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My first e-mail comment: Honda reliability and power combined with Mini catchet and style. You are on the leading edge--good luck.
(My thanks to Greg)

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This site is an attempt to document how I will modify a 1961 vintage Morris Mini Van. The concept will be to insert a 1986 Acura Integra 1.6 litre DOHC non-VTEC engine and running gear into the shell of the Mini. I plan to use the Acura engine, front and rear suspension, brakes, steering components and electrical hardware.

I have owned the shell for close to 30 years which I bought for $200.00 CDN. I started to actually work on the car in 1981. I stripped all the parts and had it sandblasted in order to start rust removal. After a very short time I was obligated to put the whole project on hold as our house had sold and my current project became building a new house. All that I was able to do was quickly spray some Tremclad paint on the body and put it in storage. When our house was complete the shell was moved into our 24 x 24 garage and has sat there til this year(2002).

I had been buying Mini and Hot Rod magazines early in the year and by summer I decided it was time to start the project up again. Since the thought of restoring to original was a concern, because of the vintage, many people tried to persuade me to go that route. My thoughts had always been to customize the car and have an engine with some decent horspower, more than the original 850cc engine could muster. I searched the web on alternative powerplants and finally decided the Honda VTEC conversion would be the way to go.

I started searching the Pick-a-part lots for a reasonable VTEC engine. Before my August vacation I spotted a 1986 Acura Integra 4 door hatchback and passed it up as it was a plain jane model and I was looking for one with some added electrical features such as power window and door locks, etc. Totally rolling stock at the time. After the holidays the car was still there only minus front drive shafts and wheels. Well, I managed to buy the basically complete car for $350.00. Could not pass up the cost, VTEC or not.

The tow home was a major fiasco as the tow truck driver almost lost the car as we left the parking lot. Then his truck broke a fan belt on the freeway and we had to wait for a new truck. Re-rigged and ready to go I followed my project off the freeway and onto the offramp and then watched the vehicle shift off the dolly wheels for a second time. After some rejigging we managed to insert the car into my garage. Home at last.

September 02

Started to strip out the Integra for all useful parts. The engine was removed first and set aside. Since I have a gas welder I made this job a bit easier by cutting out part of the front framing of the car. The car being up on jack stands made the job of taking out the front subframe quite easy. The steering rack universal joint was removed, shock tower bolts removed and then the 6 retaining bolts undone and out it pops complete with steering rack and shock/hub assemblies.

The interior was next. Everthing gutted out and saved only the essential items. I did retain all wiring and also removed all gas and hydraulic lines for future use. The gas tank was gone but I have kept the electric fuel pump. Doors, trunk lid, and lights were kept for possible future sale.

The hardest part was separating the body to retain the front firewall forward for measurements and possible use. I kept basically the front end from the doorpost forward plus the shift linkage/exhaust tunnel. I thought the connection points would be helpul and the possibility of a larger tunnel requirement so that everything wouldn't hang to close to the ground.

October-December 02

This time period was taken mostly for sorting out my garage and hiding away all the pieces. I installed a space heater so that I could work during the winter in a warm environment. I also sourced a new 60 gal air compressor in early December. Christmas came and new air tools arrived. Built a proper platform to move the engine around on.

January-February 03

Removed the ancillary parts from the 2 subframes I had. One from the Integra and from a CRX from Pick-a-Part. As it turned out the CRX frame was bent and I had to source a new one. It was cheaper to buy one from another parts supplier than to have a frame shop straighten the one I had. In any case it gave me the steering rack and other parts to replace bent ones with.

February brought time to actually do some work and planning. Built a good flat dolly platform for the front end and frame build up. Used hanger rod to line up the front subframe mount points with the Mini tower mount points. The steering rack is in the generally correct position relatively close to where the original went. Height still has to be worked out. I also placed the two front assemblies from Integra and mini side by side to check out the alignment.

My dilemma is whether to just build a subframe to the existing Mini body in which case I will have to alter the interior floor somewhat to accommodate the crossmember hump and anti sway bar or to cut out the total firewall and bulkhead beam of the Mini and insert the firewall, frame rails, shock towers and inner fenders of the Integra. That creates a major welding job but would work. Then all fittings are there and in pops the motor with one minor motor mount change.

If I stay with a stick built frame there is minor body change and I could reinsert the Mini components at any time if I so desired to change back. The second method is a done deal scenario and no going back. The other drawback by using the Integrta front is that the interior firewall moves back about three inches possibly reducing foot room and moving the seat back somewhat. But of course then the intake manifold has more room to fit. I'm open to comments and opinions on this. Subframe pictures updated Feb 26/03.

