R56 Cooper S Engine Dilemma

R56 Cooper S Engine Dilemma

Author
Discussion

Skosh

Original Poster:

72 posts

193 months

Friday 26th February 2016
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Hi All,

I posted a while back about issues with the engine in my R56 Cooper S. Basically, it has no pressure in one of the cylinders after having the so called "Death Rattle". I looked at various options to resolve but since I've not needed my car recently it has been sitting in my garage for about a year now.

I've now got to the stage where I want to get it back on the road as it saddens me having it sitting there and every time I see another one driving past I die a little inside!

So, it's going to need either a full rebuild or an engine swap so I reckon I have a few options of what to do. The car is a 2008 R56 Cooper S with the JCW tuning pack and stainless steel JCW Exhaust. I want to make the car a bit more reliable and also add a bit of power (it was running just over 200bhp before it died)

The options I currently have in mind are:

1) Strip the current engine, replace any worn/damaged parts with uprated ones and potentially add forged internals for reliability. I'm concerned about keeping the current engine as it's done close to 80,000 miles and these engines aren't the most reliable at the best of times.

2) Find a low mileage engine of the same age to swap with and tune

3) Find a lower engine from one of the newer (2010 on) factory JCW cars and fit this. This is probably my preferred option as I would gain the extra reliability of a newer engine and also gain more power as these have 210bhp from the factory so would be easier to tune. Although, how difficult is doing this? And what (if any)parts could I keep from my current car e.g exhaust/manifold etc.

Then there's 2 sillier options of try to find a GP2 engine or swap it with AN other engine (BMW/audi etc).

I'm really just looking for advice from anybody who has been in a similar situation or has undertaken similar work.

Any advice would be much appreciated.


rigga

8,748 posts

207 months

Saturday 27th February 2016
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A 2010 fjcw engine is no more reliable than a 2008 s, it's the same n14 design, the Turbo though is of a better design and more scope for tuning, all depends who will do the work and at what cost to yourself.weigh it up then and decide

dragonheart

772 posts

188 months

Saturday 27th February 2016
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Did they not change to the N18 engine from 2010? My Sept 2010 cooper s has the N18 engine so assumed the jcw also had it.

rigga

8,748 posts

207 months

Saturday 27th February 2016
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JCW didn't get the n18 till 2012, cooper S had it in 2010

CarsOrBikes

1,142 posts

190 months

Saturday 27th February 2016
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Just rebuild the original engine.......stronger/blueprinted