/details/Steyr-Puch-Haflinger-1974/SSE-AD-4992918/?Cr=0 Do bear in mind that it's an interesting classic vehicle in WA and so stands a good chance of being both utterly knackered and grossly overpriced. Edited December 28, 2017 by PatB 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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