General Cento's v Classic Minis?

[J333EVO]

Can I just add that most Fiat's are front wheel drive tranverse engine mounted cars....yup ?

And what was the first production front wheel drive transverse engine mounted car ?.......THE Mini !!!!

So be thankful because without the Mini setting the standard then you would not have your beloved Fiat's !!!!

P.S. I've got three Mini's and my girlfriend has a Cinq so I'm on the fence !!!!

I don't think this is actually true, I'm sure it's more an urban myth, or, more appropriately, the first with huge global commercial success as I know Citroen sold there 1st FWD car in 1934, but don't know if the engine was transversely mounted, or maybe it was the 1st to mate already available technology in a small package? Something just doesn't ring true, maybe someone with more knowledge will know, or I could just be talking nonsense

I think what the Mini did do that no one else had ever done before was mount the gearbox in the engines sump & thats why they could make the package so small, but as we know today this is one of the reasons the gearbox is so weak. It a well documented fact that when Austin/Rover in conjunction with Tickford where developing the MG Metro Turbo that the engine, tested with great reliability at 125bhp but they got very nervous about the gearbox as it could not handle the power for enough miles for the quality control people & essentially the warranty people to pass the car for fear of gaining a tarnished reputation that at the time was already on the ropes, so they detuned the engine to 94bhp at a time when FIAT with there UNO and Renault with the 5 where getting there hot hatches out with turbo's and 110/115bhp so the wee Metro got left behind, sadly.


Aaron. (disclaimer, this could all be rubbish & I stand by none of it )

 

[TheBogieMan]

You're not far off there matey
The boxes are fine but the diffs go pop when 100+bhp is wiggled at them as I've learnt to my cost several times.
The combined sump/gearbox idea on paper is good but kills the oil when doing lots of town driving (hence the purchase of a Cinq)
There's some bloke does the rounds at the mini shows with a 201bhp mini, still an A series in it, turbo'd and nozzed to the hilt though.

Oh and the Citroen Traction Avant was FWD but longitudially mounted, so an Audi Coupe of its day

 

[J333EVO]

I knew I was there or thereabouts with my thought, but look at this I found on tinternet.

"George B. Selden, a shrewd patent attorney from Rochester, N.Y., filed a patent for a "road engine" in 1879. Under the liberal patent laws of the time, he was allowed to back date his patent to 1877 and to amend and expand it frequently. When it was finally issued in 1895 it covered a front-drive, three-cylinder carriage with a transverse engine. Although he had never built a car, Selden used his patents to extract royalties from early American manufacturers on every auto they built."

Seems the idea of FWD & tranverse engine is as old as cars themsleves

 

[TheBogieMan]

Someone did boast once about Alec Issigonis being the inventor of the CV joint.....but Puegeot did it years before apparently

The only car that can claim be the true inventor of something that is still only in use by them today is BMW............they invented the arsehole

 

[J333EVO]

Lol

 

[Grayedout]

they invented the arsehole

I think we all agree on that one !!!!!

 

[Liam]

So next Cinq meet it'll be Mini's versus Cinqs then?

I'm up for any roundabouts!

Did they not but the radiator in the wrong place though?

Liam

 

[The younger modder]

Seems we have an argument but im sticking with my statement a cinq IS better than a mini because

-Minis rot too much
-Most of the mini owners on here have admitted that they had modded engines in their minis because basically the standard engines are sh**e
-Do not get used as daily drivers through town etc

everyone has an oppinion and this is mine and as ive seen many disagree with it, same as i disagree with other peoples.

