dutch zeemax mini turbo 1975 LHD
Turbo Mini Forums

hello My name is vincent and i´m from the netherlands.
i´m new on this forum. I´ve sent some people some private messages but never posted something in public.
My englisch is not very good but i assume that you can read my writing.

I´m now for 14 years the owner of a mini 1300cc from 1975.
I´ve build it from scratch. this winter i started a new project....... a turbo! what else.
So i decided to start a topic here whit some pictures of my progress so far.

the spec i´ve got in mind is this;

*a reconditioned gearbox helical gears all new bearings
*2.95:1 diff and a x-pin
*pre verto clutch, steel flywheel,lightened presure plate, orange diaphragm
*6581 turbo crank, balanced
*266 kent cam with new followers
*centre strap and all ARP studs
*standard dropgears
*bmw undercrown cooling jets
*standard conrods with ARP bolts and Omega 18cc forced pistons
*reconditioned turbo cilinder head nothing special.
*custom plenum
*megajolt
* new t3 turbo unit
*mpi tank
etc etc etc...........

here is a picture of my car before the project


webasto sunroof


inside of the mini

Welcome. That's a really nice looking mini.

i´m working on it for a few months now so i´ll give it a flying start...

Here are some pics of my new engine and all the parts when i bought it.
It was standing in a shed for 10 years or so. afther the last owner rebuild it.
I took it completely apart to check everything and make it better.....

first i removed the old engine.


and this is the new one how i bought it

All the parts come from a metro turbo



I started with stripping the whole car. Including the subframes. so i can put the new fuellines in
Also clean everything up and put in some new parts..

some new springs from germany


rear subframe after cleaning it.


i used spi feul lines but they don´t fit all the way. So i cut the last part off and make some custom lines at the back. Also mounted the filter on...

picture thats shows it doesn´t fit

here is how i´ve done it.It´s a tight fit!


Spax adjustable shocks and superfins at the back


the front subframe is new powder coated along with a bunch of other parts




the front brakes are from the metro turbo completely reconditioned, new discs and braided hoses
And also spax adjustables in the front

Next step for me is the turbo box. And thats not as easy as a rhd mini.
I also use a brake servo.


Here we go..............




To make it al fit i also have to customise the pedal box and the trottle pedal.
because the trottle pedal comes´on the position of the brake pedal. And the brake pedal has to move a few inches sideways

picture of a non servo pedal en a brake servo one. those i will combine



now that it fits i make it a little bit stronger


because of the pipe to the servo the standard bulheadbox won´t fit. So i also need to customise that one






the mini is now at the paintshop and is coming home this week

the things i´ve done to the engine so far......

Make the cilinderhead fit 11 studs


also to centre strap is done.The ARP studs for the strap are ordered


THe bmw oil jets are fitted



Thats it for so far. I´ll keep in touch...thanks for watching

Ziet er goed uit!

Which part of the Netherlands are you located?

Han

Dazed and Confused....

Body kits on mini's aren't usually my thing but that is very tastefully done in my opinion. Looks great!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

Tanks all....

I'm from Heinenoord. A little village next to Rotterdam.

Today we put on the final layer of primer. Tomorrow it will be painted in color
. Than i can bring him home!!



I'm using two fueltanks 1 left and one at the right side. With the Old tank it wasn't a problem to connect them to each other. But with the mpi one it's a different story.
I've welded a little pipe in the buttom of the tank to connect them.......
(I will cut a piece of it's a little bit long now)



I've made 2 fog lights in the rear bumper.
I'm very pleased with the result.



I've also got my gearbox and clutch house in return. They are glass bead blasted.
The former owner had painted them orange. Not my kind of taste
They look like new




All the brake parts and some other stuff will be painted black

top marks, have you modded the head apart from drilled for 11 studs ?

Not realy the standard valves are in.
But with double springs. It's resurfaced and made lead free.
I've ordered omega forced 18cc pistons to get the compression down to
8.6-1

very good,

Nice car. I'm another that doesn't usually like body kits. But this looks really well.

BHP sells engines, but Torque wins races!

Nice looking mini

great looking car

Done now needs redoing lol

Good effort.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

After a few months being at the weld/paintshop he´s finaly comig home today.
So i can start building. I can´t wait!



Also got a little package by mail today....


I directly delivered them to the engine specialist who is fine tuning my engine
the things be done by the engine specialist are;

*conrods will be line honed
*the maincaps will be line honed
*crank balanced
*he will shim the engine a little bit down to achieve a compression ratio of 8:5-1
*balance the conrods
*new little end bush to fit to the conrod to make the gudgeon pin fully floating
*the ring's end gap will be set. The gap is different for NA or boost egines.....(he told me)
*measuring valve spring pressure
He gave my the option to DLC coat the cam followers. Not cheap but they will be "almost" everlasting.
Is this a wise choise??


i´m thinking to use about 13/14psi of boost max. Is this ok?? or to much for my normal gearbox and dropgears?
i´m trying to keep away from the SC drops.
He gave me the advise to use a LSD to reduce torque steer..

maybe someone can help me out here...

Hi Vincent
I will be using a Quaife atb as that is what
Steve Benross recommends.
You should be ok with that boost but others may advise better on the drops and gearbox combination
Jawd

Hello jawd.... Thanks for the input. I will try the helical gears with all new bearings. When they fail i make an decision what to do next....
Most sc gearbox's are close ratio. I have read on the vmax site that's not what i want with a long diff..... Correct me if i'm wrong!

You're right with the quaife diff. It's not cheap but the drivability will be much better i think. So i will stick that one in..

Gr. Vin

I'm starting at the back... I've pulled a wire true the roof for the fuelpump.
Not an easy thing because there are large drains from the sunroof in it....

Next the tanks where put back in and connected the fuel lines...
Also the Fog lights where installed.



The gear shifter is reconditioned. New grease in it en two new shafts because the engine is placed a little bit forward



I've ordered a plenum from Hywel and recieved it this week. A realy Nice piece!!!!




Here is one picture of the box when it was finished



Next thing is making bood board......

The boot is finished. I've made an boot board...
Now i'm staring to build up the inside of the car.



The bench is put back in place after a marathon dust removing...
Carpet en speakers.....

After some advice and searching on this forum the most used sc gear set is the clubman one.
And in combination with the ATB quaife..
So i will do the same
But i will use the helical drop gears. I'll hope this will survive

Is this the gear set i need to buy???
clubman gear set

Gr. Vin

Sound deadening material put back in place. Dashtop and carpets...



Also the pedalbox......



Next step is the Heater, switch panel, wires.........

I've also made an extra bracket in the speaker pods.
The original alone are not strong enough in my opinion.

On 29th Mar, 2014 Cybertjuh said:


I've ordered a plenum from Hywel and recieved it this week. A realy Nice piece!!!!

Edited by lee.pb on 3rd Apr, 2014.

What the mind can conceive the mini can achieve
MITP 2012 17.01 seconds 1/4 mile against "The Don"
MITP 2013 16.83 seconds 1/4 mile

Lovely car. I had a problem with twin tanks were the returning fuel was causing one tank to fill and the other to empty because the flow rates were different out of the two tanks. Ended up going back to one tank. On my Esprit Turbo (also Twin tank) the link pipe is about an inch diameter.

Ok.... That was what i was afraid of.
But i will see how it go's. The best thing for me is to fil both tanks half full.
An then watch the fuel meter??