Most liked posts in thread: Possible motor swap

Also ZCars of England do a Honda VTEC kit, http://www.zcars.org.uk. Email Chris if you're interested in checking that out.

Shawn

 

^^ Thats for a classic...thats eaaaasy now-a-days.


Couple other issues i brain-stormed that would make this much more costly then the figures you came up with.

1) Axles. Youll need to get some custom made, and "might as well upgrade" while you're at it. Pretty easy $600+

2) Are you going to try to run a stock ECM or no ? If you do, plan on spending $700 for tuning software.

3) ECM to BCM. The BCM pretty much controls everything in the car; speedo, tach, gauges, A/C, windows, airbags, locks, lights, etc. And w/o the ECM the BCM is going to have issue running 100%. (at the very least be bother by some sort of warning light) So how are you going to go about making all the 'normal' electronics work ? (this is the killer IMO)

4) The gas pedal. It is just a little glorified switch down there, so you would likely need fab up something else. Not really a lot of money, but "not a lot of money" adds up VERY fast.

5) Hood. Your stock r50 isnt going to hide anything, so youll likely need to get a r53 w/ the bigger nose, to help hide a larger motor. Hoods arent cheap, and neither is paint.

6) Cooling. Is the stock radiator going to be sufficient at keeping a larger motor cool, and will the motors coolant lines be similar to MINI.

7) A/C. Custom a/c lines will likely need to be fabbed up as well. I seriously doubt your wife would care to drive around w/o it...

8) Header. Regardless of the motor you choose, youll need a custom one, or one heavily customized.



Now, i am alllll for being different and going against the grain, and i support it 100%. BUT, i dont think this is the car to try and do it too. It will just end up costing you a lot of money, a lot more then i believe you realize. As you have found out with your current project, take your budget, and multiply it by 3....thats how much it will really cost you to complete.

IMO Stick a r53 system off in there. Youll atleast avoid 90% of the wiring/electronic nightmares you WILL face w/ another motor. And with how much cheaper it WILL be cheaper, you could build the r53 motor up decently well.

 

The ZCars site only lists the classic conversions, however they do one for R53s using a B18 Type R motor. That's why I stated that an email was best.

Shawn

 

If thats the case....i would love to see more info on it. +1 to you, as the information they can share would be exactly what the OP is after. I would loooove to see more info on it, and especially some photos...just to have as eye candy.

drabdub; i think that is a wise choice. MUCH less headache, and the amount of money saved can be put towards a car much more excepting of swaps. (e46 w/ LSx ?!?! (Vorshlag ) )

 

If you do go thru with the motor swap, how do you plan to get past SMOG inspections? That means you'll have to do the whole thing (motor, tranny, ecu and engine harness)... just saying...

 

I say go for it...
If you have the resources, talent and support, do it.
I like projects like this and please post bunches of pictures. That ecotec 4 sounds wild but is probably not in the cards. I seem to remember following a Brit that dropped a JDM engine in a 2 gen MINI and got it working and I think now offers a DIY kit. I'll try and find it for you.

 

I was close but no pinjata....

Think MINI and Dave Tassell (electrical engineer), morphed the VAG ecu to talk with the MINI ecu and dropped a 1.8 liter turbo VAG 20 valve engine in the MINI. Granted, the US ECU is different so you might need their transplant.

This might stay with your V-dub genes and become a workable Frankensteine MINI. I realize you were looking at the Chrysler engine options, but this might be a lot less headaches in the long run.....

Here's a little on the build...

The World's first VAG 1.8T 20V powered BMW Mini

 

Here is the link to the car, 4th video down. And it's a 2.0 conversion but not sure which one, doesn't look like a K20. Chris builds wicked stuff over there, I have his front subframe on the way for my classic that you can mount an A-Series into!

zcars.org.uk

Shawn

 

Exactly. The non-s Getrag is still a 5spd. People have done the 6spd Getrag swap as well w/o much issue.

 

And if you can find a Getrag out of a factory JCW, grab it because it has beefed up internals. That is if you intend to up the torque.

 

Thought the only difference between the S gearbox and the JCW was the LSD.

Shawn

 

Not the first generation cars as far as I can remember. Guess a trip to Realoem is in order to check part numbers

 

This is a portion of the article 2/06/2008 in Motoringfile discussing some of the differences. I clipped just the portion on the transmission.

......All this adds up to some serious power. 210bhp to 220bhp is the unofficial range given however we believe that the final output will be on the high-side of that number. However don’t confuse the official number with the final number. We expect the official figure to be relatively conservative and right around the GP’s power output. Torque figures will most likely be just over 200ft lbs – not far off the dealer JCW kit currently offered. We’ve seen the 206ft lbs number from several sources.
As you can imagine all this power could conceivably tax the stock drive train. So MINI will be including a revised (and much more robust) clutch with the factory JCW car. Of course this verifies something we reported a few months back – the factory JCW MINI will not be available with an automatic.
Helping bring the car to a stop will be a new JCW brake kit with four piston front brakes (the current MINI makes due with one mind you) and much larger rotors and pads than the stock MCS.

All pretty impressive. But there’s one more thing. Coming standard with the new factory JCW MINI will be a new six speed manual transmission. This new unit will feature shorter throws, improved feel and (most importantly) be able to cope with the extra power and torque that the factory JCW car will put out. According to sources the current Getrag unit is only designed to handle power in the range of the dealer installed kit. So if BMW wanted to reach its normal longevity targets a new transmission and upgraded clutch was in order.....

 

The article is from 08 and the HP figures jive with the 2nd gen car. Unless I'm wrong the OP is planning 1st Gen here.

 

So a 2nd gen trans won't bolt up to a 1 gen? I stand corrected, I thought it could be done.