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.
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.
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.
You'll never regret growing old with your R53 .... Well you might have regrets about growing old but having a trusty rock solid R53 won't be one of them.
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.
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.....
Mod your MINIs any way you like, but, the ONLY way you can really mod ANY car is to get some seat time at the track. Then, and only then can you determine what your car can do for you with the mods, AND what you can do as you drive them.
