It isn’t for everyone, definitely a strong taste to acquire. Thanks for appreciating even if it isn’t your thing. Good on you for not being one of the trolls just talking trash because. 👍🏻👍🏻
i've been doing a vtec awd mini swap for about a year now. and running into puzzle after puzzle to get to the next step. i can really appreciate all the hard work gone into this car. karl thank you for your service. hope to see you at a car meet one day with my mini.
GUILTY AS CHARGED. My bad. Thanks for the heads up. BTW. My neighbor's last name is Cooper and he is a "little person". I can still call him "Mini Cooper", right?
Eh it's all what people will watch. I'd gladly have packed in some more info and made it twenty minutes. However as of right now the Average watch time on this video is 4:30. So right at half of the video. If people can keep viewers engaged for twenty minutes, more power to them. I just must not be sensationalist or power funny enough for it.
@@HotRodHippie that's pretty good retention, from talking to other people with "smaller" channels 50% is higher than usual. My best videos sit at around 35%. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the 20min+ videos on CZcams are at about 50% retention too. Honestly if I had to ask for more from this video I would have easily watched another 5 minutes of driving footage.
@@AaronBonBarron I have another bit of driving footage I was tempted to make into another standalone video. It would only be a couple minutes but yea I may do that yet. 50% is probably slightly above average for my videos. So I can't really complain. This whole CZcams game is a lot of confusion. Ha.
G'day from West Australia, My Father was forever telling me the following. " You have been gifted a mind that knows NO limits, focus your mind power create what you want. Get passed , over , around whatever life throws at you. Never ever forget that." He was right I suffered a dominant hand injury 22yrs ago. Got very little help where it counts. Had to teach my self how to use my good hand as my new dominant hand. Not an easy task but dad's words kept coming to mind whenever I faced a new learning challenge. Have an Awesome day, or night depending on when whoever reads this and there time zone.😉🙂👍👍
@@Ebonyqwe I like your @HiddenGem name 😉🙂👍👍 Let me tell you why; Many years ago as a boy, there was a young man who lost both his legs when a clutch blew apart and came through the floor!!! This young man was another inspiration to me, why you might ask!!! Because he got back into the saddle so to speak and learnt to drive with his hands in the same manual vehicle he lost his legs in ,he converted it to hand controls after welding up the holes in the floor and replacing vthe bell housing etc !!! Nothing is impossible unless you deem it to be!!! Focus your mind my friend never met in my state of West Australia, you WILL move mountains if you want to!!! Peace love and respect to you and what you WILL achieve in your lifetime😉🙂👍👍
I've seen Karl at the Hemmings Cruise-ins in Bennington VT the 2 times I went this year. Always fun to visit with my long time friend and see his craftsmanship ! He may be at the Pittsfield MA Airport show Aug 7, 5-8PM
He has done some nice work but i would even call it a mini it's just a race car with a mini shell for cosmetics especially if you were to compare it to something like binky where they have gone to great effort to make it look like everything belongs and honestly i wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't faster around a track considering it's is probably more than double t hge original cars weight
Karl did not tell me that specifically but I have a couple of educated guesses based on our conversations. 1) Weight. The Northstar motor weighs in at 400 pounds (181 kg) vs a standard Small Block Chevy weighing well over 500 pounds. Karl said he was focused on weight throughout the entire build and keeping it well balanced. He even said he was looking to remove the electric motor off of the Smart Car steering rack but would be installing a weight to maintain the same weight balance. 2) Availability. He got a Cadillac donor car to work with. So I'd imagine the availability of the engine, car, and parts associated was a deciding factor. As for other factors, maybe I can see about doing a follow up at some point. However I'd bet a lot of the answers will be along those same lines. Karl had the mindset of "I can do this" but not an unlimited budget, so a lot of choices were likely based on what he could get that would work well with his goals.
@@HotRodHippie a LS3 and a North Star are about the same weight. I think it was a cheap and unique option, the North Star is not known to be a motorsports ready engine.
