R53 Most liked posts in thread: Let's Change Something !

Update time !!

I installed a prototype heatshield, from glass fiber, a carbon fiber bracket (with a core material for extra stiffness) for the charge pipe and the stainless steel brackets for the heatshield (only 1 can be seen in the fotos)

The carbon fiber bracket it is used to support the charge pipe assembly and uses the OEM mounting points on the gearbox. It is 4mm thick and so stiff that makes the whole assembly very rigid. Couldn't be happier with how it works. I also have the same bracket in stainless steel but..... i prefer the carbon fiber one
Carbon fiber bracket:
Carbon fiber bracket on. Excuse the ugly bolt (It will be changed for an allen head in black colour to match the rest) , zip tie (proper hose clip on it's way), blue silicone hose (I will order black )and the dust (car was seating for more than 1 month in a very dusty environment) !!

Glass fiber prototype heatshield. The prototype is 3mm thick whereas the carbon fiber final version it would be 1.5mm . Below you can see the heatshield on the throttle body.

And the heatshied on the car. I uploaded many photos so you can see the fitment.





The heatshield is supported from two stainless steel brackets attached to the vehicle chassis and not on the charge pipe. That way the charge pipe-air filter assembly can move separate from the heatshield. Below you can see the one bracket (I didn't take foto of the second one) using an existing thread that was on the chassis.


So happy seen the kit in that stage. It took me almost two years (including the design, testing , failing) so I can't describe how I felt yesterday when I fitted the heatshield took a step back and just stayed there watching the whole assembly on the car.
Do you like it so far ? I sense that next updates will be even better

 

Printed model is ready!
With a 20% carbon fiber and 80% nylon weight ratio the model is super strong and ready for some real world driving! Below some photos with the printed model next to the OEM unit.

Test Fitment photos !!

Keep in mind now only the charge pipe is changed and the vacuum lines (instead of plastic high pressure ones), everything else is original no bumper spacers, no cable extension, oem airbox, filter, even the bypass silicone hose is OEM . With everything back on, you can not understand something is changed.
What do you think ? Do you like this alternative? I will update you soon with comment on how it drives, logs and dyno pulls.
Have a nice day !

 

Thank you for the kind words. I try to write many info, although I feel sometimes I could explain more or better I will try more. 3d printers are amazing !! They are so helpful. But to be honest most of the credits go... to the 3d scanner ...you save so much time and elliminate errors. For instance for this version I 3dscanned the engine bay without bumper, then with bumper and last the oem charge pipe. Afterward you assembly all the files and you have a digital model of your working space in your computer! Ofcourse it is not a cad model just a point cloud which means a lot of design effort is needed. I will try to upload more technical information, as I feel people like to read about it !


I went for a test drive 2 hours ago. It feels nice , there are differences with the previous version but I will wait for the data from the dyno and road logging in order to say for sure. For now I can say the previous version feels so so nice at low rpm, especially in city driving but this one feels better at the high rpm range. We will see next week !

 

So the last 2 weeks I am playing a bit more with designing. I decided I want to have as many parts as possible in CAD models, as it really helps and.... it is fun (plus a bit nerd with designing !! )
The parts I added to my library recently is the bypass valve, intercooler and intercooler horn. All these parts where 3dscanned and then completely redesigned creating CAD models.
Lets start with the intercooler, just a normal r53 cooper s cooler . Below you can see the 3d model versus the real model.

The stickers you see on the intercooler are there in order to help the scanner track the object a bit better. Just in case you wonder, I scanned it with a resolution of 0.3mm, which is more than enough for what I need! Below you can see the scanned file. This file consist of many polygons and it is called an stl file (or obj) and it is a mesh file.... which is let's say the most useless file for an engineer at least!


I want all my models to be as close to reality as possible not only dimension wise but appearance as well. It might take some extra time to finish but I feel it worth it !

Section View:

Yeap I designed the stickers....

Bypass Valve ...:


Apparently it is a Dellorto ! I had no idea, I know this brand from motorcycles !


And the driver's intercooler horn.



Trying my render skills



And some random captures :


Still I have to do the whole OEM Intake system, meaning the airbox, airfilter and intake tubes, I also 3dscanned the front crash member for a future project I have in mind and ... I am playing around with an R56 but I will leave that for later !! Next update is going to be the new dyno results, graphs, comments etc ! I hope you enjoyed this post , have a nice day or night ,
George .

