Hey guys, it's been a long arduous process, but I'm nearly at the end of the process of replacing the stock 998cc engine with a 1275cc unit. I've been having internet problems with my computer these past few months, but have kept a log of everything that's happened thus far. Ok, from the beginning:

January 5, 2007: Mini breaks down, has an unusual sound coming from inside the engine case. Possibly a spun bearing, which would require removal of the engine. I decide to go ahead swap out the powertrain completely, and replace the automatic transmission with a manual unit while I am at it. I look for a vendor I can get the engine from.

January 26: I have been talking to a vendor in England and we discuss what parts I would need to buy, the prices, shipping times, etc. I place the order, which runs me about $2,500 for an engine, transmission, subframe, shifter assembly, pedal assembly, and several other miscellaneous items.

April 4: The parts finally arrive from England, a full two months after having been ordered.

 

April 18:

It has now been just under two weeks since I got my parts, and I've been working on my car more or less during every free moment I have. All the parts came on a 32" x 4' pallet, so my dad was able to fit it into the back of his Chevy Blazer. (He had the engine delivered to his work, which has a lift gate). We somehow managed to unload the 300 lb. engine between the two of us, without the benefit of an engine hoist (which would not have been of use anyway, because of the cramped space in the SUV).

Over the next two days, I proceded to degrease and wash all the parts that came in (engine/transmission, subframe, shift linkage, pedal assembly, and other ancilliaries). With this completed, I proceeded to tear into my Mini.

I took off the grill, and set about disassembling the entire drivetrain inside the car. Radiator, cooling fan, radiator hoses, alternator, air cleaner assembly, carburetor, intake/exhaust manifold, oil filter, coil, distributor, etc.......ALL of it came out. What amazes me is that I removed all of this in about a day and a half. The Mini is so unbelievably easy to work on, it's ridiculous. With all these parts out of the car, I labelled all electrical connections, vacuum hoses, cable linkages, etc. before disconnecting them. As it stands now, the engine is isolated in the subframe, which is still bolted to the car's body.

While all this was going on, I decided to go ahead and paint the engine again, which was a dull red. I originally wanted to do a complete teardown of the engine, but decided against it because of time constraints. I took the major components off the new engine, masked off the block, and painted it bright red. It was a pain in the *** masking off the rest of the drivetrain, but I managed to do it without having it look like a Maaco paintjob.

I ordered a complete gasket set, and used only the gaskets that I needed for the ancilliaries (water pump, oil filter, fuel pump, etc.). I will keep the rest of the gaskets for replacement as they fail on my car. Or when I decide to do a complete rebuild. Whichever comes first.

Meanwhile, I bought some 2x4's, and built myself a cradle to support the subframe unit. I measured the height of the bottom of the subframe when the car is resting naturally, and built the cradle to hold the subframe just higher than that height.

With the drivetrain business pretty much sorted out, I turned my attention to the car's interior. I disconnected the automatic transmission shifter linkage (which was very easy), and installed the manual shifter assembly. The shifter assembly is not yet hooked up to the drivetrain, since I still have not swapped out the engines.

I then took out the driver's seat (which is held in by all of two bolts), and removed the sterring column (again, only two bolts). I proceeded to undertake what has been the hardest task so far; replacing the pedal assembly. It was first made difficult because there were two very inaccessible bolts holding the bracket in place that had a smooth head to them. They were one-way bolts, so I cut notches in them and unbolted them with a flat-tip screwdriver.

With this done, I had to unbolt the master cylinder bracket inside the engine bay. No big deal, and I took out the pedal assembly. I installed the new pedal assembly (which has a clutch pedal of course), and had the hardest time connecting the linkages to the two master cylinders (one for the brakes, the other for the clutch, which is hydraulically actuated). It was really cramped in there, but I somehow managed to hook up the linkages and install the cotter pins.

With all that done, my interior was just about finished. I tightened down the master cylinder bracket, re-installed the steering wheel, and the driver's seat. I still have to connect the wiring that runs from the shifter to actuate the reverse lights; I have to look at the wiring diagram first. I also have to cut a larger hole in the interior carpet to allow the shifter assembly to fit perfectly.

