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Mini In Car and Driver

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racing girl

racing girl

Jedi Knight
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I haven't seen, but I've been told that this months Car and Driver has a write up of a company (possible British) who are putting motor bike engines in the original Mini and selling them on for quite a bit of money. Anyone else see this??

RG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/england.gif
 
Here in the U.S., it's not uncommon to see Honda V-Tech (car) engine swaps in a Mini, but I haven't seen or heard of using motorcycle engines.

Motorcycle engines are light, compact, and many certainly produce enough power to give a Mini spritely performance. It'll be interesting, if and when such an article is written, to see what they've come up with.
 
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I haven't seen, but I've been told that this months Car and Driver has a write up of a company (possible British) who are putting motor bike engines in the original Mini...

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WHY????
 
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...WHY????

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Light weight
high specific power output
six-speed sequential shifting
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif

PC.
 
Actually, the VTECH makes a pretty good swap in a Mini (if you like that sort of thing).

We have a couple of VTECH Minis in our club....one of which won the "Best Engineered" 1st Place trophy at last summer's MiniMeet West Meets East 2004, in Rockford, IL.

Another VTECH Mini drove 2500 miles from Vancouver, B.C. to the MiniMeet.....so apparently they're pretty reliable, too.
 
Check out 'Octane' Feb. issue for a Ford Zetech powered Lotus Elan and a K series powered Bugeye.
All good fun! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif
 
There are a few Lotus Seven clones driving around with motorcycle engines (and I'm told they are insane cars to drive!), I suppose a Mini is small enough to do much the same conversion...
 
I did see a Mini with duel Yamaha engines in MiniWorld last year. One engine up front, one in back. I don't remember the specifics, but I believe it was just for racing.
 
Tricky putting a motorcyle transmission in reverse, perhaps they have a modification for that. Or do you rely on a tight turning circle, or push it when you want to go backwards, like a racecar?
Simon. (Too old to push!)
 
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Tricky putting a motorcyle transmission in reverse, perhaps they have a modification for that. Or do you rely on a tight turning circle, or push it when you want to go backwards, like a racecar?
Simon. (Too old to push!)

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some of them use an extra starter motor to turn the driveshalf while the transmission is in neutral.
 
The motorcycle engine of choice is the Hayabusa. Its about 275 HP without the turbo and 315 HP with the turbo. Now, just what would that do in a 1500 Lb car??? (Not as quick as the bike I might add, but the work ZOOM comes to mind).
 
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