Classic style ford conversion
Turbo Mini Forums

I know its not turbo related but could be in the long run! Spoke to an engineering company today about a new gearbox there hopefully gonna be producing. Its along the same lines as the classic xflow on mini gearbox. Only the gearbox case is gonna accept the 2.0 zetec engine rather than the xflow. But the bloke said it will retail for about £2500 I thought to myself i may aswell go for a vtech kit for that sort of money! Then thinking about it what stops the vtech perfoming well on the 1/4? Is it the final drive ratio's as this box would accept all the mini diffs and gearsets! Would the mini gearsets be strong enough to take this sort of power?

Thought i'd ask on here as you all seem to have the best knowlage about these sorts of things!

Heres a pic of the old style conversion


Will turning the engine around have any effect on the engine?

dont see the point, its the gearbox thats a weak link anyway

will the gearbox cope with big zetec power?

dont know why the vtecs arent that quick, i suppose it would be a combination of the engines low torque output, less than ideal gearing, and the amount of tack that alot of the cars are kitted out with

I can see the point. Lots of torque, bullit proof! And something completely different and also very Retro..
Get a BDA head on that! :)

you have a valid piont pete

I'm going to stick my neck out here Peter, and say that you need to drive a proper Vtec conversion - one that isn't based on a R100 front subframe!

I think you'd change your mind!

The mini is certainly light enough that a mini/Vtec combo 'should' work well?

I think it's just down to them generally being put in 'not light' minis that are primarilly used on the road. The FD doesn't seem to make a huge difference on the 1/4; identifying that the engine is relying on outright hp, not torque to get it to the 1/4 post...

Peter - If you're at Avon in July, have a word with Tony Wells; he'll take you out in his (im sure - he's a nice lad) and you might realise you drove a doggy example (wasn't an SAE was it?)