I have been toying with the idea of picking up a motor/tranny from a wrecked car for some time now. I am at a point where I can actually make it happen, but cannot find much related info. The reason for considering the swap is simple: I want a turbo and a stronger tranny; buying a stock MCS motor is cheaper than building my stock motor to the same or higher tolerances, but the motor by itself minus a turbo yields greta performance for the dollar with your typical bolt-ons and tuning.

First off...has anybody done this yet?

What would it take to do this? Will the motor/tranny bolt up without any problems? - it's the same block so I'd imagine that wouldn't be an issue. What I am most concerned about would be the wiring and electronics integration. I would likely end up with a uni-chip and custom tune, so I'm not worried about that, however I do not know if i could use my stock ecu with the new motor and uni-chip.

And just so no one brings it up...the car is almost paid for and it would NOT be cheaper to just buy an S.

Any input or thought on this matter will be appreciated.

 

If you get a used S motor I believe you also need the ECM, EWS, possibly the BC1, the key and maybe the instrument cluster. This is no easy task. If you just went with a new stand alone ECU then you could bypass all of the above, but expect to pay around $7K for that.
Not sure about fuel pumps, but they are most likely the same.
Possibly gas pedal
Relocate battery
Drive shafts?
Probably a bunch of this and that.

 

This dude on mini2.com did it. His name is cjp. Just do a name search and find all his posts. I would love to do this as well. But probably when I'm in my midlife cause that sounds expensive.

 

If I am reading this right, it is the same idea that I came up with, starting with a cooper and building it to a turbo cooper, by swapping in the MCS engine but removing the SC and running only a TC. I have been researching this alot, and the most common response I get is "It would be cheaper to buy an S" and wow thats getting annoying. My biggest issue with the build is the throttle response of the MCS powerplant, the throttle response is terrible compared to the coopers. So inorder to build a quick responeding turbo cooper, you would have to buy an S engine and tranny, swap it in, buy a turbo kit, than buy parts to improve throttle response, my ideal build would be to have something like a Cosworth Stage 2 kit. That seems like a lot of money, a lot of money i dont have. I for one have regretfully gave in to the pressure and I think I am going to buy an S, and install a Cosi stage 2 kit and possibly a M62. But please look into the coversion, their is still hope

 

about turbo only Minis. He did it to his, but started as an S. Also you can check with the Fireballed crowd. I think a bunch of them are taking off the SC and going turbo only. And to tell you the truth, I don't honestly know if the ECU is different, or if it's just programmed differently. I have seen a TSB or something where the operator is told to program the ECU as though it didn't have a VIN... Makes you wonder. But if you went aftermarket, you could get something that's user programmable. For sure the S has extra sensors (most notably the T-MAP and MAP vs just a T-MAP for the Cooper). I don't thing the e-gas needs to be changed. It just has two pots in it to read how far you pressed it, and outputs .5 to 4.5 volts like a lot of the sensors...

Anyway, have fun with it, it sounds like a big, but fun, project.

Matt

 

Not to say anything you haven't thought of before.. but why not just use the money you were going to put into the swap into an 07 mcs?

 

I still have the MCS that was wrecked at the Dragon for sale. It runs and drives. You would have everything you need and then some. I have been too busy and gone to put it on Ebay.

 

Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination.

Matt