I have recently acquired a 86 Mini Cooper. It’s a great little car and I’m thinking I may want to take it back to the States with me at the end of my tour.
But I have a few questions for those more knowing than I:
I’m thinking of some day re-fitting the car with a hybrid engine. Would that:
Get me shot at by passing Mini fanatics?
Be cost effective?
Possible?
I love the look of the Mini and all, but I can’t help being a bit of an environmentalist. Can I have both?
Thanks.
Not sure the battery would fit in the trunk/boot.
I didn’t think go-karts used enough petrol to make it worthwhile…
Where do you fit the wind-up key?
djm
will there be enough room in the compartment for both you and the squirrel cage?
Where’s Tyler? He’ll like this thread.
This thread is silly.
Rather than add an electric motor, go the whole hog. Fit the OHC motor, five speed crash gearbox, tight differential and big hoops.
As you can’t use flexible engine mounts with the overhead cam conversion, all your fillings will fall out and you will enjoy a short but very happy life. This shortness will adequately compensate for your temporally increased carbon footprint. 
Actually, a Mini fitted with a DOHC Honda VTEC engine significantly reduces particulate output as well as increacing the vehicle’s overall economy.
I wrote you a poem on the fly…
I am the Mini king,
I can do anything.
You may bow down before me.
Several a Mini I’ve build
for both race and economy.
For the sake of those who know
whereof they speak,
of this knowlege don’t make yourself an enemy
and
please don’t be so damn crotchety.
I’ve seen someone fit hybrid motors and power cells into a Mini, however, at great expense. The return is NOT worth the investment.
You’d be more suited to find a b-series Honda engine, specifically a b-16c vtec (MOST especially a Japanese Domestic Market engine; they’ll run cleaner and more efficiently than the USDM engines). Replacement subframes with all mounting hardware are available stateside from http://www.minimania.com and other places.
This way, you can get both the economy and punch of the tiny honda engine, which can be outfitted and tweaked to the tune of around 195 hp.
My personal best with a Honda b-series naturally inducted is 235 hp (without the nitrous, with it probably ran close to 295 hp) in my 1962 that I sold some months ago. That one only weighed in at about 1100 lbs, and ran a 1320 in eleven flat.
You can do some serious sportscar shaming with just your basic honda swap, and still get 30mpg while you’re doing it.’
Lotsa fun.
Lemmie know what you decide to do, as I have tons of literature on the subject to refer you to!
:::edit:::
BTW, if you end up not being able to import your Mini, I still have a functioning example (one of my '62s-reshelled-with-a-70-body) that has an 1100 cc engine and standard SU carb. Very little has been modified on this one, and it needs a little work.
This was another that was to recieve a Honda donor, but I began to eat my time up with my American cars, as they were bringing in the cash at the time.
What’s the point in buying a cooper then swapping the engine? Why not just buy a normal mini and swap the engine?
Or even better, buy a VW beatle and stick a porsche engine in it. At least you’ll have a proper sized car that way. 
The cooper has better suspension and various cosmetic doodads…
All of which can be done after the fact to a regular Mini, but sometimes it’s easier just to find one that has all the mods either original or done by someone else.
Also, it being an actual “Cooper” increases the value IF the engine still matches the rest of the car. If the engine is a swap (and MANY I’ve seen stateside are) then a honda swap isn’t going to devalue it any more than it already has been.
Some folks just like the fact that they have a “Cooperized” Mini. I’ve “Cooperized” most of the ones I built, just because I like the cosmetic look (and the wider stance of the Cooper gives better handling).
To each their own.
BTW, I’m currently helping someone with a 911/SuperBeetle swap… I’ll get some pictures and let you know how it goes. (I’ve been wanting to do one of these for years!!))
Beetles have always had Porsche engines.
Porsche also might be responsible for four wheel drive with his ‘electric motor in the hub’ gun carriage thing in World War One.
edited to add
postscript for Tyler:-Used to road rally one and now live right by Croydon Minis.
Because I prefer the look of the ‘classic’ Mini to that of either the MINI or the Beetle. Otherwise I’d just buy a hybrid or electric. My reasons for wanting to swap out the original engine (and my understanding from the prior owner is that it is the original) is ecological. Mostly to decrease the petrol consumption and the emissions.
Tyler, I think I may go with your suggestion. Not at this time of course; that’ll wait until after my bachelors. Maybe even after my Master’s.
I am shocked, gentlemen, shocked and disappointed that you have gone all the way to the bottom of page 1 without a single reference to the Jet Powered VW Beetle.
Well, I don’t like to repeat myself.
Sorry I meant a normal classic mini, as in not a cooper which is the tuned, fast version of the classic mini. My point was why buy the fast version of the mini then swap out one of the reasons for buying that car?
My comment about the beatle was just because I really dislike the old mini and like winding up people who own them (it’s a force of habit from having a friend who owns an old cooper).