hello new to site, vtec automatic swap

[joakwin]

hello I'm new here

I live in Tucson AZ,
my mini is a 1984/85 rhd Mayfair
I call it a 84/85 because it was built in Nov 84, but first reg in feb 85 in England, my car is a B reg mini

I paid 500 GBP@1.3 exchange rate for my car in March of 2009, from a farm off of the A140 closer to Norwich, I found the mini off of the uk ebay and took the afternoon off from work and me and my family drove up to the farm  and looked at the car and I fall in love with it
and I went to a local atm and pulled the pounds out, someone else had shown up and was looking at
my car, but they didn't have any pounds on them and they were trying to talk the person down in price
and I showed back up and dropped 500 pounds on the seller and was ready to roll

he gave me all the extra parts he had for minis and I loaded them up in the back of our Chrysler van and hit the road for the 1st gas station,
the fuel gauge didn't work and I ended up having 3/4 of a tank and filled it up  anyways and drove the car home, we were living in Red Lodge at the time

the car started out as a 998/automatic and the gearbox was slipping going into 3rd with any type of throttle load

I worked on that car from March to Oct that year before I could get it to pass MOT, loads of rust and many panels replaced
every pay day I would buy parts from Coopers garage in Mildenhall and or make the 45 min drive up to DSN classic

1st was body panel work and then I de-seamed the car because I wanted smooth lines on my car

41219_429425361683_5320971_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

here's a picture from summer 09 when I was de-seaming the shell

[joakwin]

10628796_10152901818581684_3057559597750512358_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

pic from June 2009 from google maps with my car on jack stands

mini uk by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr


here is a hood I built for someone else's mini
59811_435754431683_2978626_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[BruceK]

Welcome!   Interesting story so far - can’t wait to learn more about you and your Mini.

[joakwin]

Oct 2009 I got the car to pass MOT and I started to daily drive it
right before Halloween, the diff went out and I had no movement from the car
I could hear the diff just grinding with any load

so I found a Austin metro, a 81 or 82 something like that with 35K miles on it
and picked up the car for 300 GBP
and pulled the motor out, it was a 1275 automatic

1275 by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

and I junk yard the rest of the car right before Christmas 2009
most of 2010 I was gone away from home due to work
the end of 2010 I was able to buy a roll cage for the car
and I made the sandwich plates for the cage myself
204364_10150165067981684_2821633_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

and arc had a door sale going on, and so I got some grp heavy doors from them before Christmas 2010
251601_10150206434961684_2195424_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

210475_10150180547421684_3397706_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

got the roll cage installed and did some sound mat

247856_10150203810556684_6149595_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

my youngest sons car next to my car, spring 2011
and then from May to Nov 2011 I was gone again from home due to work
summer of 2011 my wife moved to lakenheath because we were having heater problems in our red lodge home and the owner didn't want to fix the heater

winter of 2011 I bought a tube bender and made some door bars for my roll cage
mini primer by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

553241_10150737499471684_1604064689_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
started to put my interior together at that point

Christmas time 2011 or 2012 mini tec had a sale going on, so I was about to buy the rear beam with shipping for less then the normal price
rear suspension by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[Willie_B]

WOW, lots going on at your place. Hope you have a chance to drive it so you remember why you are doing all the work.

[joakwin]

mini tbi motor by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

Christmas time 2012, one of my buddies that lived a few house down from me, wanted to do a K swap in his mini, Alvis is his name

so I got his old set up, paid $2500 for a built d16z6

bigger bore pistons, p&p head, bisimoto cam, hondata s300, arp bolts on everything, mod itb's, subframe, axles, close ratio gearing inside gearbox, lsd, stage 1 clutch, on car adjustable lower control arms, upper control arms, hi-lo's, minitastic race springs, engine wiring, alternator


and then I drove the 1 hour each way drive to go up to twinkam or also knows as specialist components and get my billet rear hubs

427443_10150668016311684_2006410463_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

I started out 2013 gone again due to work, was gone till Sept 2013 but I was able to save a lot and buy many parts online

brakes by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

wilwood brake system, I got from ebay and summit racing

found a good shape used boot lid from Coopers gauge in Mildenhall for a good price

576810_10150896853971684_683594767_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

sept 2013 I did my final sanding on the car to prep it for paint

189220_10151189779036684_713274740_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

I almost went with od green
386805_10151113062031684_1703586441_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

mini paint by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

I painted the car myself the end of Sept 2013

1479429_10152074030031684_1183886774_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

1240416_10152396293996684_9079162251777447405_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

in the summer of 2013, I found someone making some rotor adapters and they needed someone to test out the design
so I paid $165 shipped for the adapters
20$ each for the rotors from autozone
9.5 inch rotors
1609776_10152162820371684_1983473281_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

1508594_10152163998741684_1335339096_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

1525332_10152164000696684_1001570218_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

10334347_10152459092606684_7476624578417917662_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

winter time 2013, absmotorsports had a front clip sale
10347711_10152591386026684_6631659227306993498_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
2014 jan my dizzy went bad, so I got a used one from the junkyard for 10pounds and cleaned it up

10391465_10152539147486684_2891807302977125479_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
summer of 14 we went to the British Motor Museum

[joakwin]

mini grill by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

grill mod I did on the front of the clubby clip
I bed lined the grill and the badge for it as well


gauge cluster I got in the summer of 13

cluster by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

10527266_10152575670101684_2688900935148984433_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
wiring harness for my vtec mini, got it early 2014
before this harness I had a cut down stock harness and I just wanted to clean up the wiring and whatnot

10488062_10152581718876684_7170115976004603420_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
alt mount

