Apologies for not introducing myself before my first pots, and thank you for the welcome received.
I'm a long term Mini fan, although I haven't owned once since 1987, I was involved with racing one in the 90's. After too many years of not owning anything interesting, I bought an Austin 8cwt van last year to use for work. So at least I have something with an A series in it.
I found this place while looking for info on fuel injection, tmsmini's posts have given me plenty of info, so thank you tmsmini.
Quote from: PoolGuy on November 01, 2020, 10:19:04 AM
I bought an Austin 8cwt van last year to use for work. So at least I have something with an A series in it.
Many pix please. And the story of how you found it and what you've done with it. Please.
Welcome to Restoration Mini!
Lots of very knowledgeable Mini folks here, happy to help if we can!
What EFI are you doing on your Mini?
Here's the van. The engine in build (mostly relevant to Mini people) is a 1216cc, 266 cam, Calver ST head, SC rods, Polestar ecu (the chap building the engine won the Miglia championship in the 90's with the first Polestar ecu) which is doing the injection too with the SC throttle body.
The van was built in '71 and was originally owned by MANWEB (Manchester and North Wales Electricity Board), I bought it January '19.
So far it's been running a fairly standard 1098 engine, with Maniflow exhaust, HIF44. Suspension standard at the moment aside from AVO dampers on the rear with bespoke leaf springs and a Quaife ATB.
Nice, plenty of room under the bonnet for whatever you want to do to that motor! 77.gif
While the motor is out, you may wish to consider a 5-speed conversion such as available from Moss Motors:
https://mossmotors.com/conversion-kit-5-speed-gearbox-1280 (https://mossmotors.com/conversion-kit-5-speed-gearbox-1280)
There is one of those vans in Atlanta that has a twin cam Toyota engine in it. Looks like a nice fit. He had all the Toyota markings on the valve cover machined off to keep everyone guessing.
For some reason I was thinking you had one of these. I forgot the Minor Van was was also sold as an Austin. Very cool!
So is this basically an Austin van version of a Morris Minor? My dad had a couple of different Morris Minors back in his high school/early college years so I have always had a soft spot for them. I would love to have one if for nothing else just to be able to sit around and drum up memorable stories from dad. If only money grew on trees....
Firstly, 5 speed box. I work within a 15 mile radius of home, so I don't do any sustained high speed running. I have briefly considered a 5 speed but I decided to rebuild a standard 4 speed, with the 3.9 final drive it'll crack 100mph before I run out of revs.
Engine wise, yes there are a few options for non BMC engines, but my history is with the A series and the chap building it is one of the best.
Is it an Austin version of a Morris Minor? Sort of, there's no such thing as a Morris Minor van, they were Morris 6cwt or 8cwt vans. They obviously share bonnet, front wings and doors from the Minor, but they have a separate chassis, floor etc. Austin did a badge engineering deal with Morris when the Austin A35 van was discontinued and they needed a small van in their range. The only differences are the front grill, bonnet badge and steering wheel horn push.