I did the conversion without ever driving a VTEC Mini.  Of course, I am a little crazy.  It depends on what you want.  D-series is more than enough, but B series doesn't cost that much more and you can always not push the gas down all the way.  I'd consider doing the all wheel drive conversion.  I'm thinking that might be my next upgrade.  I like the Minitec frame, since I don't weld.  If you are making your own frame, consider the new Ford 1 liter 3 cylinder Ecoboost. Not so common yet, but I love the one in my wife's new Fiesta.

Hi, Do you still have that MTB2 subframe for sale? How much do you want for it?

Thanks

I got a mini tec mtb2 kit complete with b16 for sale. letme know if you're interested.

No qualms there! Like I said shameless shelf promotion, I understand wanting to do it yourself, I'm the same way. 

SoMini if I were you I would take Josh's car in a heartbeat because it is actually the most efficient way to get what you want.

Like all of us you want your own fresh, personalized car.  Nobody wants another guy's car; we want our own.  I argue that turning his car into your dream mini will take 6 months, cost half as much, and be every bit as good as the 2-3 year ordeal you are about to put yourself through.

Making Josh's car your own will:

1. Cost a fraction as much as building yours from the ground up, as you know.

2. Get you on the road at least a year earlier, if not 2-3-4 years.

3. Give you all the wrench-turning you want.  It will never be 'done' exactly how you want it.

4. Let you put money into cool bits instead of bread-and-butter bits.

Strip Josh's car down to bare metal, and it will still have all the advantages above.  

If you go the bare shell route you are looking at additional years and money to put together the basic bits all minis already have.  This approach does not give you what you want any sooner... it holds you back!

My current daily driver - my second mini - had $21K of receipts when purchased from the PO.  Yet this last year I've worked just as hard on it every weekend and most nights just as if it was a fresh build.  The advantage is that turning a wrench on an already-built car is usually for making improvements and fine-tuning that make it better than what you probably would have built from the ground-up.

After having built two cars previously from the ground up it's a lot more rewarding to be installing a KAD quickshift for an afternoon's blast up the mountain than it is to be covered in POR15 amid a massive mess of parts, bills, angle grinder disks, screwed-up paint to be done over, etc. etc.  The latter is just too costly and too time-consuming.

I could make the car either right hand or left hand drive. So it just depends on what would be easier and cost me less...any suggestions. Also if that subframe is for sale which it seems like it is I would love to take it off your hands. I'm leaving for the John Muir Trail today and I'll be back in about 12 days. I'll be picking up the body when I get back and if the subframe is still up for grabs I will take it off your hands. I still have to test drive both VTEC and a 1275 first but if I do decide to go VTEC I will let you know. Thank you all for your advice I'll be back on in 12 days or so with more questions. All the best. 

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I don't recall anything about whether it's LHD or RHD. If the latter, know that you will have to extend the nose or re-locate the steering rack for gearbox to transmission clearance. Also, cost-wise, the attached MTB frame (for a B-Series engine.tranny) would be between building it yourself and buying a new MiniTec frame.

Mini Tec MTB frame (90mm extension suitable for RHD)

Including upgraded springs, shocks, alignment kit, and bump stops    $1600

Shifter for Y80 ("LS") transmission  -$95  

I would love to have the Mini Tech subframe, only because I know they do it best. That being said it would save me money and give me experiance doing it myself. I know I could make it work well but I doubt it would be better then theirs. As far as wiring goes I have a good amount of experiance and time spent with the stuff. I rebuilt the wiring harness on my Graves Yamaha R6 track bike, and did my friends 1975 BMW 2002. It was slow going while I figured it all out but both still run fine, no issues. I will definitely check out the link for more info thank you.  

This is the road I would have preferred going down rather than buying my VTEC Mini already road-worthy. Although, truth be told, I really didn't have the time.

A few years ago I bought a VTEC Mini (B16A) that MiniTec built in 2007.  Even with it being all sorted out it still keeps me busy trying to keep up with the "hit-list".  I do put lots of miles on it as I have a 144 mile commute (Yes, it is my daily driver). Has only left me stranded once when the lower control arm threaded shaft broke resulting in the front wheels pointing very different directions bringing me to an abrupt halt. Fortunately I was only going about 20 mph and 1 1/2 miles from home.