Gen1 C8RS he started this build in early 2009. The LS3 came out in 2008. It would have been rather cost prohibitive for a garage build project back then to pick up an LS3. On a project like this you start with the drivetrain and build outward, so it is what it is. That’s the nature of long term projects. Often by the time you are finished doing them various parts are “out of date” by the current standards. 10-15 years ago the Northstars were mildly popular options for various projects due to their weight and availability. Their popularity was already declining but I’d wager that Karl bought the entire Cadillac donor car for less than an LS1 engine would have cost him.
Just a reminder THIS ISN’T MY CAR. I don’t know why people feel a need to attack man’s hard work, but when you direct those attacks at me, they are entirely misplaced.
ruined, minis should always have small wheels, not monster truck wheels. also why put a sub 300hp v8 into this, may aswell have stuck a lexus 1uz in it at least it would have been lighter and more rev happy.
He started this project 11 years ago and bought an entire donor Cadillac to work with. I don't know for sure but I'd easily bet he paid less for the entire Cadillac donor car than an LS engine would have cost him even back then.
why go with a north star ? I don't get it when it comes to a swap its for power and reliability over the older motor. This has power but its a northstar ? not an engine known for being reliable and not really loved in any circle save for the few people who do like the post 1996 4.6s even then I gotta know why?
He started this build over 15 years ago when LS engines were only just becoming popular. It was the tail end of the Northstar popularity. He also got an entire donor car to scavenge for parts and used various portions throughout the build. And at the end of the day, it clearly worked out just fine, so why not? Is it what I’d pick? No, but it isn’t my car. It produced a unique and fun project, so I say rock on.
@@HotRodHippie Thanks for the reply man ! I wasn't old enough in that era to understand the whole engine situation I guess. So I really appreciate the reply letting me know what was up with engine swaps in that era !
michael bradley they are Ball and Socket connections with X-ed clamps holding the joint together. So it’s like a half of a ball (the socket) and a ball that fits into that socket. Allows for misalignment of the joint and easy assembly/disassembly
Aaaagh, it's not a Mini Cooper. In the video, the stills of the book say he started with a Mini bodyshell. A Mini Cooper is a Mini that has been fettled by Cooper. Any parts that Cooper touched are not present on this Mini. So this is either an Austin Mini or a Morris Mini-Minor. Calling it a Mini Cooper is no different to taking a Ford Mustang body, building it up yourself with no Shelby parts whatsoever, then saying "Look at this Shelby Mustang".
@@HotRodHippie A lot of work went in that Mini. Love big wheels part the most. Check out Project Binky if you didn't see it yet. I see from your channel you are into vans, I remember there was cool VW T2 build, called Anti-Hippie Bus, but I think it's not finished: i.pinimg.com/564x/f6/c1/a8/f6c1a8c508d8f64bfff6a873798f8ccb.jpg
eworldtraveler why are people obsessed with that phrase? I said it 3 times in a 9 minute video. I also said “Car” many times and “Karl” even more... I’m not doing anything to that car, it isn’t mine nor is Karl a customer of mine. Telling me you will or won’t like a video has no bearing on what happens to the car.
I don't love the style but they fit the performance nature of the car very well. It handles like it is on rails. And with the Corvette brakes on it you couldn't run smaller wheels even if you wanted to.
"Handling Ruined". How exactly do you come to that conclusion? Are you one of those "Big Rims don't handle!" people who denies the existence of every modern well handling car with 17+ inch rims?
Yeahhh... I'll "go ahead and" ignore the presenting style. Sounds like the script was written to include every bit of idiot car jargon from the last 30 years of tabloid journalism.
It is more so that he got to a point where he can go out and enjoy the car as it sits so he hasn't spent as much time "finishing" it. Between that and his health he just hasn't put as much time into tinkering with the car as much as driving it.
scottishmale1970 having an opinion is fine and dandy. Calling the hard work that a man has spent years on “a Joke” is just being a dick. I tried to politely respond to your insulting “opinion” and you continued to be insulting. How much do you think your “opinion” of my channel matters to me? My advertisers and audience like it just fine, I’ll sleep well tonight. Remember what they say about opinions. Yours stink.
