Scratch-built mid-engine Mini

Hello all,

First post here, but long-time car guy. I guess this is the best place for my one-off car, a carbon shell, tube-frame, mid-engine MK1 Mini. I built it because I couldn't afford the cars (or even the kit cars) that I wanted.

To be honest, the only Mini parts are the doors, lights, and windshield. The engine is a 2.2 liter VTEC from a Honda Prelude, so it has plenty of get-up-and-go, weighing only 1595lbs. Anyhow, instead of going on and on, check it out at www.kimini.com (http://www.kimini.com). There's tons of pictures in the Build Diaries, and check out the driving videos, too. It's been a 10 year project and has been done now for a year and a half.

While designing and building the car, I also wrote a book about how to do it (www.kimini.com/book info/ (http://www.kimini.com/book info/)) With this book, you can take a commonly available FWD drivetrain assembly and build your own! I know many of you guys have experience with FWD engines, which makes it even easier. I used a Honda, but you can use whatever you want. The key thing to know about the book is that it is a guide for building a mid-engine sports car based upon parts you have, not forcing you to make it look like anything in particular (I build a Mini, but the book covers ALL mid-engine car designs.)

Anyhow, I hope you like my site, and if you find it intriging to build a car froms scratch instead of buying a kit (that ends up being a lot more) please buy my book! Since so many kits use front engine / rear drive, they apparently haven't seen the writing on the wall. My book shows just how to do it, using a FWD drivetrain.

Thanks,

Kurt