400hp Twin Turbo V8 MORRIS MINOR - V8 Morris Head-to-Head - Part 1 of 2 

Now that's a properly built car! Excellent ride from the Jag suspension and proper attention to driver and passenger comfort with the lack of interior noise and nicely muffled exhaust. Very British 🙂

Nick Mann was our project engineer when I worked for Esso Research in vehicle testing in the notorious Building 23, and Nick had amazing hands on practical skills as well as a focused mind.

Love those old cars

My first car a Morris Minor 1000 Traveller- absolutely standard no turbos, usual rotten steel underpinnings with Flintstone passenger power facility and a garden shed to the rear. Cost to maintain - 50p for a heater valve from the local scrappie. Having said that utterly reliable c/w starting handle which I had to use only once in the depths of a Dundee winter.

Moggie Minor was my Dads first car , memories of trips from devon to Liverpool. Jet Zbkack with a Gold Seal recon engine , If a V8 had been available back yhen he would have been like a kid on Christmas morning . Brilliant little car and great fun to drive . it looks and sounds brilliant .

A quality build,I love the quietness of it and gets down the road beautifully.

This was one classic car shape that was destined to be like this even when not upgraded you take the original and put on a set of alloys it looks awesome love it!

What an amazingly engineered and built car, a real credit to the owner and them turbos sound great.

Street Machine - that takes me back.

Nick Mann's was the bollocks. Used to love seeing that on the hills.

I saw Nic Mann on the hills back in the 80s. With the addition of nitrous coming out of the bends looked like he had just hit a switch. It was interesting to see him arrive with his racing wheels inside the car along with his wife and a child seat too.

I used to go and watch Nick Mann’s minor racing at York raceway back in the early 80s This beast is just as good love it 👍🏁

The Rothmans advert on the back of the magazine 😂 Seems so alien to see it nowadays.

I saw Nick Mann's car hillclimb a few times back in the day and it was one of the craziest things I ever saw. The guy was a legend

I met Nic Mann at Loton Park hillclimb when he was running that beast of a Moggie. By then it was all sprayed and stickered up as in the photo on the magazine cover, but he told me the most fun he had with it was before that when it was just in primer. He told me he'd often get guys pull up at traffic lights in a Porsche or Cosworth, take one look at his Moggie expecting to blow him away only to get the shock of their lives when Manns Moggie left them in a cloud of dust!

Building something similar here in the States. Have a Minor 1000 with a custom built chassis, a supercharged Ford 302 V-8, Ford 9" rearend out back and a T-5 five speed between. About the same specs too: 350-400 HP in a car that weighs about 2000 pounds. Only real difference is mine will have a Weiand 177 supercharger topped with a set of dual side draft Webers.

I remember that Minor from back in the 80s! great to see its still around after all this time.

Just picked up a 1950 Morris Minor in very good condition. Has been stored in a garage for 43 years. This inspires me to think out of the box. What to do? Most excellent video. thank you! K.D.P. CENTERVILLE, MINNESOTA USA

I remember a guy in my home town (Harlow) mid-late 80's had a yellow 2 door Mark 3 Cortina with 4.5 Rover with twin turbos & a supercharger. All engineered by himself I recall. Absolute beast it was. This Moggie looks much more um refined. Lovely job done there👍

I had the pleasure of seeing Nic Mann's btn turbo several times as a race Marshall at gurston down. It certainly turned heads. But this is a close second.

Brings back memories of the 2 minors I had. Thanks!

Absolutely brilliant build. The guy must be an amazing engineer. Love that moggie. It’d make a great sleeper!

Have a look at Nic Mann's Mannic Beattie hill climb car( helicopter jet boost fed engine to help prevent turbo lag!) Innovative and a very quick car.

Moggy Minor ,I owned one for 27 years and mildly customised and upgraded it ,but this one is the dog's bollocks !!☺

i remember the Nick Man car from the 80s and always thought that it was a great car it could sprint with the best and go around corners at a track day, it's the car that i would have built then and now :-)

Your smiles say it all, looks like a brilliant build.

Proper Nuts Little Beauty . A Credit to the Builder . Back in the 70s , my Elder Brother had a Friend who was a Mechanic/Engineer . Morris Minor Bread Van with Ford 2 litre Race engine driveline . Brakes and steering all done too . That was kinda Nuts too .

Over the last year I have been working on my 350z and now running an Ls1 v8 5.7cc with approximately 450bhp build thread is on the 350z 370z UK forum. I am still running in and fault finding but it's going well. Ps love all cars that have been built, especially the V8 Morris. Love it !!

When I was a teen, Morris Minors were great drag cars. A neighbor had one with a blown 392 Chrysler hemi. I never saw it run, but it sounded fantastic!

A good friend of mine's Dad bought a Morris Minor in Cape Town in the 1980s with his plan to customise it and drop a V8 in! Needless to say, life changed his plan and it never came to fruition - sadly. However, I always wondered what that car might have been like ... and I think I now know. Very nice indeed!! Thank you.

