No. I just realized I was wasting my time trying to have this discussion here. Not enough fabricators, and too many fanboys. I did not start this discussion to upset people, and put them on the defensive. I own a lot of cars, and have been able to have discussions just like this about all my other cars. Members of the Viper forum know what the problem areas are for -that- car, and we can talk about ways to solve those issues. The Nissan Xterra has an aluminum front axle center section. It is fine for regular use, but for hard core off roading, it was known to fail. We worked through it by figuring out how to swap the front section from the Titan (which is iron) into the Xterra. I'm currently looking to buy a Z06 Corvette, but after spending time on the Corvette forums, I learned the Z06 is having issues with dropping its exhaust valve. Those guys are working their butts off trying to solve the problem because GM is doing to them what MINI is doing to us here. BUT, through the owners hard work and open discussion, THEY have figured out a solution. So, now I know exactly what I have to do to my Z06 as soon as I buy it.

No biggie. I've talked with people on other forums and in person on this. Guys like Maddog are out there, and we'll slowly work our way through it. Again, I am sorry that I upset some people here. I'm 46 years old, married, a dad, and certainly not an internet troll.

Maddog, check out Wades Garage. He has done great work in doing a full drivetrain swap and getting OEM gauges, ABS, etc to work. His swaps look OEM, and I really like that. I'm currently fabricating up a hail shield for my storm chasing vehicle, so I'm pretty busy these days. The MINI LNF swap is on the back burner for me. If you need someone to bounce ideas off (or anyone else), please just PM me.

 

Hey JeffinDFW,

Don't let the fanbois get you down - they exist with every make.

The LNF swap is on the back burner for me too, although it's because we've moved and now I don't have the monster size garage with lift anymore. We'll see how long that situation exists.

I love the styling of the car, but everytime I work on one (I've owned 4 new Minis, 2 1st gen, 2 2nd gen), I'm less and less enchanted. It also looks like GM understood more about valve overlap and manages to avoid the valve deposits on the LNF engine that the 2nd Gen Mini engines are having trouble with now.

I'm now thinking that the thing to do is get a 1st gen body (I like the shape a bit more than the 2nd gen), toss the electronics and drivetrain out of it, and build it hot rod style with an LNF and a fabricated harness. Of course, this is around 2 years of work, but I like the combo enough to put that kind of time into it.

BTW - I'm pretty much the same age as you, I've had over 30 cars over the years, and I am an automotive engineer, well, manager these days.

 

 

Whoa, your response time is slow! You do realize you bumped a thread and replied to a comment from a year ago, right? And the comment has nothing to do with being a fanboy or to point out what can or cannot be done with an engine swap.

It pointed out that YOU said your beloved SS engine was both “dead reliable” and “is poorly made.”

You might want to adjust your definition of a “fanboy,” because it is surely not someone who simply points out contradicting statements. And I don’t even own a MINI anymore, so fanboy I am not.

Any way, carry on this lively discussion of the SS swap.

 

Jeff,

By now, you may be realizing that most of us who have dabbled in modding our MINIs have only done the bolt-on stuff, (myself included). Many of us, not all, but many of us fear cracking open the engine and doing internals like cams, heads, pistons, etc., let alone an engine swap. I'm talking about an engine swap from another MINI. Even farther out there is an engine swap from an entirely different car company(!)

Again, to clarify, there are always exceptions, whom I'm not speaking of. There are plenty of guys and gals out there who are more adventurous, like yourself, but they're not the majority of us MINI owners; not by a long shot.

While this Cobalt engine swap may seem easily doable, entirely possible, and probably even fun to you, to many of us, it seems about as difficult as putting a man on Mars. Yes, it is technically possible, and would be awesome, but it is nearly impossible to fathom how to go about doing it.

And you were correct when you said that most of us aren't "fabricators", but don't look down at us. While you don't appreciate getting flack and attitude from (some of) us, we also don't appreciate you putting us down because we all maybe can't weld the perfect "stack of dimes" and have what equates to a machine shop in our garages with 4-post lifts where we've built X number of super-awesome cars with engines from a wide variety of manufacturer's with our good hand tied behind our backs. Okay, I may have just exaggerated there...

But what I'm saying is that you are the minority among us. We can assume you're a highly skilled visionary, with the knowledge, means and tools to do such unorthodox Frankenstein monster-like operations to cars. We wish you good luck in your endeavors to do this engine swap, and hope that you post your progress for us to see. We would just like to keep things civil, that's all.

Thanks.

