Being my son last drove it, have not time to get it back in shop, yet. Bearly 15 degrees outside, only dealing with customers cars right this moment. Will check it out being he is driving my Jeep. Will be back in touch soon.

 

It is a great job to do the transmission swap. I am going to do mechanic job in the garage and send all the computers to a dealer for reprogramming.
I have a few question which need some help.
1, is the mount for transmission needed to be changed?
2, is there any electrical circuit hack needed to do beside ECU reprogramming?
Is the work kind similar to this post for honda civic:
http://civic-hx.6thgearadvertising.com/

 

I think a dealer is unlikely to do and possibly incapable of doing the the reprogram for you. You have to find a specialty BMW/MINI shop to do it - WayMotorWorks did it for me, and I know there's place in Texas that another guy here used.

Way has a good preliminary parts list for the swap on his site here:
http://www.waymotorworks.com/cvt-to-...rsion-kit.html

Based on the invoice for my swap, I don't think you need a new transmission mount.

If the reprogram is done correctly, you don't need to do any kind of wiring hacks. However, unless you completely swap the engine wiring harness out, which is unnecessary, you won't have the clutch inhibit switch which also means you won't have cruise control. (The reprogram makes the engine think the clutch is always in to allow it to start and run).

You can buy the electrical connector bits to wire the back-up light pretty easily. I posted about it in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ag-swap-5.html

There is a temporary wiring hack to get the car running without a reprogram. The car will eventually go into inhibit mode though and the check engine light will stay on until it's reprogrammed.

 

I am doing the same thing. I purchased another mcs (2006) that was totaled from rear. I still dont understand about the whole reprogram logistics. Can this be done without having to take the car to atlanta? Why cant one simply swap all the computers from the donor vehicle to make this work without reprogram? Mainly can it be done by sending the computer to atl (waymotorworks?)

 

I sent my DME to RPM Motorsports, (Canada), and they did everything else via the interweb. The problem (if you can call it that) with swapping everything over from another car is that your VIN will not match; (every computer- and there are a bunch- has the original car's VIN). If you don't care, well...

 

Interesting - so you finally ended up getting RPM to do the reprogram. Do you have a programming interface yourself (the everything else via the interweb part?)

I guess the VIN issue isn't a big deal unless it raises eyebrows at emissions/state inspections (which it very well might).

 

You don't have to come to Atlanta, you can ship ALL your computers to use and we'll reprogram them all and send them back.

Swapping all the computers will cause you many issues: mileage, coding, options, keys not working, etc.

 

I could have sent everything off as Way suggests, and perhaps should have, but the swap was (for me, anyway) the first of its kind, and I had to learn as I went. RPM was extremely helpful in debugging /programming via team sessions with my laptop connected through the OBD port. Frankly, the computer stuff makes my eyes glaze over in about 60 seconds. Give me a welder anytime.

 

Yeah, I remember when you first posted about it a few years ago how excited I got. Yours was the first mention I had run across of someone actually doing it and making it work

Now that yours is done, and Way has done a number of swaps along with others too, there's basically no more figuring out to do.

Only thing that really remains is getting cruise control to work, which I've given up on for now. After much experimenting with Way one afternoon, I think it would require replacing the entire engine harness to work (or at least installing wiring from the DME to the clutch switch, which would be a true pain...)

 

gknorr, I wired in a clutch switch- it is a pain, but only the bit about fitting a "female" pin into the DME harness connector, and I'm not 100% certain I did that well. I still don't have cruise, but I do get an occasional code that the switch is malfunctioning, so that may be why. I am stubborn, though and will continue to track it down. I will let you know what I learn. BTW, I stole the "female" from the now-unused connector for the GUI.

 

Good to know - if you get it working, definitely report back!

When Way and I did some testing with it about a year ago, the DME was reading the lack of a clutch switch in mine as the clutch is always depressed.

Are you able to see what the DME is actually reading from your clutch switch?

