1st Gen R50 Cooper Justacoopah cam.

Cam for justacooper

You might want to contact Scott at TSW ([email protected]) but I can give you my 2 cents worth. We put a Thumper head in Scott's justacooper along with a Crower NS2 CAM and his MINI literally screams now. More power and torque over the entire RPM range with no dips - it just keeps going with mo perceptable dips or flat spots in the torque. And his Cooper has not yet been tuned with the new head and cam! This justacooper runs like a scalded cat.

Regards,
[email protected]

 

cost..

Just loving that... glad to hear he is rocking!!

Prices for it all, are becoming better as more products are out there...

Just me......................................

Thumper

 

Just did some searching

For cooper cams
RMW, Werkin, Mini Mania, Shrick, Kent and CatCams. Not all manufacturers support distinct cams from Coopers, but use the same cam for both the S and the Cooper. Also, some of the companies offer some really, really radical cam profiles! Do your homework before you buy....

Matt

 

At what point ( HP wise ) would we COOPER people need to worry about the tranny??

 

I think is all APPLICATION!! YES the r50 has a weak trans.. and Yes the r50 trans will decide to go south!! BUT... It is strong enough to take a LOT of abuse!! And if you dont power shift, down **** at 6000 revs, and smoking tire launches.. the trans will take a LOT of power in the daily powerful driver!
I suggest that if you want more power.... do it! Just keep in mind you dont have a forgiving trans, and drive it accordingly. Look at Scott at Texas Werks.. he is racing his!! ( Head /Cam upgrade)

I agree here WITH a difference.. I feel there are now cams out that are fantastic in the n/a coopers! They are mild the specs that the n/a engine likes! ( NS1 and the NS2) They allow a solid power increase on the r50's ( note again, TSW's results) and yet are extreeeeeeemly friendly to the r53's. IMHO it is now time to look at the r50 mods!! there are PROVEN Camshafts and PROVEN Cylinder Heads to make the little n/a engine wake up and tear up the mountain roads, or the local track!
ALL the interest has been on the r53.... but not any longer!! The r50's are now coming into some powerful combos, even though they have "weak" trans and no s/c whine!! LOL


Just me...............................

Thumper

 

Er, Scott had two Midlands transmissions die, then we converted his car over to a 6-speed Getrag. Not the best example, actually.

Oh, but i do agree, the R50 really responds well to a head and cam swap. Scott's car is a real joy to drive! You never wonder where the money went.

 

COOL!! Duh, I am sorry .. that must be what the ASSUME comes in!! LOL

Just me .... (in error.)

Thumper

 

My wife's 05 Cabrio 5 speed Getrag needed to be replaced, we let the dealer do it, after we traded it in on the Clubman. Well I assume they swapped it.

I'm not talking about my 03 Midlands, best let sleeping dogs lie, as it were:smilewinkgrin:.

Mark

 

I’m well aware the OP has decided against a cam or head, but for the rest of the readership, more information. Unfortunately, most of this thread won’t load for me, nor does the multi-quote/quote button function consistently, so I can’t address all the questions. The NS1 camshaft has proven itself in the R50 many times over; there are six with the NS1 I’m aware of. The original NS1 has been in an R50 for over two years. The gain from an NS1 camshaft can be experienced without the need for a dyno to verify. Two of the Coopers with NS1s are using G-Tech to monitor performance, the stock Cooper has measured an improvement of 10hp & torque, and the other is external intake & exhaust modified with 8hp & 6trq over the stock cam. The R53 is normally aspirated until the bypass valve closes, and there are dyno graphs available that show gains of torque greater than 10 lb-ft earlier in the rpm range before the R53 enjoys the advantage of forced induction; the same result can be expected in the R50. The only other worthwhile modification, other than a performance head designed for the Cooper, is to address throttle response. Enhancing throttle response either from a tune or external device will do more for low rpm behavior than any bolt-on.

To get the most out of an NS1 cam and the NA Cooper motor, an ENDYN modified head with larger valves optimized for the application, is the ultimate reliable approach.

I haven’t encountered a failed later model R50 Getrag gearbox (other than lotsie’s example); I have seen a failed clutch in the later model after a modest increase in HP, and enthusiastic abuse. The early model Midlands has such a poor history I know it can fail even at stock power levels.

