I have been looking on the forums and online about the possibility of putting an R56 S engine into an R56. I only came across one thread which was posted back in July 2008 so wanted to see if anything new came about through the years.

From what I have seen there will be mounting point differences and some said the gauges/lights won't work inside the car. Anyone else have any problems they could foresee or has anyone done this before?

 

One problem is the R56 ECU. A stand-alone ECU would be needed most likely. I have not seen what the R53 ECU set up is so I don't know if it would be possible to buy an R53 ECU and implant it into the R56 a possibly run it that way...Personally I love the supercharger whine and the instant power, but I love the looks of the R56 more (plus a turbo does have advantages that a supercharger doesn't and vise versa).

However, if a company came out with a supercharger kit for the R56 I may soil myself with excitement. The R53 had a turbo conversion for that model. I would love to see somebody do a supercharger conversion for the R56, but that probably will never happen.

 

What do you want to do??
Question does not match the thread title...a r53 S into a r56?!

 

Yes you can mechanically place an r53 engine into an r56. As stated before to get the electrical side to work right is going to prove difficult. You can do a stand alone ECU which will run the car but you will have no accessories (i.g. radio, wipers, cruise control, etc.). Is it it worth the money? In my opinion, no. It would be fun and cool but, would completely be a waste of time and money.

 

, that makes the 2 of us.

 

Hey trolls, you knew what he meant

 

If you got a R53 with a bad body (maybe rear end damaged) for cheap, and a R56 with a blown motor, you could swap all the electronics out and wiring from the R53 into the other. You'd prolly have to do the tach, speedo, and light/window switches too, possibly even the radio... Unless you just want a stripped down R56.

Are the wheel widths / drive shafts the same length?

Oh, and what about the fuel pump?

 

Troll who? You or him?

 

I was just thinking of this in terms of AutoX. I was thinking the R56 turbo would be good initially, especially if you changed to the bigger Garrett turbo and upgraded the Intercooler and other engine mods. But lately I have been thinking the R53 engine would be better because you are really only using 1st and 2nd gear (sometimes 3rd) in AutoX and the supercharger would give you almost immediate power (where the turbo would lag).

 

Not worth it for AutoX because that swap would put you in the modified class and you would not be able to keep up with other purpose built cars.

 

I understand the Tritec would need a bit of work to get in the r56 as the bulk head is rather different - if it can be done I would like to see a turbo Tritec lump in an r56 = best of both IMHO <img src="/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smilie" smilieid="21" class="inlineimg" />

 

I am already running in SMF as my front seats are removed. I am staying right with the leaders of my class and beating a lot of cars that have much more horsepower than me. That is why I would want the R53 engine to give me more power.

 

This is a good idea, but I would file this into the "not financially viable" folder. For how much money you're going to spend building up a W11 engine, and then tackling the electronics intergration, you're better off just buying an outright faster car than the MINI. I really like my car, but I know the limits of a FWD car on a road course and stepping into RWD or mid-engine is where you'd need to go to be a lot faster than the MINI.

 

I'm not sure if it would. I have found R53 motors for only a couple grand. Plus I could sell my R56 for something and the upgrades to an R53 aren't that expensive compared to the ones for an R56 turbo engine. I would also have all the labor cost erased since I have people that can do this work and for free.

 

I'm somewhat surprised no one has developed a supercharger kit for base model (non S) R56s. I don't know how performance minded base model R56 owners are, but there are plenty of mods (headers, exhaust kits, etc) available that I would think someone somewhere would want to convert their base R56. I could be totally off on this though.

 

Why not just buy an R53?

 

 

Yes, that makes a lot more sense!

 

I have a lot of work into my R56 and do not want to sell it for an R53 since most parts don't transfer to the R53 and the R56 looks better (in my opinion). If you can get away with a few grand for a complete R53 engine and then sell the R56 engine, then it's worth it.

 

Y'all are forgetting about the difference in the fuel system too, R56 engines are direct injected, they have a different (much higher pressure) fuel pump.

Trying to change to a supercharger would take a huge amount of work and money.

 

Then that would make your MINI a poser too if it's a first gen.

I'm sure the Austin Mini owners would feel the same.

 

I could care less about it being a "poser". If I wasn't put into XP class in AutoX, I would drop in a Volkswagen or Evo motor and push well over 300BHP

 

 

Bruv, have you made history on this idea, what were the results my man? Looking at the same.