Amazing build bud..... You are all man hands!

Any thoughs on what may be more engine weight to the right of the car and how to compensate for balancing?

 

If you think about it the engine and trans is in the same side as it was before. And now that this engine is lighter, it will just help the overall weight. The weight change isnt my concern at all.

 

I have completed the shifter box and the cables. I also did the clutch line and bled the system. I have completed the exhaust manifold and cat converter with flex pipe. The header needs a bit more touch up and another o2 bung welded. Enjoy.

Honda hard line into mini hard line.

Little trimming needed, not much.




Fits like oem. Even used the oem holes and bolts to mount it into the same spot.



K-tuned no cut shifter box. All aluminum and it has a cover for the bottom which makes it fully enclosed. The stock heat shield fits right under it like oem mini.

3 inch flex into 2.5 inch v band with 3 inch high flow cat. and another v band clamp

The header needed to be bent up at the runners then down at the end. I have to grind and paint the rest of it.



Next will be the radiator and condensor. Once that is in place I can finish the 3rd mount.

 

Great job bud.

 

Nice work.

 

Here is some more progress. Next week will be the first attempt to start it up.






Clearance is perfect.



I need the first 02 sensor and the 90 bung might get plugged.



Front Radiator clearance against the block. I wont be able to use the front mount as my 3rd motor mount. I will have to revert the 3rd mount idea to the rear.





Intercooler is setup for the future.









Top radiator support bracket will need to be made as well.




Almost done...Enjoy.

 

What an incredible work, send me your address I'm heading your way with mini we figure out the motor when I get there...lol I miss my S2000

 

 

I had two AP1s. If I was not an old fart with a bad hip would still have them but at 6-3 I was a sardine in it. MINI is allot easier to get in and out off and with my mods I have the S2000 HP beat and the torque, well the S2000 did not have too much so will not even go there but nothing can beat that 9000 rpm redline sound.

Back on topic, this is an amazing shade tree engineering effort.

 

Thank you all for the nice comment. I will be posting more until this thing starts up. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

Man, this is literally the dream!

What did you use for the ECU? does it work with the stock gauges?

Only thing that I dont understand right now.

 

He's using a K-Pro ecu

As for factory gauges that'll be interesting to see as they are all on a CAN bus. I've seen converters / Adapters but maybe an option to wire them directly?

 

Not much of an update. But good news is that the motor starts with the kpro. I have to find a good spot to go through the firewall so the new ECU can be inside the cabin. I have located all necessary wires except the fan control wire. I want to use the mini relay to start the new fan. If i cant find the wire then I will have to manually make my own relay circuit. Any suggestions where the fan control wire is on the Mini harness? Oh yea, the originally mini ecu does not need to connected at all. The key works and so does the power steering with the ignition on.

Working on the upper rad support bar.


Almost done..

 

Are you losing any features with this swap?

As in would all the alert lights work and gauges work?

super dope swap. Cant wait to see it finished!

 

Amazing!!

 

 

 

I have lost A/C so far but that is easy to put back. I have also lost the RPM gauge. The speedo still works somehow. The stock mini ecu is out of the car so whatever that controls,its out. The new ecu gives me the new outputs so I can just wire in a new cluster.

 

Speedo should be coming off the can signal from the ABS module as it's wheel speed sensor driven (derived?).

For RPM you could try feeding the tack signal from the KPro to the tach directly?

 

the mini gauge cluster is all can bus. I dont have much knowledge about it.

 

I have a quick update for you all. The car runs!! I have finally finished the 3rd motor mount and the car is road ready. I need to figure out what to do with gauge cluster cause I can't see my RPM. In the mean time I will have my phone or ipad setup. The kpro has built in bluetooth so I can see all the parameters in live time. I will post more pictures at its current state next week.

 

amazing engineering. I really love this type of effort.

 

What are you doing to do about all of the electronics/PCM? Are you gutting the car and using all of the ACURA stuff? Isn't pretty much everything the car in one way or another handles by the MINI PCM? power windows, door locks, gauges, lights, a/c and vent controls, air bags, ABS brakes, engine management, etc, etc, etc........

I've always wanted to do an engine swap.......but not knowing what to do about all of the electronics really has turned off of the whole idea.

Also......keep an eye on those welds. I've used those cheap flux core mig welders before.....even if they look nice, they can be very weak and full of porosity....and will break on you. Just a word of warning......

 

thanks for the warning on the welds. I know its a cheap welder and I'm gonna keep a close eye out. As far as the electronics go. Everything is normal except the a/c button and rpm gauge. The Engine light, Oil pressure, and Battery light is not done yet. I will manually add the wires to a used cluster and put them in. Speedo works like normal and DTC button obviously doesnt work. The Kpro has a can bus output. I could be brave and just plug that into the cluster to see what may happen.

 

What about the power windows, gauge lights, interior lights, headlight/tail lights, blinkers, radio, etc, etc,......does all of that stuff work?