1982 Mini Scamp

[LowStandards]

Soooooooo, the 998 engine is sold, but look, there it is still sat encased in Scamp




Lets remedy that




Engine cranes are great, go buy one!

Dangled 150kg of pig iron high in the air, I had to juggle it out of the body as the crane hit the ceiling joist, the ones that are every 6 or so feet that I just happened to setup under ffs




But after a while it was out.




I have a great amount of room across the engine Bay, but slightly less to the front, so we'll have to see how it goes




Might as well spend an hour under here and make a start labelling wiring and removing bits. It's a bit more daunting. My mates race these on the dirt oval and I'm informed there's a bloke who sells none nats (imobilised) ECUs with a short loom which requires just power and earth, so that's looking like a great option.

[LowStandards]

I spent the last 3 or 4 months doing, err, no idea


But look, this happened












And according to every Haynes manual i've ever read, installation is the reverse of removal, so that should be simple

[LowStandards]

Nissan hid the wiring loom well, but i've got it all out, more than I actually need, but I'd rather prick through it and make sure I have everything as this loom/ecu has the anti-theft, so is a bit more involved.

It's very satisfying ripping stuff out when you know it doesn't have to go back, you can use more shouty tools





Which has left me with this




The majority of the wiring needed is actually on a seperate loom that plugs directly into the ecu. There's a bit more in another loom that includes the fuel pump and power to the ecu etc and finally the third loom which is normally not needed contains the transponder and key ecu. It's only a handful of wires, but it's all wrapped up with the other stuff, lighting, door wiring etc.


I don't know how heavy these engines are, but I picked up the CG13 block from the passenger floor and carried it to my garage just fine





I have to retrieve the ecu, which is hidden behind that centre console metalwork, the gear stick and i'm going to take the column as it might be easier to adapt that than try to fit the ignition barrel to the current column.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

I gather they weigh approx. 60kg, without the flywheel. Whereas the good old A-series is approx. 100kg.

[LowStandards]

I heard the A-Series as a.complete running entity, carbs, alternator, all that jazz was close to 140kg

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Yes, I've heard it's getting on for 150kg or so 'fully dressed'. Bit of a bummer that, as I'm currently trying to install a replacement gearbox in my 1275 Midget-engined Minor Traveller, and the engine is currently perched up against the bulkhead, unable to go low enough to get the replacement gearbox back on; it was quite a struggle to get the old one off.

[kevins]

For the Minor twisting the gearbox 90 degrees to get it on or off worked a treat for us.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Yes, I had to turn it clockwise to pull it off, however, the Midget cylinder head is a bit longer than a Minor one so it falls back against the bulkhead and won't drop any lower, making it tricky to get the gearbox back on again.

[LowStandards]

I've been busy working on the house, but grabbed an hour today and this happened





Engine is roughly hung in place in a cut down subframe.

I've had to cut a hell of a lot of the subframe back off, once I know the final engine position, i'll add steel back in.





I need to come up with a better height/leveling system than a few spare London bricks from the house (They're horrific, I know)





I'm still tempted to buy an AllSpeed frame, but they're £450 and open up other headaches as you can't use the standard suspension arms

[mdh]

Good progress dude!

[Alpina99]

I have a confession to make,
I looked at this thread when it started and thought it was hideous and never bothered to look in again,
My mistake !!
Brilliant work here throughout and its becoming a silk purse etc,
The high standards that you clearly work to have produced a great little car,
I look forward to seeing future updates on this thread,
Nigel

[grizz]

May 21, 2022 12:43:10 GMT Alpina99 said:

I have a confession to make,
I looked at this thread when it started and thought it was hideous and never bothered to look in again,
My mistake !!
Brilliant work here throughout and its becoming a silk purse etc,
The high standards that you clearly work to have produced a great little car,
I look forward to seeing future updates on this thread,
Nigel

One of my favourite builds.

Keep your driftorbmwturboanotheroneofthesameblandmobile and bring me this any day.

I have also screwed up at times, judging builds by my own like and dislikes, but there are a ton of genius builds on here.

Glad you rediscovered it Nigel.



The subframe looks like something a Retrorides collective could knock out in a day though. But I know nothing.

[LowStandards]

I bought myself a load leveller as I was really struggling




Look at that, they work




I placed the engine within the cut down subframe where i'd like it to be, then took some measurements.

Now when the Mini boys do these conversions they have to spend out loads having custon inlet manifolds made as they'd have to cut a sizable hole out of the bulkhead, which is obviously a biva/iva/vosa/dvla whatever no no.

I then looked at the Scamp, the bulkhead is of course a sheet of ally rivetted in. It is now a hole.




I then removed the inner wings so I can really see what's what.





I've got so much more space to the rear and sides that a Mini. I might struggle up front with the exhaust, but I can be creative and bring it down past the gearbox maybe.



The more I look at this last picture, the more I think I can actually put more box section into the Scamp chassis and just have the towers from the original subframe???

[LowStandards]

I recon some more 40x40x3 box from the floor to the front end will be much stronger than the subframe ever could be

[LowStandards]

Nipped into the garage at lunch

Took some measurements and jumped up and down a bit on the front end, you know, standard engineering stuff.

Seemed pretty solid, so I took the grinder and cut a line through one side of the subframe. Expecting that awful twang and locking up of the disc as I cut through the last little bit, I was pleasantly surprised when nothing

Hmmm, everything was still where it was meant to be


So I made another cut, now one side of the subframe had gone.




Did the same to the other side and again, everything was still in its place, so I went nuts and cut off everything subframe related that gets in the way.





So now I have a big hole I can drop an engine in, then I can start bracing the frame.

[LowStandards]

No words needed

[LowStandards]

Almost in place, few measurements to take and a lot of looking at Mini builds to make sure i've got the engine height and for/aft location spot on, but we're talking cm's at best, so this is pretty much where she'll sit.


As a bonus, I can use the standard inlet manifold as I have acres of space. I really didn't need to remove the whole bulkhead box that I have, but it gives me the opertunity to make a bolt in panel to make servicing etc much easier.






Lots of room up front, you can still see the remains of the original subframe bolted to the front bar here. I plan on remaking that with some 5mm flat bar, which will be tight against the front, so gaining 2 inches on this pic.




Gearbox is the big issue with these swaps, you can see how tight it is against the subframe tower and how far back it goes. I've read peoople are happy with anything better than 5mm clearance here.










Overall, happy with that. It's sat on bricks atm, I best order some bobbins and some steel

[MitziL200]

Might have missed it but why did you decide against the Yaris engine?

[LowStandards]

May 27, 2022 10:55:58 GMT MitziL200 said:

Might have missed it but why did you decide against the Yaris engine?

Turns out Yaris T-Sports are worth over a grand these days - who knew

[mr2fc]

May 27, 2022 12:16:44 GMT LowStandards said:

May 27, 2022 10:55:58 GMT MitziL200 said:

Might have missed it but why did you decide against the Yaris engine?

Turns out Yaris T-Sports are worth over a grand these days - who knew

£5k for a nice one!