i think the reason ppl hold back is bcos they don wan to spoil the origin of "MINI".. once u put another heart in.. then means u will lost the fun of driving a mini and of cos the balancing of the car will be off too and it will cause the u lost the grip when driving a mini.. price i am sure it was not an issue to the mini lover as a half cut mini cost abt the same as a B16a half cut.
like you said, most of the ppl transplant a vtec into a mini is mostly for track use. As wat i know, there is certain regulation in JPJ. example, when u wanna change engine, the capacity cannot exceed certain %. the reason y BMW can b legalize on running with SR20 engine is bcos it was the same 2000cc engine.
Ya no doubt u can found alot of "ang mo" did lots of project on transplant vtec engine to a mini.. some even transplant a latest K20A into it.. of cos you can do tat too.. but do you need it? there is alot "monster" mini around in malaysia running with just curb. and they can simply over run those turbo kcar anytime.
Well all above is just my personal comment :) modding a car is more to personal preference. Do you own a mini too? with vtec transplant?? if u got watch top gear, there is one mini using toyota dohc engine too