February - March 22

Not much has transpired in this time. Got my compressor set up properly with a line from one side of the garage to the other. Put the motor back into the Integra left over front end to re-evaluate the spacing. Actually used my air ratchet. Sure makes life easier and quicker. I will now draw some plumb lines onto a sheet of plywood to make sure I have all the points lined up properly. Originally I was just using the subframe to line up in the Mini and found out I didn't have the motor in just the right place and it was dependent on the rear motor mount for spacing. The drive shafts are the key element. They have to reside in exactly the same place as the Mini axles in order to keep the wheels centred in the wells. Therefore back to the drawing board and installation into old Integra. The whole engine/subframe has to line up together as a unit for all the drive components to be in the right alignment or the axles will be at an angle and the whole geometry will be out of whack.

March 26-April 30

Went on a wonderful 2 week vacation to Maui. After returning home not much was done as my wife had major surgery and little time was left for work on the car. I did spend a lot of time on the internet doing research. Was able to get in touch with a fellow from the Seattle area that has a custom subframe built for a B16 which he now plans to market.

May 1 - June 1

I made arrangements to go out to Vancouver on the long weekend in May to take in the All British Field Meet. It started out as quite a miserable day. When I arrived it was 6 degrees C in light rain. Cool at best. As the day progressed the sun came out and it became a pleasant afternoon. There were about 30 Minis on display and a very good cross section of all sorts of British cars. Met some of the local Mini crowd as well as several from the Seattle Mini club.

Next day I drove to the Seattle area and had a pleasant morning with Brian and chatted at length about his subframe build and the possibilities avaialable to me in my endeavor. I will post a contact e-mail when the pictures are posted.

Upon arriving home I bought materials from the hardware store to build a platform to mark all the alignment points from the Integra so that I can later place the Mini shell on top and arrange the bolt on points that I will require. Once the platform was completed with a good set of roller wheels I lifted the Integra front end inclusive of motor onto the bed. It took the better part of a morning to make sure the frame and engine were square on the platform and then marking out started. I also found an old music stand which I cut down to use as a marking device for any point I couldn't translate onto the sheet with a square.

The last week of the month I ventured out to the junk yard again to see if there was anything that would be of use. Turns out they had an 87 Integra LS on the lot and I decided to strip off the rear disc brakes for later use. Wouldn't you know it, there is always one bolt that won't come off without using a BFH. Had to pound out all the studs on the drivers side and in the process one flattened out too much and needed to be hacksawed off. I also removed the complete handbrake cables as they looked different from the drum style. I needed them to connect to the discs.

Once I got home I compared the rear hubs to see if the mounting system was the same as the drums. NADA. Life is never easy. Next day back to the wreckers to remove the trailing arms, hubs and spindles. Passenger side came off like a charm. Drivers side gave me grief again. Finally got it all off and home. Splitting out the hub and spindle from the trailing arm is going to be a real chore as they are rust welded together. I will have to imerse the whole bit into some magic solution for a few days to see if it will penetrate the rust. If worst comes to worst I will have to take it to a place that can tank it in some special bath that removes rust.

June 5-8 I will be in Calgary and hope to visit some specialty shops and a dealer that sells Lambo style uplift door hinges for Hondas. Just curious. They sell for $1500USD.

June 1 - July 12

Calgary trip was successful for my girls as they won trophies in there respective dance venues. As far as the parts shopping for the Honda, not too successful. I did manage to visit the body shop that sells the Lambo door kit. Looks interesting but their hinge piston was already getting weak and didn't hold the door up.

JUNE 14 I went to the Edmonton All Brit Field Meet. Beautiful sunny day and a very good turn out. Saw some of the local cars and the one that interested me the most was an Innocenti in silver. Chap got the car for cheap from an army buddy and resprayed it.

Since I got the Integra up on my platform and all measured up things went a bit slow. Moved my shell from the storage spot and set it up onto the platform. Played around some more with my motor and extra clip trying to figure out where the drive shafts are suposed to be. Spinning my wheels mostly. One night I was looking for some Mini sites on the web to see if I could find some better info. Found a one page site from a fellow that wants to put in a mid engine Subaru . He had a nice diagram of a Mini with the engine location shown by a box shape with a bunch of dimensions at the bottom of the page. It seemed to be that I had seen that diagram somewhere befor. Well, it turns out that it is in the bloody Mini manual with every dimension available to figure out if your car is square and true.