I agree with the "D" series being more than anyone would really need. And if you did want a bit more I have read that you can bump up the power with some relatively inexpensive bolt-ons.

Not being the welder I would like to be, I would tend toward using MiniTec's subframe.  Especially when I look at what I have (the original MTB design) and what they are producing now. They have come a long way.  Of course, if I thought I could do it better I would.

How are you at wiring?  This seems to be a quite common area of difficulty with the VTEC conversion. What I have been dealing with lately is the current that is going through the ignition switch. You can't run everything through the stock Mini switch that Honda runs through theirs. Are you planning on using the stock instrumentation?

Have you discovered www.16vminiclub.com yet? Lots of VTEC Mini info there. Many have built their own subframes and have build diaries there.

NJ, good to know about the fuel pump relay. Makes me bump the rerouting of the pump power through a secondary relay a bit higher on my priority list.

It is a very nice body. As far as door handles, steering column, little things like that, do you think those will add up to quickly or can I find those parts fairly cheap. I have been looking around at prices and they don't seem to bad. 

That's a good deal if it is as straight as you say it is.

I also have to add the headliner is in perfect condition as well. 

The body is complete and "rust Free" there are some small rust spots but from what I have heard its hard to find anything with less rust then this. I also checked the body with a magnet to make sure it wasn't just a bunch of bondo. The paint on the car is good inside and out. All the glass is there in perfect condition as well as the weather stripping. He has a rear sub frame for me, and a front subframe for me to work off of for the VTEC swap. The dash board is also there in great condition. Thats pretty much it, he does have a lot of other parts he would be willing to sell me for a good price to get it together. But for what was stated above he wants $1500, what do you think.

How complete is the body? Is it a full car without engine, or is it a shell? The little parts and pieces to make it a running car will really add up if the donor isn't already pretty complete...
 

Not to put you car down Josh, its beautiful. I just love turning wrenches, can't seem to get enough. The best part is taking whatever it is from parts to a working machine. Thanks for the offer though. 

Josh's car was the one to which I referred.

I understand completely the wanting to it yourself, but you could always just up mine....

//www.minimania.com/cars4sale/11182/1979_Austin_Mini_City_Edition_Sedan 

then maybe add the shell in trade, and spend the rest of the time suping it up. Save you some headache of the vtec install, and some money!

sorry about the shameless self promotion,

cheers,

josh

Makes sense, I figured there would be pros and cons no matter what direction I go in. I do plan on having the car as a daily driver, or at least most of the time. Regardless Im going to test drive both and see what feels right and go from there. Thanks again, I will definitely be back with more questions. 

That depends on your definition of "reliable". The over-simplified answer is "Yes, but not with equivalent HP". To get an A-Series into the HP range of VTECs (130-235+) takes talent, money, eats into reliability and involves a rebuilding schedule not required for equivalent HP VTECs. Like the sign on the wall and the T-shirts at Mo's Speed Shop in Dallas, GA read, "Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?"

IMHO, the D-Series Hondas provide the balance of HP V $$.

So, if you're only going to drive it a thousand miles a year, plan to sell it in a few years and can gain satisfaction for what you squeezed out of an A-Series motor, go that way. Otherwise a VTEC will have it's own set of 'quirks', but at a significantly lower rate.

 Ex. Hondas have a fuel pump relay that can suffer from weak solder joints. If the heat behind the dash gets high enough, the joint opens up, the relay cuts off and the gas stops flowing. Remove, de-solder, re-solder...sorted. That quirk put me on the trailer at Mini 50 in Townsend, TN. The A-Series guys enjoyed that quietly and didn't pile on.

Respect.

Good point, I know just the person. I guess without something to compare it too, it would defeat the purpose a bit. The other reason I was looking into VTEC is because of reliability. Would this be a viable reason to do the swap of could you build an original engine to be just as trust worthy.