I was curious for those who want a serious bump in horsepower has any upgrade to a different type of motor such as a 6 cylinder? I am curious how much HP and speed one can get out of these little cars beyond the standard bolt on mods. The R53 is turning into one of my all time favorite cars primarily due to its super cool classic looks, size and handling, it just looks better and more compact than any other hot hatch currently on the market. I would even be happy if Mini did a Gen 5 re-release with the R53 body and a modern turbo charged engine with higher displacement.

 

There are quite a few members here who have significant engine upgrades which make the car even more fun to drive. Not cheap when pushing 250+whp. I have seen Minis with the VTec engine and they can really pump the whp. I’m sure that’s a expensive adventure too.

 

Im interested in learning more!

 

Unless you want to cut thru a lot of the car, reinforce it and make it rwd, there's nothing inline 6 or V6 that will ever fit in there in fwd configuration. There's one on here with a 650 whp R53, but it's a stroker and at the cost of a new car.

You can get plenty of power on a R53 while keeping it "reasonable" with parts that are already on the market. Ask anyone who's done all the bolt-ons, including head, cam, tune, etc, if they feel that they need more power at the front wheels. You get anywhere near 300 and it's more than enough for a small car. You go over that and you've got a car that's nice in a straight line. If you can't put the power down, it's a bit of a waste of money.

 

So far, I have only put on the 16% pulley belt, and fresh air intake. What should I do next to increase HP? 300 HP does sound like a lot. Also I am in San Francisco, any shops you would recommend for help?

 

if you are serious about more power and wanting to keep the car for a extended time I would suggest contacting Jan at RMW Motorsports. He’s a vendor here and for over 12 years he’s been building high horsepower Minis. He’s in Southern Ca. I’ve owned 3 R53’s and all have been modded to different degrees. The more you increase the performance the more you will enjoy the car. For me, the most enjoyable mod has been the CAE shifter. If you look at my signature you will see what mods I have on my car. I've owned it almost 11 years and will keep it as long as they let me drive....and maybe longer than that!! That's how much I like this car.

 

would you mod a car with 43,000 miles?

 

I'm putting a K20 of sorts in mine to solve that problem. The heads flow so much more air than the W11, they make the W11 look gimpy.

 

i started modding mine 11 years ago at 56k. These engines are overbuilt and there are a number of threads here about how stout they are. One of the original engineers wrote about how they developed and tested this engine on NAM. The member is unbreakablelump.

 

im still modding mine at 148,000

 

Mine is at 128,000 miles and I'm still not done with it. Still missing a BVH so I can install my cam, bigger injectors, tune, possibly go for the Harrop s/c, water/meth kit, lsd and suspension.

It all depends if you like the car. I don't see myself getting rid of it anytime soon, so it's worth it for me.

 

I've lost track of what engine we are talking about. Title says R56 engine upgrade but it is in the R50-R53 section?
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I have an R56 2013 MCS, and i started modding it the second i bought it at 36k miles. Now it has 72k and it is currently receiving a stage 2 tune.

 

I believe the OP is talking about his ownership of the R53 and modding that engine. A little confusing with R56 in there.

 

Apologize for the confusion, I was in fact referencing my 2005, R53 , It sounds like the next performance mod would be the Exhaust system if I have the 16% Pulley and Air Intake.

 

I got ahold of Jan at RMW motorsports and he commented that because I have an auto, I will never achieve 300 HP :( he said only manuals with their ability to rev really high can obtain 300 HP. ..