Thoughts on 1400+cc on road

Hi guys,

I have been looking at different hearts for my '63 850 such as a turbo or a BMW K-headed big or small bore, but i have been offered an offset bored 1100S 1400+. We aren't actually sure if its a 1408 or 1428 as it was built in the 80's and was put into storage when replaced with a turbo 1380. I know the builder (he's offering it to me for a price i cant refuse) and he knows a few stats but not the exact capacity as it was built almost 30 years ago


ANYWAY, i'm just wondering what peoples thoughts are on using 1400+ strokers in road/semi-track cars. What are your Experiences, anything to look out for, etc. I am thinking a new set of gaskets throughout and obviously fluid flush and changes before cranking it over, but any other things to look out for?
We are keen on running twin SU's, rather than a weber, any thoughts?

It only has a 12g940 head atm and standard rockers, but has lightened flywheel, MK2 S gearbox and some other little goodies

It will be used like a weekender with some track use (might give motorkhanas and sprints a go)

Thanks!

i read in visards book that the big bores 1330 up get a bit iffy as the block gets thin and the head gets restrictive problay less so with a turbo pumping it in there! so my genral thoughts are it will make a brillant road low reving motor say cap it at 6k and 1 bar maby? i think it should make lots of FTlb for that nice tall fd to sute aussie roads ie cruising on 120 +

Thanks for your reply. It should be quite torquey on the road. As for boost, im not sure, but it would make it a bit more fun! A rpm cap seems like a smart idea, stop anything wandering or excessive pressures in the head.

I was just having a look at the engine yesterday, it just needs a good clean and a lick of paint

how is this going?

turbo this.. wrote:how is this going?

welllllllllllllllllllll.... it now lives in my garage haha

i have some other things in the pipeline for the mini, my current job is making a timeline of what to do and getting things rolling.

So this has been as slow as ever! I still havent got the CV's, hubs etc back yet. Mechanics had a few bouts of bad health. Hopefully now that he's back on the mend they come back soon.

So lifes taken a turn (for the better), i broke up with the ex and sold our house etc. Moved back home, got a new girl and travelled to bits of Europe.
Now that im back and rebuilt the finances the directions changed a bit and this year has been declared the year of the mini, with full backing of the new gf and family.

The mambas were sold off to another mini owner in Tasmania. In due time i will get some force racing 3-piece 10" wheels (inner and outer widths TBD when i can measure it all up, but aiming for 6.5 or 7" wide). The body is booked in for a 6-point rollcage (FIA/CAMS approved) on march 30th, then after that i would like it to head off for some bodywork. I plan to have it as low as i can run it, so im going to need to "tub" (as the english say) the rear arches, and trim the front wheel arches (it will be running decent flares too). I know some over here frown on the act, but i seriously dgaf what some stuffy concourse-loving mini car club members think!  

Anyway, there wont be too much to report until the rollcage is done. Between now and then i just have to weld up a jig/frame for the body and just plan. Once i get the suspension bits back i then need to figure out how to build up subframes  

Just quickly, should this be moved into members cars? it's become a build thread (i use the term "build thread" loosely  )

braad wrote:So this has been as slow as ever! I still havent got the CV's, hubs etc back yet. Mechanics had a few bouts of bad health. Hopefully now that he's back on the mend they come back soon.

So lifes taken a turn (for the better), i broke up with the ex and sold our house etc. Moved back home, got a new girl and travelled to bits of Europe.
Now that im back and rebuilt the finances the directions changed a bit and this year has been declared the year of the mini, with full backing of the new gf and family.

The mambas were sold off to another mini owner in Tasmania. In due time i will get some force racing 3-piece 10" wheels (inner and outer widths TBD when i can measure it all up, but aiming for 6.5 or 7" wide). The body is booked in for a 6-point rollcage (FIA/CAMS approved) on march 30th, then after that i would like it to head off for some bodywork. I plan to have it as low as i can run it, so im going to need to "tub" (as the english say) the rear arches, and trim the front wheel arches (it will be running decent flares too). I know some over here frown on the act, but i seriously dgaf what some stuffy concourse-loving mini car club members think!  

