Lotus Twin-Cam Mini

[Mike_Cerb99]

Hi everyone,

This may be a long shot but worth an ask.....I recently read a report on Himley Hall Mini Show 2009, where there was a lotus twin cam powered mini. The engine was mounted transverse, front engined, front wheel drive (see below). I am considering a similar project but have only come across gearboxes etc set up for an inline engine mounting / rwd......does anyone know what bell housing / gearbox I need to be able to mount the engine transverse, over the driving wheels?

Alternatively, if that mini was yours, please get in touch - it'd be great to talk about / compare projects.

Thanks,
Mike

[Sam_68]

Stretching my memory, this one, but I'm fairly sure that Allan Staniforth (writer and hillclimb specialist who died recently) was involved in one of the first of these conversions and it actually consisted of grafting the Twin-Cam engine onto the Mini gearbox by means of an adapter plate.

[thegreenhell]

I've never heard of this conversion before, but looking at the photo I would say that it is grafted onto the Mini transmission in some way. The engine is 180 degrees out to be using the majority of proprietry FWD gearboxes, but is in the correct orientation for the Mini transmission.

[Mike_Cerb99]

Thanks for your replies - after a bit more digging, it definitely appears to be adapted to fit the A-series gearbox.....just got to find out where I can get some of the parts now Thanks again, Mike

[Mike_Cerb99]

The ford-mini conversion seems a feasible route providing it's done properly as I've heard a few horror stories.....I'm still slightly surprised that no other gearbox to allow a trasverse mounting will fit with the Lotus Twin-Cam...any other non-mini gearbox suggestions???

[wobblyweb]

I have a twin cam block that has been modified for a mini gearbox, from what I can remember it bolted to a mini box with a special casing . The crank is for this conversion and has an adaptor to take a mini flywheel. The box did sit under the engine same as a Mini

I wanted the twin cam head for my Seven and just left the bottom half to be thrown out :0


Rae