By Dean Sprague
You may remember my son’s classic Mini project. It was project #2 scheduled just behind project #1 my 1964 Volvo. I am not sure how it happened but somehow my son’s Mini quietly slipped ahead of mine. Well it’s a year later and believe it or not we have almost completed the project; if any really are. This restoration was a retro re-power project converting from an Austin A series drivetrain to a Honda B16B V tec with a 5 speed gearbox and modified posi-track transaxle. Actually it evolved into a complete re-tub, full nut and bolt restoration. In reflection the only thing still British about the Mini is the body, fuel tank, steering system, modified hubs, most of the interior (except for Mazda Miata seats), wheels and chrome trim. Everything else came from something else. He went to great lengths however to retain its original appearance. If you saw it at a car show (with the bonnet closed) you would think it was a classic 60s Mini. It looks original from the Smiths gauge cluster to the parcel tray. However, if you challenged it from the street you might only get to see the taillights. Getting almost 200 HP in such a small under 1500# package was a greater undertaking than I envisioned some 3 years ago but we finally did it and it flies.
Last year we projected completing the drivetrain and getting it running by early spring and actually driving the car by fall. We had already painted the body, put in the driveline, and installed some of the glass and interior but no wiring yet. Thanks to the competent assistance from Dave Ahrendt we finally overcame the wiring challenges. They were frustrating and numerous but somehow we only missed our deadline by 3 months. I thought it would be much worse. Generally several things caused this. First, life got in the way; you know unforeseen things that come up. Second, we didn’t program enough for the “one step forward 2 steps back” process that occurs when you are fabricating solutions to problems you didn’t know you had. Third, I created a schedule that was just overly optimistic. I do this over and over somehow always expecting a different result.
Now we are at the end of another year. What would be more fitting than to finish a major project at years end? Well, nothing.
So lets talk more about the project. The further we got into it the more difficult it became as we tried to find more space under the bonnet for simple things (and there were many) like a horn or radiator overflow bottle. What we really needed was a cockpit stretcher but they were on forever backorder. On the positive side though you can still check and change the oil and filter, add water, transmission fluid and adjust most things if you are patient. On the negative side almost everything else will require complete powertrain removal. My son assures me though since it’s a Honda driveline, it will be so reliable it will never require any heavy lifting (well maybe).
Next the trials run. The first attempt to drive the car was when we had it running and stopping but little else. The doors were still stored in my other garage; the instrument cluster was in my lap on the passenger side where I was comfortably siting on a step stool trying to hold on for dear life. Jason, my son was driving. That was a short trip with just the muffler-less exhaust header but it did provide valuable data for things we still needed to do like fix an oil leak, get the cooling fan to engage and try to adjust the suspension. Our next attempt didn’t take place until we had real substance like doors, both seats and instruments installed. I attempted to adjust the suspension but the camber on the left rear couldn’t be adjusted from extreme negative. It seems the vendor had over heated the cross member when welding it and distorted it. While we are trying to get a good one I decided to shim it. After multiple attempts it finally took 1/8” and 1/16” shims stacked together on the upper outside and lower inside of the stub axle to get it straight enough to adjust. Now time to get the exhaust installed. I made an appointment at our usual shop and since it was close enough we drove it on the open header. Of course we no sooner left the house when we discovered a police cruiser sitting at the side of the road. The trick here is to get up enough speed so you can coast past him without throttling the engine. We managed to idle by unnoticed. When we arrived at the muffler shop we found they were under new management and after a brief discussion, determined they didn’t have the expertise required to do custom work. So we went to breakfast and Jason surfed the net until we found a shop that specialized in this sort of thing. Since David Poe met us for breakfast in his MGA he followed us to the new shop. They were fantastic, jammed us in without an appointment and were actually excited to work on the Mini. Now that we had an excellent exhaust system (though a little to quiet for me) we could flex the engine a bit. Jason ran the engine into V-tec mode and we almost put it in the ditch. That sucker took off like we turned on a Nitrous system. Talk about torque steer, scary. It was time for more suspension adjustment plus the wheel flares were rubbing, we were too low. David Poe and I put in another 3 hours on the suspension.
Now it was time for the first “real” driving experience. Our club joint sponsored a picnic/mini car show with an automotive-based subdivision community about 25 miles away. Jason had to attend his son’s baseball game so the Mini was mine to drive. My daughter’s family wanted to go so I thought it might be fun to see how the car performed under a load. We put in two granddaughters, my wife Bev and a full ice chest that just fit in the boot and off we went. The added load didn’t seem to make any real difference in performance. The car pulled like a tractor and drove smoothly. It rode a little harshly but better than most Minis I have been in. The handling was excellent but under power we still had some torque steer issues. It went nicely about 60-65 miles MPH turning about 32-3500 RPM in 5th gear. The speedometer still needs to be programmed so that is a guess but I did fix the tachometer so I know the RPMs were accurate. The Mini won her first trophy and went home with limited mishap. The suspension settled a bit so I did some post tweaking and brake adjusting. Our previous oil leak returned and I am sure there will be a few more issues but all in all I think a successful project. Jason drove it home to Huntersville on that cold rainy night with the satisfaction of realizing his dream. He is “finally” the very proud owner of his very own frankinzoid-Mini.