Anyway, there wont be too much to report until the rollcage is done. Between now and then i just have to weld up a jig/frame for the body and just plan. Once i get the suspension bits back i then need to figure out how to build up subframes  

Just quickly, should this be moved into members cars? it's become a build thread (i use the term "build thread" loosely  )

Naaa just start a 1400 build thread . Sounds like you have it all sorted!!!

benjamin wrote:

Naaa just start a 1400 build thread . Sounds like you have it all sorted!!!

Haha ok. when i have some time i'll re-write my stuff/info and chuck up a new thread.

I have plans, but its a bit scary cash wise! Never built a car befote so it shall be interesting

Ok so speaking to my rollcage bloke/fabricator this afternoon about some new turrets to run rear coilovers. Then seeing if we can tie the rollcage into the turrets to add strength

So the cars going for rollcage next saturday 28th at AGI. To help with mobility i made up a little trolley. Should be useful for some other work too as its a bit higher, a little more ergonomic




Fabricator came back with a figure of $1200-1800 for the suspension work. Considering he wants my mini to make up a rollcage kit for classic minis, not too custom (extending through the rear firewall to the turrets is probably not going to sell well), we decided against it.

After speaking to a mate who ran beam axle turbo minis in the 80's, we will come up with new plans to run coilovers.

So for the time being, the shell will be tacked onto the trolley and the rollcage work begins in a week

Trolley looks nice and strong , mine is just some reject timber from bunnings haaa.


What sort of rollcage you going for ? just rear cage or full ?

Haha well the timber idea was thought of, but the rollcage guys are perfectionists. The owner is ex-Williams F1 and they are magicians. So i made it a bit sturdier. I just hope its all level. I tacked it/welded it on what i thought was a flat concrete pad (as my block is all sloped), so hope its level!

Im getting a 6-point bolt in. They're going to made mounting boxes at the base of the A & B pillars so its super strong. Mounting boxes will have captive nuts in them. Harness bar, double diagonal theough the main hoop, backstays, front legs down A-pillar, top cross windscreen bar, double side intrusion bars.
so bolt in and front half can be removed separately and engineered.

So i decided to rip the rear subframe out in preparation for the body being put on the trolley. Found some sneaky spacers in there



Rear subframe came out eventually. Would have been easier with another set of hands, but it was easy enough with a bit of fiddling. The rear of the subframe was screwed to the boot floor with a self tapper... odd...

Not much thread left on the studs with the spacers !!

Nope! And the extreme wearing on the trailing arms is odd.

The shell is up on the trolley as of today. so nice having it so mobile for the first time, it's awesome. Just needed two mates and we did it easily. I didnt weld it to the trolley as it was too wet, so it's a job for tomorrow

In another update, AGI (rollcage fabricators) just asked if we could delay the rollcage work for a week as they are behind schedule on a few of their current cars. Im happy to, but next week is easter so i have a feeling it will end up two weeks.

Sometimes we cant control these things and just have to roll with it. However, it did kick me into gear so im very happy with that.

one of the cars its delayed for is a VE clubsport which is getting turned into a track car. No expense spared, some LSX motor and a $30k sequential hollinger gearbox.... :O
some have too much money!

braad wrote:In another update, AGI (rollcage fabricators) just asked if we could delay the rollcage work for a week as they are behind schedule on a few of their current cars. Im happy to, but next week is easter so i have a feeling it will end up two weeks.

Sometimes we cant control these things and just have to roll with it. However, it did kick me into gear so im very happy with that.

one of the cars its delayed for is a VE clubsport which is getting turned into a track car. No expense spared, some LSX motor and a $30k sequential hollinger gearbox.... :O
some have too much money!

Oh that's a shame , but hey these things happen. Any idea of weight the roll cage will add to the car?

benjamin wrote:Oh that's a shame , but hey these things happen. Any idea of weight the roll cage will add to the car?

Thats a good question, i will suspect a fair bit as they're making mounting boxes at the base of the A & B pillars.

So looks like it will be getting rid of the rear subframe and running a beam with the trailing arms

So my suspension guru mate came around saturday night and we have an idea for the rear subframe replacement. I need to speak to the engineer before i do anything, but its a simple C-channel and a few L-brackets with some bolts and tabs. We can run the standard trailing arms but allow for camber and toe adjustment.

