Hi everyone! Just wanted to kick off and post my intro thread. I've been lurking for a bit but finally made the leap to register.

So recently, due to odd circumstances, I cam in possession of a R52 convertible Cooper S that I have absolutely no investment in. Which is good because I have some crazy ideas that I'd like to explore. My background in cars really stems from BMWs so I'm pretty familiar around the euro platform but I'm clueless when it comes to the Mini.

Now the Mini I've acquired is an automatic :(
Is a transmission swap even possible with this thing? or are there some unique characteristics of the engine mated up to the auto tranny that cannot be changed?

Ideally my master plan is to use the car in it's current form, while I build a completely new motor and tranny outside of the car and once complete, change everything. Then scrap or part out the old motor. Most definitely going to run a stand alone ECU though so I'm not too worried about any CELs or tranny coding issues with the car. It just needs to be mechanically plausible that a swap is possible.

Welcome from just up the road in York PA. Anything is possible with a MINI. There are a lot of vendors for almost everything and the forum is full of experts that have done almost every possible modification. Post some current pictures in this section so we can all see the starting point. Post your specific questions in the first gen section. If you post and update a thread detailing your progress, I suspect you will have many experts willing to help along the way.

Hello, R52 owner here also. You can do a swap but its easier to get one from a junkyard and swap over parts.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...onversion.html

Thanks all! I'll start a new thread in the 1st gen section. Just wanted to say hi to everyone!

Hi and welcome to the NAM family!
Post some pics here, so all can see them, as many will not see them in the gen 1 area (many don't go there now that they are aging!
Congrats!