Ok this may be a dumb question( I know there are no dumb questions only dumb people) It is said and I believe that the GP intercooler is the best because it recovers quickly. Well that's good but the R53 is not a Red light racer, drag car, its for the twisties. So why do I care about if it takes a few seconds longer to recover. Once I get air flow a bigger IC will work better than stock. The Airtec intercoolers look nice and appear to have the data to back them up. https://www.airtecmotorsport.com/product/airtec-top-mount-intercooler-upgrade-for-mini-cooper-s-r53/ I know I am going to sale my R53 but just incase.
That option is the GP IC without Meth. It’s really that simple, as the aftermarket still and will not ever make a better IC than the GP engineers that had the car, all the tools and budget that those BMW / MINI guys had. This is just another vendor with smoke and mirrors “testing / proof” that what they invested in selling is good to validate the price they charge.
Well that may be true. Can you even order a GP intercooler? I didn’t think you could. Some one could at least make a knock off.
Not sure the additional cost of this IC would ever convert to actual gains. The stock IC at the track will keep temps reasonable, the GP one gets it even a bit lower. Just not sure what a few more degrees cooler would be worth.
Its been a long time since I have checked but on the R53 I had a 100f heat rip from ambient. That was at night and I had not been sitting at a light. Meth is for sure the best but if you're not going to run meth their has to be a better way. Maybe front mount where it gets more air but if you do that you might as well spend the money on a GP IC. Detroit Tuned has the GP IC for $2081.91. I would just run the stock IC and do meth before I would spend that on a IC. https://www.detroittuned.com/mini-cooper-s-gp-intercooler-kit/ The have the Airtec for for $650 about half the cost of the Aquamist system https://www.detroittuned.com/airtec-top-mount-intercooler/ I hear Dave.0 now "why are you trying to rebuild the wheel!!" I am not we know the best set up. Its just that the GP IC has gotten to expensive so it would be nice to find a reasonable priced alternative, for the car I am going to sale.
For the street, the regular IC and a meth kit is really the way to go. Remember, if you're just interested in cooling and don't tune for it, any half decent meth kit is fine. The only real thing it needs is a failsafe for not injecting when you "don't" want it too. Since it would be for just cooling it wouldn't matter if it didn't work perfectly when operating, you just don't want it spraying without the proper boost or RPM and hydro locking a cylinder. As far as the AirTec, it has actually been shown to be the closest to the GPIC in performance (still not as good), if you absolutely feel you need a change. But honestly it won't be a "huge" improvement over stock.
Since we are talking about Meth kits...what is the best kit in terms of quality, ease of installation, and price? Thanks
I went for years driving on track days with the standard oem intercooler. Then, the GP intercooler came out and I switched to it. Unfortunately, I never went back to the track after it was installed as well as my Jan tune, so I'll probably never know how much the boost might have improved my track performance. Oh well, the price back then was worth it and the S just loves to pull in our cool Ohio weather, but I'll never know how great these improvements were over the oem setups.
For strictly cooling and cost efficiency, probably Snow or Devils Own. AEM makes a good kit that is popular with the bowtie crowd, but it is more expensive. Meth systems that are strictly boost indexed for the delivery are actually not that expensive, with them the major expense are parts that can handle the corosive nature of the methanol. Where the more expensive kits come to play is mostly for tuning with it and those benefits. Like alternative delivery indexing such as boost referencing by MAP sensor or injector duty cycle, along with safeguard options for unexpected delivery interruptions. The R&D and electronics involved are where most of the extra expense comes from, along with better quality hardware. For strictly cooling you could also just run a kit with a small spray of water only, with W/M delivery, most of the cooling comes from the water portion, the methanol just helps, and with water only, you don't have to worry about the methanols corrosive properties.
I am going to get the Aquamist system for the Helmet and have Jan do the tune. Last time I checked with Jan that was what he recommend. The company he said to buy from is no longer selling Aqumist systems you have to get them direct from Aqumist. I would do this to the R53 but I can only dump money into one car. So I can 1 mod the Helmet more. Mark did a great job with Helmet but if it’s not going to be a every day car I want to up the HP on that N14 engine. This means if I keep the R53 I will not be doing any more mods to it. I thought maybe a IC to help In the hot summer south. Or 2 sale the Helmet and go wild on the R53. New RMW motor WITH meth and better SC, LSD, completely new suspension. Redo the interior and paint. But I am not parting with the Helmet. I did think about it but I really like the car.
What do you want to do with the car? Drive it every day or just on the weekends? Personally, I would keep Helmet and mod him to any extent you want. But...it is an N14 engine. Do you track it? And, a highly modified engine takes a lot of maintenance and sometimes reliability is an issue. So many questions.....
Hey Teddy, I got your yext but have been slammed at work. For your R52 S, I would go with the Aquamist HFS-3 Kit. I will post a like below. It is the same kit all the guys I know use and it has built in failsafes. It is the highest quality kit you can get and it will b=not brake the bank for $675.00 and all you will need is a tank and DT to instal it. http://www.aquamist-direct.com/806-063-hfs3-v3-1-system-a-truly-progressive-system-utilising-pwm-valve/ I will look to see if I can find you a tank. http://www.aquamist-direct.com/water-tanks/ Howerton does not sell kits or tanks anymore but lots of great tank options on his site that you maybe able to find on Amazon. http://howertonengineering.com/shop/
Dave R50...you said R50...I mean they are nice cars and all , but calling Peppurr an R50 is like saying the Mistress has 'just a nice wax job'. HARUMPH !!!!!!
I want to Mod the stink out of a Mini. The Helmet is half way there. The two cars are very different and There quality's I like about both. I probably will do some track days. I know the Helmet is an N14 but its also a JCW. The N14 JCW has reinforcing in some of the webbing of the block to make it stronger. Also the side faces of the pistons have been strengthened and adapted to the reduced compression ratio of 10.0. They still suffer from carbon but Meth will take care of that.