Anyone ever swap the Cooper S manual transmission into a Cooper manual? The gearing on the Cooper manual is unusually tall, presumably to help distinguish the B36's fuel economy over the B46's.

 

I would also like to find more information about the potential swap.

I've looked online and externally the gear boxes look identical (so far as the mounting bolts, shift mech etc) and given they are pretty affordable over here in the UK (from £300 for an 2.0 'S' box) - it would be cost effective to swap it out when I'm getting my rattling flywheel sorted.

Having owned a 2016 S in the past, the gearbox is way better geared than the 1.5 version!

 

I made the mistake of buying a base trans at one point for my F56 S. I can claim that the base and S trans are different. The Axle size and depth of mounting points for them are both totally different with the casing. I don't think the internal gears can be swapped just because of that alone.

 

The different axles makes sense. But are you saying that the two transmissions don’t bolt up to the engine the same? Or are you saying that if you were to have the appropriate axles from the respective transmissions, it shouldn’t be an issue mating it to the engine?

 

hmm that is an excellent question. Would need to compare mounting sites of the axles if it works with the wheel hubs. If it does then the swapping of trans and axles would be doable in theory. I'm sure someone is going to try it eventually

 

I would like to give it a go myself, but don't have the facilities to do all the work (just a driveway and some axle stands) - it would be a case of finding a garage that would be wiling to try if I was to supply the parts.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe the physical engine mounting points on the two transmissions looks the same, plus the linkages themselves are in the same position. it would just the driveshafts, although I can't imagine it would be hard for me to locate some used 2.0 litre driveshafts and hubs. Hmmm, interesting.