Just recieved an email from Z Cars re their development of kits to allow the installation of either a bike engine or Subaru engine into a 500 or a 126 air cooled. The kits won't be cheap as it's Z Cars, See link below
https://www.zcars.org.uk/Look under news
Below is the response from Z Cars
Hi Ralph,
Apologies for the delayed response. I have been in Spain over the past few weeks looking for Fiat 500 and Minis to act as donor cars for our development fleet. I cannot provide all the answers at this time as we need to build and test our cars and ensure the kits are fit for purpose before we begin selling them. We will have a Hayabusa with a QBA drive and a Subaru engine. We are currently researching other Subaru engines as the engines are rare and then there is the issue of the gearbox having to be adapted as the engine is turned round requiring reverse gears to act as forward gears and a single forward gear acting as the revised reverse. I hope that makes sense!
The choice of either conversion from a kit only perspective is far cheaper than the Mini, but the rarity or exclusivity of both engines and as previously mentioned, the gear set kit required to flip the drive gears, means the hardware is pricey before you factor in labour.
On the SVA, we are looking at having the cars put through rigorous tests in one the EU regions, as we understand passing the registration regulations for limited run cars, lessens the burden of gaining the necessary certification in other EU member states, plus the admin can be reused to help satisfy obligations in further countries.
Prices can only be determined once we have our demo fleet completed. Apologies if this is disappointing news, but we must develop these kits responsibly.