What a superb conversion, there is just something about a quick Moggie 😍 Spent a lot of hours spannering Moggies when I was younger for my mates. Dead easy and cheap to fix. Never dreamed about of a beast like this in them days 🤩

It was a design that was destined to live on like many other British cars of that era Love this upgrade .

I remember seeing he original Mann car at Loton Park, I was stunned. That was very very quiet as well and had a piece of railway line bolted under the boot floor to aid traction. It absolutely flew and a bit hairy on the brakes. Memory is fading but I think the Rover v8 was turbo and Nitrous.

When I saw the side intakes I wondered if it was the original Nick Mann car! Actually happy to know it's another! Great video! I love how when he floored it it seemed to stick all that power onto the road no problem and only seems to have to rev out a small way to blur the scenery at an obscene rate!

Lovely project and nice and quiet. I use a boost activated exhaust valve to bypass the muffler on my 6 cyl turbo. Nice and quiet normally but doesn't hold back the horses under boost.

I once know a chap who had a hot mog . It had a tuned rover v8 and looked bog standard apart from the wide wheels . The look on the boy racers face when a moggy walked away from them was priceless.

Really nice to see a monster car project that is serene enough to drive daily. And not full of scaffolding and straight through fire breathing exhaust pipes. Hope this sets a trend.

You've pulled it out the bag again. Looks and sounds bad ass. Looking forward to video 2.

Saw this at Retro Rides Weekender at Goodwood. I did think "now that looks fun" Great job,

Back in high school (1975) I had a friend who had a Morris Minor panel that had a 265 ci early Chevy V8. That thing was a beast.

Love the car, a friend built one years ago and loved it. great video.

Sorry to say i love Morris Minors but that Morris Oxford really floats my boat guys. 😊

Awesome bit of kit, reminds me of a morris minor that I saw back in the 1990's 3.5 rover cut down windscreen basic hot rod build really. Awesome car guys. Cheers

Nice motors, thanks for sharing. I saw the Nick Mann Morris Minor at hill climbs in the 1980s. Locally a guy built a replica with, iirc, either a tuned O series engine or tuned B series engine. Not as quick but still pretty lively and very nicely done.

Think I had a psychic moment this morning, sure that was the CCC Magazine I was thinking of and couldn't recall Nic Manns name. Wouldn't be surprised if I still had my copy in the storage unit.

This is my favorite type of restoration: Keeping the inner space as roomy as the original. No need to sacrifice the rear seats in order to fit an oversized mid-engine. A similar-sized but more powerful and more advanced engine would be ideal. This will not alter weight distribution as this may cause handling problems if not done properly. Chassis reinforcement and rollover cage are OK. The ideal restoration keeps mechanical alterations mostly invisible.

Good video Ped, and what a well sorted build, so refined and useable. Great to meet you at Goodwood yesterday too😁, looking forward to your video on that one😉.

I love this Ped and I’m loving the contrast of the cars being reviewed. Thank you 🙏

Andy Beverage, amazing guy, absolute legend , knows how to put a car together

Yes, Issigonis designed the Morris Minor. He wanted to fit a flat four engine in but the production costs were too high for Morris so it was always burdened with ‘borrowed’ engines; first Morris’ sidevalve, then the Austin A series. Mann’s Minor was on my bedroom wall for years. I ended up with a well tuned 948cc car that was the most fun to drive of anything I have owned in a list that includes GTi’s and Quattro’s.

Wow! what a car watching this just made me make up my mind to finish my one off.

Love it always fancied doing up a moggie but to old now just enjoy looking at your guys work 👍👍

Bought Street Machine back then...for a sec I thought it was nic manns minor reworked... Well done lovely job.

Beautiful shape, Soo smooth and quiet, and yet a beast when floored whats not to like :)

Great presentation and reminds me of my residence in London in the late 70's and early 80's, but the ads just never stop with this video.

I like these sort of cars - robust, reliable, usable and not overly noisy - but super fast 😁

That is one major Minor! Beautiful!

That 'Morry" is totally insane. I love it, and the Oxford too ! 🚕🚗

I'm stuck for words, what a brilliant car and video, thanks for sharing.

Awesome Minor. A head to head with Nick's Minor would be interesting viewing. I used to own a '68 SS Camaro which ran a 6.6 litre small block Pontiac engine and that was turbocharged. Like the Minor, it was pretty quiet and under acceleration, it kind of whistled and wooshed. Sold it over twenty years ago and miss it to this day!

Cannot wait for you to review my 1997 Saab 9000 Aero. Just had a few Remap tweaks last week. Now 363bhp and 485NM. 70 to 100 in 3rd is still 3.5 seconds, but the whole mid range is much more refined and smoother. Been loving it this week. 760 miles and 41.3mpg average, such a machine with that performance and yet amazing economy.

It was a great day and we dodged the rain showers. Brilliant car Simon, looking forward to next Friday and l hope the camera doesn't add too many chins!

I remember those car from my Jamaican childhood years. that was absolutely BAD AASSSSS.. WOW.. NICE WORK!!!

