Historic style road car

[harrymini]

I have had a mk1 shell sitting around for a while now, that i have had in mind for doing a historic 'look a like' road car, the original colour was island blue, so i would be wanting to do island blue with a black roof, full historic spec roll cage (maybe with minor alterations around the door bars to get in and out of a bit easier, and a little padding) and otherwise stripped out bare minimum. Wondering whether to use a factory recliner with hardness or would i be better with a race spec seat?

I have no engine at the moment for the car, obviously wanting to run a 1275 or higher but on a slight budget. I cant afford to be going to 's' spec on this one.

If i were to use a later engine, and use a KAD internal gear change kit, can people see any problems i may run into with things not fitting etc?

Is there a better earlier engine i could use and have a remote gearchange, with the power and affordability?

Thanks for any input people would be putting in. Its only at the panel work stage, so i have alot of time to think about the options.

[Lakeland997]

I guess the overall answer is ‘there’s a million ways you could go with this, it depends what you want to end up with’.
Most people on this forum say, do what you want to do, it’s your car. Make it what you want. KAD internal gear change isn’t ‘Historic style’ but if that’s what you want then do it.
If you go the ‘remote’ route, that is more ‘historic’ but good remote gearboxes and some parts are becoming hard to find. Good rod change boxes that would accept the internal change are still cheap and easily obtainable.
I can’t see any issues fitting it to your MK1 shell with a few mods to the tunnel but obviously you need to get it all fitting as part of the shell preparation and before paint.

1275 Engines, early or late, will fit either gearbox.

Seat wise, I’d go for a good modern racing seat, at least on the driver’s side, and weld in seat rails to mount it. It will be lighter, more comfortable/secure and far, far safer while giving you the modern historic racer look.
An S type recliner on the passenger side would be fine and easily removable for the odd track day. Two modern racing seats is a squeeze and one usually has to be set further back than the other to fit.

Happy building!
Keep us updated with some pictures!

Andy