Long story short, fail water pump on the hwy result of blown head gasket the rest are history. So need a new engine or total rebuild, what are my options? I am from Toronto Canada, there are so few engine around and very few shop willing to take on a rebuild job for Mini. Of course money is an issue, if the price is over the top I might as well write it off since the car don't worth a lot.

 

Sneed4speed and Jan at RMW both have engines available outright or can rebuild yours. Very reasonable to work with them compared to the near 15k my local dealer wanted. Both websites link options and upgrades and collectively they have massive amounts of direct experience. Get your CC ready and you could be back on the road in a short amount of time.

 

Thanks, RMW is Revolution Motor Sport right? I did looked at S4S, looks like engine, shipping and labour will run north of $5000US which worth more than what the car worth. I'm not sure that's the route I want to invest.

If I am going to replace the engine, anything else I should deal with while I am at it? Clutch and mounts for sure, what else?

 

You could put a used engine in it and rebuild your original engine yourself.

 

There is only 1 used engine(100k miles) within reasonable distance and that it cost me about $3500US, plus labour cost and whatever parts I need. With a 100k engine I likely have to deal with chain and carbon issues.

Plus I don't have the space and skill to swap an engine, let alone rebuild.

 

So if the head gasket failed.......did the shop tell you you needed an entire "long block" from the oil pan to valve cover OR did they say you needed a new head,head gasket and all related installation parts? The factory crate motors used to be $3995 a few years ago - those were the days!
Dont panic - you still have a cool mini and one that could be back on the road with a smart budget and some planning.

 

I only know it fail compression test and they can see coolant when they stick a scope in there. I assume it need the "whole thing"

I am out of ideas, if you have any suggestions I am all ears.

 

A failed head gasket does not REQUIRE your entire engine to be replaced. You might make a few phone calls to your local BMW car club or find a tuner shop that works on Honda, Subaru , vw and audi. They will be well versed in “ cylinder head replacement”.
This would be a healthy way to explore options and research shops that do this type of work on a regular basis.
Having the shop installing a refurbished cylinder head from S4S or RMV would be a big improvement, along with water pump, timing chain kit and head gasket with related hardware. With all the parts ordered ahead of time you will find 10-12 hrs of shop time billed most likely. They do it faster at the shops I have used, but the bill is always padded for extras. As long as it’s done correctly, I prefer to pay for results and experience.

 

with MLS head gaskets, blowing them is almost rare...I bet that what they saw was oil! it is becoming more familiar scene to have a chipped piston due to broken spark plug or hot spot.

in/if this case, you only need a short block and a new piston.

Also, verify that the vacuum pump was not the culprit/seized.

 

What MiniToBe said!

I just acquired a Mini that someone had junked because of the engine. I originally thought it was just the timing chain when I got it from auction, but after tearing the whole thing apart, found that the vacuum pump was actually what started the whole chain reaction (pun intended). Vacuum pump seized, camshaft bolt sheared off into the timing chain and made a mess. It bent two valves, but I replaced all of them while I had it apart.

I think I'm maybe $500 total into the engine so far (head gasket set, valves, timing chain kit, oil pump chain [figured do it while i had it open], fan belt [same], timing chain tools, few random keepers I lost, and lastly the vacuum pump). Waiting on the vacuum pump now but I don't see any other surprises so far. Luckily with this forum so far I have not needed a workshop manual [if I planned to do a lot of Minis, prob would pick one up] but if you get yourself a manual and are somewhat handy, have access to tools, it might be worth at least taking a peak inside for yourself if your mechanic isn't telling you exactly what is going on.

There are a lot of lazy people out there, so they might just see something busted and give up. We do live in a throw away society these days