BONUS EPISODE: Riding in the car more - czcams.com/video/FXh03JQ4JIg/video.html
WOW!!! The Engineering He Did On That Car Is Amazing , The Hours ,The Work , The Frustration,Hats Off To The Veterans ,Great Job !!!
Karl estimated that he had a solid four years worth of work into the car. It's truly an impressive beast. 👍👍
That Mini cooper sounds amazing With V8 Engine it goes really fast
I saw this car recently at a show in Pittsfield, Mass. It is the coolest, strangest car I've ever seen at any show. Wow...
Love the build. Hate the styling... but that’s personal so whatever floats your boat.
It isn’t for everyone, definitely a strong taste to acquire. Thanks for appreciating even if it isn’t your thing. Good on you for not being one of the trolls just talking trash because. 👍🏻👍🏻
i've been doing a vtec awd mini swap for about a year now. and running into puzzle after puzzle to get to the next step. i can really appreciate all the hard work gone into this car. karl thank you for your service. hope to see you at a car meet one day with my mini.
I really don’t like those open cage front wheel arches. The car would look much better with solids.
Please stop calling all mini’s ‘coopers’. Only a very small number of mini’s produced were ‘coopers’ or ‘Cooper S’s’.
Mini Cooper. Mini Cooper. Mini Cooper!
GUILTY AS CHARGED. My bad. Thanks for the heads up. BTW. My neighbor's last name is Cooper and he is a "little person". I can still call him "Mini Cooper", right?
Yeh why the hell not :-)
This is a Cooper, same as my mini 850s a Cooper
Small thing, but yeah. A touch annoying :)
I see this car all the time it always amazing to check out
I can see why you are obsessed with Karl's Mini , it is beyond AWESOME .
It really is worth getting obsessed with. 👍👍👍
What do you think of Karl's "1968" Mini Cooper? Riding in this thing is absolutely a blast.
COOL CAR
"video ended up just a bit longer than I anticipated"
Meanwhile other youtubers are making 20 minute vlogs of going to the mall
Eh it's all what people will watch. I'd gladly have packed in some more info and made it twenty minutes. However as of right now the Average watch time on this video is 4:30. So right at half of the video.
If people can keep viewers engaged for twenty minutes, more power to them. I just must not be sensationalist or power funny enough for it.
@@HotRodHippie that's pretty good retention, from talking to other people with "smaller" channels 50% is higher than usual. My best videos sit at around 35%.
I wouldn't be surprised if most of the 20min+ videos on CZcams are at about 50% retention too.
Honestly if I had to ask for more from this video I would have easily watched another 5 minutes of driving footage.
@@AaronBonBarron I have another bit of driving footage I was tempted to make into another standalone video. It would only be a couple minutes but yea I may do that yet.
50% is probably slightly above average for my videos. So I can't really complain. This whole CZcams game is a lot of confusion. Ha.
@@AaronBonBarron I put together a video of some more driving footage: czcams.com/video/FXh03JQ4JIg/video.html
G'day from West Australia,
My Father was forever telling me the following. " You have been gifted a mind that knows NO limits, focus your mind power create what you want. Get passed , over , around whatever life throws at you.
Never ever forget that."
He was right I suffered a dominant hand injury 22yrs ago. Got very little help where it counts.
Had to teach my self how to use my good hand as my new dominant hand.
Not an easy task but dad's words kept coming to mind whenever I faced a new learning challenge.
Have an Awesome day, or night depending on when whoever reads this and there time zone.😉🙂👍👍
Thanks steve for your dad’s advice. From a recent quadriplegic in west Australia
@@Ebonyqwe I like your @HiddenGem name 😉🙂👍👍
Let me tell you why;
Many years ago as a boy, there was a young man who lost both his legs when a clutch blew apart and came through the floor!!!