My next step is to jack up the car, place the wooden cradle under the subframe, and lower the car onto it. From there, it's a matter of unbolting the subframe from the car's body, and lifting the body off of the engine subframe. It looks like the subframe is only held in place by four large bolts, so this shouldn't be too difficult...

 

April 24:

Five days ago, I disconnected the wheel hubs from the suspension arms, and pulled out the assemblies with the driveshafts. I found that the inner CV boots were permanently clamped into place, which meant I had to destroy the clamps and the CV boots just to get the axles out. I had to place an online order for a replacement set of CV boots to replace the ones I had to trash.

Two days later I managed to rip the old engine out of my car. More specifically, I placed the wooden cradle under the engine subframe, unbolted the subframe from the body, and jacked up the body high enough to roll the engine out from beneath. It wasn't all that difficult aside from two inconveniences that I had to deal with at the last minute.

The first was the exhaust pipe, which was boltend to the body in the rear, and passed UNDER the subframe, and up to the cyinder head. I did not consider this until I started jacking the body up, encountered some resistance, and found that the header downtube was trapped by the subframe, unable to move up with the rest of the body. So I had to drop the body again, and remove the exhaust system completely.

The other inconvenience was the battery cable that ran from the rear of the car, to the bottom of the subframe, and up to where the starter would normally be. Two bolts and it was disconnected from the subframe as well. After that, the car's body lifted clear of the subframe, easy as pie.

Yesterday my dad and I lifted the old engine and subframe off the wooden cradle. We placed the new subframe onto the cradle, and bolted the new engine mounts to the transmission. Afterwards, we dropped the new engine onto the new subframe, and rolled it under the car.

This morning was spent bolting in the exhaust/intake manifold (one casting), and flushing the radiator system, which was tedious at best. I then mounted the cooling fan, radiator mount, radiator, and the three cooling hoses. And this is where I encountered a problem.

On my old engine, there was a bracket that secured the radiator hoursing to the engine. Because of a slightly different design on my new engine, this bracket has now been rendered useless. So I have to buy a new bracket that is appropriate for my engine, along with some bolts that hold the radiator in its housing (some of these bolts were missing on the original engine).

Which means I have to place another online order (my third thus far) and wait for the parts to come in before I can continue with my project. In the meantime, I'm waiting for my CV boots to come in the mail. Once they come in I will be able to slap the axles into the new subframe, and torque down the hubs to the suspension arms. I might as well get as much mileage as I can from the engine being out of the body. Hopefully I will be able to assemble 85% of the engine (all but carburetor, starter, alternator, distributor, oil filter) before I lower the body onto the drivetrain.

 

April 26:

A couple things have happened lately regarding the engine swap. I have continued to build up my current engine, in parallel with mocking up my old engine, to avoid confusion between new parts vs. old parts. As it stands now, my completely reassembled OLD engine sits on the floor of the garage, next to the automatic shifter and pedal assembly. All the parts that had to come out of the car and stay out.

My new drivetrain is pretty much built up, minus the alternator, starter, distributor, and oil filter. All the stuff that is bolted to the front of the engine. I'm not mounting any of those things until we install the drivetrain in the car, for clearance reasons.

I installed new boots on my steering rack. The old ones were cracked and rotting.

I am still waiting on my axle CV boots to come in. I have since taken apart the axle CV joints, and am waiting for those boots to arrive so I can install them. Once they arrive I can slap the axles in and bolt in the hubs and brake systems to the subframe. And once that happens, I can drop the car back onto the subframe.

 

May 2:

UPDATE

FINALLY, I got my parts in the mail today. And what a day it was. I'd say I spent most of the day (and into the night) working on the car.

First order of business was to install the brake pedal switch, which went in with no problems. I installed some ventilation ducts that ran under the dash, and installed a rubber pad on my accelerator pedal. With those things done, my interior was officially finished.

Next order of business was to install the CV boots. I slipped the boots onto the axles, hammered the CV joints into place (carefully of course), clamped one end of the CV boot into place, and packed the joint with grease. I then installed the axle and clamped the other end onto the drive flange of the transmission. I repeated this for the other side.

With both axles in place, I proceeded to install the hubs onto the suspension arms and torqued them into place. No problems there. With that done, I was ready to do what I've waited four long MONTHS to do....install the new engine into my car.