 

No...well, yes, but I can't remember what the error message was exactly. RPM noticed it a few times during teamshare sessions. The starter-lockout element of the switch always works, but that's basically a relay inside the EWS. I suspect that if there's a breakdown it's in my pin in the DME intermittently losing contact or grounding out against an adjacent pin. I drilled with my ittiest-bittiest bit through the connector and installed the female. I'm 90% sure all is cool, but that 10% wiggle room nags me.
I tried every which way to figure out how to disassemble the connector and do it properly, but was stumped, and never could find a schematic showing how it is put together. So, I improvised.

 

^That's why I always thought of it as a replace the entire harness to make it work. Maybe someday I'll actually end up doing it, but that certainly won't be anytime soon...

It sounds like you at least have the start-inhibit function working - nice work.

 

Anyone on here ever disassembled one of the connectors to the DME? Any diagrams?

 

There used to be wiring diagrams online here:

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/r.../r50/index.htm

Looks like the actual diagrams are now missing from that site when you try to get to them. Not sure if they'll ever be up again - another similar site (http://spaghetticoder.org/) that had a bunch BMW TIS documents was taken down by request of BMW and other manufacturers...

That said, back when bmw-planet site still worked, I don't remember seeing a listing/diagrams of the pins in the DME connector. Of course, there must be one out there somewhere - do you have a bentley manual? I don't, but I've heard there are diagrams included - not sure how detailed though.

 

Thanks, gknorr. I have the Bentley and a TIS CD, but what I'm after is the actual method of opening up the connector itself, to insure that the pins are properly insulated from one another (especially after my little drill-fest).

 

Oh, and the pins are all listed in the Bentley. That's how I knew where to drill!

 

Ah - good to know. I'll pick one up one of these days!

 

Only other thing I can add is you might need some of the connector and terminal bits. There is a special tool that can remove the terminals, but I don't remember what it looks like, how exactly it worked, or where to get it (wish I could help more!). Way had one that we used...

Various terminals used in that connector are here:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...31&hg=12&fg=10

I had to pick up some similar connector bits to get the back-up light plugged in.

 

Anyone ever crack to cruise-control mystery?

 

I did a little search. Find the some people did swap CVT to Manual and make cruise-control worked. Here is the thread:
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...Swap-%28DBW%29
Probably it can help.

 

How easy is it to discern a MINI that's had a swap versus one that was always manual? Are there artifacts of the its past automatic-ness that one can identify, or is it more or less identical to an R50 that was manual off of the line? If a mechanic who was familiar with MINIs was working under the hood and didn't know it used to be automatic, would there be anything standing out that would make him go "WTF?" or is the transplant (assuming it's done well) more or less seamless?

 

The answer is: it depends. If the swap was done with all the right OEM-style parts, then it will be virtually undetectable. The only clues I could imagine would be some extra wires in the engine bay (if they hadn't been tucked neatly inside the plastic loom cover). Under the dash, there might be a computer module for the CVT, or not, in which case the connector and wiring will still be there. At any rate, there should be no obvious signs that the car has been swapped, assuming the swap was done right.
The surest thing to check would be the VIN. Are you concerned about buying a swapped car or selling one?

 

My only concern was mechanics working on it, going in there and being confused over certain things being rigged together. I'm not too familiar with the internals of an R50 really visualize what the differences between a manual/automatic trans are.

If I went so far as to swap trans like that, I'm probably deeply attached to that MINI and have no intention of selling it.

Since I have a 2004 with a CVT I've been doing lightweight research into this topic because I figure at some point in the future, be it tomorrow or (preferably) years from now, I'll be deciding what I want to do.

 

I am i. A similar position. I have a 06 mcs that was totaled (rolled) but a freat engine and getrag 6 speed. I have the whole car still. I plan on taking the engine, trans, axles, and all other required components needed and putting them into a 03 perfect body/interior but no engine or trans.
As i understand, all electronics have to move with the drivetrain as well as the steering column, guages and most if not all the wiring. I am (at this point anyways) uncertain how many computers are in each car. Alot pf unknowns. As i move through this project, ill keep notes and make posts.