Using a Clubman is a good idea, a little more room up front would be a good thing.I used a number of machine shops to do this motor.When I started this project,the parts guys didnt have the parts they have now. Many pieces didnt fit the 16 v head,thats when we had to make every thing over again. The one thing we didn,t like but used anyway, was the head gasket. It failed!  Where the head studs intersect with the original stud holes,we had the machine shop insert cast iron plugs.The other stud holes can be bolts and the tappet holes can be alloy plugs.For the jackshaft I looked for a used cam that had a perfect dizzy gear.I went though a couple of boxes of cams to find a good one.Make sure you get the most out of your vent system. I also have a double vent on the flywheel housing,that original vent is also my oil filler tube. I am very happy with this motor, mostly because I have dreamed about having a twin cam mini since I was a teen.I thought it would be a Lotus,I even got to see the genises of the BMW head swop back in the 80,s .Then abunch of heads fell into our laps, and Bobs your uncle.

Don Sobering did all of the motor work,we have changed most of the ideas in the book.We added metal to the lower right corner of the timing wheel cover. then added a couple of extra bolts to that cover.Don took out the rad hose return lines which allow the oil to return to the gearbox but also allow air to push back to the head.We now have hard lines to return the oil ,we also added more drilled holes from the top of the head down to the next level. More oil is also drained at the flywheel end of the motor as well.A new fume line was brought in on the top of the timing wheel plate. You should also get a Cometic head gasket. There is a ton of work to do,to make it all work. The book makes it seem so easy. Good luck. Cheers

Happy to have joined the gang. I am seriously thinking about doing a BMW head conversion on my other mini (an old clubman ). Did you do the conversion yourself or have it done for you. I have the conversion manual and apart from the welding, I think I could tackle it. I would probably keep with the original BMW injector system. In Malaysia no problem with icing up LOL

Howdy,here in southern Ontario there is a couple hundred mini,s .I drive a K 1200 rs  1380 on carbs. There are many fast well built mini,s around.Lots of Don Sobering motors and Swiftune motors,Andy Nelson,s Swiftune racer is here. Don Sobering,s spaceframed 1293. 8 port is fabulous !  Mini meet North is held at Mosport racetrack every year as part of the vintage weekend. In September we have the Bronte British car show with 2000 cars. Many years ago we use to ice race mini,s. Hell we even have Big Al ! Cheers. Welcome aboard .

I learned a new fun fact about you. That's pretty cool!

I rode in my first Mini (well, a Moke) in Malaysia. Lived in the jungle outside of Khota Baru in the 70's, my dad was a Peace Corps volunteer, was assigned to heavy equipment repair for a road project. Good times...

Marcos kit ?
That's probably Iain Ayre then.

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All New Friends Old and Not so Old

Across the Pond, is the Classic Mini Culture a big thing or only a crazy few in Calafornia and Canada. I know from reading my magazines and seeing here in the car Rallys in Malaysia and also in Japan, their is a growing following for converting the A Series engine to either a KAD 16 Valve head or the BWM motor cycle K Series K1100 LT/RS or the  K1100RS 8v/16v head. The power produced is unbelievable.

There is 1 mini in Malaysia (I think from either Johor Baru - across the straight from Singapore) or Kuala Lumpur, and he has installed the Suzuki Swift Twin Cam engine into his car.

I bet Sir Alex never knew what he was doing when he thought of and buiolt the old girl.

Hi Alex

Yea I know but according to the registration details for Malaysia, its a 67 model. What they do is as Malaysia was a British colony, many minis were taken there or maybe they were built there or in Singapore (I need to check)., Anyway, once they started to get a bit tatty or sad looking, people would import from Japan, take the chassis and engine number of both cars and swap them over (totally illegal tut tut tut), so legally or unlegally the car is a 1967 but in truth I believe the car is from the late 80's or early 90's.

Here is some info on the power steering conversion- Check out MiniMagazine Feb 2014, the cost was GBP300 and the size including motor was 52cm x 18cm x 34cm. Contact details are [email protected].

Hey Dan, I wa sliving with a girl on Vancouver Island a few years back and during a drive around, we cam across a bloke who was importing and building the Lotus 7's now the Catheram's. Anyway you never guess what he had in the back of his garage. A complete kit for a Mini Marcos. Now that would be fun on the open Canadian Highways from Cambell River to Victoria

WOW

Looks like a lot of fun.

I'm sure you know it's not really a '67.

