Hey you, I have a 2005 mini cooper that's chassis is in great condition (the motor and trany are as well) but I was wanting to make it fast, like ungodly fast, but keep it fwd. do any of you know of any cool engine swaps that don't cost over $8,000 in parts? I saw a video awhile back of some guys who stuck a wrx sti engine in a vw beetle and it was beating Porsche carreras, is there a swap that is possible to do like that with the newer minis without moving back the firewall? I don't care about if it can fully fit under the hood or not, I just don't want to have to deal with the firewall if I don't have to. I am a part time machanic and have a shop I can work at so labor does not matter.

The BMW 1.6 engine can be tweaked to serious power. The Cooper GP pulls around 250 bhp !!!
Adding the supercharger from a Cooper S improves output to around 165 bhp without going outrageous, coupled with the 6 speed box this is very flexible....