MINI cooper to cooper S swap

My wife bought a shiny new MINI Cooper back in 2005. Good right? Well... a good start, but she decided to pick all the options folks who like GRM would not:

Standard Cooper, no need for a supercharged "S" - check;

Heavy, CG-ruining panoramic sunroof - check;

Gutless CVT slush box- check

So, fast foward to 2010 and hubby, (yours truly) has now inherited said "cute" MINI for daily driver duty. With only 60,000 miles on the clock the car still drives pretty good. But it's also pretty slow. Soooo, I've been thinking evil swap thoughts. Most specifically finding a wrecked Cooper "S" with the 6 speed auto box and and swapping over all the bits. I say keep the auto because the wife refuses to learn stick, EVAR. And it is her special car. She ordered it, and she paid for it with her money after she had finished school. So, auto trans needed. 'Nuff said there.

My question is does anyone in the GRM community have swapability experience with the new MINI's? The rest of the BMW family seems pretty amicable to swapping the right bits into the wrong body, so why not MINI's too?

I've been to the north american motoring and MINI2 sites and haven't found much. The few posts I did find all seem say it'll be too hard, or too expensive or that it would much more fun to install some polished door sill trim plates. (don't forget the double stick tape!) or perhaps a nice roof rack.

So how about it? Swappable like a S52 into a 318ti or project from hell?

Thanks!

Check out northamericanmotoring.com - it's a large and active MINI forum, but I'll warn you - most of the guys over there have the idea that changing the oil and upgrading the tires makes them mechanics.

Having said that, there are a few that really know there stuff. I've always found the answers I need on our S but it takes some hunting.

I'm thinking that with the insane level of computer control on these cars, swapping autos will probably require an ECM swap/upgrade. And hey, while you're swapping, put the supercharger in!!

You may also be surprised at what people will ask for a CooperS wreck. Everything is so close to the front that you'll almost be compelled to find a rearend wreck. The hood to feed the air to the supercharger is an enormous price. I would guess you could find a sub 100k "S" in trade for your Cooper for less than the swap would cost.

This:

DeadSkunk wrote: I would guess you could find a sub 100k "S" in trade for your Cooper for less than the swap would cost.

Yeah, I have one of them pigs, and while I'm not afeared of a swap, I wouldn't do it.

Have you considered just doing a header/intake/exhaust?

Sounds to me like you're stuck with the car.

I know of a shop here in charlotte that had a customer Mini that blew up and the owner wanted to make it an "S" while replacing the engine. Lets just say it turning in another Mini not the "S"... albeit after much heart ache and $$$$.

Just enjoy it as a daily and buy something fun!

Totalled MINI+Geico=new MINI?

Sell old mini. Buy different mini?

Drive it and enjoy it. You could be commuting in a Toyota corolla but you are stuck driving your wife's fav car(what is she driving now?) In the meantime save up your pennies for something that will accept a motor swap or just find a good weekend toy.

OK, well I guess I'm stuck with the CVT. I can't sell the car because it's wifey's special one. You have a good point though fastmiata, it could be worse.... and beige.

On the bright side I am saving those pennies for a wifey pre-approved Lotus Elise (used of course).

MINIs don't seem to depreciate very much. If it's in good shape, I would say selling and rebuying or trading up would be a viable option.

jg

I'd say your best choice would be to grow a set of balls, and TELL her that if you are the one driving it now, that you should sell it and buy a more appropriate version for your use.
If she still protests, drain the oil and drive hard until you need to swap the engine.......

But I would save yourself the work and cost and just sell it and buy an S.

Oh and yes I too am married, sometimes you just have to make a stand. Tell her you could always trade her in for a more sporting, younger, thinner, more attractive, insert whatever is appropriate adjective model here. >LOL.

I may sound like a jerk, but one of my prerequisites for my wife before I got married was that she knew how to drive a stick, and one of the others was that she would never tell me what type of car I would drive.

Chris Rummel

Rumnhammer wrote: ...she would never tell me what type of car I would drive.

Can I get an "Amen!"?

Tube frame, Miata front suspension with Greasecar TDI swap bolted mid engine with a MKI/II/III GTi front suspension out back rolling stock looking gear.

Easy weekend worth of work... right?

RealMiniDriver wrote:

Rumnhammer wrote: ...she would never tell me what type of car I would drive.

Can I get an "Amen!"?

LOL, you guys are funny.

I could just not drive the MINI, but it would be kinda dumb. Since kid no.2 just arrived she's driving our Mazda 3 HB. I was considering picking up an E39 M5 or maybe even a used CTSV. But the MINI makes more sense for my 30 mile commute every day. 30+MPG is a good thing. I just wanted a little more omph on the on-ramp and was hoping these cars where as plug and play as others.

No biggie. In a few short months I'll have the cash to throw down on an '05 Elise. Or maybe I'll just keep my X1/9 and start my kid's college fund early!

mblommel wrote: In a few short months I'll have the cash the throw down on an '05 Elise. Or maybe I'll just keep my X1/9 and start my kid's college fund early!

College is overrated. Just ask any car salesman with a degree (almost all of them). Let 'em learn a trade...and how to drive in an Elise of course

Well there were the turbo kits out there for doing a twincharged MINI, not sure if you could just use that side of them in order to get what you want. Probably (possibly) easier