test run

I filled the radiators with fluid and fired up the engine. The throttle control is a little touchy, but the engine seems strong. after about 15 min, the coolant started flowing through the radiators and after another 5 min, it started flowing out a crack on the bottom of the large radiator. oops. one more thing to fix... i guess it wasnt meant to drive before christmas this year.

transmission done

after months of waiting for the custom final drive ring and pinion, they finally arrived. But unfortunately they werent made very precise and the first and second gears fit very loosely on the shaft. I did some research and found, with my dad's help, I could make a custom bearing sleeve to fit over the shaft and make 2nd gear fit better. So we bought some 52100 bearing grade steel and my Dad took to the CNC. A couple hours later and he made 2 custom sleeves that would compensate for the final drive being too small. Then they were sent to heat treat and precision ground. In the mean time, i studied up on how to assemble a transmission. This was my first try, so i put it together and took it apart 4 or 5 times and finally figured out how to line everything up just right in order for the 2 halves to fit perfectly and keep the shift forks from hanging up. I finally was ready and carefully spread the RTV sealant on the mating surfaces and lifted the top half of the cover when , clunk, disaster... a bearing fell out and hit the ground knocking all the ball bearings in every direction on the shop floor. it took 20 minutes to find them all in the greasy nooks and crannies of the warehouse. just in time too, since the sealant was drying.

thanks to the help from the honda forum, the transmission rebuild was much easier than i thought.

Now 9 months later, the engine and tranny are finally back in the Car. just need to hook everything up and try it out. the thought worries me for some reason.

Transmission Specs

here is a chart of the gear ratios for my rebuilt transmission. I used the b16 tranny but exchanged the integra LS 5th gear set for better highway cruising (lower rpms). Combined with the custom final drive, I should have gearing like a normal, modern car.

Waiting

More waiting while the shop is dragging their feet in repairing my transmission.

Driving

Before taking the mini on the road for the first time, i had to test out the brakes and correct a few of the loose fittings and hoses I didnt get right the first time. Good thing I did ge tthe brakes working, because the car is outrageously fast. It was hard not to burn up the tires in any gear.

It was a great feeling to drive the car home after 2 years of work.

Unfortunately the fun didnt last long. After only one week, I got tired of the ultra-short transmission gearing and took the tranny back to have the gears changed (after 5 hours of work pulling the entire frame, motor, and trans). I will also be ordering a custom final drive. It turns out i was given a B16 transmission (with 4.4 final drive) instead of an integra LS transmission (4.27 fd). After calculating the ratios, I would like to get a final drive with a 3.4 or even 3.2 ratio, which would get the freeway rpms close to 3000 at 70mph. I cant believe no other honda - mini swappers have looked into this. it seems ridiculous to be buzzing around at super high rpms on the street.

There are a few good gear calculators posted online, found them by searching "honda gear calculator"

I also made some calculations based on the 165/70R10 yokohama tires having 1074 revolutions per mile and the honda gear ratios as follows:
Y21 Del Sol B16 Transmission- 5th gear .848 - Final drive 4.4
S80/Y80 Integra LS Trans - 5th gear .714 - Final drive 4.27

Now im waiting to get the transmission back, then removing the final drive to have a custom one made.

Update

Well it took a few weeks to get the wiring sorted out. i had to resolder every wire for the ECU and engine. So much soldering i burned up a 200w soldering gun and had to get another one.

Filling the transmission with oil was tricky. I had to remove the reverse light switch and feed a small hose in and tape it to a funnel. The normal fill hole was inaccessable behind the modified mini subframe.

more wiring

Yesterday i wired up the headlights, relays, and headlight switches. The wiring will be a lot of work, since i just found out only 1 brakelight is working, the neither rear blinker is working. The wipers were running for a minute then stopped... at least the engine wiring is mostly done, just need to trim some of the harness shorter and resolder.

Wiring

I Started soldering all the wire connections together. The ECU is all hooked up and mounted. Now i have to do the wiring to the gauges and the fuse box. I would have gotten more done last week, but i was so excited about learning how to ride the velodrome...

Engine Running

Andreas and I temporarily wired the engine and ECU together and the engine started up right away, no smoke. We did find some fuel leaks quickly and had to tighten some connections. This motor is beautiful. Now the problem is the cv boot came off the joint and wont fit because it is rubbing the frame. Ill tackle that later.

more

I forgot to add, I finished the fuel lines and connected them to the motor. a 5/16 pipe from the tank and fuel pump goes to the filter then the intake manifold. Then a 1/4" line returns from the manifold to the tank. I think it is close to standard for the B16 honda motor.

