very interesting adam, but in reality this is what one finds with a lot of these kits. even more so with one off items, there was the fellow in your neck of the woods that just sold off his b16 turbo mini project to someone on the west coast, i had bid it and made him reasonable offers although he wanted like 12k for it whicj is about 2 times what it was worth. i know from experience that whomever gets it has a lot of work in front of them to get a useable street driveable car, not the simple finish up as he displayed it. as far as torque steer goes? that is what you get with a vtec mini, maybe you can lessen it a little bit but that is the nature of the beast, you can spend a bunch installing an lsd and believe me it makes no difference. you just can't put the pedal to the floor in a vtec mini with out the car getting squirley.

I'm diggin' the apple / kawasaki green.  Very very angry little Mini.

I got what I think may be the first MTB2 kit from mini tec and so far I'm not super impressed. In order to fit the kit under the standard length round nose, we had to cut the bulkhead and grind down one of the huge bolts that holds the subframe on, and cut the back of the grill, and cut the back of one of the headlights to accommodate the radiator. We had to cut out a portion of the suspension mount because of the alternator location. I would argue that in fact it doesn't fit under the standard round nose mini. It fits under a pretty heavily modified round nose mini.

The clearance between the alternator and the bulkhead is so tight, even after cutting a section of the bulkhead out, that the alternator smashes into and vibrates against the bulkhead. To avoid this, I constantly have to have a slice of silicone intercooler hose jammed in behind the alternator. Keeps it quiet.

The radiator mini tec includes with their kit and sells on their site is a piece of crap. It is about an inch thick. I was having overheating problems, and replaced it with a decent fluidyne radiator, and now I'm good to go.

My torque steer is prodigious. I'm not going to blame the handling issues on the kit though, because I don't know if it's the kit's fault. Could just be the way I have the car set up. But still; it's bad.

Because of the clearance between the header and the subframe, you have very little choice for after market headers. I have yet to find one that fits, but in the kit's defense, I haven't looked that hard -- I just bought a hytech replica set and it didn't fit and I was sad.

After going through my build and having driven the car a good amount, as well as experiencing Steve's attention to detail and expertise over at vtecminis.com, I must say I am very tempted by the alexander / ramco kit and wish it had been further along when I bought my MTB2.

Disclaimer: I still love my car like crazy. I don't mean to bad-mouth the minitec guys. Maybe I'd have run into similar or more problems with another kit -- who knows. Just telling you what I've found and what the disappointments and surprises were.

You can see here some of the cuts behind the grill:

EDIT: Here's a shot of the cut headlight:

and one of the major cuts to make space for the headers:

Tough to see, but this is the suspension mount that needed cutting for the belt pulley on the alternator:

And here's the cut bulkhead and tight clearance behind the cut and shortened intake manifold:

If you want to see all my build pics they're here:

http://gallery.me.com/adamhelfethilliker#100048&bgcolor=black&view=grid

and shots of the complete car (before and after) are here:

http://gallery.me.com/adamhelfethilliker#100014&bgcolor=black&view=grid

And for thoughts and blog posts on the whole process go here:

http://www.car47.com/blog.php

too much info?

"Mini Mania has been in the business of selling the Vtec kit as designed by superfast Minis for a number of years with great reviews"

before that they were in the business of selling brian campbell's frames (bdcam is his screen name) and i believe they also got great reviews?? so why the change??

And nice kits they are.  That is the way I am leaning at this point, but I need to get the MiniRod on the road before I tackle another project.  My Inquiries are just to get me up to speed at this point.

Commercial:
Mini Mania has been in the business of selling the Vtec kit as designed by superfast Minis for a number of years with great reviews:
http://vtec.minimania.com/

lots of beautiful parts, but still no running car.

 

There is one in the San Diego area which I will be viewing soon.

Go to this website for more information...

http://www.vtecminis.com/viewtopic.php?t=8&highlight=

 

as maurice mentioned earlier there is the steve alexander frame which i believe uses your subby and modifies it. there is also the brian campbell frame,(seatle WA area) which our host was selling for a while. you can buy the allspeed one in the UK, www.16vminishop , i believe there are one or two other uk firms as well. you can buy one from achim of ringmini fame who was the first at non extended D series set ups. you want opinions? here you go, i have owned/own more conversions minis than anyone this side of the pond; couple hondas, vauxhalls, rover, puegeot, bike engine, several turbo charged a series to name a few. from a driving experience and looks i love the non extended as it still gives you a more true mini feel, i ran my vtec's on 10" wheels, you keep the stock mini cone type suspension and don't lose any turning radius etc. however with an extended nose you get a much better riding mini as the suspension mods and longer wheels base make for a much less choppy ride, you get more room to work under the bonnet and to add things like ac but you give up some turning radius and cornering feel. so theres my 2 cents. you are starting well by asking many ?, i would encourage you to come to a mini meet and drive a couple or several before deciding to cut up your car or buy one, people that don't do this are the reason there are sooo many of these for sale frequently. jim

thudmeister-

My D series Vtec conversion using the MTB2 subframe for D series engine is about a month from being finished.  It allows original hood & outer wings. If you're not in a big hurry, track me down later this fall and I'll gladly share my impressions.

No I just searched this forum for Vtec, not the entire web.

Yes, I do believe its the MTD kit I was told about on www.superfastminis.com

Thanks Hoser. 

NOW for the rest of my inquiry - who has one and what comments do you have? 

 

You are probably referring to Steve's Alexander's frame which we have yet to see a car ont he road.

You sure you didn't search for VTEC?  What you want is the MTB2 kit or the MTD kit from either Don, or superfastminis.

 http://vtec.minimania.com

www.superfastminis.com

www.16vminiclub.com

www.vtecminis.com

 

Nope, still not what I am looking for.  I have been told there is a Vtec subframe already out there ready made to slip into a classic Mini without modifying the body.  That subframe and the axles would come in around $2k.

Thanks, searching this site for Vtec or Honda gave me nothing I was asking for.

Check out my website for my VTEC build without modifying the front end, for a SOHC VTEC install, if you want to build this. Website includes dimensions for the frame as well.  You can also buy a kit through our host for the D Series..

Thud - Search "Vtec" or Honda and you're golden.

There's also the 16vminiforums.com and vtecminis.com

 

For those who have done a Vtec conversion on a classic with the newer subframe that does not require you to modify the body, let's here some comments, suggestions and lots of pictures please.