I waited for my dad to come home from work before attempting this, because I wanted a second set of eyes to help me line up the subframe to the body. We pushed the engine under the car and lined it up just so. I then proceeded to lower the body over the engine, and we stopped several times to make minor adjustments to the position of the engine.

A few minor setbacks later, we were able to line up the mounting points for two large bolts that bolt into the top of the "shock towers". We installed those large bolts and torqued them down. Next came two smaller bolts that went into the front of the subframe. Those went in with no problem. Lastly were four smaller bolts at the very rear of the subframe. We thought these bolts would be the hardest to line up, but they lined up exactly perfect the first time. I torqued those last bolts into place, and my engine was officially installed in my Mini Cooper!

Next we took a slight detour from working on the car. My dad figured that now would be the best time to cut the wheel wells on my Mini a little larger. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I had had problems with the wide tires rubbing on the wheel arches. The person who had installed the wider fender flares on my car hadn't even bothered to cut the arches larger. They simply slapped the new flares on. So off came the fender flares, and my dad took to the body with a cutting wheel. He marked the new arch line, cut it with a cutting wheel, and filed down the edges. The fender flares went back on, and they look so much nicer now that you can't see the smaller arches beneath them.

The next step was to install the shock absorbers onto the suspension arms. Piece of cake. Next was installing the tie rods to the steering arms. C'mon, give me an actual challenge here!

By this point it was getting late in the day, but I wanted to get as much done as possible. I installed the radiator hoses that ran into the heater core, and connected a few miscellaneous wires. I then attempted to install the new, larger carburetor that came with my engine, when I ran into a snag.

The new carburetor is slightly longer than my old unit, and has the air cleaner mounted in a slightly different manner. Long story short, I was barely able to squeeze my new carburetor into the engine bay WITHOUT the air cleaner. The very rear of the carb was resting right up against the firewall. There was no way in hell I could fit the new unit with its air cleaner.

I looked at the intake manifold, and noticed what appeared to be a spacer of some sort between the manifold and the carb. I carefully knocked it off, and got another 5/8" clearance, except now the throttle cable pulley is interfering with the exhaust manifold. So I plan to install the throttle cable lever from my old carb (which is smaller) onto my new carb. An ugly solution, but a solution nonetheless. This will allow me to install my new carb, but I still have to solve the problem of not having enough room for the new air cleaner assembly.

After deciding to leave this for the next day, I continued with connecting minor wires in the engine bay, when I ran into a real ***** of a problem. I tried installing the speedometer cable, and found that it was pinched at a certain point between the subframe and the body. Which means I have to unbolt the rear of the subframe enough to release the cable and torque the subframe in again. It's a minor problem as well (considering my engine is now installed), but it pisses me off because I checked the engine bay repeatedly to make sure no cables was going to get pinched or caught when we dropped the body onto the subframe. I guess I overlooked one.

That's it for today. The plan for tomorrow is:

Make the alteration to my new carburetor.
Release and install the speedometer cable.
Install the exhaust system.
Install the shifter assembly.
Install wheels.
Install engine ancilliaries (starter, distributor, oil filter, alternator).
Install radiator bracket and clutch hose cable (which arrive in the mail tomorrow).

This project is finally reaching its end. I'm hoping to be driving my car sometime next week. Until tomorrow.........

 

May 4:

UPDATE

I finally got that speedometer cable loose. I initially only loosened the subframe and tried to extract the cable, but that didn't work. I ended up having to unbolt the entire subframe and jiggle the cable loose. I then bolted everything back into place.

The radiator bracket didn't fit just perfectly, so I had to bend it in certain ways to get it to work.

The clutch hose I bought has the wrong fitting on one end, and is of the wrong length. Odd, considering I ordered it specifically according to the clutch mechanism setup I have on my car. I will end up having a custom hydraulic hose made to keep things simple, instead of dealing with adapters and **** like that.

I installed the exhaust system, and the shifter mechanism, and the wheels. The shifting feels a little sloppy, but it may be because I have to make a minor adjustment to the linkage.

My carburetor problem is nearly solved. I just have to find some ducting to reroute the air cleaner to a more convenuient location. It is a temporary solution until I buy a lower-profile intake manifold and a separate exhaust manifold. At the moment the two manifolds are cast as one piece, so changing it out is not an option.

