Anyone ever swapped a smart car engine into a mini? Seems like a perfect solution to get more power and have fairly cheaper parts. The 1l, 3 cylinder, 3b21 engine is made by mitsubishi and is the successor to the 3g83. All aluminum block and intake along with efi is also a huge benefit. Because the smart engine is designed to face backwards, rotating the engine would put the intake and exhaust on different sides. Only trouble would be transmission and motor mounts. I would like to keep the 4x4 of my mini and not have it look like the engine was hacked together in there. I cant find any information on the bell housing bolt patterns on both the 3g83 and 3b21. I dont mind creating a transmission adapter but i dont know exactly what goes into such a thing. I have already dropped the engine out of my mini due to a cracked head. Would just like to have a second opinion on this idea before i start it.
The bell housing/transmission adapter is just a piece of flat plate machined so that you can bolt it to the block, and then you bolt the bell housing to it. Not hard in concept, but a bit of a pain to get right. If you add an adapter plate between the engine and transmission you may have to add a spacer between the flywheel to get the splines on the clutch to stay engaged. Which brings up the clutch. You have to figure out how to get a combination of pressure plate that works with the flywheel, and a disk which fits the input shaft of the transmission. And, don’t forget that you might have to figure out how to get a starter in there and aligned. Motor mounts are probably the easiest part, the transmission mount can probably be unchanged. So, you get the engine and tranny where they need to be and then tack weld a mount together, then pull the mount out so you can completed the welding and get a coat of paint on it. Swapping an engine from one car into another can be pretty straight forward. I did a Chrysler 340, with a 4-spd into a Datsun 240Z, and all it took was a custom transmission mount, two spacers with studs for the front mounts, a custom exhaust, a bracket to mount the clutch slave cylinder to the bell housing, and a shortened drive shaft. It didn’t require teh fun things like cutting and welding the firewall or frame. So.if you think you have the skill set and or money to do it give it a go. Your truck isn’t running now, so all you have to loose is a bunch of time. I am considering going to a larger displacement engine to get more power in my Hijet. I found a forum dedicated to Daihatsu vehicles, https://livetodai.com/. They told me I am pretty much confined to the Ef series of Daihatsu motors. But that any of them should bolt in as an assembly, the FI engines have different intake setups. You might be able to find a Mitsubishi group which could tell you what issues you might face in going to the newer Mitsi engine. It is worth trying.