First thought. "Oh that's just silly". One minute into the vid. "OMG I want one" 🤣

I built V8 Morrie Thou many many years ago (circa 1975/6) using supercharged big block Chey 427 on a custom engineered frame, a Ford 9" rear diff, M22 trans, etc. etc.

Smile at the start says it all - you know itsworth watching right to the end already!

32 mpg? My standard Traveller only did 25! What a car. Beautiful!

Милый ретро-автомобильчик превратился в монстра мощного и быстрого ... Bravo мастерам сумевшим удивить !

Looks absolutely amazing

What a cracking car! …… I suppose it would give my old Traveller a run for it’s money lol 😆…. Thanks for sharing

Love the view with the tail drop on acceleration and then another step as the turbo digs in from 13:00.

That car is so old, and well known, i have the street machine mag from the 80’s...fabulous

Epic! I agree, having loud, shouty-poppy exhaust would ruin it. Understated, elegant giant-killer.

Evening all great car great sound a vehicle you drive around in all day with the windows down and a big smile on your face. Look forward to next week take care.

Nice video! Issigonis wasn't a huge fan of big power but I guess he would have liked the engineering on this mod. Cheers.

love this little beast.

Oh yes, perfect Q car, quiet, quick, loads of grunt. The owner is nice and reserved about it, keeps it in lovely condition. Great video, cheers, Alex.

I took my 898 cc Morris Minor Traveller down the AutoBahn in 1984. It's top speed was 55 MPH. At times, I could've done with the V8 version :) :)

Nick Manns in street machine back in the day was what got me 'into cars' wow :) memories

Beautiful moggy minor sleeper. Love all old school cars. Thank you.

Astonishingly beautiful retro sleeper!

I still have my Feb 85 copy of Street Machine. Nicks car is what got me into the hot ridding scene.

Awesome car. I would have enjoyed more technical details with photos of build stages, before the body was attached. About 1978 I used a similar engine from a Leyland P76 that I built into a Lotus Europa. Transaxles were top luxury items back then in Australia that cost a mint and had to be imported from firms like ZF or Hewland. Certainly out of my budget. So I built my own transaxle using a 4 speed gearbox from a Falcon GT and a Holden limited slip differential. I made the diff housing by building wooden patterns and having them cast in aluminum. A machine shop (Kon Melle of KKM tooling in Perth WA) did all the precision milling etc. I removed the original lay shaft from the gearbox and lengthened the pinion shaft so it took the place of the layshaft. The output shaft of the gearbox was cut short and a special transfer gear attached. The pinion shaft had a matching gear attached and these ran inside a custom made transfer housing on the back of the gearbox. The diff housing had bearings for the output axles built onto the sides with round retaining plates. I mounted inboard disk brakes which worked very nicely to reduce un-sprung weight of the wheels. The car ran very well as the gear ratios and diff ratio I chose made road driving a real pleasure. As circumstances changed I had to sell the car and I believe it was further modified many years later and somebody discarded the transaxle I had made and replaced it with a unit from an Audi. To this day I wonder what happened to that transaxle. With a little more development it could have become an Australian-made product that would have been popular with mid-engine enthusiasts.

I wii do cannot wait till Friday belive me love fast cars come on Friday thanks

Great example of bespoke engineering and equally great video. Thank you for brightening up Friday evening!

Old school custom sleeper love it

That thing is sweeeet I can't wait for part two.

Thank you Pete. I have had to sit through EV video's and modern cars, but this is fabulous, thank you.

First thought when I saw the video, 'Nick Mann'.. Still have my copy of Street Machine too! :))

Back in the day, the tuned Moggy used be treated with a Rover V8, front suspension Triumph Dolomite Sprint, rear suspension (diff/inboard brakes) Rover V8. This modern iteration is a pearl.

That is one mighty moggy.Nice one.Hope you can get some more like this on the channel.That Renault 4 sounds insane.Bring on the Oxford.

Great video dude, well mixed and great skills in conveying the experience. And i have to say what a well sorted car, quiet, smooth and reliable yet easy to live with. And when you want it, performance plus! Well done!

What a lovely machine, because it's not just noise and performance. It's actually a vaguely usable road car if you don't just boot it.

A brilliant Morrie build,well done that man!

I've got a ute Morris minor sitting in my garage it was my grand dad's same colour might just turbo it now 😍😍😍😍

Almost like my dream car! Priceless.

What a car... properly engineered, a true sleeper !

its sounds so beautifully

I knew Nick Mann from the SW hill climb and sprint days. Really nice guy. He had a turbo 1.8 B series in it before the V8. If I remember rightly, it had been his mum’s car. The rear end was from a Mercedes and it sported an overdrive badge on the boot lid. He always seemed to be in the top ten run off, at the end of the day at Wiscombe, which was mostly F3000 single seaters or similar plus Nick’s Minor.

I watched that awesome minor going round Goodwood at the retro rides show.. bloody great. Fast and smooth.