 

May 8:

I went to a local hose and rubber company to have a new clutch hose manufactured for me. They did not have fittings in their inventory that would work with the master and slave cylinders, so they ended up having to cut up and re-use the fittings that were on the hoses that I already had.

So I got my new hose, but am now unable to sell the other two hoses to recoup some of my money. The hose ended up running me $50.

 

May 11:

I installed the clutch hose, which went in with no problem.

I filled the car with fluids (oil, coolant, brake/clutch fluid) and discovered that the seal on the shifter rod is leaking badly. So I placed an order for a new seal, along with wiper blades, which I've been meaning to do for some time.

I bled the brakes and the clutch and got them operating just fine. With that done, I set about installing the larger carburetor and attaching the accelerator and choke cables, along with the appropriate fuel lines and vacuum hose.

 

May 14 - May 28:

I spent some time wiring up the engine, and tried to start the engine. Nothing happened. I checked the battery, recharged it, and tried it again. Still nothing.

I double checked all my connections (which I had meticulously labelled before disconnecting) and verified them against the wiring diagram. Everything looked perfect on paper.

I spent some time checking the wiring system for continuity, from the ignition switch all the way down to the starter solenoid. The starter read 12V, but was not receiving any current when the key was turned.

Thinking I might have a short somewhere in the firewall, I spliced in a wire direct from the ignition switch to the starter, but it still wouldn't start. I then tried hooking up my old starter, which I knew worked fine. But it still wouldn't start or even turn over.

A full week and a half of diagnosing the system, and I stumbled across the solution while looking through a book on general automotive mechanics. The automatic transmission unit has a neutral indicator switch which allows the engine to start up ONLY when the shifter is in the Neutral position. When I pulled the auto shifter out, this switch was removed as well, and the wires going into it were left disconnected, not going anywhere.

I ran a wire across both connectors, and the car cranked over immediately, but would not stop cranking even after I turned off the ignition switch and even pulled out the key. I removed the wire I had spliced in, and this solved the problem immediately.

So now the car would crank over enthusiastically, but would not fire up.

 

May 29:

Spent some time today working on the carburetor, playing with the timing, etc. The car would not fire up, so I rechecked all the connections, which were fine. I spent some time verifying the gap on the points, and hooked up an engine analyzer to check dwell, timing, etc. I pulled out the fuel line and verified that I was getting fuel into the carb.

I was getting fuel and spark (to all four cylinders), but nothing was happening. I played with the rotation of the distributor, and cranked the engine over repeatedly until the engine finally detonated once. I repeated the process, and it detonated twice. Then a few more times. Finally, the engine fired up to life, but was idling way too high, around 1600 rpm.

The engine was also running roughly, so I played with the timing and the choke some more. I had to have the choke all the way out for the engine to stay alive.

I decided to take the car out for a spin to let it get warmed up a bit. I pulled out of the garage for the first time in five months, but stalled out immediately, not being used to the hydraulic clutch. I tried again and got the car rolling smoothly, but it would not take off and pick up speed. I was giving it quite a bit of gas and letting the clutch out smoothly, but the clutch would not grab.

I somehow got some momentum into the car and got it rolling at about 10-15 mph. I went to shift into 2nd, and discovered I could not shift it into that gear. I went back to first, and rode the car to the top of my neighborhood, which is on an uphill. At the top, the engine died, and I ended up coasting the car downhill back to my garage.

Back in the garage, the engine would fire up again, but was still idling way too high. On a whim, I swapped out the larger casrburetor for the smaller carb which came with the 998cc unit. Again, the engine fired up, and was running much smoother. But I still had no power delivery.

My conclusion is that I need to readjust the carburetor settings for the larger engine. I also need to look into my shifter problem and determine what parts I need to replace in order to make full use of my four gears.

This car is showing me that it won't cooperate with me until it's good and ready. Hopefully it will be running before the end of June.

 

great log.
being new here I can see some of the build as you described it. Thanks and good luck hope its running solid soon.

pics would be good too!

 

great write up so far! I had the same "neutral switch" problem when i did a tranny and engine swap in my honda. Good luck with the rest of the project! Keep us updated.