Hazz
B16
- Messages
- 8,827
I've been looking for one of these for around 2 years. I've had viewings set up for 3 previously, only 1 of which came to fruition... The owner wouldn't even take me out for a drive with me in the passenger seat, so that obviously didn't happen.
After 2 years of DERV VAG I was beginning to lose the plot. The itch had become an incessant nagging which could not be suppressed. Cue me nearly buying a whole host of different death traps from ebay... A redtop Nova, a v8 BMW e30, a redtop corsa, a v6 mk2 golf... the list goes on.
Then this gem turned up, the car I've been looking for. A 1971 clubman, tax exempt, with a Honda b16a2 engine fitted. It's a roadworthy (or at least it was when I bought it) unfinished project. Perfect for me, I wanted something to tinker with.
It was built in 2012-2014 by a professional fabricator & welder. Unfortunately his understanding of cars was not as professional as his fabrication skills. It uses the watsons subframe which is based on an MG metro subframe & retains the original unique mini suspension set up. This can be changed for modern coilovers if desired. Unfortunately it also retains the standard metro single piston, solid disc brakes. They're shockingly bad. Furthermore, the metro wheel was a crazy offset for such a small wheel, at 13" with ET52. The guy who built the car modified the hubs to a standard mini PCD of 101.6mm (as opposed to the 95.25mm metro PCD) so that he could fit a more suitably styled wheel for the mini. The downside of this is that the max offset available for mini PCD is ET19, the wheels the car currently has are ET2. So that means the centre of the wheel is offset by 50mm relative to the suspension.... This vastly alters scrub radius or the Ackerman angle which in turn dictates how the car responds to bump and torque steer. In this instance, dangerously: the first time I hit vtec on the test drive I ended up half way across the road in a fraction of a second... no exaggeration. Hitting a big enough pothole could break your thumbs if positioned incorrectly on the wheel such is the force of the bump steer.
And at home, note the silly arch extensions to cover the crazy offset produced by the wrong wheels.
So, I've been researching various options for improving the handling and brakes and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Several years ago I would have been fine but a company which made custom alloys that everybody in this community used has gone bust... so the only options are the incorrect offset wheel on a mini hub, where excellent caliper options are available... convert to VW hubs, where semi-acceptable offsets are available but custom hubs and brake carriers will be required or go down the MG route where the ideal offset wheels are available but caliper options are severely limited.
I've chosen to buy some metro gti wheels (gta wheels would have been better but fcuk me, try and find a set!)... I managed to get some new old-stock :twisted:
I've also sourced some MGF hubs, wheel bearings, metro GTi ball joints (for increased camber) and I will be able to run some mk1 MGF 240mm (9.5") vented disc brakes, still single pot but with a larger diameter piston. By all accounts, more than up to the job of stopping a 600kg mini.
It did 48mpg on the way home and also embarrassed an E36 M3 joining the M5, it's silly quick if you have the balls (and forearms) to shove your right boot in it and hold on for dear life.
Story time... I mentioned it's no longer road worthy. I drove it 270 miles home on a stonking hot day, 267 miles into the journey it started overheating. I babied it home and let it cool down, topped the coolant up and took it for another short drive... overheated again. The electric fan had died. I checked the coolant again and it was down, so I presumed I had a leak somewhere. This is where is gets amusing... I flipped the front up, opened the driver's door and started her up.
Big engine in small car + standard final drive + smaller diameter wheels + left in gear + start car = car does not stall. It drove into my ribs, knocked me over and then smashed into my garage door puncturing the radiator and snapping 2 pins which the flip front locate on. No other damage, somehow?! So I've been waiting for my new radiator to come back from the welder (mounting points need modification) and then I can test out my replacement radiator fan... Thank feck I had the front end flipped up otherwise it'd have destroyed a LOT more! Handily, my garage door is made from flimsy, rusty thin metal, so it distorted and took the brunt of the impact. I've bashed it back into shape so it closes again. New door required.
I'll shove some more pics up in due course, I'll try and get some to illustrate how poorly set up the geometry is with the current wheels too.
Edit - current spec:
JDM B18CR Engine (taken from ‘98 Integra type R)
Hondata S300 ECU
Skunk 2 tuner cams stage 2
Skunk 2 pro series cam wheels
Skunk 2 stem seals
Skunk 2 titanium valve guides
Skunk 2 alpha series valve springs
Skunk 2 throttle body
Exedy LW flywheel
S9B gearbox with Mfactory racepack helical LSD, Mfactory 4.05 final drive & 0.717 5th gear.
Watson’s rally Metro front subframe
Watson’s rally front springs with centre helper spring
Minispares Hi-los front and rear
MGF 240mm brakes (EBC groved discs & greenstuff pads)
Braided lines all round - no servo.
Genuine minifin rear drums
OBP pedalbox with adjustable brake bias
Coilover conversion on rear using Watson’s rally conversion.
