Practically Classics Forum

tractorman wrote:Or a written off Golf with DSG?

Don't tempt me! I'd need to widen the Minor body quite a lot but otherwise, that idea has legs.

fiat twin cam from a 131 /132 with auto box?

I saw a Diplomat about 18 months ago near here which would have fitted the bill. If only that Scrap yard hadn`t have closed...

Fiat engine ticks lots of boxes, but I'd not be able to use that for work unless it also came with an LPG conversion. Also, the Fiat's transmission hangs too low in conversions that use the auto, as it would have to be practically on the floor for the bellhousing to clear the rack, so same issue as exists with the Ital's BW65. The Datsun has a much smaller bellhousing and it only needs to sit 3/4" forward to clear the rack.
The thing with the Datsun conversion is that the A series (Datsun engine) can be made to look all but identical to an A series (BMC flavour) and the people who decide whether I can use it for work won't be able to tell what's been done apart from the auto, which I can have without its being counted as a modification on the grounds of clinical need. Bear in mind that the only way to get any alternative gearbox into a Minor is to do this to it, or fit it really low to clear that rack:


Worth the effort? Yes, count the mains on this A series!...

I know the areas that the bolts bite at appear relatively shallow, but what isn't seen in that image is that every hole is made into a bulge that's cast for the purpose so it's strong enough to take some abuse upgrading once I get it inspected and I have the approval in my grubby paw.
And at the top end, a port for every valve, which is nice.

is this the one you will be fitting john?

Funny you should ask that. No. However, I have just invented the "Next Generation"-style replicator and as soon as I've put a fuse in its plug, I intend to ask it to replicate the bits I want. It can do Earl Grey's Monument* and that's big, really big so engines and stuff should be easy.
*Or was that his tea?

A ready-built Datsun Minor 1.4 auto has popped up for sale. It's a traveller too. Is this what they call fate, or would I be mad to take on an unknown quantity? Click the image to see the listing:


Hmm..

£8500 is a bit rich from my point of view and the wood looks questionable. But all the engineering to make it works is done, as is the paperwork with the DVLA.
How good is your good shell? would it raise a grand selling it "as is" as if they would take £7500 and you could get £1000 for the shell you have that would make it a much more reasonable £6500.
Personally if I was going down the engine swap route in a mog, I'd have a Ford 3.0 v6 from the mondeo ST and twin turbo it but that may not look period if you lift the bonnet

I seem to think that was advertised in August last year - I saw it listed when I was looking for a suitable "runabout" and ended up with the Landy. I vaguely remember the number as much as it being a similar colour to our first (SII) Traveller! It was out of my price range at the time (and I may have mentioned it on here at the time!)

If it's something near what you intended to make, I'd go for it but I'd want to see it in the wild before putting a bid on. Once bitten...

Terry, my saloon shell has only done about 8000 dry, salt-free miles before it was stored away in the early '70s when its owner gave up driving after having a scary moment involving a shattered screen and an eye injury. The car was carefully dismantled and all of its parts sold, leaving a lump of spotless steel that was too far from any venue where it could have been weighed in or reused in an economically viable way. Fast forward to the late '90s and I bought the building in which it (and some other good stuff) had been stashed. The - by now deceased - owner of the cars and parts had already had their estate divvied up among the family, at which time the building and contents weren't on the inventory. The remaining relation didn't want to be involved other than in taking the money for the building.
So the shell, although suffering from a small amount of surface spotting as a result of squirrel interest, is unwelded, needs no welding, has no faults and has the remaining, unbroken pieces of its glazing stored elsewhere for safe keeping as for years I thought that I'd finished with my Minor phase! So yes, it's as good as they come and ideally, I'd sooner fit an original engine and 'box to the Traveller, flip that for cash and be left with its Datsun parts to fit into my saloon shell. An engineer's report isn't a problem, so neither would be insurance and while the idea of a Traveller is an appealing one, I agree that it is somewhat expensive unless it's exceptional structurally. I'm going to investigate further.

TractorMan, I too am certain that it's been around eBay on at least one previous occasion and this does unsettle me a little as Minors (and any other interesting and worthy old jalopy I suppose) that keep reappearing tend to be those which have more issues to them than are at first apparent. Naturally, I'm not commenting on the green Traveller or any other example before I've had a good poke around for myself but the doubt is there.
VVS (my saloon's none-transferable plate starts with these letters), on the other hand, drips Ensis V (and a little squirrel pooh) from every orifice as do the doors and other separate body parts that I've been saving for the day when the car eventually gets to work for its keep once more so, apart from the odd teething troubles that anything modified can throw up, I'm confident that it would be a car that would last well on a diet of regular servicing and no nasty shocks are waiting to jump out at me and cause me to get the welding gear out.

go & see it, & make an offer....