Next day I took one of the three pages to a photocopy machine and enlarged the subframe diagram to a size that was pretty darn close to the required dimensions. Traced the tower onto a piece of plywood and extended a piece on the top to go through the centre mount hole. Cut it out and now I have a wonderful template to use to sight through the centre axle hole to make sure my engine is sitting in the correct place for the drive shafts. Turns out I wasn't very far off with my trial and error method. Also got the angle of the tower and front of the firewall so that I can cut the correct angle on the bottom of the fabricated new tower tube so that the CRX crossmember will sit horizontal.

I have been having a go at my welding skills with acetylene. Still not that good but improving. Built a temporary down tube for the tower to see how the length and angle line up. Pretty close to the centre of the crossmember mount hole. Just need to determine proper size of material. Then need to brace back towards the rear of subframe to make it stable. Will need to rejig the standard rear subframe mount holes on the body to mate up to the CRX crossmember.

I have some 1 x 2 inch steel tube sitting around that was thrown away from work from some old consoles. Cut some of it up to start a front mount system where the Mini subframe mounts. Have to fabricate a bend for the exhaust manifold. About 30 degrees from square which goes into the bottom section under the grill where the bumper normally sits. It indents into that section by about 2 inches. Tried to fit the manifold but have a bolt that won't come out. It holds a bracket that gets in the way so can't insert it properly. Will take the extra nose off the engine and mount the exhaust and then reinstall old front and see how much of the front valence will have to be trimmed to fit the manifold.

Next step is to determine the bridging front to rear to connect the two frame sections and miss the timing belt pully and leave enough room to be able to remove the alternator if needed. On the tranny side one must leave enough room so that, if needed, the tranny can be removed without taking the complete engine out. Also if I sort out some bracing on the underside of the engine to make a complete loop for proper torsional strength the oil pan must be considered for removal. Some of the frames that I have seen I can't tell for sure if these sort of things have been considered. It would surely be a pain to pull the complete motor for some minor repairs.

July 13 - Aug 11

Made another trip to Calgary and met with two Suzuki guys. One from a tuner shop and his buddy who is also an engineer. Got several tips on how to possibly design my engine mounts and some theory on how to make a frame work for my situation. The big advice was not to hang the engine mount on the holes in the head. So I will be designing a timing side mount that is similar to the one Acura used on the tranny side. The tranny mount will be reconfigured as well to hang further to the rear of the engine compartment. I had thought of billet mounts but am not sure if I can get that done. Oh yes, the 1.3L turbo goes like hell! He wants to get a Mini and do a Suzuki conversion.

Since that time I have changed tact again. It seems the metal front shell wasn't giving me as accurate a picture as I would have liked and it was heavy and ackward to lift. I now have a soap box derby car as I call it. Since I am not that good at welding and building a metal hard jig isn't my forte I have decided to fabricate a jig in wood first. Basically it lets me do whatever I want and is relatively easy to modify if required.

I started with the Mini subframe and built my wood body around it. I also have the dimensions for the Mini and the angles of the towers down pat. I also put the engine back into the Acura front end and the light came on. It was staring me in the face all along. The crossmember arms (actually the front of the torque tubes) are dead centre in line with the drive shafts. I also measured the spacing between the engine and crossmember for alignment. The engine is on a dolly in the correct angle and the wood soap box has been set up to have the drive shafts at the correct height and front to rear location. I can now mount location points for the subframe and cut the proper size hole in the sloped firewall.

As it appears the steering rack mounts on the crosmember fit directly against the sloped area in close proximity to the original spot. I might even be able to utilize those points as additional mounting areas. I have now cut into the wood firewall. The torque tubes normally sit almost flush to the floor in the Acura. In the mock up there is currently about 3/4 inch of space which I hope to be able to raise up to about 1/4 inch so that the crossmember will flush mount to the floor. I may have to have a couple of bumps on either side close to the wheel well to accomodate the Acura retaining system. I may also widen the sloped area and have a bit more foot space on both sides as the Acura tires will sit further out on each side. This may not make sense in the narrative so when the pictures get scanned in it will be more obvious of what is going on.

Aug 12 -Aug 14

Mini Meet West. I flew out to Victoria to partake in MMW. Over 100 cars on site, new and old and modified. Three VTEC's, a Vauxhaul racer and a 3 cylinder Suzuki turbo. A great variety of cars and models. Mini Mike has done a wonderful job on his SOHC VTEC. I only got to hear it run at the meet, no ride unfortunately. He is very pleased with the final product and I am envious. Consolation is that he restated that it took a long time and that I shouldn't get frustrated. Take my time and do it right. Only had about an hour to watch the autocross and funkana which was a hoot to see. Good job by the organisers.