VTEC minis

Author
Discussion

istoo

Original Poster:

2,365 posts

209 months

Friday 26th August 2011
quotequote all
as per the title. Are their any on here?
Having seen the wreckage of my M535i i am trying to find something else to replace it and i keep coming back to a classic mini. Currently living in Malaysia for a year or two where there are loads of clean 1275GTs and cars from my birth era. Having a car the same age as me or older is the aim. I learned to drive in one some years ago. A bit older, and clearly no wiser i fancy on that i can use as a daily but still have a wee bit of fun. I was on a track day last year and there was a VTECed one there which was fantastic, and it had all the merits for me.

Are there any on here?

I see there are a mountain of kits from all over the world.
Any words of wisdom ,advise etc?

Granted if i found an original cooper S it would stay as it is.




edited as i am sober.

Edited by istoo on Sunday 28th August 06:01

harley munky

220 posts

200 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
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i went and visited the guys at zcars few weeks ago as like you i wanted a mini that could hold its own against modern cars and have some fun. chris showed me around the different kits. hyabusa/r1,vtec,volvo. they are all awesome and loads of fun!
i looked more into the volvo and bike engine kits as the vtec has been done loads but which ever you choose you will love it!
think iv settled on the bike engine kit as i can get hold of damaged bikes fairly easily and they sound fantastic.
just looking for a donor car now as i dont want to cut up my 73 850 morris. but as iv just found out it needs aload of work doing anyway i may just pull the angle grinder out and just get on with the conversion biggrin

zetec_s6

131 posts

253 months

Thursday 1st September 2011
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This is my Z-Cars conversion. I fitted sound deadening, carpets and changed the final drive to make it more useable for everyday use and with 260bhp it's great fun for short journeys but gets a bit tiresome on longer ones.


istoo

Original Poster:

2,365 posts

209 months

Friday 2nd September 2011
quotequote all
oh tell me more. did you do for the full Zcars conversion or DIY kit?
Which engine, sizes, problems, time frame etc.

260bhp, rather nippy i imagine.

zetec_s6

131 posts

253 months

Friday 2nd September 2011
quotequote all
I bought the kit from Z-Cars, it’s the original vtec kit with front subframe, not the newer race spec kit. I went for their stage 1 & 2 engine upgrades, ECU (+20bhp) and exhaust (+10bhp) and kitted ZX12 throttle bodies (+30bhp). It took about 3 years to build but the first 12 months were sorting out the shell which was a lot worse than I thought, and then I stopped for about a year due to kids. All the work was completed at home in the evenings, except spraying which I hired a booth to do. Overall it went together relatively easily, there were a few problems but nothing too difficult and most of them weren’t related to the kit.

As for performance it goes like a rocket, apparently 0-60 is about 3.5 sec, grip is really good but it is a bit twitchy on bumpy roads, overall it's great fun and I doubt there's much that could keep up with it.