 

That's better news atleast.. ( maybe ) Be hard for me to come up with an extra 70 ft/lbs.. Wonder how much more a decent head/cam combo would put out.. Header would help with that but don't really want it to be any louder since it's my daily driver..

 

If you go more power... the exhaust note will be louder! how much?? DoNo! IF you do the Head/ the cam/ the header... you might want to look into a tune to help with all the air flow and lean conditions...

I should think the Ported Head and the stock valve size will keep if not increase the street manners, and then the NS1 camshaft will just pull it all together. Remembering that the EFI engine is a totally different induction, and sometimes the smaller will allow more power and TORQUE... but either way, there are NOW SOME Power builders for the r50's!!

Just me................................

Thumper

 

A ported head does not increase the noise level from the tailpipe. Larger valves in a ported head will not be deleterious to street manners. The only advantage to keeping the stock size valves in an ENDYN ported head is to reduce cost. Economics is a valid reason to base a head’s configuration decision upon, but if desire for gains is the major concern driving the process, stock size valves leave some power on the table. Thumper460 admits he has limitations when it comes to making “power†with larger than stock valves in a normally aspirated application, that’s his problem.

As for expected gains, every car is different. Tolerance stacking can work for or against you, if the original head has core shift and other drawbacks, a ported head will have greater potential. If OE stacking is in your favor, gains will be less pronounced.

The stock header isn’t a major bottleneck, the 1.6ltr Cooper NA motor can only flow so much and stock primary tube diameter is adequate. Yes it can be improved on, but it’s a high dollar per gain ratio if purchasing aftermarket, and excessive tube diameter can kill flow at low rpm. The OEM header flange ports will need to be opened some to avoid creating a barrier when matched to ported head’s exhaust ports, however it will only require time with a grinder and hand files.

 

Wait... I know IF I return banter here I will be baned. Therefor I will not enter into the discussion as to valve size and performance gains by just saying.. Whatever......

Just me....................................

Thumper

 

And on some completely different subject...

I was wondering why there were so many dual purpose cams (including stock) sold for both the R50 and the R53 when the required profiles for unboosted and boosted engines is normally very different... So I did some digging.

It's true that if you want the highest HP from a N/A motor, and boosted engine, you use very, very different profiles. Boosted engines have different response to lobe overlap (if overlap is very high, that is good for high RPM high HP N/A engines, you can "blow through" the head and loose all your charge out the exhaust pipe on boosted engines) than NA motors. So why are the same cams sold to the same app?

Turns out this is a duty cycle issue. Most of the time, the car isn't on boost. At light throttle, even at higher RPM, the bypass valve is open. So for a street driven car, for most of the time, the car IS unboosted. So for most of the time, optimizing a cam for a boosted application will degrade power and torque during most of the use cases.

What this really means is that cams for street cars leave some peak power on the table to keep the car driveable. This is why the same cam can be sold to both the N/A and the SCed (or turbo'ed) car to good effect.

Now if you're a drag racer who doesn't do street driving, then getting a custom ground or "race only" cam for our cars MIGHT make some sense.

Matt

ps, like most things, it's a bit (a lot?) more complicated than this. But this covers the general idea...

 

The reason the MINI cam works for dual applications is its good balance of overlap and lobe separation; just enough minor overlap to help with cylinder filling at atmospheric pressures in the Cooper, and adequate lobe separation to prevent loss of charge while under boost. The Eaton doesn’t create enough boost to be a factor with the mild overlap. I think people are confused about why special cams are required on high boost turbocharged motors and yet our supercharged motor works well on a stock type cam profile, in fact low boost turbocharged motors work well on the same type of cam. For high boost (high rpm) turbocharged engines, backpressure created by the turbo can exceed inlet pressure and encourage hot gases to flow in reverse. For that application, next to no overlap would be allowed.

 

:crazy:

 

Thanks guys for the input. Nice to know I don't really need a header if keeping it mainly a street car, and that my tranny will MOST likely hold up if I don't go crazy with HP..
Cam and a retune ( tuned now to 113 Hp & Ft/lbs ) would probably be all I'd do money wise as that would be about half the cost of a head +- etc etc...