Now that the car is driveable, I figure this will be a good place to put my hopes and dreams of what I need to do to the car to improve it:

Increase cooling capacity
Move Stack cluster so it's not obscured by new steering wheel
Fix speedometer
Add manual switch for radiator fan
Add blowers for defrost and driver cooling
Upgrade front suspension to something adjustable
Plug up floor / firewall holes
3.9 or 4.0 final drive to replace silly 4.7

The original plan:

Initially I was totally going to put a Hayabusa engine in the back of the mini. I was eyeing the Z-Cars kit that puts a bike engine behind the driver's seat and drives a rear axle via a chain. Seems pretty sweet right?

Then I started thinking about handling dynamics and my skill level and decided that rear wheel drive in a car with a wheelbase this short would be a recipe for a crumpled mini and a broken heart.

One of the things that I like least about the A+ motor / lucas electronics combination is its lack of reliability. Wires fall off, the car doesn't start. Smoke pours from hidden orifices, I leave paths of oil from the scales to the paddock... And the worst is, every time I get in, I wonder if I'm going to get anywhere, or if I'm going to be able to get home once I get wherever I'm going. That's no way to live life with a car you love!
Sure I've learned a lot from fixing all the little bits that keep going wrong, but it's expensive and stressful and frustrating.
So.
What's a good reliable motor?

I went with a VTEC conversion kit from Minitec. Japanese reliability, tons of upgrade potential, not too expensive, and sickeningly fast. Seems like a good deal to me!

The build process is in the present section, or the "blog."


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