V8 in a Mini - Mini Clubman with Rover V8 engine

[caribeiro]

If you want to see something incredible , see this crazy stuff from Finland..,

www.geocities.com/jharkola/Viku2.html

Mini Clubman with Rover V8 engine

[Wedg1e]

I'm surprised anybody bothered to do it. There was an article in a custom car mag in about 1984 featuring an ex-Post Office Mini van with (from memory) a 5.6L Chevy V8 in it. The guy was going to fit a Rover V8 but heard it had already been done so went for something bigger. It was very well executed; apart from the huge rear wheels and big transmission tunnel you 'almost' couldn't tell...;-)
I once saw a Reliant Kitten with a Rover V8 in.... aaarrrggghhh!!

W.

[phil hill]

Check out the oilypages :

www.beardmorebros.co.uk/website%20pages/reliant_kitten.htm

www.v8mini.co.uk

Phil.

[Paul V]

Saw a lot of modified minis yesterday at the London to Brighton mini run, there was 2000 cars on the run. Of the nice cars was a number of Honda VTEC powered cars and 2L 16v Vauxhall Engines. Saw a Rover 4l V8 clubman light up the back wheels on its way out off the front.

[mgv8]

The V8 mini from Finland is trasvers and so front wheel drive. Dont know why but why not!
The kitten ran at Brighton and when very well.
Some where is the UK there is a milk flowt with a Rover V8. I saw about 20 years ago....

[.mark]

We used to have a huge custom car show where I live until the old fudders and nimby's put paid to it all
But at this event I once saw a V8 mini van, red, with the fattest rear tyres I've ever seen and a water feed on to the tyres to keep them cool. His party piece was to spin the rears up from standing, get them nice and hot then switch on the water drip feed and fill the road with steam Completly mental thing to do but got the admiration of many a young teenage lad!
Also the V8 milk float used to come along with the engine sat on the rear shelf thing.
It's such a shame it doesn't happen now, cars used to come from all over europe to show and for 1 weekend a year it was a good place to live. The sound of all those V8's blatting up and down the road outside the pub probably sowed the seed for my TVR!

[phil hill]

quote:
The V8 mini from Finland is trasvers and so front wheel drive. Dont know why but why not!
The kitten ran at Brighton and when very well.
Some where is the UK there is a milk flowt with a Rover V8. I saw about 20 years ago....

The milk float you're refering to was built by GTD I think, the GT40 replica people. You probably saw it on Noel Edmonds Late late breakfast show. They also built a Mini pickup with a mid-mounted V8, basically it was GT40 from the firewall back with a mini pickup front end grafted on. If I could work out how to post a pic, I'd do so. doh !!!

[Wedg1e]

.mark, I'd lay money that red van was the same car I saw all those years ago!
It had a Jag rear axle with big alloys; the tyres almost met in the centre of the van. There was a huge alloy transmission tunnel, so the seats were crooked, and once he'd found some slimline fans he was able to put the original Mini grille back on! It was an ex-GPO van, hence the bright red paint.
At around the same time, one of the bike mags tested a Norton Featherbed frame with a Rover V8 in; the guy told them to take it easy cos the primary drive belt wasn't meant for the torque of a V8; sure enough they broke it...;-)

W.

[.mark]

Ah-ha Ian so you made PistonHead land eh? Things will never be the same here again!

I saw this van, oh, could be 20 years ago now and it sounds exactly the same as you describe. Front seat were indeed crooked and very narrow, perhap Robin Reliant or something?
Those were the days