This young man was another inspiration to me, why you might ask!!!
Because he got back into the saddle so to speak and learnt to drive with his hands in the same manual vehicle he lost his legs in ,he converted it to hand controls after welding up the holes in the floor and replacing vthe bell housing etc !!!
Nothing is impossible unless you deem it to be!!!
Focus your mind my friend never met in my state of West Australia, you WILL move mountains if you want to!!!
Peace love and respect to you and what you WILL achieve in your lifetime😉🙂👍👍
Steve Veness thanks Steve, still trying to get my head around it🖖
@@Ebonyqwe have faith in yourself😉🙂👍👍
Crazy feat of Engineering, bravo. Looks like fun to drive, looks like lots of tickets too.............
A beautiful quality build !! Well done mate
The effort gone into it is remarkable. But the exterior design is another matter, some decal works will improve it's looks to no end.
I've seen Karl at the Hemmings Cruise-ins in Bennington VT the 2 times I went this year. Always fun to visit with my long time friend and see his craftsmanship ! He may be at the Pittsfield MA Airport show Aug 7, 5-8PM
Very COoL.
Nothing screams comfort like bare aluminum doors, zero insulation and no A/C. I am envious!
(we kid because we love :)
👍😎
Wow, slot into a small package. Looks like a little monster, interesting details, and brilliant stuff
This thing looks like one good punch on the gass peddle would snap that little 1" sq tube frame in half !
Hotrod Dave here,I,M not much of a Mini lover,BUT,that v8 mini is badass!
I dig Minis but, not for me. Haha. This thing is rad sometimes
What a beast, thanks for sharing mate!
It really is such a little beast. I'm in love with the project.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
That thing is just straight up a cartoon lol its awsome
Very creative. Much can be learned here.
If nothing else Karl and his car are a great example of just putting your mind to something and doing it.
Hello from Norway.
Impressive mini, I would like to se more build video’s.
Thanks a lot for all I have learnt from you. Just keep it coming.
Very cool review of unique Mini
Delete the music when he is driving it
Yes please!
Unique, I love it!
This is crazy... I am loving it 😁👍
It's the kind of car people talk about building but never do.
Quite a striking conversation piece. And, yes, a very risque, but powerful powerplant.👌🏾
This was done far better in an original body shell 30 years a go here in the uk, also a v8 pick up was done too.
You should do a build on a car and take us along for the ride. Seeing you build something with all the knowledge you have would be great
I 100% intend to do that. Unfortunately I do not currently have enough shop space or time go do that. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
@@HotRodHippie right on thanks for the hard work
The car is amazing! I have an 03 I have high Hope's for, he pretty much did what I want to.
North Star is a daring choice. They aren’t necessarily known for their ability to stay together
They suck. LS V8 would have been the obvious choice.
Beautiful work Karl ol’ buddy!
Wow this is amazing!!🤘🏻
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks it is.
Thats a great build.
He has done some nice work but i would even call it a mini it's just a race car with a mini shell for cosmetics especially if you were to compare it to something like binky where they have gone to great effort to make it look like everything belongs and honestly i wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't faster around a track considering it's is probably more than double t hge original cars weight
Damn, next level
wow!!!! nice project
northstar v8? gawd
do you have to pull the engine to replace the sparkplugs?
Very nice build. Any details on how you fit the front suspension? Thanks
I’d like to have a copy of the build book
v8 blender and hairdryer next 🤣🤣🤣
LOL good luck changing that starter
fantastic.....but the steering wheel is on the wrong side 😉
Do you know why he chose that engine?
Actually, it would be nice to hear more about all decisions and reasoning behind the build
Karl did not tell me that specifically but I have a couple of educated guesses based on our conversations.
1) Weight. The Northstar motor weighs in at 400 pounds (181 kg) vs a standard Small Block Chevy weighing well over 500 pounds. Karl said he was focused on weight throughout the entire build and keeping it well balanced. He even said he was looking to remove the electric motor off of the Smart Car steering rack but would be installing a weight to maintain the same weight balance.
