The only other 4E-FTE conversion in WA that I know of has recently been finished by James (also member of http://www.ausmini.com/) in his Mini Clubman panal van. He lives in Kalgoorlie and bravely did the 600km trip to Perth with no support vehicle today to see the engineer for sign off. I met him at the engineers house at 1pm and chatted to both James and the engineer for couple of hours, getting details of the build and what the engineer inspects for before sign off can occur. For a conversion such as this, its basic stuff really - structural integrity of the subframe and any modifications, suitablity of brake system to the engine and brackets/seats/seatbelts, adhersion to the appropriate ADRs.
I did get to drive the Mini too! Although it wasn't overly exciting, the engine was stock, running VERY rich and I didn't know the really windy roads in the area so didnt push it much or rev it out. Power delivery is more linear than I expected and it only runs 6psi (in Low boost mode). Even in this form, it has a lot of potential. On the way home, we lined it up against (within legal speed limits) my 278rwhp R33 Nissan Skyline and it did very very well in keeping up with me off the lights. It has certainly reaffirmed my decision to do this conversion. The Mini is already such a great handling little package and am confident it will respond well to an injection of power.
Anyway, here's a couple of pics of James' Mini. I've got heaps of other photos of specific engine bay , subframe and other parts, but it's all boring stuff! It's a nice bright yellow (Factory Name : Yellow Devil) with Minisport 7.9" 4 pot vented discs (It's unfortunate that you can't see much of them through the 12" wheels but they're really nice billet machined calipers.
I did get to drive the Mini too! Although it wasn't overly exciting, the engine was stock, running VERY rich and I didn't know the really windy roads in the area so didnt push it much or rev it out. Power delivery is more linear than I expected and it only runs 6psi (in Low boost mode). Even in this form, it has a lot of potential. On the way home, we lined it up against (within legal speed limits) my 278rwhp R33 Nissan Skyline and it did very very well in keeping up with me off the lights. It has certainly reaffirmed my decision to do this conversion. The Mini is already such a great handling little package and am confident it will respond well to an injection of power.
Anyway, here's a couple of pics of James' Mini. I've got heaps of other photos of specific engine bay , subframe and other parts, but it's all boring stuff! It's a nice bright yellow (Factory Name : Yellow Devil) with Minisport 7.9" 4 pot vented discs (It's unfortunate that you can't see much of them through the 12" wheels but they're really nice billet machined calipers.
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