Mini Transplant

[minimotor_JD]

I'm am either looking to tune a 998cc engine with a stage 3 kit from Minisport and also need gearbox, straight cut. My other option is buy an engine and transplant it in. Any ideas on what kinda engine to put in. did hav an idea of a Vtec 1.4 engine or Swift 1.3. i'll hav to change the engine mounts wouldnt i? Thanks guys !

[DanGT]

Have a good think about how much work you want to do. There are a number people doing kits to fit diffrent engines in minis. Even with the kits this will be a lot more work than useing the orignal engine , but a lot more fun!
If you do go for a 950cc it may not be worth fitting a strate cut box. They are very strong but expensive and noisy. Unless you are make large amounts of power you will not nead the strength. I like the noise but it is worth having a think about.
Hope this helps.

[Baldspeed Racing]

tbh unless you are doing historic rallying there is no point in tweaking a 998, at least start on a 1275.

if you run any diffrent engines you will need a specific subframe and body mods like a longer front end all depending on whih kit you decide to run. If you go on www.theminiforum.co.uk you will find out a lot more info

Edited by Baldspeed Racing on Thursday 24th January 11:46

[Cooperman]

Whilst the 1275 range is the best for pure 'grunt', personally I have always liked the 998. It's so smooth compared with the 1275 and so easy to improve for road use. For a pure road car the insurance is much less and the economy is better. A nice' and driveable 998 can give about 65 bhp and remain smooth - in fact I have recntly built one to do just that and it has a standard box with a 3.1:1 diff.
I built a 998 for Historic Rallying a few years ago, but soon moved on to fit a 970 'S' lump. Even then, we got 'blown away' by a Hillman Imp running webers, a race engine, lsd, etc, by over a second a mile. We sold the car and just reverted to my current 1964 1310 cc 'S' which is very competitive. The problem with these big 'S' motors in historic motorsport seems to be the reliability of the transmissions. Although all straight-cut with comp drive shafts and all the other tweeks, I still seem to break the transmission.
I agree that a s/c box is the last thing you want on a 998 as it's just so noisy, especially with s/c transfer gears (earplugs needed).