2) Availability. He got a Cadillac donor car to work with. So I'd imagine the availability of the engine, car, and parts associated was a deciding factor.
As for other factors, maybe I can see about doing a follow up at some point. However I'd bet a lot of the answers will be along those same lines. Karl had the mindset of "I can do this" but not an unlimited budget, so a lot of choices were likely based on what he could get that would work well with his goals.
@@HotRodHippie Makes sense, thanks for the explanation, I wanted to ask the same.
@@bokiNYC 👍👍 A few people asked on other forums I posted the video on. Common curiosity it seems.
@@HotRodHippie a LS3 and a North Star are about the same weight. I think it was a cheap and unique option, the North Star is not known to be a motorsports ready engine.
Gen1 C8RS he started this build in early 2009. The LS3 came out in 2008. It would have been rather cost prohibitive for a garage build project back then to pick up an LS3. On a project like this you start with the drivetrain and build outward, so it is what it is. That’s the nature of long term projects. Often by the time you are finished doing them various parts are “out of date” by the current standards. 10-15 years ago the Northstars were mildly popular options for various projects due to their weight and availability. Their popularity was already declining but I’d wager that Karl bought the entire Cadillac donor car for less than an LS1 engine would have cost him.
Just a reminder THIS ISN’T MY CAR. I don’t know why people feel a need to attack man’s hard work, but when you direct those attacks at me, they are entirely misplaced.
Web trolls.. don’t worry about the idiots..Good video.. IMHO the Northstar is terrible.. but tremendous effort to make
Holy sh....that´s not a Mini - that´s a BULLET!!!
The power to weight ratio must be through the roof!
It's so powerful they had to change it to "weight to power ratio" instead of "power to weight ratio". It suppose to describe it better. No idea why.
Hotrod Dave here,that is one cool mini_cooper,I was hoping to see it at Rhinebeck this year but that,s cancelled because of covic 19,THANKS CHINA!
What size are the wheels
I’m almost certain they are 17 inch wheels. They are C4 Corvette the same as the suspension / rear axle came from.
Can you confirm the original car had 2 fuel tanks making it a cooper..thank you
It would really freak people out if it out of BDS blower sticking out the hood are you in a tunnel ram
You’d have to take everything apart to get to anything...and still need tiny hands
ruined, minis should always have small wheels, not monster truck wheels. also why put a sub 300hp v8 into this, may aswell have stuck a lexus 1uz in it at least it would have been lighter and more rev happy.
I like to know how it handles on a track.
Ken Thompson he takes it to the Lime Rock Race track in Connecticut. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to go with him and film that.
hoping for a LS Engine,northstar really?
He started this project 11 years ago and bought an entire donor Cadillac to work with. I don't know for sure but I'd easily bet he paid less for the entire Cadillac donor car than an LS engine would have cost him even back then.
why go with a north star ? I don't get it when it comes to a swap its for power and reliability over the older motor. This has power but its a northstar ? not an engine known for being reliable and not really loved in any circle save for the few people who do like the post 1996 4.6s even then I gotta know why?
He started this build over 15 years ago when LS engines were only just becoming popular. It was the tail end of the Northstar popularity. He also got an entire donor car to scavenge for parts and used various portions throughout the build. And at the end of the day, it clearly worked out just fine, so why not? Is it what I’d pick? No, but it isn’t my car. It produced a unique and fun project, so I say rock on.
@@HotRodHippie Thanks for the reply man ! I wasn't old enough in that era to understand the whole engine situation I guess. So I really appreciate the reply letting me know what was up with engine swaps in that era !
Australia hold MY beer,fiat 126 burnouts car.
good vid but the background music can go
Should have kept to 10 inch wheels.
Finish the front guards for fuck sake, ridiculous considering the effort so far.
Unless I'm going blind what the fuck is going on with the double interlocked clamps on the exhaust,at 54 sec looks dodgey as fuck.