 

2jz

 

Another thread talking about fixing something before its broken! I never understand the majority of those posts. Please realize that the number of cars that are reported as problems on forums like these is VERY small compared to the number of cars that are sold country and even world wide. People only ***** when there is a problem. The hundreds of thousands of drivers that don't have problems don't say anything because thats what they expect. Drive the car, take care of it, and you will likely not have any major issues. I'll never understand the constant worry that people put themselves through.

 

Agreed.


But Jeff like you said, just do your homework and buy another vehicle as your play toy. Every car has flaws, remember that. Whether its mechanical or detailed. I always and still do want the Hyundai Genesis 2.0t 13'. That new engine in that car excites me but I know that there's a reason their warranty is 100k miles haha. Good luck man.

 

I have the same question as Jeff, but more out of necessity than theory. My 03 S mini engine has 115k on it and looks to have bit the dust. Think I'm looking at a head rebuild minimum but also considering a rebuilt engine. Has anyone tried the Wey rebuilt engines, standard or race, or any other engine sources? If I'm going to keep the car I'd like to make it faster and more of a track car. Don't think I'm up for a conversion to another manufacturers engine but what are the options if you stick with a mini engine?

 

I had an RMW rebuilt engine with the big valve head and one of his cams. Ran great, but spent a lot of time tuning it and messing with it. Made the car a memorable performer, but I also remember constantly messing with it to keep it happy. Not the fault of the rebuilt engine, rather all the hop up parts you'll want to throw on it and the tune necessary to keep it all running. That car was fast, though.

 

My 2007 Mini S with 72,000 miles, maintained under the $1200 Maintenance extension by Mini which expired in late September, just had an engine failure without any warning. One minute I was driving to work, and next minute the check engine light was on and the engine felt like it was driving on 2 cylinders (which it was, because I had little or no compression in the other 2). Now what???

 

Get a good mechanic/shop ( suggest non-Dealer to save maybe 1500-2000$) that knows mini's...have them look...might be time to swap a motor...might just be a sudden carbon issue...carbon CAN cause zero compression like your symptoms...so could be a $800 or so fix...maybe worse....

 

Thanks, Zippy.
Had it towed to the Dealer who gave me 2 options:

Pull the head and figure out what was wrong/needing to be fixed, at a cost of $7500 PLUS any parts once they determined what it needed (valves, etc.) or

Buy a new engine for $7800 which included new timing chain, all new valves, valve guides, etc. plus a 2 year warrantee on the new engine. And they would put in a new clutch, and whatever else was needed to bring it back to "New" condition.

My question is, can an N18 engine fit into my 2007 without modification, or is it worth saving $2000 to put in a "rebuilt" engine?

 

as you have discovered, Dealer excel at selling/replacing parts....
the typical dealer DOES have high overhead...and charges $150-200 per hour....
and independent shop charges $80-125 an hour...and will buy the SAME PARTS FROM THE DEALER in MANY/MOST cases and get a 15-20% parts discount...often giving you a portion of the savings....
I guess you have to trust the info the dealer/shop/mechanic is giving you...I feel they sometimes try to scare the owner into thing it will be better to get a "new" car with a warranty....
I'm pretty sure changing to a N18 will require quite a few different parts...most likly ECU, etc...remember..a "new" or rebuilt motor REUSES most of the bolt-ons on your motor...the wiring, alternator, AC, etc...so I doubt changing is a viable issue.

http://www.waymotorworks.com/n14-com...-cooper-s.html
Might be worth calling for a price...he MIGHT have a local place to ship it to where you can move the car to..might save you $1000+ for a $100 tow bill.....just the saving of $75 an hour for an 8-10 hour motor change would make it a cost savings....
At a shop I frequent, they had TWO n14 powered gen2 MINI's show up with dead cylinders....THOUGHT they were going to need new motors...but they did some BASIC checks...found carbon in the valves...and for about $800, both cars were back on the road....
ONLY you knows if tons of extra noise was made (from a timing chain failure) when it suddenly started to run bad or if it has had issues, been modded with parts that may have caused "other" parts failures, etc....
Depending on WHAT/HOW it failed it MIGHT be worth spending 2 hrs labors to "look"...it would be a shame to replace a motor for a MINOR carbon issue....
Good luck!

 

gut the motor and put a 1300cc turbo Suzuki hybusa motor in the back if you want to get tricky......
300hp easy

 

Park it for a couple years; someone might offer an affordable electric conversion.

 

Its 2024 and the LNF engine is still being modded, annnd GM still produces its predecessor the LDK/LHU engine. It can be bought fully forged from ZZP in Michigan for right around 5k! These engines are great tuners, they are not the best or the most reliable engines out there no. But they reliably produce a lot of power for cheap and will keep running well if taken care of properly.
Also **** MINIS omg they are so ugly