Hi Matt , did you get your feet wet and have a few beers. Good to hear from you.

Aaron , what we are building today is nothing new. If you can try to get a copy of a book that I think you will find VERY interesting on this subject.
The book is "MINI. the racing story" written by John Baggot.

When you see some of the head /eng conversions that were done in the 60's & 70's for racing you will be amazed. Head transplants that included Ford twin cams, various 8 port push rod ,including one that Alec Poole made from a 5 port. this eng was turbo-ed,fuel injected and made 200hp.

People like Jim Whitehouse [ardern 8 port] John Hopkiss, Graham Lloyd,David Enderby, Monty Guildford, John Maguire, Dave Forster Reg Ward, Eric Smith,Jeff Goodliff and many others were all building modified heads for minis and pulling over 200hp. Eric Smiths eng had twin cam ford head and reved to 10,000 and made over 170hp

The one man who I think was the most brilliant engineer of them all, was Gordon Allen. His head conversions was unbelivable. He used a twin cam 6 cylinder head off a Jaguar, cut out No's 4&5 chambers and then welded it back together and fitted to a modified mini block. There were no Mig's or Tig's in 1965, the aluminium head was oxy welded together. He made two engines and had them set-up as a twini mini.

When you look back at the HP that these people achieved in the 60's &70's, then with these modern 16v/v heads I think that HP potential is going to be far greater. Everone has their own ideas on how to build them, but the method suits the application. Who's right,who's wrong, who knows!

The one thing I stress to everyone who is looking at one of these conversions, decide what you want from the car. If you want a reliable daily driver ,then build a stock std 998, but if you want HP then it is going to cost money. Ask anyone on Ausmini who has built a performance eng. You are the only one who can decide on what you want and set your budget.

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Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Yeah David,,, had a wonderful surf for a couple of days, chilled out & had a few nice cold beers at the beach pub

I`ve had this pic stashed in my computer for a few million years,,, I`m not sure but this may the cut down Jag head you talked about, but as far as i know thisone is called the "Coldwell",,, ??? It may be just another take on the same theme ???


Then we have this little beauty---> Not exactly sure who made this one but it is a dam good attempt, maybe if it were made in alloy instead then it could have actually made production





Now Weslake was a busy man indeed,,, this is his "2-tiered"version & as far as i know is still avaliable today-->




This one i "Think" is the Howley racing single ohv version, made as a prototype for possible use in std factory production minis,,, i`m not positive tho,,, GR may actually Know more about this one tho--->


The Pinion 8 port was pretty popular back in the day, not sure how many were made tho,,, pretty hard to find these days---?


One from John Bull Racing,,, i`ve always really really liked this car, possibly my most favourit race mini ever
http://madmatt.bigblog.com.au/data/1/8412/image/untitled5955620090212083655.bmp
edit--> sorry but the pic didn`t work on this one, so i`ve made it a link



The good old faithful Arden,,, this one is Our own Arden crossflow 1591cc with 6 speed dog box -->


The AKM 7 port head from denmark originally, now MiniSport UK have bought the whole she-bang... this one has the 4 inlet ports as shown but has only the 3 exhaust post like the std 5 port mini head-->


The Alexander 8 port, pic from Mk1 Performance --->Mark Fosters site (Thanks Mark)


Found this one on the net years ago,,, sorry i don`t know who did this particular one but we tried this type of thing years ago but couldn`t get things to seal & after months of welding & grinding & welding & grinding etc & & &--- we gave up... i wouldn`t mind having a go at casting one in alloy later tho --->


& of course no list of cyl head conversions can leave out the good old Aussie enginuity from Ken Elder-->


And yet another (very early) Weslake example,,, i`d very much like to obtain one of these if anyone knows where one is,,,


& just in case some people don`t realise, Mr weslake actually worked for the BMC factory & it`s his own design 5 port head that we all know so well that eventuated onto the mini engine also

Now there are quite a few more cyl head conversions out there for the mini donk,,, i have a few more pics here somewhere,,, but i think this will do for now

David, thanks for letting me dribble on your thread & thanks again for sharing all your hard work & efforts with your cyl head conversion,,, i`m sure i can speak for everyone here that it`s awsome what you`re doing , well done & can`t wait to see some more progress,,, your results so far are just terrific !!!!!!!!!!!!!

edit---> & here is a link to youtube for that fiat cyl head conversion with turbo & LPG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=V26ivXzVASg&amp%3bfeature=related

There is also another guy doing a 12v version, not sure how far he has got tho

enjoy

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Oh,,, & i`d really like you all to have a look at this,,, just goes to show what sort of stresses & strains the poor old valve & spring assy goes through,,, check out the amount of movement at the tip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_REQ1PUM0rY&feature=related

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Sorry for the quality of the pics
I think that the 2 cylinder eng is unreal. Made from cut down ford twin cams and pulled 115 HP

The pic of the jag ones are Gorden Allens eng

I have not included Geoff Goodliffe's sprint but it made over 200HP at the fly wheel. The 8 port head was one that Alec Poole biult from std mini head. He was working at the MG experimental dept in Abingdon when he built it.
Geoff is still building race engs today in England and he was the one who started to dry sump and modify the gear boxes to take bigger HP. The mods he uses are similar to what we did in the 70's.
Being a crusty old engineer I can appreciate the skills that these blokes had to do these modifications.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Got that book , particulary love the two cylinder mini engine ...

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Matt, I love the pic of the john bull car. How would you feel if you were at the traffic lights and that thing pulled up next to you . Nothing like a sprint with 13" wheels, only way to fly.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Mean & Nastey looking thing hey??? & black with yellow, just the way i like em word on the street is that car was very very impressive,,, slide throttle body injection assy & full space frame,,, MMMmmmm Yummy

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

those old heads look fantastic - talk about engineering

has anyone ever tried a desmo valve setup?

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

This guy made his own version,,, pretty cluey fella really,,, it would release a whole heap more power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIdOTkJhEY&feature=related

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

After looking at the john bull car several times I went into workshop and looked at my sprint covered in dust.
Clear some of the jobs and back in to it again and get it finished. That pic has inspired me again.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

I love this!




I'd love to see the rockers!

HEMI!

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Pooee,,, i`ll post the pics of the rockers if you sell me those globe rims

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Ta

I've decided that the only way you're getting those wheels is if I hand deliver them myself. So hold ya horses.

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I am putting a 1275 together with a head and I thought I would show the head with both small and large bore head gaskets so you can see how they fit.
I have also redesigned the adapter plate for the water ports and the one plate now fits both types of engs, the only difference is thickness for comp. ratio.
The small bore require a very small cut out in the center 2&3 cylinders to clear the side of bore. This is only to a depth of 3mm at the valve angle. When bored out to .060" or bigger this cut out is not needed.
The large bore eng do not need this cut out.
The pic of the spacer plate shows the fire rings and "O" ring positions. Some of the holes have not been drilled as this is done when setting up on block.
The only block mods are plug the original bolt holes and the re-drill the new holes using the adapter plate as a template. There are more water holes drilled in block but the position is off plate

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

looks like there is a lot of shrouding around those valves David - might give you back some chamber cc's

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?