Some people say that a classic mini that has had an engine swap isn’t a classic mini anymore. Which, I believe to be utter nonsense. The mini has done many things over the years such as being a practical small economical family run around, win rally stages, held world records, and I’m sure many other things. One thing that I don’t believe to have contributed to this is the A series engine. Sure, mounting it on top of the gearbox is clever, but that could have been done with any other engine available at the time with a little development. I’m not a fan of the mini for any of its claims to fame, I don’t care how many mustangs it beaten round the track, nor do I care who was driving a mini in any rally stage whether they won or not. I like the mini because it is small and quite unlike anything else in terms of accessibility and availability. Many, many aftermarket upgrades are available for the mini, both custom and off the shelf. Engine swaps are not new, they have been done nearly as long as there have been minis on the road.
My choice of engine was a Vauxhall 1.6 16v from my wives old 2004 Zafira. Which has turned out to be a great addition, torque on tap you might say. Up until recently it has been plenty powerful enough, in fact for a lot of the situations on the road perhaps too much. That was how I felt, no need for any more power, until I started drag racing. Now I find myself in the position where I was wanting just a little bit more than I have, so I can set a new PB every time I go to the track.
This has led to my recent trial. I know a lot of things have been done before, but I like to try it out for myself. So, I fitted my mini and its engine with a gearbox from a mid-nineties Vauxhall Corsa, a wide ratio F15 with a 3.5:1 final drive ratio. I had a dig around in my spares to find I have an F13 with a 3.7:1 final drive ratio. Pondering which to use I got onto Facebook Marketplace and found another F13 with a 3.9:1 final drive and a close ratio gear set. This seemed the best option for only £60. So, I fitted that gearbox.
The installation went OK other than stumbling over a misfitted seal in the clutch line.
Out on the road the car felt a lot different. First and second gear on a 165/70R10 tyre were wheel spin fests. Then at 70 MPH I found my RPM was now at 4400 instead of what it was with the old gearbox at 3500rpm. So, I was now set for another trip to the drag strip.
Check out he video on YouTube below of this work done.
https://youtu.be/178YWcdiVyU