Hey Guys, I am currently rebuilding a clubby, has been a long and expensive process but one thing that is being a pain more than anything is the whole engine department. I don't know if you have heard of a place in QLD called 'Sunshine Coast Automotive Services'? Anyway they deal a lot with minis and are great guys, know their stuff, but are expensive. I got a quote to totally rebuild a 1275 and make it a 1310, I was suppling nothing at all, and it was going to be around, if not over $6500-$7000. It was nothing too exciting, was a A+ block, twin carbies, and just the usually type of thing to make a good engine. Wasn't going to pump out mass loads of power or anything either. So my question to you is does that seem expensive? what sort of money should I be looking at to get what sort of engine...I live in QLD if that matters.

The option of putting in a g13b seems like a much better way to go to me. I love the sound of a mini engine, I just hate the fact it revs so damn high on the high way...its a pain for longish trips. I have done a lot of research and the conversion should be cheaper, not by much, but by a little. I just am still interested to see what a mini engine costs because people on here seem to quote figures that to me seem way cheaper than what I got quoted, which is a shame as I love the guys at the workshop, they are champions and have helped me out a lot. Just give me whatever views, oppinions, ideas you want. Just having a chat.

Todd

I love the sound of a mini engine, I just hate the fact it revs so damn high on the high way...its a pain for longish trips. Todd

Why not go for a five speeder, bigger wheels or a big diff then?? A fella down here is fitting a 2.9 LSD to his project car...

_________________
"Show me the Mini!"

Speak to Matt Read. He is on this forum, known as 'TheMiniMan'. Nice guy. Will tell it to you straight. He is in Bris though.

FYI - You can buy a fully reconditioned 1275 A+ for $4500 so that should give you something to work off.

Front Cut - $2000 - bits you can sell off front cut $500
Subframe - $1500
Other items - $2,000.

Im on the coast too, they are great guys over at suncoast, not the cheapest though, great if you need a part quickly.

If im ordering a lot of stuff i get it from karcraft, even after postage its cheaper.

im also contemplating a series or other mod.. i like whitestriped63's "starlet engine in a round nose" idea. after seeing 13secs' car.. i want one

_________________
'68 Morris Mini Matic (GF's)- complete!
'68 Morris Mini Deluxe - deciding on specs..
'63 Morris 850 - On the Shelf
Other various mini parts cars

A five speed for a mini costs a lot more than I am willing to spend. I will have 12" tyres, love the look of 13" but too much work to bother putting them on. I need at least 12's as I have Metro Turbo discs.

I'm still pretty sold on the whole g13b idea, it seems a lot better choice in my eyes. Everything on the car so far is exactly how I want it so I don't want to be disappointed by the most important part of all..the engine.

Have to agree, the guys at Sunny Coast are great and try to help you out as much as they can, but their prices sure aren't the cheapest. I have gotten some good stuff off them and a lot of knowledge, but in the end you need to go where the prices are best....the quality of the work needs to be good too as well or course.

Toddles, may be worth condering some alternatives to the G13B. Wrecks are becoming very few and far between. Last time I looked, none in Bris.

Unless of course you've got them all.

Plenty of Aussie Starlets (non turbo) at the wreckers.

I have seen Brads? mini with the turbo starlet in it and it looks pretty mean. But I don't know much about the starlet motors. I was going for the g13b because its the smallest of the lot, has good power and people have done it before so there is plenty of information on how to do it. My car is already painted so I want something where there is no cutting of the body...hence the g13b would be a good option.

Toddles,

What shape you got? I have some pics from a guy in NZ putting the GT Starlet motor in a roundnose. He has hit a few snags but he is confident it can be done.

Mr car is painted also. Spent $2k on just the paint so I am not in any hurry to be installing direct into that one. Spathi just got me a subframe and I'm now looking for a 'front cut' so that I can essentially fit it all to that and then just swap it over when everything is done.

There is another bloke on this forum called Ministar (?) who is taking on the conversion also. His website is damn good. By the looks of it he started with the G13B and stopped because of availibility (don't quote me).

How much do you know about the G13B that you couldn't learn about the EP82? My bro on is on the Sunshine Coast. Has a GT Starlet that you may have seen, if you are one of the many that cuts hot laps around Maroochydore/Alex/Mooloolaba. There isn't much he doesn't know about these things so if you have any q's he will answer for you.

I was only really going for the g13b because it was small and I wouldn't have to touch the body. I have spent about the same on paint and so don't want to wreck it either. Didn't really know about all these engine conversions before it got painted so if I had I probably would have waited...looks much better once its painted though..you feel like your getting somewhere.

I only know the basics about the g13b, like its small, 5 speed, about 100hp standard? (i think), is a nice little engine basically. So if the starlet motor is the same than thats all good. The fact you can get turbo versions interestings me, but I don't know how easy it would be to fit it all in. I have a clubman though. Also I know where I might be able to get a subframe for the g13b, that is a modified mini one so its a bolt on job and I don't know if you can get that for the starlet motor.

I also don't live on the coast, I live in Gympie, Sunshine Coast Autos is just the place we also go to. Thanks for all the replies so far.

i got my engine a 1275 borred to a 1310 fully rebuilt wit a cooper s head and a dellorto 40 DHLA carb for $2500...... but thats down here on the central coast

Thats a pretty good price. But it all depends on how much you had to get done as well. I still like the idea of the newer engines though, personally I think engine conversions are good if they are done well and are made to look like they belong there. If they are just some dodgy stuff it in job then they look crap. If my mini was just for a run around I would go a mini engine, but it needs to be able to go distances with no problems or worries all year round. So I reckon an engine conversion is the way to go.

Whitestriped63 - please keep me updated on your progress, i'm very keen on doing a GT Starlet conversion into a round nose, and I have a friend that would like to do it to atleast one of his minis. Are you doing all the fabrication work yourself?

As for your front cut, if you haven't found one have you tried Rolin Imports on the gold coast? www.japparts.com.au They may be able to help.

_________________
'68 Morris Mini Matic (GF's)- complete!
'68 Morris Mini Deluxe - deciding on specs..
'63 Morris 850 - On the Shelf
Other various mini parts cars

nyah nyah - I just bought a whole swift GTI for $400, complete with bullet holes!

I'm doing a honda conversion into a roundnose - fits nice but gotta chop the right hand inner guard - doesn't worry me cos I don't even have a shell to start work on yet!

I seriously doubt if you can transplant anything and expect to not touch the paint at all, even to mount a radiator, brake booster etc. you're going to have to cut/drill/modify something. You're not going to muck up your paint on the outside, just the engine bay, and your painter will touch it up for you for 50 bucks if you're nice to him.

_________________
did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Yeah I saw a jap wrecker selling front cuts from all sorts of cars, that's where I'd head if I were looking at a conversion. Worth shopping around...

_________________
Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Not worried about drilling holes in the paint, we have already installed a right hand side tank after it was painted. Just don't want to cut gaurds and major crap like that. hence the reason the smaller the engine the better.

Would a whole starlet GT engine, turbo and all fit into a clubman with little or no worries at all? If you have the cut the guards I'm not interested, but just don't know how big they are.

Will be shopping around for a front cut once uni is over for the semester. At the moment I am trying to find an instrument cluster for my 1994 SSS Pulsar and thats proving hard enough.