Metro GTi alloys (using Watson’s rally rear wheel spacers)
Mountney classic steering wheel
Cobareu bucket seats (to be change for something lighter)
Speedhut USA custom gauges
‘Curley’ 2 peice carbon fibre dash
Carbonweezle double skin bootlid with matching bootlight
Carbonweezle rear clubman bumper
One peice fibreglass clubman flipfront
Fibreglass sportspack arches
Perspex rear quarter windows
Custom aluminium fuel tank
After 2 years of DERV VAG I was beginning to lose the plot. The itch had become an incessant nagging which could not be suppressed. Cue me nearly buying a whole host of different death traps from ebay... A redtop Nova, a v8 BMW e30, a redtop corsa, a v6 mk2 golf... the list goes on.
Then this gem turned up, the car I've been looking for. A 1971 clubman, tax exempt, with a Honda b16a2 engine fitted. It's a roadworthy (or at least it was when I bought it) unfinished project. Perfect for me, I wanted something to tinker with.
It was built in 2012-2014 by a professional fabricator & welder. Unfortunately his understanding of cars was not as professional as his fabrication skills. It uses the watsons subframe which is based on an MG metro subframe & retains the original unique mini suspension set up. This can be changed for modern coilovers if desired. Unfortunately it also retains the standard metro single piston, solid disc brakes. They're shockingly bad. Furthermore, the metro wheel was a crazy offset for such a small wheel, at 13" with ET52. The guy who built the car modified the hubs to a standard mini PCD of 101.6mm (as opposed to the 95.25mm metro PCD) so that he could fit a more suitably styled wheel for the mini. The downside of this is that the max offset available for mini PCD is ET19, the wheels the car currently has are ET2. So that means the centre of the wheel is offset by 50mm relative to the suspension.... This vastly alters scrub radius or the Ackerman angle which in turn dictates how the car responds to bump and torque steer. In this instance, dangerously: the first time I hit vtec on the test drive I ended up half way across the road in a fraction of a second... no exaggeration. Hitting a big enough pothole could break your thumbs if positioned incorrectly on the wheel such is the force of the bump steer.
And at home, note the silly arch extensions to cover the crazy offset produced by the wrong wheels.
So, I've been researching various options for improving the handling and brakes and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Several years ago I would have been fine but a company which made custom alloys that everybody in this community used has gone bust... so the only options are the incorrect offset wheel on a mini hub, where excellent caliper options are available... convert to VW hubs, where semi-acceptable offsets are available but custom hubs and brake carriers will be required or go down the MG route where the ideal offset wheels are available but caliper options are severely limited.
I've chosen to buy some metro gti wheels (gta wheels would have been better but fcuk me, try and find a set!)... I managed to get some new old-stock :twisted:
I've also sourced some MGF hubs, wheel bearings, metro GTi ball joints (for increased camber) and I will be able to run some mk1 MGF 240mm (9.5") vented disc brakes, still single pot but with a larger diameter piston. By all accounts, more than up to the job of stopping a 600kg mini.
It did 48mpg on the way home and also embarrassed an E36 M3 joining the M5, it's silly quick if you have the balls (and forearms) to shove your right boot in it and hold on for dear life.
Story time... I mentioned it's no longer road worthy. I drove it 270 miles home on a stonking hot day, 267 miles into the journey it started overheating. I babied it home and let it cool down, topped the coolant up and took it for another short drive... overheated again. The electric fan had died. I checked the coolant again and it was down, so I presumed I had a leak somewhere. This is where is gets amusing... I flipped the front up, opened the driver's door and started her up.
Big engine in small car + standard final drive + smaller diameter wheels + left in gear + start car = car does not stall. It drove into my ribs, knocked me over and then smashed into my garage door puncturing the radiator and snapping 2 pins which the flip front locate on. No other damage, somehow?! So I've been waiting for my new radiator to come back from the welder (mounting points need modification) and then I can test out my replacement radiator fan... Thank feck I had the front end flipped up otherwise it'd have destroyed a LOT more! Handily, my garage door is made from flimsy, rusty thin metal, so it distorted and took the brunt of the impact. I've bashed it back into shape so it closes again. New door required.
I'll shove some more pics up in due course, I'll try and get some to illustrate how poorly set up the geometry is with the current wheels too.
Edit - current spec:
JDM B18CR Engine (taken from ‘98 Integra type R)
Hondata S300 ECU
Skunk 2 tuner cams stage 2
Skunk 2 pro series cam wheels
Skunk 2 stem seals
Skunk 2 titanium valve guides
Skunk 2 alpha series valve springs
Skunk 2 throttle body
Exedy LW flywheel
S9B gearbox with Mfactory racepack helical LSD, Mfactory 4.05 final drive & 0.717 5th gear.
Watson’s rally Metro front subframe
Watson’s rally front springs with centre helper spring
Minispares Hi-los front and rear
MGF 240mm brakes (EBC groved discs & greenstuff pads)
Braided lines all round - no servo.
Genuine minifin rear drums
OBP pedalbox with adjustable brake bias
Coilover conversion on rear using Watson’s rally conversion.
Metro GTi alloys (using Watson’s rally rear wheel spacers)
Mountney classic steering wheel
Cobareu bucket seats (to be change for something lighter)
Speedhut USA custom gauges
‘Curley’ 2 peice carbon fibre dash
Carbonweezle double skin bootlid with matching bootlight
Carbonweezle rear clubman bumper
One peice fibreglass clubman flipfront
Fibreglass sportspack arches
Perspex rear quarter windows
Custom aluminium fuel tank
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