Also, due to the rollcage timeline being moved its going to get media blasted next week. Its being picked up on saturday to go to Quikstrip in Bankstown. Funnily enough, i had it booked in there to be blasted 4 years ago but my dad was seriously ill so i cancelled the booking.

The rollcage still hasnt got a new date, but it will be in the next few weeks. The main issue here is just getting the body out to the street. This is without a doubt the shittest driveway for project cars. Its steep and twisty, and theres a short height limit due to the driveway steeply turning upwards with a level deck overhead. The max height would be around my head height and im only 6 foot.

So there are a few new updates. I was going to wait for my project thread but i can just copy this over once i start one.

So...

decided to clean a wheel well last week to see how hard it was going to be. Not 100% sure if this rubbish will come off with the blasting, so no harm in trying it with a paint scraper






Also had forgotten about leaving one of the seam covers on. As i was getting it off the noises weren't confidence inspiring, but it seem to be not too bad. It will all be properly revealed once blasted. woo, progress!

On saturday the body was meant to go to quikstrip in bankstown to be blasted over easter. In preparation, i spent wednesday afternoon & night under the ass-end scraping the grime, tar and crap away. This was mainly done so i could inspect the steel and get measurements. Once i was thoroughly covered in shit i stripped the body of any remaining attachments like earthing straps, the doors, door hinges, seat belt mounts, handbrake, steering column support, pedals and frame, suspension mounts, etc

Found the boot floor to be pretty rusty, and the back bottom section of the drivers side rear wheelwell too. Otherwise it looked fairly clean. The blasting is going to help, i think both the valances will come out looking like swiss cheese, the bootfloor will just about disappear around the spare wheelwell.

I looked in the interior crossmember and saw bits of rust in there. I need to figure out how to deal with that.
Have you guys cut the crossmember out, sorted the rust, prime & paint, then welded the crossmember back in?

So on Monday i spent some time finishing up cleaning things up in preparation for the blasting happening yesterday. I also started taking measurements of the rear floor section for the beam and suspension changes.
It was going so well until it started pouring rain


after what felt like hours staring at the mini's floor from underneath it, i think i might have an idea for a jig to fabricate so we can replace the turrets with 100mm tubing.







Then yesterday at 11am, Jim from Quikstrip turned up and we pushed the body up the driveway and onto his trailer. It's the first time in a decade the car has seen the street, and only the third since it arrived here almost 15 years ago. I can tell you i was smiling pretty widely at that moment
Jim's happy to have the car and take it straight to AGI on monday so it can get it's rollcage done, just saves dealing with my ridiculous driveway more than needed. Progress is continuing!

braad wrote:On saturday the body was meant to go to quikstrip in bankstown to be blasted over easter. In preparation, i spent wednesday afternoon & night under the ass-end scraping the grime, tar and crap away. This was mainly done so i could inspect the steel and get measurements. Once i was thoroughly covered in shit i stripped the body of any remaining attachments like earthing straps, the doors, door hinges, seat belt mounts, handbrake, steering column support, pedals and frame

Looking good!! any progress on the rollcage?

So are you doing the beam yourself or is that part of the roll cage fabrications?

benjamin wrote:

braad wrote:On saturday the body was meant to go to quikstrip in bankstown to be blasted over easter. In preparation, i spent wednesday afternoon & night under the ass-end scraping the grime, tar and crap away. This was mainly done so i could inspect the steel and get measurements. Once i was thoroughly covered in shit i stripped the body of any remaining attachments like earthing straps, the doors, door hinges, seat belt mounts, handbrake, steering column support, pedals and frame

Looking good!! any progress on the rollcage?

So are you doing the beam yourself or is that part of the roll cage fabrications?

The mini will go to AGI in peakhurst for rollcage work to start today. Mini was meant to be blasted on saturday and Jim will then deliver it to AGI at some point today, im just waiting for a reply at the moment for a time.

The beam's separate from the rollcage work. If i can get in contact with the engineer and get that ball rolling (i have called and emailed him) then i can start work on the beam. Its fairly simple so i wouldnt mind giving it a go myself, but if i fail then i'll just send the dimensions to a metal fabricator and get them to do it. Another idea was that some engineers do small things themselves, no idea if this bloke does, but if he does then its another way of getting the beam done.

First thing today is getting the car from blasters to AGI. Hopefully there arent tonnes of holes in the car!

Pictures to come