WTF is going on with those exhaust connections near the mufflers?
michael bradley they are Ball and Socket connections with X-ed clamps holding the joint together. So it’s like a half of a ball (the socket) and a ball that fits into that socket. Allows for misalignment of the joint and easy assembly/disassembly
@@HotRodHippie Wow first I've ever heard or seen anything like it. I thought it was a hobbled together V-band gone wrong.
It should be called the COOPERLAC, OR CADICOOPER.
Didn’t show the V8 engine that’s in the mini.
1.44 to 2.15 shows the V8 engine.
Binky on steroids
That's so wrong. Once those wheels were decided on that was it down the drain.
Great car bud but fill the front wheel arch's in cus it looks crap 😁😁🤘🤘
Not a Mini Cooper
Aaaagh, it's not a Mini Cooper. In the video, the stills of the book say he started with a Mini bodyshell. A Mini Cooper is a Mini that has been fettled by Cooper. Any parts that Cooper touched are not present on this Mini. So this is either an Austin Mini or a Morris Mini-Minor.
Calling it a Mini Cooper is no different to taking a Ford Mustang body, building it up yourself with no Shelby parts whatsoever, then saying "Look at this Shelby Mustang".
Man, I do not want to be rude, but what do you have tattooed under your head on neck?!! It looks like...
It's Grey and Red... It's the end of a straight razor that starts on my chest and "cuts" into my neck there.
@@HotRodHippie A lot of work went in that Mini. Love big wheels part the most. Check out Project Binky if you didn't see it yet.
I see from your channel you are into vans, I remember there was cool VW T2 build, called Anti-Hippie Bus, but I think it's not finished: i.pinimg.com/564x/f6/c1/a8/f6c1a8c508d8f64bfff6a873798f8ccb.jpg
Why do people have to put shitty music over the videos
"GO AHEAD " and fix the fenders for a thumbs up and "GO AHEAD" and "GO AHEAD" !
eworldtraveler why are people obsessed with that phrase? I said it 3 times in a 9 minute video. I also said “Car” many times and “Karl” even more...
I’m not doing anything to that car, it isn’t mine nor is Karl a customer of mine. Telling me you will or won’t like a video has no bearing on what happens to the car.
Seriously............................horrible
the wheels don't look right on that car way to big look stupid
I don't love the style but they fit the performance nature of the car very well. It handles like it is on rails. And with the Corvette brakes on it you couldn't run smaller wheels even if you wanted to.
The music junked another video 👎🏻💩
Wheels look ridiculous. Way too big. Handling ruined
"Handling Ruined". How exactly do you come to that conclusion? Are you one of those "Big Rims don't handle!" people who denies the existence of every modern well handling car with 17+ inch rims?
@@HotRodHippie yeah because those 17" rims aren't normally on a Mini lol.
Whittle Moore neither is a full corvette based suspension and a V8 engine.
@@HotRodHippie oh that's right, of course. I'm sure it handles perfectly 🤣🤣🤣👌
Yeahhh... I'll "go ahead and" ignore the presenting style. Sounds like the script was written to include every bit of idiot car jargon from the last 30 years of tabloid journalism.
when is he going to finnish it or is the car just a joke build
It is more so that he got to a point where he can go out and enjoy the car as it sits so he hasn't spent as much time "finishing" it. Between that and his health he just hasn't put as much time into tinkering with the car as much as driving it.
@@HotRodHippie blah blah blah
scottishmale1970 yes heaven forbid a man enjoy the thing he built. Let me ask, what was the last car you built from the ground up? Frame and all?
@@HotRodHippie heaven forbid me having an opinion go smoke your pipe your channel is crap anyway
scottishmale1970 having an opinion is fine and dandy. Calling the hard work that a man has spent years on “a Joke” is just being a dick. I tried to politely respond to your insulting “opinion” and you continued to be insulting. How much do you think your “opinion” of my channel matters to me? My advertisers and audience like it just fine, I’ll sleep well tonight.
Remember what they say about opinions. Yours stink.