Welcome youngster! (Some of us are older than you... according to our driver's permits.)

OKAY the bling factor in your Mini is a bit annoying ...even the pedals shine. JUST JOKING!It is winter here, and anything out being driven around is dull, UNshiny and covered in salt.

Your Mini is a beauty! Never heard of anyone doing power steering in a Mini before.

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Hi Thanks for all the posts. As you can see I can now show off my little beast. As I am working in China at present, I do not have access to the mapping details. I will ask my mate/mechanic to forward a showing of the mapping details. What I remember was that straight out the box the car started up on the original mapping but once warm started to miss badly. Once on the rolling road, it was plain to see where we were running Rich and where Lean. I have to admit I am not the expert when it came to re-mapping. I know that for the final settings, we took the car out onto the road and my mechanic had the laptop plugged into the port and was adjusting the settings as we were driving along. After an hour I was happing. The car was quick and not missing and in and around town was easy to drive. No slipping the clutch at traffic lights.

Being an Expat Scotsman, living my days in Malaysia, I find it fantastic that there is such a great interest in the Classic Mini all around the world. Just goes to show that Sir Alex was right in building the car.

Once the supercharger is fitted and my car is running, I am already thinking about my next project to pass away my early retirement years.

I am giving serious thoughts converting the A series engine in my other mini ro run with BMW 16v cylinder head. Here are a few photos of what the head and the engine look like after the job is finished.

Ok I forgot to mention in my previous posts, with the 7" x 13" wheels the steering was very heavy, so we modified it to electric powered steering. The modified steering column is from a Vauxhall/Opel Corsa or maybe in USA GM. Basically the end piece of the original mini column is cut and welded to the Corsa column. It fits with very little problems and works great. I will post a few photos next time.

Hope you like the photos of my car. By the way SC/CR gearbox with SC drop gears scream like a banshee on the overrun. GREAT  

Doesn't matter if you update your profile. The sotware here has been broken for over a year and won't show it anyway. I've tried.

That aside, your engine sounds remarkably similar to the one I'm building. Only real noticeable difference is that I'll be running a Kent 286. I'm curious if you would care to share your current mapping for your fuel injection kit. I'll be running that as well.

In your experience with the kit, how well did it "learn" out of the box? Were you able to start up and do a break in without tuning? I know that it needs a good tune on the dyno, but I'm really just thinking about the early startup portion, break in, and troubleshooting before it goes to the rolling road.

Any help or advice is seriously appreciated. My email is listed in my profile still. If you have trouble finding it, let me know. I'm very interested to pick your brain.

Hi TBow,

Welcome!! To post pictures, look to the upper left when you are typing a message. There is a green button that says "Drag & Drop your Images or Click Here.

Click on that and upload your images from your files. 

After an update to this site, the Mini Owners link stopped working.

To update your profile, hover over the choice at the top that says "Your Account". Click on Your account and it will take you to an update place where you can type what you'd like. Most of us put our name and where we are from so others that live close can help or meet up.

I hope that helps.

And again WELCOME!!

Hi

Thanks for the contact. Being new to the forum and of a slightly older age, I am still struggling with this site. I cannot for the life of me find out how or where to update my profile and to upload photos of my little gem. I have tried to log into MiniOwners.com but cannot find a page to register. Maybe because I am behind the Great Firewall here in China (wher I am working).

Any help on the above would be greatly appreciated

Wanted to say hello and welcome to the fray. Most times folks are friendly around here, although we've had some issues with trolls as of late, people might be a little leary of new blood.

Post up some pictures of your car and try to fill in your profile a little better.

SxS (pronounced side by side man, it's a gun thing)

Sounds like a entertaining car to drive. With an extra dose of FUN on the way.

Hi All Members

I am a 63 year old expat Jock now living in Malaysia. I enclose a few photos of my car. Its a 1967 shell that has had the following done

1.3Spi engine now bored out to 1380cc, Stage 3 head, Specialist Componets 52mm mapable injection system, RC exhaust, 1.5-1 rollers, Swiftune 5 cam, sc/cr 4 speed box + sc drop gears, twin tanks, 8.4 ventilated and cross drilled front breaks, KAD disc rear breaks, Hi=Lo's, 13" x 7" wheels with 205 x 13 tyres, I am in the process of fitting a Minispeed supercharger. I will post more photos when installed. At present it has 114bhp on the dyno and goes like S**T.

Glad to meet you all.