Turbo mini minus?
Turbo Mini Forums

May sound an odd question, but have any of you folks either seen or turbo'd a minus (fibreglass shelled) One of the lads in our local club is really into them, and he knows of one for sale not too far from me, thinkin it may do me for my project after recently scrappin my '88 rot box?

sounds like a cracking idea,

goodbye weight and rot probs!!

won't be allowed in class D though....

alternatively, turbo'd marcos?

i've always fancied one, but never looked into chopping the bulkhead...although i suppose thats not needed now with the mirage kit

Sounds good idea in principle, would have to add a main earth to the loom, not 100% sure weather I like the proportions of them (being a less tall, and the lack of seems? and REALLY wanted a removable front, jus to get the lump out quicker) but defiantly has huge plusses, no tin worm! I mean that alone has got tio be the best thing!

i've heard of turbod marcos's, if the bulk head in those can be modded then i gues the minus one can be too.

Hi,
Alot of heat next to fiberglass is probably not a good idea.
Have you seen how quickly a Reliant plastic pig goes up?
You'd need some good heat shielding I would have thought!
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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I hadnt even given that a thought, how about remounting the blower at the side of the engine, next to no4 cylinder, saw a car at mitp this year looked like it was running a t2, had a trick custom exhaust manifold! Had to appreciate the effort and engineering that had gone into it.

minus's are pretty floppy at the best of times, although can obv be rectified with a cage - wouldnt be my first choice thats for sure.

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

Can appreciate that there not everyone "cup of tea" not even sure if its mine yet, just tossing a few ideas around, my prefference would be to buy another herritage shell but that aint in the budget, and wasnt that pleased with the one I bought.

I'm building a Turbo midas. I'd say chopping lumps out of fibreglass is much easier than steel and you can mould much more complex shapes than you can fold in steel sheet.

Don't see a problem with the heat, afterall there are lots of exotic plastic wagons out there, Lotus for one. Also if the paint on a steel bulkhead survives a turbo so should polyester resin.

To be on the safe side I covered mine in bacofoil ( a bit thicker than the stuff you wrap the turkey in!) and stuck it on with some high temperature mastic goop I got from a plumbers merchant. If I was doing the bulk head mod again I'd mould a recess all the way through the floor that way you'd be able to drop the body over the subframe with the turbo fitted and you'd get a clear route to let a nice cool draught rise over the turbo .

If you wanted a stiffer shell it'd be a doddle to add some extra glass layers or better still some coremat stiffening panels or inject some pu foam into the sills etc.

Even bog standard chopped strand is twice as strong as mild steel weight for weight.

Despite what people might think, Minuses arent much lighter than a normal shell because the fibreglass is pretty chunky! I have seen people fit normal sized flip fronts to them and remove the front valance leaving the bumper around an inch off the floor. They look sweet as fook.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Ethel, if I was to chop a section out of the baulk head, do I just bond in a box to house the tubo? then do I loose some of the strucural strength? (I also need to bear in mind Im pants with fibreglass, steel is more my thing) would you mind sending me a few pics of your build ( shane.pearce@tiscali.co.uk) you have got me very interested now, was swaying away from the idea after there was a reply to the thread mentioning the heat of the turbo near grp, I got a little scared!! (had a valid point tho)

Isn't the fibreglass shell heavier than the steel one?

Not 100% sure dont think there is much difference in it. The lad who has one is our local club says they are lighter, but not greatly.

The problem with the minus shell, source is a previous owner of a minus so could be wrong, is that to keep rigidity up they had to increase the thickness of the fibreglass massively. This is particularly evident on the floor which in places is upto 3/4" thick, unfortunatly they still end up being pretty floopy even so which is a massive shame as it'd be so fantastic if they were as good as they look :( Of course a cage would solve all the problems, but it'd have to be a very substantial multipoint job.

Midas's dont appeal to me that much, still get the bonus of not rotting though!

I think im with peter on this one, GTM would be bloody fantastic. Marcos is the other option, looks better but the engine is in the wrong place.

Edited by andeh on 11th Oct, 2006.

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

I want a cage in it if I buy it, just as matter of course, dont know where to get one to fit it as the minus is lower (not as high as the mini?)

Hi,
If the height is the only difference, just shorten the legs and weld the base plates back on.
Cheers,
Gavin :)

VEMs Authorised Installer / Re-seller. K head kits now available!

WB/EGT gauges. Click here for customers write-up

Visit www.doyouneedabrain.co.uk

My Mini build diary

stupid question, but is that possible? with the rear cage sections the two legs, one of which bolts in the storage bin and the other leg mounts on the wheel arch, if I shorten those two legs, wont the distanctce between them be less? as the closer you get to the top of the cage the closer they get, (hope im makin sence here?) wont this then cause mounting problems? or does the cage hinge at the top where the sections meet?

you'd probably want a cage made up specifically as im sure some areas of the minus are there only for show and are not structural

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

Ironically there was a cage for a minus on ebay very recently, but the listing ended I think two days before I was told about the minus shell,

With a couple of inches cut out of the height surely there would be problems with fitting the plubing in for the IC etc. I have seen some with holes or "power bulges" to clear the carb dash pots.

Yes this is true, the one I;ve been thinking of buyin has a couple of really hidious ones incorperated into the bonnet, with a little time and imagination, (and a lot of fibreglass!!) it could be addresed, and made to look more asthetically pleasing, have seen people lower the rad to over come it too!

It's gonna have to be some mountain of fibreglass I reckon. I considered a sprint style fibreglass shell but they aren't any lighter and although they are not gonna rust there is still the subframes to worry about. Plus they are a bit floppy and fixing damage is harder so that put me off. But youd be braver than me so go for it! A turbo Marcos now that would be something!

I know someone with a turbo Macro's, it's not lighter than my mini/ Nice car though

Team Racing

i jim what eva happened to him ??

Everyone knows that instructions only have to be read if the thing doesn't work....