 

Just in case you wondered how a 3D scanned engine bay looks like ! I though it will be nice to share with you guys.

The picture on the top is the engine scanned file and picture below is the engine bay with the charge pipe kit (3d model).
Charge Pipe 3D scan by Precision Engineering, on Flickr

Powder white spray for 3d scan by Precision Engineering, on Flickr
I do not know if you are familiar with 3d scans but that's how you have to prepare the engine bay for the scan !! In order to capture a detailed model it is preferable to have a white mat surface in a low light environment. And yes, you have to spray that white powder all over the place !
Charge Pipe 3D scan by Precision Engineering, on Flickr

 

Hello guys I haven't update the thread for a while. I have some excited news ! Tomorrow I will try for first time a fully functional prototype made from carbon fiber.
The last two weeks I have been trying to make a complete closed airbox. You can see a picture below. What do you think? Which version do you prefer this or the previous?

 

Hello guys . The last 3 days I am driving the MINI with the charge pipe, no problems at all everything seems nice! I am pretty excited so far, it turned out to be better than I thought. I dont want just to say things thats why I will wait for data to present to you. I played a bit with a video so you can have an idea how it sounds. Its just a small clip. My editing skills are not perfect, so please be aware of that. If you are curious of what program I used, it is Vegas Pro 14. Pretty nice video editor, first time tried and I am very happy with it.
So what your thoughts? Do you like the sound (its a small clip I now) ? Any comment or question are welcome.

 

I totally agree with you. I didn't pay attention until yesterday which I had the first proper test drive. Torque wise feels very nice. Especially in the low rpm range. Me ... I love it so far a friend of mine, that drove it last night, with a very strong R56 said exactly the same. And the test drive was without the heatshield... but even with 50 degrees intake temp it felt so good (oem cooler, 16% sc pulley, Greek climate )
But I am very careful of what I am saying, I want to share Delta factor and proper data.

 

Thank you very much for the kind words. Dyno should come next month as I will be out of Greece for some days. I spoke with a friend who is a photographer, so maybe I could make a nice video as well! I want to do 3 back to back pulls with the stock setup and next day 3 with the charge pipe (Conditions will be very similar trust me, temperatures from 35+ Celsius are for sure here! ) . Yesterday I drove it a lot. Stuck in traffic, motorway and mountain. I gave the car to one friend with exact the same setup plus a gp cooler, and he loved it. There is a small suspicious that the intake temps are affected as well ... Thus so far everything goes according plan. Next is the heatshield. I will test the Breather adapter and Heatshield first as 3d print parts! Sounds weird I know, it will be a blend of ABS and Carbon (maximum temperature around 150 Celsius). So perfect for first testing! Ofcourse the final product will be aluminium and carbonfiber.

 

So I did some test fitting yesterday with the air filter, I had a small problem with space but I think I have a solution for that.
Below you can see the air filter with the adapter (printed model). So the the only thing I will change is the high of the adapter. Thus there is no room for the breather tube! Of course I do not really like that idea, thus the breather line will be connected on the top of the air filter. I already designed an adapter, and I am waiting the printer to finish (photos when I will have it ready).
The reason I chose this air filter is space. The space is very limited so the air filter has to be as short as possible. On the other hand I wanted to achieve a specific ltr/min number ( 7000 + ltr/min or 250 + cfm). In the second photo you can see the tapered design of the adapter and the elimination of the step on the filter and the throttle body side. I wanted a smooth transition from the air filter up to the supercharger inlet. In the third photo is a bit more clear what I am describing.

 

So I have a printed version of the heatshield but as I said I had a small problem. Well when I did the 3d scan I had the previous charge pipe version installed ( I know rookie mistake !! ) thus my fix points were a bit off. The engine bay of course remains the same but the position of the charge pipe is different. Thus I will do a new 3d scan this week and redesign the heatshield. In the pictures you see below the carbon fiber prototype is installed, that's why you see a gap around the throttle body. I think you can understand how it will look like later. In the next version everything will be in the correct position.
P.S I had to trim a bit of material, close to ECU. (when it will be in the correct position it will be ok)
P.S 2 The material of this print is a blend of carbon and abs. It can withstand temperatures up to 120 degrees and it is pretty flexy. I printed like that as I wanted to do some actual driving with the printed heat shield.

