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Very tidy. Allmost to sanitairy. Screams BMW in my mind... but overall, that's a good thing (IMO).
I just wish the cover on the turbo wasn't there. I'd like to see the little twin scoll displayed proudly up front. That hand emblem on the thing just screams "take me off" .
oh, and swapping the new motor into the old car not worth it right now being a new motor.. but in the future
Not saying it's impossible... but it would be a good trick.
A huge reason the new car grew (aside from the pedestrian safety stuff) was due to the new engine being quite a bit larger than the old one. It's mounted several inches farther back towards the firewall for this reason.
It's really an engineering feat that the new car gained ONLY 2.4 inches up front. Someone (I believe Gabe of White Roof Radio/MotoringFile was talking about it in detail) did the calculations of sticking the new engine in the R53 in the same locating as the curresnt set-up... then adding the "crush space" (my term) to the front end and bonnet. Ended up with 10-11 additional overhang in the front end. Say what you will about the new bulbous MINI... those BMW guys did pretty good with what they had to work around.
As far as the strut towers go... look to M7 tuning for the strut re-enforcement plates. Nice security for the price, and a must have if your going to 17" wheels or bigger.
interesting, I take it if thats the case.. the mounts would need to be swapped along with taking a few inches from the exhaust perhaps? (and that saying the current exhaust/headers would fit the new motor... would the r53 wiring harness work with it as well?
Originally Posted by msh441
Not saying it's impossible... but it would be a good trick.
A huge reason the new car grew (aside from the pedestrian safety stuff) was due to the new engine being quite a bit larger than the old one. It's mounted several inches farther back towards the firewall for this reason.
It's really an engineering feat that the new car gained ONLY 2.4 inches up front. Someone (I believe Gabe of White Roof Radio/MotoringFile was talking about it in detail) did the calculations of sticking the new engine in the R53 in the same locating as the curresnt set-up... then adding the "crush space" (my term) to the front end and bonnet. Ended up with 10-11 additional overhang in the front end. Say what you will about the new bulbous MINI... those BMW guys did pretty good with what they had to work around.
As far as the strut towers go... look to M7 tuning for the strut re-enforcement plates. Nice security for the price, and a must have if your going to 17" wheels or bigger.
I take it if thats the case.. the mounts would need to be swapped along with taking a few inches from the exhaust perhaps? (and that saying the current exhaust/headers would fit the new motor... would the r53 wiring harness work with it as well?
Don't know about the wiring harness... but I would be sceptical of the headers, too. Since the R56 engine is sitting 180-degrees from the R53's orientation (with the exhaust coming out the front) AND the turbo is mated up pretty close on the header unit as well (but then again, I was assuming you meant a turbo car so that might be a non-issue for you).
I guess I'm sure it could be done (anything is possible-ie. Honda V-Tec in a classic Mini)... but at what effort, time and cost?