My mate has a classic mini 850cc with moded engine and straight through exhaust and uprated suspension etc
I have a cinq sx 899cc with standard engine and just a backbox with cat etc and uprated suspension both cars handle well mine being better as it sticks to the road around corners and as long as im in the right gear (2nd) then i can beat him out the corners easily :slayer: and mine cruises down the d road in 5th while his revs like hell in 4th

 

[minislapper]

Seems we have an argument but im sticking with my statement a cinq IS better than a mini because

-Minis rot too much
-Most of the mini owners on here have admitted that they had modded engines in their minis because basically the standard engines are sh**e
-Do not get used as daily drivers through town etc

everyone has an oppinion and this is mine and as ive seen many disagree with it, same as i disagree with other peoples.

My mate has a classic mini 850cc with moded engine and straight through exhaust and uprated suspension etc
I have a cinq sx 899cc with standard engine and just a backbox with cat etc and uprated suspension both cars handle well mine being better as it sticks to the road around corners and as long as im in the right gear (2nd) then i can beat him out the corners easily :slayer: and mine cruises down the d road in 5th while his revs like hell in 4th

- sorry but kept my mouth shut for long enough !!!!

Minis rot too much ??? Only if they're not treated properly !!!
My standard 998 Ritz could have wiped the floor with most 1000cc cars -
including any cinq. A properly tuned, well looked after 998 goes like **** off a stick !!!!
Until Charlie - my only car, let alone daily car, was a mini.

You cannot compare a modded 850 mini with an 899 fiat engine as they are
completely different. Weight-wise for a start off - I could go on all night !!!
And, sorry but, nothing does roundabouts like a mini !!!!

 

[The younger modder]

right figure this then

out in my mates mini tonight he was going 45 mph round this slight bend on the d road and i mean slight and the back end started to drift out and he had to correct it i myself was worried and all he could say was "its a mini you get used to that"

ive had him in my cinq going around the same bend at 60mph and my cinq dont move an inch so go figure, to me that saids the cinq is better:slayer:


i understand that mini owners love their minis same as we love are cinqs but i also understand th some people that have been posting on this thread have brought cinqs as they have found the mini unsuitable for daily use and have admitted that they do rust unless its a show car

 

[TheBogieMan]

"My mate has a classic mini 850cc with moded engine and straight through exhaust and uprated suspension etc"
"out in my mates mini tonight he was going 45 mph round this slight bend on the d road and i mean slight and the back end started to drift out and he had to correct it i myself was worried and all he could say was "its a mini you get used to that"

5 years of sprinting in minis and never had the arse end out unless tugging the hand brake, you say he's modded the suspension.......what has he done to it ?

Clarkson summed it up on TG a few years ago, given the choice of a Mondeo or something else he said he would have bought a classic cooper and a cinq sporting together for the same money, and had more fun.

 

[HP]

Weren't minis made from the same pre-rusted steel they used on Morris Marinas?

I'm sorry, but they rot in a prolific manner - even some of the newest Coopers are going badly now.

 

[minislapper]

The late 70's ones are the most solid ones.

 

[The younger modder]

my mates mini has mini sport uprated dampers off his old racer and they also lowered the car and it runs 12" cooper alloys

 

[minislapper]

Dampers might be ok but if he's losing the back end like that, sounds like
the radius arms are shot.

 

[TheBogieMan]

Ugh 12" wheels
Minis were designed to run on 10's, anything bigger than that ruins them
If he's dropped the ride height then he really does need to sort out the rear camber, it goes all screwey otherwise.

BTW Hi Sal......im the poor bugger that had his British Open stolen a while back on miniclassic......mini daves mate

 

[minislapper]

.....im the poor bugger that had his British Open stolen a while back on miniclassic......mini daves mate

Ahhhh I remember that one !!! Small world !!!
Lost patience with MC - full of muppets !!!

 

[charlie_cinq]

Minislapper...you on smf? Im Dolf 85, i have a feeling i may have met you before...did you do crabs 2003?

Regards,

Graham

 

[minislapper]

Yes, tis me.....but don't think we've ever met !!

We don't do CRABS for various reasons !!!

 

[TheBogieMan]

"did you do crabs 2003?"

I thought I had them back in 1986