 

The chart is just the average values, I did not want to present only the peek values as I think they give half the picture. I do not have 1st and 2nd gear pulls from the same car, just 3rd, 4th and 5th. Peek numbers I could see constantly 15 to 15.4 psi throughout the gears without the heatshield (maximum IAT 69 celcius ), previously my car was making from 14.2 to 14.5 peek (at summers with the same IAT). About HP I will do some dyno runs but with 38 degrees under shadow and OEM intercooler I do not really want to have a dyno section right now !! So I will wait until September.
So about the heatshield , no it is not a fiber weave that has both ! Underneath it will have only aluminium weave and the upper layer only carbon fiber weave. Two different materials. Carbon fiber will give the strength and looks and the aluminium weave the heat dissipation. I will make one prototype with the 2 materials and one with only carbon fiber and see the difference in temperature.
More Updates:
Billet air filter adapter is ready ! It is not anodized yet, just raw aluminium . You can see the tapered design which allows for a bigger air filter without any step in the geometry.

 

Hello guys, at last I have some proper updates. The new printed model of the heat shield is ready. I am so happy with it as it fits perfectly as it should be. Also I tried to smooth even more the new version compare with the old design.
Excuse the blue duct tape ! I had to print the model in parts and I run out of glue. I will do some testing with the printed model and then I will make a carbon fiber prototype for proper testing. Good news I got another job (3 so far ) spending more for RnD now it will be easier. So after the carbon fiber prototype is ready, Dyno and more testing. What do you think? any comments are welcome.
PS: the white dust is from the last 3d scan.

 

I haven't update the topic for a while (because the extra new job consumes a lot of my time and during August everyone is on holidays here!). So far I have done a bit more than 2000km with the charge pipe on and around 500km with the printed heatshield. I use the car in daily bases in order to go to my job.
Previous weekend I removed everything and inspected the kit. I am happy to report everything looks as it should be without any marks from touching or hitting the radiator or other components . Yesterday I did a log with the heat shield. It feels like the car pulls better, the IATs seem to be lower (expected), even with aircon, 38 degrees outside temperature (around 4pm) the cars pulls so nicely compare with the OEM setup.
The log I did was early in the morning, 6:30 am with 27 outside temperature ! All the logs I use for comparison reasons have been done with the same outside temperature. Below you can see the graphs with the charge pipe kit (with the heat shield) vs the oem setup.
What do you think guys? To be honest first time I see 16 psi during summer in Greece !! Even during the winter I could see maximum 15 to 15.3 psi ! I really want to dyno it but with these temperatures I prefer to wait a bit!

 

Here you can see the printed (prototype as well) jig model. Material used PLA. It's the cheapest material you could buy but for the first try it will do the job. I have done nothing to improve its appearance like sanding or painting as it is a first mock up. I want to make some small changes mainly to improve ergonomics and of course printed it out of NYLON 6 which is the most common material for printed jigs.

 

And some more small details that I was working on.
Left photo: Mock-up bracket. Still playing with the idea of making it from carbon fiber as well. Not sure yet! But at least the bracket, design wise and fitment, it's done.
Right photo: I added a spacer to the bumper, I used an OEM spacer (all our MINIs have these spacers) just to give a bit more clearance. So far I had no touching but I prefer to be on the safe side.
Car still need some cleaning !! The white powder you see it's from the scanning! in some areas it;s so hard to reach and clean it ....

 

I cant wait for the final product as well I dont want to rush it, I want to tackle all the small details first.
So yesterday I went for a drive up in the mountain (Pretty cold, foggy and it was raining a lot) with a friend of mine and I made a small video.
Nothing crazy just playing around with video editing ( I used SONY Vegas pro, found it pretty nice to edit videos) and smooth 4 (phone-camera stabilizer ) I just got.
The red r56 you see in the video is my friend's car, a very nice and tidy r56 . He is the friend of mine that actually lend me the car for a full 3d engine scan !! I have some nice ideas that I would like to upload slowly !! But for now the charge pipe should be finished



and a picture from the r56 engine scan