I bought my MINI used a little over a month ago and it was very clear that the previous owner did not take very good care of it. I have been, and will continue to, restore the car to a much better condition that I bought it. One thing I found was numbers painted on the engine in different locations. I first saw the one on the valve cover since it is right on top and thought it must have been a replacement cover from a wrecking yard. But then I notice the same number painted on the cylinder head. Now I'm wonder if the engine is a rebuild. Here are picture of the numbers....

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I believe something has been done to the engine in a good way and here is why; I had a 2000 Dakota V8 SLT that I put some money into and was much faster than stock, my guess would be it would run low 15's if no 15 flat, my wife has a 2007 Altima 3.5 SE which is very fast and they run mid 14's (14.6-14.4 I think). My MINI is suppose to run a 15 flat, stock, but feel much faster than the Altima, when I test drove it the sales guy that went as a ride along was use to driving WRX STIs, Lancer Evos, and so on, and he said he didn't realize mini coopers where so fast. I think it's because the car is red and lowered, so it has to be faster right?


I do have the Alta Intake and I know aftermarket intakes add throttle response and minor HP gains, and I have slightly smaller tires than stock, but I would think that would not be enough to shave over half a second off a 1/4 mile. I checked the size of the supercharger pulley using a caliper and it is the standard MCS size.


I am thinking there are a few possibilities.
1. The engine is a rebuild and not a stock MCS engine.
2. The former owner put in a aftermarket racing cam shaft.
3. 1 and 2
4. Former owner got matching cylinder head and valve cover from wrecking yard and rebuilt the top of the engine with a racing cam shaft.
5. Some other explanation that makes much more sense that I am totally over looking.
6. MC40s are faster than the similar MCS? Not sure how much water that holds, I thought they were the same drive train wise.
7. The entire car was a salvage and the sales lot lied about the car fax. (I know someone personally that bought a car from a dealership who had altered the car fax and he ended up suing and got paid $90k).


Opinions on what these numbers might be?




-Gunner

 

It's a stock number from a salvage yard. I see this all the time with paint pens.

 

+1
Pretty sure....seen CVT trannys on pallets and r56 motors on pallets, used, with similar markings.

 

Assuming it us from a wrecking ward, which is my presumption, I'm just curious as to why the world mark it in 2 places. Either they bought a full used motor and just swapped it (hopefully it was a lot mileage used), our possibly rebuilt it, but one would think someone mechanical though to rebuild world have taken the number off. I think the only way I will ever really know is if I could get in touch with the previous owner. Not matching engine# = me not happy.

I still wonder why the car feels faster than my wife's car. I might have to go race her just to see if it's in my head or possibly just that her car drivers smoother.

 

I’d assume it was marked in two spots so someone couldn’t just swap the valve cover on their old engine and bring it back as a return. If it were me, I’d pull out the acetone and a paper towel and just wipe it off.

Yellow paint pen stock markings are an instant red flag when it comes to buying a car.

 

I new the car was abused when I bought it so I'm not surprised to be honest. I like working on cars so it is a nice little project for the weekends and intended on putting lots of elbow grease into it, and regular grease and oil also. It actually runs really well so it's not like I bought a lemon. The person before me lowered it, put wheel spacers and an Alta air intake, and possibly more that I just haven noticed. The only issues I have are a coolant leak that I need to track down (the expansion tank is cracked so I'm going to start there), the rear struts and mounts need changing (I already replaced the fronts), the motor mounts might need replacement and it is way to much fun to drive. Other than that it is mostly cosmetic fixes and I have already been fixing that little by little. That might seem like a lot of $$ to someone who would need to bring it into a shop but to me it just sounds like a fun weekend. So if anyone tries to tell me I made a bad purchase "I say good day to you sir".

 

I was chatting with a guy at the auto body shop and he thinks it is not a Pick-n-pull engine (said he used to race Acuras and he knew a few things about engine building). His thought, there has been some head work done. There is suppose to be a sticker on the engine so the dealer can tell if you opened the engine up and they can void your warranty and mine doesn't have any sticker. He think the numbers were put on by the shop that was doing the work so they could identify the engine parts and not mix them up. He said the wrecking yards will do odd things like paint the engine to make it look cleaner and god knows what else. Mine looks to clean to be from a wrecking yard. And I was thinking if they put 2 numbers on to make sure no one did a swap and a false return one would think they would do it on the same side close to each other, but who knows.



I think he may be right as that was one of my thoughts in the beginning. This car really feels like it has a racing cam in it, it spins up from 4k to Redline way fast. There is no way this is only a 15sec car. I guess there are 3 things I can do; one, check the engine number. two, go do some runs at the track. three, go race another MINI Copper S. I noticed my speedometer is off when I was driving by a city street speed radar (what ever they are called, that tell you how fast you are going), probably because the tires are smaller than stock.


I looked on carfax and it said the CPU was reflashed in 2013 right before it was sold so I think there was some custom programing done and they reset it (damn). This car is a mystery but I have been having fun with it.


IDK, maybe I am just being optimistic. But the car still feels faster than my other car that is suppose to run 14.5sec on a 1/4 mile. (Let me ask you other R53 owners, if you are side by side with another car, you intend on passing them so you and cruising around 3.5k RPMs (lets say in 3rd gear) and you gun it, does your car have to wind up or does it jump so fast the other driver wouldn't be able to react fast enough to stop you from getting in front of him? Because mine just jumps.


I'm honestly thinking of getting something else for a regular commuter and making this my weekend project car, just to it isn't getting beat up by the commute.

 

That is a engine pulled from a junk yard or repaired at a shop..... not much to it really. The best thing you could do is compare against another R53. The ECU reflash might have been the JCW reflash or that they had to reflash the ECU to pair it up with the "new" engine and the keyfobs/keys.

Be happy and keep motoring.

 

If I pull the engine number is there a way to match it to the vehicle it came from?



Either way, head work or wrecking yard, I just hope they change the oil in the Supercharger.




I'm still not sold on either claim. Need to do some work investigating.

 

+1
The way the car runs sounds like a typical healthy S....
Sounds like you are fine....I would not stress it....might be a lower mile motor off a rear end car driven by a granny!! Most shops usually suggest getting a similar mile motor when doing a swap....but if an owner wants to keep a car, they can pay extra $$ for a lower mile unit.....only real drawback is that they would not be able to recoup their investment if the car is sold.....
Sure the stress of NOT KNOWING, but if it is a good running motor, it obviously replaced a bad one....so you came out ahead!! Be happy!!

 

The little car feels good, just enjoy it. Can can still have years of fun.

 

most likely a junkyard motor

in my younger days I would buy cars with blown engines or transmissions and put junkyard replacements on then sell them for 4-5 times my investment

junkyard units always had numbers like the photo on them

 

If it was a lower number and the engine number match the VIN , it was a MC40 owner who wanted to make sure the 1/1000 number would not be lost with the number plate in the center console. I have seen people write the MC40 edition number on the valve cover and in the owners manuals. But in this case looks like the engine was from a parts breaker ? Does not look like a JCW Tuning Kit engine either. Go through it with a fine toothed comb and take care of it.

JCW Tuning Kit shot.

 

The only thing that I question so far is the ecu reflash. When i put the new motor in my car, i didnt need to do anything to the ECU. In reality unless its to reset it, why would you have to set it to a new motor. Does it really know one mechanical part from the next? How would it know that the block crank head piston and cams are different from what was stock? Only way i know of is if it is remapped for upgrades.