EcoClassic Electric Mk1 Austin Mini

[DUF2 ‘65 Elf]

Cheers!
It fooled my wife which is the acid test!
I have since stopped the light leaking out the side.
Now all I have to do is figure out why on earth one photo is tiny and one is enormous!

That said, the light strips I used can be cut to length and really are super-bright.
And only around £3 each!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-4-2x-12V- ... Sw3ZtaN3nz

I am considering an unobtrusive high level brake light stuck to the inside of my rear window. Lots of strips with adhesive on the back side, but I want the adhesive on the front so I can stick it to the inside of the rear window. Anyone know where I can get this?

[mk1]

Scuse my ignorance, but why would it need a "Standard Radiator"?

[goff]

Scuse my ignorance, but why would it need a "Standard Radiator"?

And twin fuel tanks Mark with a Serck tag

[Bitsilly]

It doesn't, but it does require some sort of radiator and fan for cooling.
The fact that a standard radiator can be employed simply means theres no need to lay out for some fancy custom job.
The electric motor needs cooling just like an engine, it has a coolant inlet and outlet which I will be plumbing in as per the 850 as a source of heat for the internal smiths fan/demister. I'll also need to fit a small electric pump to circulate the coolant.

[Bitsilly]

OK this entry is about being tight with purse strings and using what is free!
As mentioned I have fitted a brake servo up under the front wing.
It requires vacuum, normally provided by the engine, but in my case, a vacuum pump (still in the post).
Generally, when you need a pump to provide vacuum, it is a good idea to use a reservoir between the pump and servo to hold the vacuum. If you don't, then every time the vacuum is depleted the pump has to work to replace it and you get a very reactive situation flitting between the pump being off and working flat out so the servo is able to work in say stop-start traffic.
A vacuum reservoir (i.e. tank/bottle) acts like a damping capacitor and smooths everything considerably.
Generally you can use any airtight vessel that fits.
The 3D scans showed I have enough room to fit the vacuum pump in the original battery box with the new smaller battery for the 12v circuits.

So all that is needed is a vacuum reservoir between the battery box and the engine bay, that is air tight and fits!

[Bitsilly]

Guess what, the exhaust fits!
So I drilled the fore most exhaust box and pulled out all the wadding (took bloody ages and you would be amazed at how much is stuffed in there). Properly cleaned it out with compressed air and a vacuum cleaner and fitted a rubber seal.

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Then added a fine gauze filter and a pipe extension to reach to the battery box. And of course blocked off the end of the exhaust

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Yet again, I need my front subframe back before cutting the engine end to length and running it to the servo, but you get the idea, one free vacuum chamber that runs perfectly to the front of the car!

[docka]

Love this idea, ingenious!

[mk1]

Such a lovely tidy install. This is possibly the best I have seen. Keep up the good work!

[Bitsilly]

Not much to report thanks to that bleedin' ship blocking my batteries in the suez, bar one idea that may interest Mk1 owners who want a dipping mirror for driving at night and a daylight mirror.
I wanted to fit a NOS mirror that Matt on here sold me but as I am mostly blind I decided it was too dimmed for daytime use.
If you have an original mirror then two things, one, look at these small strong magnets (yes I know but everyone must agree magnets are the fuel of inquisitive youth and therefore must be respected).

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They are very small and easily slot behind the mirror bracket:

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And two, for peanuts on Ebay you can buy a steel backed mirror which is magnetic and can pop onto the front of the original and is firmly held!
Obviously not like this but you again get the idea.
I know there are very nice Jag/smiths mirrors out there but perhaps this is an option if you want to stay original.

rsz_img_4372.jpg

More fairly good news, the electronic speedo arrived. Unfortunately the bezel was rounded and although Cairbont don't offer the full V bezel , Ebay do, so with a little tweeking this is my new speedo!

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Considering everything, I am fairly happy with it although I would have preferred to keep the original one and fitted an electronic to mechanical input. There is great difficulty getting them at the moment but I'm sure they will come available again.
The metallic edging around the speedo I got from CBS, as my edging was very old and yellowed, it is in the loft but this is an identical offering.

[Bitsilly]

Nick at EcoClassics has now fitted an identical motor to the one I am using to a Mini subframe up at his place in Essex.
He has made a jig to get the brackets in the correct place, and my one is next in the queue,
The front cross member has also been strengthened.
It has been designed to be able to use two shorter prop shafts from the reduction box which contains a Quaife LSD. The equal length shafts should help reduce torque steer which can be a bit of a bummer!

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[Bitsilly]

Be still my beating heart!

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[mk1]

I just love this build!

[Fanfaniracing]

That looks like a serious Motor!

[docka]

Fantastic!

[Bitsilly]

All the bits are due next week, the only thing I have to report is that I have decided to fit door mirrors. I know were not there when the car left the factory, but after a lot of thought I decided they are just too important to leave off. Also my neck is not the most flexible any more!

Having had a look at current drivers and traffic I also decided side indicators serve a really important purpose so I decided to fit them too.
I have combined the indicators into the mirrors so at least two travesties are kinda reduced to one!

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Luckily they still look stock and you wouldn't know they were indicators until they flash.
Anyone with bullet mirrors could easily convert them (especially the mirror halo part, the rear LED shown working in the inspection mirror reflection is a bit harder) for less than a tenner a side and for anyone interested I'll post what I did it but in a separate technical thread.

[hanlminiman]

I'm not sure that is a good idea to have lights flashing in vision as it is a distraction. My old Dad always said door mirrors were far superior to wing mirrors and as I get older I am beginning to agree with him but did not find the "bullet speed door mirrors" very good so changed them for Tex type mirrors. Racers use much bigger rear view mirrors attached to the roll cage with strong door mirrors.
Modern door mirrors have the indicators facing outwards, not backwards.

[Bitsilly]

I did do a few tests first and found I could see rear view reflection even during the flashing, so could my wife and daughter.
As the driver is the instigator I would hope they know what is about to happen and could avoid distraction.
Modern wing mirror lights should be visible as close to 180 degrees as possible, and due to the design of the bullet mirrors (see tech post explanation) so are mine.
I too found that normal bullet mirrors are not much cop, but these are convex mirrors and are much better, and they are made by Tex too!.

[greyghost]

thats such a neat and ingenious solution

I'd love to see how you made it all go together

[pickmeup]

It's been a long time since I've been on the forum, Nick at eco classics told me to check out this thread as I am also doing a conversion.
I'm trying to do mine on a budget and repurposing as much from a mitsubishi outlander as possible.

Yours looks like a very tidy mini to start with, I'm looking forward to seeing the race mini Nick is building too.

If you would like to check out my conversion have a look at my Instagram electricclassicminis. I'm converting a mk4 mini Marcos but I might install it into my mk2 scamp first.

[Bitsilly]

Hi again all!
Sorry for lack of activity, a new puppy has made it hard to focus on anything!
The good news is this recently arrived for me on a pallet from Nick the owner of Ecoclassics:

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It is my faithful old subframe but now with bolting points for the motor and a frame to then mount the front batteries to like this:

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The motor has also now been fitted to the reduction box. I love that the driveshafts are attached using standard CV joints and that both shafts are the same length (standard shorts). From what I believe, the original different length drive shafts problem is usually carried over or made worse by some conversions, (be they internal combustion, motorbike engine or electric), and can cause torque steer.
The reduction box internals are car porn:

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Note on the left the quaife LSD!

I have trial fitted the subframe today and I reckon the whole thing needs one single tweek on a corner, then I'll be painting it and popping it in.
Then make some headway pretty quickly I hope!


ps thanks for all the pm's, hints and support, it is much appreciated.