Project Norm

fingers

Torque Master
Points
72
Location
North Essex
Hi folks,

I thought that it' about time I filled you in on the Porsche powered Minor today, or project Norm as I like to call it (the car is called Norm) so far.

Before I start, here is the basic outline of what I am doing (or attempting) here. I have a 1970 Mirros minor 2 door saloon that has seen better days. The engine has gone boof, and you can kick the floor out of it. Also I have a 1984 Porsche 924 that has corroded sills and wing bottoms. Rather than scrap both the cars I have decided to cut the floor from the Porsche and weld it into the minor and them fit the 1984cc engine (that is slightly tweaked) and transaxle to the minor. I aim to do this while keeping the minor as standard looking as possible. The suspension is being uprated but kept at original ride height, the porshe hubs and brakes will be fitted and the orginal minor wheels will have the stud holes plugged and re-drilled to fit the porsche hubs, and they will also get banded (made wider) so I can fit wider tyres. When I get to the body work I will be fitting fiberglass wings (front and rear) to reduce weight (standard minor only weighs 600kg), and the car will be painted in an original Morris Minor colour. Probably old english white. The interior will also be kept as standard as possible with the only obvious changes being a rev counter and oil pressure gauge. I will even modify and use the original Speedo. The fuel tank will have to be relocated into the boot as the transaxle needs to go where the tank is. I will also be installing a N2O system for that extra bit of welly when want it.

I didn't really touch the Minor shell today, that is stripped of everything except the axles (so I can move it if I need to) and glass (so I dont break it :rolleyes: ). This is how he lookes at the mo. (excuse the pics they were done with my phone)
IMAGE_100.jpg


I have spent most of today Stripping the interior out of the donor Porsche and I have to say, that thing is very well built. Seats, carpet, center console, drivers door and bonnet are out/off and after much swearing at the dashboard, (can't figure for the life of me how you get it out) I gave up on attempting to get that out. Most of the wiring loom that I need from inside the car is draped across the passenger floor. I ned to get that dash out to make sure I have all i need before I cut spare wires from the loom (how annoying would that be) and fed it through the bulkhead to the engine bay ready for removal with the lump. Have already had a bit of a headache with the wiring already as some of the dash lights will be operated from the porsche wiring loom (rev counter, oil pressure light & gauge) and some is being run from the minor wiring loom (temp and fuel gauge). I have also stripped down the speedo head from the porsche ready to put the internals into a minor speedo head. I'm now off to read my Porsche manual to find out how that bloody dash comes out. I will follow this up as things progress. In the meantime heres a before and after photo from today.
IMAGE_099.jpg

IMAGE_101.jpg
 
You are one crazy dude!

I've seen a 'similar' prject online, a guy who put some huge rover engine (I think it was probably from a plane or something) into a Reliant Kitten!

Can you explain a little more about a 'transaxle' for those of us not-in-the-know?
 
That Kitten's mental! There are also a few Fiat 500's with Chevy V8's in them, they're mad.

A Transaxle is where the gear box is mounted in the rear axle with the diff, its an abbreviation of transmission-axle.
 
vr1066 said:
sounds like it will be insane, like the driver? :p

Oi, less of that. :wink:

Did some more today all on the Porsche. Stripped out the Bosch K-Tronic injection system. I then got stroppy with the dash and ripped it out, could have sold it for good money but never mind. I stripped out the whole wiring loom for the car including fusebox, and then sat there for 3 hours working out what I needed out of the loom and what I didn't. The last bit was a complete nightmare. Should have the engine, transmission and any metalwork I need (bulkhead, rear floorpan, transmission tunnel) by the end of the week.

All good fun. :D
 
I bet you've got a Rover V8 lawnmower in your shed as well! :lol: Good luck with the project.
 
fingers said:
Should have the engine, transmission and any metalwork I need (bulkhead, rear floorpan, transmission tunnel) by the end of the week.

Yeah right!!!!! :oops:

Gear box fnally came out today after a huge fight and lots of harsh language. :rolleyes: That had been hanging out and sitting on a trolley jack for about 8 days now,just couldn't get it out of its hole. Also got the ful tank drained and out ready for me to cut up the shell. I'm now high from the fumes and have a stonkin headache.

At some point I will line up the engine, drive tube and transaxle and take a photo to explain a bit more about what I am dribbling on about with that.
 
Petrol fumes are really nasty stuff. I think we have all had a mouthfull when we have syphoned off a tank. I remember my wife telling me that if she ever had to do a reaction with Benzine (the smelly stuff in petrol) it had to be done under carefully controlled conditions in a sealed atmosphere as it is a carcinogen. Thankfully she's left this risky job now ,and works with me, but I know that many countries in europe have filters on the pumps to stop the benzine vapour escaping and here in good old blighty we all merrily breathe the stuff in every time we fill up our cars :shock:

Good luck with phase 2 fingers.
 
How is Project Norm going - I guess you've got your hands full at the moment with Baby!
 
At the moment Norm has come to a full stop. :( As you say, Priorities (is that spelt right?) have taken over. The Minor Shell and whats left of the 924 are wrapped up on the driveway.

The only development made latley is that Jo has decided she wants to learn how to airbrush and do the paintjob. 8) So now I have to think of something a little more elaborate than just grey with a bit of writing down the side. :rolleyes: Flames have been done to death, so I am thinking having leaves air brushed on, to look lie they are being blown by in the wind and have "LEAF ON THE WIND" written down the sides.

