Charly's garage diary..
Turbo Mini Forums

make sure you have one "hinge pin" slightly longer than the other so you can align one side of the flip front rather than doing both at the same time. makes it much easier when putting it on, on your own then. Trust me, been there

probably already thought of that though.

yup, is just long enough to slide a little onto one hinge, then slide on the other. i got a couple of astra boot struts to fit so it'll flip fwd by itsleft nice and slow and stop by itslelf.

Out of interest where did you get your ECU from? Did it come direct from the guy in the states that made them or from someone in the UK? Also guide prices would be interesting?

built by a guy john@cvnation.com - all parts were sourced from the states and he sourced all the edis and sensors etc from here. he built, tesed on his own mini and shipped to me for a smidge over ?300. now i KNOW this is much more than it would cost to build the squirt yourselft, but i got a fully tested unit and a returns policy too. I quite simply wouldnt of had the time to build it so was happy to pay for the services he provided.

eh? for $150 and $11 postage you can get a fully built up and tested megasquirt from the states.

Then you just need to get some bits from a mondeo and for less than ?120 you should have everything you need

i only just noticed it was an estate, how have i missed that all these times?

i'd like to know where u saw the fully built and tested MS for $150, thats how much the kits cost alone!

well, FINALLY had the box cut and welded in, now i can start to put stuff back in.

Edited by Mike on 8th Jun, 2005.

Very tidy welding. Good stuff
I really like the look of your car, i dont think there's anything i'd change!

ty :) - welding was courtesy of Hatches Garage in Littlehampton. Pete, he's a great chap and a mini freak himself, owns several estates (one is a 4x4 suzuki and another is having a 2.0L vauxhall installed.

the Megasquirt and Megajolt are two different beasts entirely

'Megajolt Lite Jr (MJLJ) is an experimental ignition controller designed to control a Ford EDIS 4, 6 or 8 distributorless ignition module. It can run stand alone, or in conjunction with a fuel injection computer such as Megasquirt EFI.'

I plan to go EFI in the future, plus i'm using the megasquirts advanced features.

Edited by Mike on 9th Jun, 2005.

What does the Megasquirt offer over and above the 'Jolt then if you are only planning on mapped ignition??

dont get me wrong, they are both great bits of kit, the MegaJolt is like the Megasquirts little sister. I could of used the MJ and saved a load BUT i wanted to go the extra mile as i really want to go EFI sometime, plus i got hooked on the bling touchscreen dash TFT displaying realtime dials lol. The MS also supports extra bits like boost timing, NOS control and even a form of traction control.

I'm no expert on either of these systems so go ahead and tell me the MJ could do everything i need to, but i just wanted to have that little more :)

No you got me wrong, it was a genuine question!! I haven't looked all that deeply into either system so am just asking out of interest as I want to use mapped ign at some time in the future, and wondered what else the Megasquirt offers if I only want to use it for Ignition.

if u only want mapped ign then go for the MJ imo. They both work well with the std ford EDIS4 system and the MJ wont cost the earth to setup. The MS has cost me more and will do the same as the MJ for now, but when (if!) i go EFI, the MS will deal with it.

From what else i can tell, the MS more comprehensive tuning/display software too, I'm an IT nut/software guy so that appeals to me too :)

Edited by Mike on 9th Jun, 2005.

fool! now i see, megaSQUIRT

im gonna start reading this thread from the start again

jesus its been one year and one day since i started the conversion and this thread..

Well made some progress today. The engine is now back in the bay where i hope it'll stay. The last year has seen painfully slow progress mainly due to having no time or money! But i can see spring round the corner and i fully intend to get to the shows this year.

Today i spent tidying up and spraying the bay and sorting out the wiring for the flipfront. Today was the first time the engine had actually been trial fitted and i'm glad to report there are no problems with anything interfering with the bulkhead and seems to be plenty of room in the turbobox.

Not 'too' much left to do but i'll need to pull my finger out, but today i've been bitten by the bug again so hope to keep cracking at it.

Sorry for the crap phone pic..

Edited by Mike on 12th Feb, 2006.

prodigy brilliant. what are the panel gaps on it like now.

not too bad actually, the two front hinges are threaded engine tie-bars so i can adjust the position forward or backwards :) The added bonus of using the tiebars is that the front is also poly bush mounted so hopefully wont rattle as much as if it was solid hinges.

just playing with intercooler locations, and have an idea. I've done a rough photochop of how i envisage it looking.. The front is flipped and the bottom lip of the valance interferes with the subframe when flipping so i chopped it off, and then i have cut out the centre section behind and below the number plate to allow an intercooler to petrude out and so the flip can still flip without interfering.

Below is a before and after, whayda think?

Edited by Mike on 3rd Apr, 2006.

the other thing i could do is lower the metro rad and put a cossy cooler along the top and behind the grille, but then will the rad get enough air? I could fabricate a kinda scoop from under the number plate i suppose.

get mine back from the bodyshop today after having all the panel cuts seam welded and some re-enforcement to the inner wings where the brace bars bolt up to.

The engine and box are all now fully built and ready to fit, just need to run the fuel lines, fit the MegaSquirt and its associated sensors and can then look at turning the key at long last - feels like its all coming together now.