Mini cooper engine in a neon

chappybmode · Post by **chappybmode** » Thu May 15, 2014 2:49 pm

Has anyone thought about yanking the supercharged 2.0 out of a R53 mini cooper and putting it in our cars. Im pretty big on the mini side now as i own and 09 S. I wonder if when i do this i would be the first?

FAC3L3SS · Post by **FAC3L3SS** » Thu May 15, 2014 3:33 pm

Most likely. It's quite the bizarre choice for a motor, and most people who have the "oddball" swaps chose them for recognize a common piece: mounts, suspension, etc. . . something that gave them a starting point.

chappybmode · Post by **chappybmode** » Thu May 15, 2014 4:36 pm

The block and head for the mini is based on our 2.0's

Gnuserup · Post by **Gnuserup** » Thu May 15, 2014 4:48 pm

Are you sure ?

I have a original 1.6 which is really Mini One

and have been sure, the engine is mainly different.

I could measure some things if it helps and you like

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Fri May 16, 2014 7:23 am

From what I've read, chrysler and bmw had a joint venture with the 1.6. Chrysler designed it for bmw to use in the mini, and they got to use it on export neon/pt cruisers. They said the design is inspired by our 2.0 sohc motor, just smaller.

BMW used a different 1.6 engine from 2007-2013 from a new joint venture with Peugeot. The 2014 mini is the only one with a 2.0 turbo, all earlier mini's are 1.6 engines.

neonrog · Post by **neonrog** » Fri May 16, 2014 1:17 pm

Interesting idea, makes me wonder if the Mini 6 speed would bolt to the Neon 2.0. Do the 1.6 and 2.0 share a common bolt pattern?

MichNeon · Post by **MichNeon** » Fri May 16, 2014 1:55 pm

I just did a quick little bit of research, it looks like the 1.6 may use the same trans bolt patterns as the 2.0. The 1.6 uses a timing chain, and a lot of the design of the engine is very similar to the 2.0. One big difference though, is that the water pump is driven off the back of the power steering pump. If one were to use the 1.6 from another car for a Neon, they would have to grab the p/s pump/water pump assembly to go with the engine, if the yard or whoever has the donor car does'nt pull the engine with the accessories intact. From the illustration i see on Techconnect, the alt, ps/wp, and the a/c compressor are all on the radiator side of the engine, with a serpentine belt driving them. The belt drive uses one tensioner pulley and one idler pulley. Pretty interesting.

r/tguy02 · Post by **r/tguy02** » Fri May 16, 2014 2:25 pm

of course the bolt pattern is the same, they used the t350 with the 1.6 as well just with a differnt gear ratio...

chappybmode · Post by **chappybmode** » Fri May 16, 2014 2:38 pm

The curb weight of a neon (googled) is 2567 for an 01 which is what i have. I also googled the curb weight of an R53 mini and it is 2315. I know that until 2005 the engines were supercharged bolted to a 6 speed. The aftermarket market among my mini friends is huuuuge and many of these cars flat out scream. In roughly 2005-06 mini was bought by BMW so the engines changed. Most of the R53 engines still run like 3000 though so I dont know many that would have money like that to throw at a conversion. Just wondering haha

neonrog · Post by **neonrog** » Fri May 16, 2014 6:22 pm

I thought the new Mini was a BMW product from the very beginning... Not a 2005/2006 sale.

ThatKevin · Post by **ThatKevin** » Fri May 16, 2014 11:00 pm

For the time, money, and effort you could easily do a 2.4t swap and make more power.

Even if your Neon has some weird crazy engine, no one's gonna care.. because it's a Neon. Might as well make it stupid fast.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Sat May 17, 2014 8:51 pm

Why not put the neon engine in the mini instead

Donkeypuncher · Post by **Donkeypuncher** » Sat May 17, 2014 10:59 pm

fixitmattman wrote:Why not put the neon engine in the mini instead

The neon engine is too big to fit in the mini, I think it was like 4" too wide. Plus the mini doesn't have room in front for our p/s and a/c setup, it needs custom brackets to run the mini setup.