The vacuum lines were a little confusing at first. Some are not needed, but some are. I was missing a MAP sensor (didnt come with the B16 motor) and it should be hooked to the vacuum line on the throttle body (the smaller of the two fittings, the larger fitting is not used in the mini since it is for a honda smog/ fuel vapor system). The other vacuum line that is needed goes from the back of the intake manifold through the fuel pressure regulator cutoff solenoid and then to the fuel cutoff valve (that controls the fuel return line to the tank). The solenoid came attached to the same bracket the MAP sensor was bolted to. Ill add pictures later.

Radiator

Just finished some custom bracketry for mounting the 1st radiator. it is a near perfect fit behind the grill, with just a 1/16" to spare around it. The second radiator it a little tougher to mount, i had to modify the mounting tabs a lot to get it to fit in the wheelwell,
The radiators are from honda motorcycles, an older 500 and newer 750 if i remember correctly. The nice thing is one is designed as a secondary radiator and doesnt have the cap opening, just inlet and outlet.

I also finished hooking up the brake lines this week, just no fluid reservoir yet.

Intake Manifold

After cutting a lot of excess material off the back and bottom of the intake manifold, it still wouldnt fit in the mini. It bumped the firewall and the body cross-beam. I ended up milling about 0.100 in. from the mounting flange on a slight angle. The angled flange raised the back of the intake about 0.25 in. while hardly changing the port angle. The honda motor shouldnt lose too much power by my changing the angle so slightly. Clamping the intake in our mill was a pain, but thanks to my dad, we managed. I think this was a much better solution than cutting the bulkhead. I did have to grind a small notch in the mini cross-beam and a small notch in the first runner on the honda intake.

Shift Linkage

The shift linkage was modified and installed with help from Andreas. The trick was to first cut off all the ends from both shift rod and the stabilizer rod, then bolt the ends on their respective mounts, hold the cut pipe pieces in place, dont let them touch the body or each other, have someone hold the shift lever in the desired position, and weld it all together. Two people are needed for this job.

Engine In

Last week my brother Andreas and my Dad helped me install the subframe (with motor/tranny) into the car. it took an hour or so to get it aligned right, but it slid right in. Some paint was scratched off the headers, but other than that, it fit.
next was installing the axles. The inner half are standard honda CV joints and the outers slide into the mini CV joint at the hub. Getting the honda joints to slide into the transmission was very difficult.

Next up, shift linkage, exhaust, manifold and wiring.

Motor Preparation

The last 2 months Ive spent getting the motor ready for installation. New timing belt, Alternator belt, Distributor cap, Plug wires, Spark Plugs, new clutch, lightweight flywheel, and rebuilt transmission.

The Integra LS transmission matched nicely with the motor, but i didnt know I needed to swap the clutch to match the transmission (smaller splines for older trannys). You learn as you go.

Here are pictures of the new alternator mount I built last week and the headers i just purchased and installed.

Rear Windows

One of the coolest features of the Estate version of the mini are the enormous sliding rear windows. The problem was forcing them into the felt/rubber tracks and screwing the tracks in the car.
Lydia helped get the tracks/screws in. The glass has such a snug fit, it takes two hands and a serious amount of muscle to get the windows to slide. Since they dont have locks, i dont mind too tight. Ill try and force the tracks open after i get window locks.

Motor

Here is a picture of the motor. After powerwashing the block, I painted the valve cover red since the old paint was peeling off. I removed all the extra mounts, A/C, Power steering and installed a small vss (speedo) sensor. Then Lydia and Andreas helped with the monstrous task of squeezing the motor into the subframe. Not easy.

Motor

I finally got around to buying a motor for the mini. It took a while to build up the courage to spend all that money. Ill post a picture soon, the motor is in the back of the truck, which is in our rgarage (barely). Im just guessing, but i think the garage is 20' deep and the truck is 19'8". so i couldnt walk around to snap a photo.

Windshield

Thanks to my brother Andreas Tolman for the pro install of the windshield. I guess since he has done it half a dozen times on his (mother's) mini, he is quite experienced.
His help was appreciated also when i was trying to install the wiper motor and gears. The minimania supplied rubber gaskets were a little to thick so we had to make our own gaskets in order for the studs to stick out enough for the nuts fasten.

Pedals

The pedal assembly has been modified to keep the new master cylinders inside the passenger compartment.