Morris Mini 1000 with 1300 conversion - Chrome_GT's

[Chrome_GT]

Here is the link to the discussion thread:

http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewto ... =1971+mini

1971 Morris Mini 1000

4speed manual

Vilencia blue

Tan interior

purchased in 2003 for my sister, I wasn't a fan of minis then. Here's how it looked when we bought it:

We then went down to Repco the next day and bought:

white and primer spray paint

masking tape

clear coat

number plate surround

exhaust tip

8ball gearknob

Fluffy Dice!!

- basically a whole lot of cheap nasty stuff and here's what happened:

And with a bit more white paint attacked the grill and wheels:

[Chrome_GT]

In the meantime I became attached to the damn thing. I'd been using it to get to uni. It was cheap to run and was great for finding small carparks outside uni on the street that only a mini could fit. Saved me buying a parking permit.

Within a month someone had left a note on it offering to buy it for almost double what we paid. Me being me i decided to keep it as minis had started to go up in value around this time. It was also paying for itself in the savings I made in petrol and insurance.

at the end of 2004 I attacked it with the paint stripper. This time I did everything properly. Here are some shots:

And now it looks like this:

[Chrome_GT]

Ok - an update.

My mini 1000 is now a mini 1312. Goes real nice.

Basically i bought this:

The owner claimed it was a 1300 but had no way of proving it. So with the help of the guys from oldschool.co.nz we sussed out the engine size, yip 1300 here are the photos and notes.

http://www.oldschool.co.nz/phpbb/viewto ... 00&start=0

Quick ways to tell if the engine you've got is 1300:

Theres a tag on the top of the block near the fan, should say 12xxxxxx for 1275

99xxxxx is 998 and 10xxxxxx is 1098

[Chrome_GT]

Engine Mounts:

I checked mounting systems for each engine.

Mini's engine mounts:

1) mounted right under flywheel housing

2) mount attached at timing end of engine right below where the radiator sits

3) tie bar provides torsional support at the flywheel end just above flywheel housing

Austin/morris 1300 landcrab engine mounts:

1) mounted under flywheel housing as in mini

2) mounted at front front of engine ahead of the timing cover

3) mounted at rear of engine behind timing cover, 2 and 3 are mounted via a large plate that the timing cover is bolted over

4) Mounted right below the radiator as in mini

The 1300 Has a plate right behind the timing cover. It extends both forwards and rearwards of the block and has a mount at each end. The mini doesnt use either of these mounts and the plate doesn't have the extensions.

In the mini

Landcrabs engine

I might have had to to swap the plates over because the extended plate on the 1300 will get in the way when working around the engine. But as any professional would do - I hacked the plate using an angle grinder

The tapped holes for the tie bar (mini mount 3) are also on the 1275 engine from the landcrab.

Radiators

The radiators are different. The 1300s radiator is bigger than the mini 1000's one. The larger one will foul against subframe or bonnet depending on where it sits. The larger radiator is also mounted at the bottom by a pin, whereas the mini's one is mounted with a bracket. I swapped the radiator bracket systems between engines so that i could continue using my mini 1000 radiator with it's orginal mounting system.

The minis radiator mounting brack is also the timng end engine mount:

In yesterday's testdrives the car overheated and lost heaps of water. Was worried the radiator might not be big enough. Have since fitted a new 13lb cap and the engine temp is now keeping under 3/4 of gauge range.

Fuel Pump

Mini has a mechanical fuel pump. The landcrab has an electric. So I used the minis mechanical on the 1275 engine. There is a removable plate on the 1275 so provisions for fitting the mechanical pump are there. The mechanical pump is running fine.

[Chrome_GT]

Remote Mount

Well the minis remote had one kind of rubber mount, the landcrabs mount was different. To fit a mini rubber mount i basically drilled and tapped the mounting locations into the rear of the remote shifter.

\

Here's a link to some interesting info from minispares

http://www.minispares.com/Product.aspx?pid=33674

Austin 1300s/AAs and 1300GTs used a remote-type gearbox. The main difference is the horrendous rubber/metal sandwich plate between the remote housing and the back of the diff housing. Made for quite a gooey gear-change once a few miles old. These will fit in place of the Mini remote type, although the rear mount is different. My advice here is to change it to the Mini mounting by drilling/tapping the two holes necessary to carry the Mini remote mounting. Trying to alter the bracket to take the Austin 1300 one is more of a job! Getting a remote-housing type gearbox into a rod-change shell a worse one, taking a fair bit of fabricating and fettling. Internally they use the same gears as the old Mini - square-tipped teeth with the same ratios - except the 1300GT.

[Chrome_GT]

Perhaps i should mention that i did get the conversion finished. But I have the mini in storage and only gets the occasional weekend drive now.