Can you...???

[Ferengo]

Take a supercharger or turbo charger and put it onto a standard cooper not S or a ONE? If so what else would you need to do to the car? Just the topic came up the other day and no-one could answer it.

[Morri7]

I think in theory it is possible but deffinitley not economical! You would be cheaper buying a Cooper S.
If you did do it I'm sure there are things that would need to be upgraded - I think the Cooper S has uprated pistons and seals etc from the standard Cooper or One to help cope with the extra power.

[euan]

The battery is also in the wrong place, the engine bay is a totally different layout. I seem to remember (very vaguely!) that the compression ratio is different, but I might be making that up.

That's not to say it couldn't be done, just not cheaply!

[MrMischief]

As the boost isn't too high on a standard S, the standard Cooper pistons would probably be sufficient as long as you didn't try to turn it up too much and you would be able to limit the detonation with decent engine management (Motec etc). You'd need larger injectors, an uprated fuel pump, possibly a larger throttle body (I don't know what size a Coop has?). It'd be worthwhile swapping your exhaust & intake for free flowing aftermarket jobs...and if you wanted to run higher boost you'd need to have some engine work done to lower the compression, as stated and also improve the combustion chamber swirl characteristics for a FI engine to try and minimise the chance of DET. A turbo conversion would probably be easier as you can control the amount of pressure more easily than with a supercharger.

It won't be cheap to get to that stage and you should have already uprated your brakes and suspension to cope with the extra oomph if you really get serious with the power.

[doogz__]

indeed, compression ratio will be different for a start, that would need sorted with pistons and/or rods, you'd need injectors etc as said above, but also the new cooper S heads are manufactured differently from the NA heads. The Turbo heads are cast, in the traditional way, the NA heads are produced using a lost foam casting technique, where a cylinder head is made from polystyrene, coated in a layer of ceramic material and then shaken, and stuck in a bed of sand. The ceramic shell is sealed apart from one port, to allow the aluminium to be poured in. I'm not sure if this means the heads are different, if not i can't see why they'd go to the bother of setting up 2 different manufacturing lines to make heads.
Also, The pistons on the turbo havefour valve pockets and the combustion chamber trough right in the middle to stratify the charge. And to reduce thermal loads, the pistons are cooled by splash oil. On the NA engine the pistons are pocketed, but that's it.

[doogz__]

Actually, i had a mate that wanted to ditch the eaton on his 250bhp cooper S in favour of a rotrex, but he managed to write it off before he got a chance to waste all that money.

[Ferengo]

Ok, I was wrong. I didn't think it was possible.

It got started with the bosses nephew buying a JCW convertible, I was told I should put a supercharger on mine. I thought nah you can't do that, so it turned into a discussion.

Don't worry though I'm not going to do it, I think if anything I would buy an S. Now I have to go in and say yup you can do it :p.

[doogz__]

buy a written off turbo/super and steal the engine out it. Changing engines over isn't too tricky mechanically, not sure about the electrics on the Mini though.

[ianking]

Yeah technically it can be done but it would make no economical sense to do so. Also there would hardly be any one/cooper running gear left so it would technically just be an S after all.

[doogz__]

running gear generally refers to the transmission and driveshafts. Are they different on the "S" from the NA versions?

Any one got any idea how much power the standard Turbo pistons will take before they start to melt/crack? Are there any big power cars on here?

[ianking]

running gear generally refers to the transmission and driveshafts. Are they different on the "S" from the NA versions?

Any one got any idea how much power the standard Turbo pistons will take before they start to melt/crack? Are there any big power cars on here?

yes the running gear is completely different on the S.
Driveshafts and gearbox is different and there is a traction control system.

[doogz__]

Coopers have TCS as well. And i'm fairly sure the ratio's on our Cooper are the same as our S?

[ianking]

The R50 box and shafts and TCS is completely different to the R53.

Not sure about the R56 box and shafts as I have never removed them yet.

[doogz__]

Ah i see, Laura got rid of her old one not long after i met her, and she never had any problems with it, meaning i never had to fix it.

In that case, i think the R56 gear is all the same stuff

[ianking]

Was that a black eye purple one with coloured arches.

[doogz__]

Maybe?

It was purple. I couldn't tell you anything other than that about it, so you're probably right.

[ianking]

Im sure I remember pics of it on here.
I see the car most days as the owner (female middle aged) either works or lives in Penicuik.

[doogz__]

I think it got traded in when she got rid of it, so yeah, could well be.