Are they interchangeable ?

 

i believe the valve sizes are different. at the time of publishing; my bently did not have the specs for the "s" .

 

i believe also there is a webb head on sale in market place .

 

thanks, i looked for the head and the post was a year old ! I emailed him so we will see if he still has it. I'm in Hawaii too, so shipping is another thing.

 

I have a stock head off my 2003 MCS with 70k miles for sale in the marketplace for $250. Why are you looking to replace yours?

 

I have a blown head gasket ,runs great except for the overheating problem so I wondered if the new cooper head I saw on fleebay could just be swaped . Now im thinkin (more power) as usual ,portting ect. on a new head would be easy, cheapish way to get more power since its going to be apart anyway. looking for options.my head has 60k but it is unknown if it is warped or cracked or just the gasket let go. 6 years of racing with a 19% pullie has taken its toll. A used High Power head would be the best option I guess. thanks for the offer of your head.

 

I've inpsected the two side by side and the only difference I could find was that the R53 head has studs for the intake manifold whereas the R50 uses bolts. I didn't take any maeasurements but they looked exactly the same. You would be better off taking your head to a good head specialist and having them completely service it. Machining, cleaning, valve job with new seals, checking for cracks. At the very least have it machined. After all of that then you should think about porting.

No matter which head you choose to install, have it machined at the very least, unless it's new of course.

 

Cooper S head vs. Cooper:

 

Thanks , ken and rover that what I wanted to know. They arre not the same but could be interchanged. Peter

 

the only real difference is the exhaust valves. And this is material, not size.

Matt

 

Yep, on realoem, the cylinder heads, cams, valvetrain and tensioner parts all have
identical part numbers except the intake and exhaust valves between the
r50 and r53 (non-jcw).

 

great article ; seem to be alot more differences than i would've figured . good to know .

 

Here's the original article: http://www.motoringfile.com/files/MCS_Powertrain.pdf

Still doesn't jive with the MC head, cam, springs, retainers, valve seals,
tensioners, rockers, etc. all having the same part # as the MCS version
except for the intake and exhaust valves (same size, different part#).
I looked at 3/2003 build.

Can anyone confirm that there's really any differnce besides the valve material, or was
this early wishful white-paper-ing?

 

but when supply chain issues came up, there was no benefit to keeping it that way.

Matt