I love the old DAF cars, just brilliant engineering but Volvo bought them and
the CVT using rubber belts was canned which as you know was F1 proven and banned.

Those early 73 hondas were the best fwd ever made for tech and weight
I like the N10 and the first gen Tsuru of course as well and at sub
800kg are so light that a sorted qr20de and 5 speed would be perfect.

Definitely about fun first and foremost! Do the minis run twin cam heads?
Their boxes would suck to get so much metal from engine anyways... money pits.
If its just A series then there is a tried combo not many reveal as its oval
track again and japanese racing using repurposed A12 cranks that have damaged
mains then getting them destroked to 68mm + sleeved 78mm bores will allow
42mm inlets / 33mm exhausts with a mild grind 1298cc and R1 carbs will easily
make 130hp ate or 90+rwhp. You are doing it right anyway as its all about fun.

Darn it I see. How about Miata headed A13
166rwkws from B6 no porting just cams
Thats also an oval track combo that one
of out members Rob got on to showing us
how it is done some years ago.
The post 1998 B6z6 head has 125hp stock
@ 6500rpm with 9.4:1 compression so with
10.5:1 comp with 1300cc will need 8k rpm
but should get another 5-10hp along with
headers and better inlets like R1 carbs.
The ZL-VE head on the 1.5L that replaced
the B series engines uses same block but
heads are superior with VVT and even with
100cc less makes 130hp which so you only
need 7500rpm to make that.
Also comes with stainless 4-1 headers
Either way love the vids!

There are so many fast dattos, pitty no Cherries are out there competing with Hondas
as the Sentra that makes 750hp atw would be better suited to an older lighter fwd.

Not sure on the brains behind it but it seems to have some kind of heavy inertia thingo
that spins up and holds torque so even on take off its a breeze smooth and silky.
I mash the foot down at any speed and just lunges forward and sounds like electric engine.
I dont think it has rpm shift points of any kind it just spins up and makes heaps of torque
then engine revs drop as the belts settle on the right locationss, it a weird but amazing.

Being driving a 2022 daihatsu kei truck with turbo KF engine
that is making 68whp and 90lbs of torque as dynoed and never
thought it would be better than a manual gearbox for twisties.

The daihatsu CVT is bullet proof and proven also in FWD but
thank goodness since 2021 the RWD cvt is regularly available.

Here is an example of one for 100aud with 33k km and just
putting it out there as an alternative for 5 speed boxes.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/j1157455981

can you run the Nissan GA13DE? which what that American 1200 racer
was recommending with factory ga16de cams 115hp @ 6000 rpm / 108 lb⋅ft
already has over 90whp. GA16DE cams in the GA13DE will need 7300rpm
which is nothing for 70mm stroke and more with pipes and compression.

Stock as a rock ga16de with pipes and modded ecu.
there are dyno vids showing just the headers 4-2-1 frees up 18-20hp!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9DJpPpEO5GA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHq0oQzMpuw

These guys use the B11 platforum with qd13, qd16 and also sr20 and
yet the sr20de loses out to the gd16de. In chile the ga16de + turbo
are making 600hp atw in drag racing, so its definitely a head that
can flow as much as an sr20 for cheaper and more reliably as it
just has cams on buckets like ca18de and 288 cams available!.

Looking at the main caps one can see that 4 bolt mains could be used
specially when fitting the 88mm stroke E16 crankshaft to secure it
further for high rpm operation.
These engines and the L series were way over engineered with extra
material but the A series is heavier than the L16 by 2-3kg when
L16 is bored out to 86mm.
Interesting the A14, L16 and Ca18 bare blocks weighed just under 40kg.

The nose knows :) but 30hp + more rebuilds not good
are you allowed JDM racing specs like L14 or L16?
The L series bottom ends weigh less than L series
side by side when bored out to 85/86m.
Some other US racer dude forget his name selling parts
here for sometime put in the ga16 and said it was
a better engine for the 1200 but as A series parts
dried up and bookface we have not seen him again here.
5-6s is quite a big gap of time per lap.
90hp atw is a lot for an A series to stay reliable.
The B3 soch 8v and B6 16v on A series are common in
Aussie oval track racing they are making 140+ whp.