"I'm a leaf on the wind... See how I soar"

The car will always be called Norm though.
 
Respect

i hope yr porsche powered Baby is comming along mate.


:oops: By the time Saturday comes along, i'm Knackered,,, & come sunday, i want to take it easy, Because i know i'm sloggin it out all week.

SO i gotta Respect all the dedication,
it must be really hard doing something so Major in your spare time.
&workin in the cold.


Good luck, & show us a pic of something, anything,, to keep us satisfied.
:p
 
Hi all, As nathan is over a year old now and I'm getting a little more spare time I'm (trying) to get back with it. Norm has just been on a major weight loss programme. The bonnet, front wings, front grille panel and bumper have all been cut off and replaced with a much, much lighter one piece fibreglass nose. And the heavy steel doors have been replaced with ultra rare fibreglass ones. You can pick both of the new doors up in one hand and the other day I was resting the front on my head as I walked it down to the shed. By the time I have got fibreglass rear wings, boot and cut any excess/un-needed metal work form the car it is going to be a seriously light motor. :cool: My target is to get the vehicle weight down to 500kg (standard minor weighs 750kg) and get the engine to produce 200bhp, probably with the help of N2O.

That would make a 400bhp per ton car. Awsome. It's definatley having a cage but I'm not sure whats happening with the brakes yet though. :shock:
 
I remember one bloke I worked with years ago who managed to get a 1985 Cavalier SRi engine into a Traveller. Which was clever because the engine had to be mounted end on and drive the rear wheels.

And it went like the clappers. It was also a bloody death trap!!
 
Ah, a man after my own heart. Why do something easy when bloody difficult is so much more fun. :)

Have you thought about rebuilding the Minor engine and fitting it and the Minor suspension into the Porsche? :)

What is your target vehicle weight and BHP/Torque?

What are you going to do with the steering setup?

Are banded wheels still legal?

Might want to reconsider the ride height issue.
 
I remember one bloke I worked with years ago who managed to get a 1985 Cavalier SRi engine into a Traveller. Which was clever because the engine had to be mounted end on and drive the rear wheels.

And it went like the clappers. It was also a bloody death trap!!

Back in the 80's Nick Mann drove a Rover V8 engined Minor to the Street Race Championships, won and then drove home again! Used to run 11s.

Plain white, slightly wider wheels and slightly lowered. Must have caught out many a boy racer, and many other drivers for that matter.
 
Ah, a man after my own heart. Why do something easy when bloody difficult is so much more fun. :)

Exactly. ;)

At the moment I think the steering is going to stay pretty much the same as it is now. Because the 924 has the engine in the front and the gearbox in the rear axle (if I have worked it out correctly) there is still enough room for the rack to stau where it is. I am leaving the standard skinny biscuit wheels on the front and I have a nice set of 15" alloys that can go on the back with some chunky rubber on them. Not really fussed about ride height or cornering ability as this is being built purely for straight line speed, hence the weight reduction. Not even sure if it will be road legel at the mo but I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. I have a chunky anti-roll bar for the front and the rear end will be all linked up to keep everything straight.
These engine are pretty equal with the bhp and torque figures as standard with 125bhp and 121 ft-lb of torque. Mine has a bigger throttle body, a high torque cam, K&N type filter and a 4 branch manifold. I should be able to get enough nitrous in there with out killing it to push both those figures close to the 200 mark. Being an old VW van engine block they are quite strong and take some abuse.
 
there is still enough room for the rack to stay where it is. Not really fussed about ride height or cornering ability as this is being built purely for straight line speed, hence the weight reduction.

I didn't think that Minors had racks as standard?

Ah, right, then the higher the better for weight transference. However, the higher the centre of gravity, the worse the straight line stability.
 
Yes the later minor's had racks bolted to a crossbeam on the bulkhead, just under the battery tray.
I will be doing a few things to try and help the old beasts center of gravity. I will be sitting quite low down in the car and anything that can be moved to the floor and to the middle of the car will be (i.e. battery, fuel cell). And one of the reasons I chose the Porsche engine is because it is a slant 4 that sits quite low in the engine bay. The top of the engine certainly isn't any higher than the std minor lump. I would imagine the transmission being at the rear of the car should help balance things out a little too, but we'll just have to see when it's done. It can't be any less stable at speed than my Plymouth, that wallows all over the place
 
Yep. I finish work at 1 tomorrow but will be in the workshop till about 6 rebuilding Near Lee's motor, that should then be about ready to drop back in the car. Then I will get the car recovered into work for next weekend and that should take care of that job. Norm sits on the drive so I nip out and tinker whenever get a chance. I will be at trinity park in suffolk for the NSRA summer nationals on sunday rummaging round the auto jumble for more lightweight minor bits. Once Near Lee is back on the road and running I will just put all my spare time into Norm as I would like to have it ready to put down the 1/4 mile next year.

I will be working on the chevette tomorrow too. It needs rear seatbelts fitting and its got real bad wheel wobble since I fitted a set of minilites to it. Its all busy, busy, busy at the mo.
 
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Glad the project is back on the boil. I bet its been frustrating keep seeing the cars in bits!

Nathan will soon be able to help you - I hope you've taught him the names of the tools so he can pass them to you :lol:
 

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