1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: For my next trick: Water Methanol Injection

Gauge Pod is done as far as I can do, so tomorrow its off to get Hydro Dipped, with a Carbon Fiber finish!

I am going to have the three dash panels done to match and the S-Lite Factory Rims also.

Examples Below, photos to be posted next week.

 

OK Time to get back to work!

Got the Gauge Pod Back from the finishing Shop:

 

OK so the Gauge Pod is installed in the car but not wired yet, that will be tomorrows projects with the Bentley Book and the Soldering Iron!

Also the Howerton Water/Meth Hatch Mount Housing gets here tomorrow, so I will have to hear a bunch of noise from the Gf.

Anyway here is some photos as we all love Mod P0rn:

 

I have been working on completing this project and Sunday did all the wiring for the following:

ProSport Intercooler In/Out Temp Gauge
Cooling Mist Gauge/Controller
Innovate AFR Gauge

I got them all wired and the wire all run to the correct locations but not all hooked up so far. I took the car to the shop yesterday to have the Bung welded in for the AFR, and they ended up keeping it over night as the header had to come out to get it welded properly, so that is installed and done.

I drilled and tapped the holes for the Prosport Intercooler Gauge sensors tonight and will install the in and out horns tomorrow and solder the sensors up.






and if time permits I will try to get the Howerton Engineering Water / Meth Tank installed and wired up tomorrow, I already solder in the connector and the wires and hose is run in the car already, I just have to figure out the best and cleanest way to get the connections, tubes and wires to the pump housing.

 

I am actually really really good at it, I was a mobile electronic installer for about 10 years, and am also a bit OCD.

That being said if its not going to be done right its not going to be done at all!

 

Drilled and Tapped Feed Horn

I Drilled & Tapped the Feed Horn (Exit Side) of the intercooler tonight for the Water/Meth Jet:

See Photos

 

Not a lot of updates right now, I am waiting to get the Gauge Pod back from the Hydro-Dip guys and need a little more Money for the Tank in the rear of the car.

BUT I did find what is going to be my third gauge, which should get here today:



Dual Intercooler Temp Gauge

This I pretty neat as you will be able to actually see what the efficiency of the intercooler and the W/M injection.

 

Here it is installed but not wired:







Here is the Rat's Nest that I will be making look Factory tomorrow.

 

Time for a little RANT:

Everyone like to say that you should not mount gauges on the A-pillar, "if you have an accident the gauges will fly out and hit you" I am now going to TOTALLY DISPROVE that internet crap!

In the shot below you will see the two tethers that hold the A-piller in place if the side curtain airbag deploys. (marked by red arrow)



The Tethers then slot into these holes on the body:



Also you will notice that the Curtain Airbag does NOT even go into the A-pillar, only the anchor strap for it does, it is designed so that the A-Pillar panel can pop away about 2 to 3 inches.

 

I got a few hours today to do a little more work, I got the Tank Housing wired in and installed in place.

Here is a shot of the Vent Line, which exits the bottom of the battery box through a grommet:



This shot is the 'enclosure' wired in but, not yet mounted.



Wired, Mounted and the rear section of the car put back together:



Tomorrow I am going to try and get the Intercooler Temp Sensors / Intercooler Horns install, I got them wired up today, I think I might have to remove all the intake side stuff to get them in.

 

Ok a follow up to this original post.

The CoolingMist ended up $hitting the bed, so it got totally removed and was replaced with the complete AquaMist HFS-3 System and the Custom MINI Cooper tank/pump housing they offer.

It was about 1000$ total, but next to the pulley this was the best money I spent so far on upgrades to my car.

I am currently running it with a 70% Meth Mix, it is amazing to SuperCharger exit temps in the mid to high 200°F range, and intake temps in the 80°F range.

I will try to get some photos up here soon.

 

I am going 50/50 even the Howerton Pump is not rated for 100%. I know this as my friend Ian - (Maitland Importers) race car was the test mule for the Howerton Mini setup and he killed the system/pump by going 100%.

I am only after that bit of extra boost @ WOT, and a better octane at partial boost.

On a side note, :devilevilsOwn:devil: can not be beat for system parts, prices are great, and service is amazing. I lost a rubber foot for my pump, in my order I asked them if they might have any and said if they would just put it in the shipment, I would gladly send whatever they requested.

Well got my order only two days later and low and behold there was the foot, NO CHARGE!

 

I fiber-glassed it in for the basic shape and then bondo'ed over that to make it smooth:

I have for the gauges:

• Innovate Wide Band
• The CoolingMist Controller

and I an thinking for the third one I am going to get the AEM Water/Meth Failsafe Gauge:

 

So was working on the install a little more today. One of the things that I absolutely HATE is Butt-Connectors, I like my wiring and installs to look like something that the factory would do.

So I took the controller apart and un-soldered all the factory wires (thats right voiding any warranty I had), I then proceeded to re-wire the controller with wire long enough to reach each termination point (aprrox 12').

Then I started to tape-wrap each group for the direct that they will go in the car:

• Power Bundle
• Pump Power, Low Water Sensor [which now includes its own power group]
• Vacuum Line & Map Sensor Wire

I will finish the tape-wrap to length once it is installed.

Photo below.

 

Got a Chance to Wash, Clay Bar, Polishing Cut, and Wax the MINI today, its been a while and it really needed it.

So here is the photos of the Gauge Pod Working:



I still have to setup the Water/Meth Kit, its totally installed. But not configured yet. I had the Bung welded in the other day so the AFR is working now. You can see the Intercooler Gauge working also, its wild under boost the air going into the intercooler is as high as 220ºF the split seems to be about 40ºF at 50+MPH.

This Photo shows the Wiring coming into the engine bay, I used an existing grommet/hole building a waterproof plug from the grommet:



This photo is of the exit side of the intercooler horn as it heads into the intake, you can see the temperature sensor and the Water/Meth Jet (marked by the blue arrows):



This photo shows the in and out temp sensors (marked by blue arrows):



Here is the Hot side temp sensor, if I had it to do over, I would of put it a little farther back. I can tell you that I am NOT going to do it again as I took the in / out horns, and the intake out of the car to install all this and it was a total *****!

 

I will in about a year or so as that one is brand new (maybe 3 months old) and the other motor mounts are also new. So i figure I have at least a year before I change it out, and replace all the other mounts with the neoprene ones.

Thanx for the compliment, now i just gotta figure out how to setup the Water Meth controller.