I know all of that. But its happening lol..

Ok thats good to know height doesnt bother me

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Potato

I remember reading on a honda forum that someone weighed all the popular engine options and they found that the weights didnt really change much between engines of the same series.
I.e. a b16 weighs pretty much the same as a b18 and b20. So no real weight penalty for going the bigger options too.

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Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

Just to give you a option besides Honda,is a Nissan 2.0l sr20 neo vvl motor. There quite cheap, they go hard rev like a vtec and make good power, I've been in a n14 Nissan pulsar which had this transplant and it was a bullet.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Engine-JDM-S ... f60&_uhb=1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkl1nvBIhPA

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SPO41 Mk2 Cooper S very original
1993 R32 Nissan Skyline GTR

a few fwd gearsets here for decent prices

http://www.ipraforum.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9298

you should be able to mate any reliable gearbox to any engine if you are serious about it. sports sedans rules are very flexible for the power plant and gearbox.

What body are you thinking of?

cheers
michael

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Don't know a lot about sr20 but definitely worth considering as they are dirt cheap..

Body wise not 100% sure yet I was going to go with a steel basic shell but might be too heavy. The abs and tdk bodies in the uk seem good and cheap enough as well as having good lines but getting them here would cost a bit. No one makes them here do they?

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Potato

No one that does it on a production line. Looks like you need to learn how to fibreglass!

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

How much do the composite shells weigh?
Surely with a bit of creative thinking (ie. weight reduction) and the use of some replacement carbon panels, you could get it pretty light.

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Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

I haven't actually got as far as to weigh any to gauge a difference but going off the uk guys they seem to think they are heavier.. Maybe il go steel to save hassle at first.

Another question for someone who might know, does anyone here make a basic mini roll hoop and front legs setup? I know companies over seas do.. If I could get those bits I could build the rest of the frame without having to buy a bender which isn't very cost effective.

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Potato

If i wanted to build a fast, light NA engine converted mini id go this way (though i have no racing expertise at all):

Steel body,cut off nose, dash rails, roof, holes in beaver panels, cut out rear bins.
Weld in full 6 point cage.
Carbon fibre or fibrglass roof turret, boot lid, front end, doors.
Polycarbonate wondows.
Ditch rear subframe, run coil overs.
Honda b18 engine in custom or minitec subframe (frame mods: seal weld, strengthen body mounting points, extra gussets)

One advantage of building a spaceframe is that everything is put together referenced to a common datum. The geometry of everything is known and therefore the suspension setup can be extremely accurate. Weight is another huge advantage. Imagine not only reducing the weight overall, but being able to precisely distribute it.

A full space frame could not be more than 100kg in steel and fibreglass panels would be about 30kg all up if done right - i.e absolutely no structural use.

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

If only the UK wasnt so far away hey??

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/121375032319

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Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

So he has a full cage, bolted into a fibreglass car, not connecting to the subframe points or seat mounts?
Doesn't sound very clever to me.

Where do you get that idea from?

This is an example of what I want to build

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Potato

My sports sedan pretty much follows the list above but still has the steel roof as per the regs but has all alloy floor and rear bulkhead.also custom fabricated rear arms gets the weight down to 70kg per corner at the back and about 150kg for the fronts withe the G13b offsetting the big heavy brakes.

The factory figures for the new Ford motors are hard to ignore

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Too many cars, and too little time.

Yeah if I could get my hands on one I'd definitely give it a go. Just thinking out loud again, what's to stop you building a hayabusa turbo rwd car and call it a Sean carter mobile and run it in sports cars?

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Potato