[joakwin]

10599234_10152623352836684_6603496774960283231_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

someone gave me a race battery for free, so I mounted it over the trans

11796404_10153476065106684_876432924045251008_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
front interior pic, front seats and center stuff is out of a Nissan micra-march

11753684_10153467582491684_8729581518915342814_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

dash I made out of 3/8's mdf,
floor matts are from the metro, the door pockets with the speakers are from the metro
seat belts are from the Nissan mica-march
steering wheel is from the vp metro, it was brown but I died the leather black

[joakwin]

dec 2014 with no motor in it, waiting for the tow ride to the port

1920199_10152890140256684_7108210817339916232_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

10734077_10152899231641684_596549690269211453_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

waiting outside of the garage because I was no longer living in that house and was in a hotel for a few days before leaving the UK

10849939_10152899620556684_277697852649739310_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

on the tow truck getting ready to be taken to the port

[joakwin]

10885123_10153011711491684_9045785861005695480_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

outside the port in Cali at port hueneme

10985243_10153074842611684_2752534005757247117_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

my other mini with my brothers car

I had to get the mini running again because it sat for 9 years in my parents back yard
1902952_10153403541486684_606990297249357897_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
my tow pig and my lhd mini

I drove the mini from San Diego to Tucson so I had something to drive to work while waiting on cars to get shipped from the UK

11149289_10153200901276684_3806953509523075028_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

lhd mini in front of my house in Tucson

[joakwin]

11209532_10153308009696684_7685302526544640574_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

my motor on the create after getting my house hold goods shipment

11289014_10153288004846684_2733428598125978735_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
mini in the new garage May 2015

11391680_10153371033801684_5214084655546772597_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

the minitastic race spring kit I took out up front for some QA1 coilovers

11703141_10153413817531684_5350534336425277462_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
car back together in Tucson summer 2015

11755646_10153467213171684_3361780841968302490_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
exhaust work I think summer 2015

13903412_10154364792136684_2455720104770709193_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
mini and my frame for my 37 chevy truck

[joakwin]

12311256_10153742424026684_257130714010694758_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

winter time letting the 998 warm up before going to work, 630 am

12106803_10153663824206684_7403564294626960145_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

the start of the garage stereo

13336116_10154198575531684_6465963889239848846_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

I went to the show in San Diego, I took my lhd car but it ended up blowing a head gasket on the way so that sucked, so I left the car in SD at my parents house
and a few months later came back and did the head gasket on it
but the car is still in SD now, I haven't drove it back or towed it back yet

the twins by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
my kids dropped a bicycle into the front of my car, and put a big scratch into the paint, so I repainted the front clip

[joakwin]

16142370_10154901949806684_7580130941496280635_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

75 mini and a 03 r53 mini, feb 2016

itb mini by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
summer night 2015

[joakwin]

I crashed my r53 earlier this year, the master cylinder went out and I had no brakes and came to a dead end road with metal pipes in the ground

so I got a 03 Honda element to daily drive

21014178_10155581816346684_7378354198485174869_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

18010498_10155165042266684_7675947803912179087_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
I got this poster at the mini fair show, the last mini show I went to in the Uk, winter 2014
I miss going to mini in the park and every other mini show, the UK mini shows are way better then the mini shows I have been to in the states

16807456_10154977932316684_4195011696546693898_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
amp rack for the garage stereo

[joakwin]

18664469_10155285586836684_5393453491912290085_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

my 84/85 with my 03 r53

16425920_10154912784986684_4783093770290858846_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

mods I was working on at the time on my 03 r53

17264329_10155034327916684_7008501905239785353_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr


I hate my hips while I was in Africa 2013, and after that point, I slowly started to become not able to drive a manual anymore, unless it had a light clutch
so my vtec mini's clutch hurt to much to push the pedal in, so I knew what I had to do

Untitled by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
1995 Honda del slow si, d16z6 automatic
I got this car in june from a dealer auction for $275
I drove the car for a few months to make sure everything was good

I changed the battery, fuse box, oil change, 02 sensor and it passed the smog test no problems
the car has 202k miles on it

I ordered a new oem timing belt, water pump kit
not knowing the history of the car,

I had one of my buddies look up the vin history
because I didn't want to pay the $45 bucks or whatever it costs
I changed out the water pump/belt and I was thinking to myself, no way this motor has 202k miles

valve cover off by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

no way this motor has 202k miles

[joakwin]

d16z6 auto by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

21762083_10155664378896684_8066477651279340168_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

motor out by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

one last pic with the old vtec itb motor
mini by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr
summer 2016


mini apart by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

Sept 2017

old itb motor getting pulled from my mini

[John Gervais]

Welcome to the board - looks like a hoot to drive!

I used to live in Tucson - right before I moved to Denmark.

[joakwin]

mini firewall by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

firewall cut for a huge box

21415046_10155614683176684_2480772798108105520_o by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

21432924_10155625595016684_6713275661532891710_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr


right side subframe by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

1.25 dom 120 wall tube is what I used to build a new subframe

[joakwin]

automatic motor by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

mini engine mount by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

center rear motor mount

motor rear mount by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

mini frame by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

engine in by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

[joakwin]

22308588_10155711142196684_6434268033763244956_n by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

alt mounted by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

I made the lower bar on the low side to leave room to install an ac pump

next summer I plan to buy a aftermarket ac under dash box
and then I will drop the ac pump into my car

shifter by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

starting to make a mount for the automatic shifter

shifter in car by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr

uses the stock length Honda del slow automatic shifter cable

shifter from top by joaquinn lopez, on Flickr