Porsche engine Classic mini Build
Discussion
Hi,
My names Sacha, I used to be very active on the forum with TVR's before I moved to Italy in 2004. Always loved cars and modified cars but when I moved here, fell a bit out of love with them as it is relatively so expensive here and so restrictive (cannot even change your wheels unless the new size is already on your logbook!).
But last year I decided to build a fun track car. I had build a R1 powered mini back in 2001, but sold it here as I could register it and always regretted doing so. Having found a nice Innocenti mini shell, N.B. Innocenti built the mini under license in Italy, I looked on Copart UK, and won a auction for a Porsche Boxster 2.7 and then project PigMi started!
I had measure out roughly that the porsche engine and gearbox would fit nicely in the mini, well actually it was better than that as the whole rear subframe fitted perfectly in the back and probably left more space than in the previous R1 engined mini I had built.
First thing I needed to do was to strip out the MINI and cut away all the rear seat and so on. After this, it was a case of starting to disassemble also the Porsche, removing the engine and all the suspension and gearbox, etc. After this, I built a jig out of steel framework to keep all the main mounting points on this jig, which I could then transfer into the MINI and build the rollbar and mounts from.
Once I'd started building the roll bar, it was pretty easy to mount the subframe of the Porsche directly into the Mini. It was just a case of aligning it. On the front end, at first, I built also the roll cage to support the front subframe of the Porsche, but at a later stage I'm going to change that as I'm not happy with it.
Once the base of the roll cage was built, I was able to mount the engine in, and also the front subframe, and this gave me pretty much a rolling shell. From there, I could then start building up the rest of the roll cage and reinforcements, and start moving the shell around the workshop.
After this, I decided to concentrate a bit on the aesthetics of the car. The bodywork was my first priority. This was due to the fact that the car was probably about two foot wider than originally, and no standard wheel arches would fit. My first mock-ups were all made out of cardboard. Once I'd done the cardboard mock-ups, I could then transfer them into a wire mesh, and then from the wire mesh, I could make accurate templates. The accurate templates I then transferred onto steel sheet, and initially I'd thought of making steel wings, but due to the weight, I decided to make them out of carbon fibre.
So this is the build so far. If it's of interest, I've put the entire build on YouTube in different episodes, going into more details of how I've done certain parts, the decisions behind them, and how I've made items such as the wings out of carbon fiber, the differences in weight, and generally everything that's been done to get the car as it is now. I'll try and keep up the post with any updates I do, but in the end it all depends on how much time I've got free. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you want to see more of the build, here is the link to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@realdrivercars
![](https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243257213?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243260417" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243260417?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243263029" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243263029?resize=720[/img]</a> <a href="https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243266119" Target="_blank" >[img]https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/22077/202511243266119?resize=720)
My names Sacha, I used to be very active on the forum with TVR's before I moved to Italy in 2004. Always loved cars and modified cars but when I moved here, fell a bit out of love with them as it is relatively so expensive here and so restrictive (cannot even change your wheels unless the new size is already on your logbook!).
But last year I decided to build a fun track car. I had build a R1 powered mini back in 2001, but sold it here as I could register it and always regretted doing so. Having found a nice Innocenti mini shell, N.B. Innocenti built the mini under license in Italy, I looked on Copart UK, and won a auction for a Porsche Boxster 2.7 and then project PigMi started!
I had measure out roughly that the porsche engine and gearbox would fit nicely in the mini, well actually it was better than that as the whole rear subframe fitted perfectly in the back and probably left more space than in the previous R1 engined mini I had built.
First thing I needed to do was to strip out the MINI and cut away all the rear seat and so on. After this, it was a case of starting to disassemble also the Porsche, removing the engine and all the suspension and gearbox, etc. After this, I built a jig out of steel framework to keep all the main mounting points on this jig, which I could then transfer into the MINI and build the rollbar and mounts from.
Once I'd started building the roll bar, it was pretty easy to mount the subframe of the Porsche directly into the Mini. It was just a case of aligning it. On the front end, at first, I built also the roll cage to support the front subframe of the Porsche, but at a later stage I'm going to change that as I'm not happy with it.
Once the base of the roll cage was built, I was able to mount the engine in, and also the front subframe, and this gave me pretty much a rolling shell. From there, I could then start building up the rest of the roll cage and reinforcements, and start moving the shell around the workshop.
After this, I decided to concentrate a bit on the aesthetics of the car. The bodywork was my first priority. This was due to the fact that the car was probably about two foot wider than originally, and no standard wheel arches would fit. My first mock-ups were all made out of cardboard. Once I'd done the cardboard mock-ups, I could then transfer them into a wire mesh, and then from the wire mesh, I could make accurate templates. The accurate templates I then transferred onto steel sheet, and initially I'd thought of making steel wings, but due to the weight, I decided to make them out of carbon fibre.
So this is the build so far. If it's of interest, I've put the entire build on YouTube in different episodes, going into more details of how I've done certain parts, the decisions behind them, and how I've made items such as the wings out of carbon fiber, the differences in weight, and generally everything that's been done to get the car as it is now. I'll try and keep up the post with any updates I do, but in the end it all depends on how much time I've got free. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you want to see more of the build, here is the link to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@realdrivercars
Edited by SachaR on Wednesday 26th November 08:32
I love how we have 3 very different Boxter builds:
- This one taking a Boxter engine and adding cyclinders to a mini
- Poppopbangbang's Boxster running 2 less cylinders and a whacking great turbo
- Audi v6 instead of flat 6 (plus 2 turbos)
boxy but good said:
Youtube link not working.
I just get error 404 !
Now fixed, sorry!I just get error 404 !
https://www.youtube.com/@realdrivercars
BoRED S2upid said:
I m a bit torn on this one. Total respect for the engineering that s very impressive but those arches are WIDE!!! How heavy is that boxter engine? The whole point of the mini is its weight hence the R1 conversions.
.I can totally understand where you are coming from, the boxster engine is a fair bit heavier, but the R1 engine had a load of downsides to, no reverse, chain driven etc... so when I was deciding what to do, I believed that the advantage of having it the main weight in the mid position with a fair amount more torque would make up for the extra weight, but lets not forget it still will be around a 550kg car!
SachaR said:
BoRED S2upid said:
I m a bit torn on this one. Total respect for the engineering that s very impressive but those arches are WIDE!!! How heavy is that boxter engine? The whole point of the mini is its weight hence the R1 conversions.
.I can totally understand where you are coming from, the boxster engine is a fair bit heavier, but the R1 engine had a load of downsides to, no reverse, chain driven etc... so when I was deciding what to do, I believed that the advantage of having it the main weight in the mid position with a fair amount more torque would make up for the extra weight, but lets not forget it still will be around a 550kg car!
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