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

Yeap totally agree. I was checking the other day APR's ultracharger kit for the 3.0 Audi engine. They accompany their charge pipe with a big throttle body plus an enlarged body. I think an E90 throttle body from a 320i BMW is a direct replacement to our MINIs, of-course I suspect you need some kind of calibration (I need to check that). OK so I have the charge pipe, the enlarge air box so... maybe I should find a second hand BMW throttle body and do some testing I feel like more CAD, 3d printed, testing, logging, dyno is coming

P.S
Maybe altering the original r53 throttle body ....
I need to go back to work ,
I will update you shortly

 

Hello to everyone, sorry for the lack of updates. I did stop for a while updating the project and focus on some design details, logging, 3D printing quality and actual driving my car with the pipe on.

So the story...:
A couple of months ago, someone from England (John) text me on Facebook asking details concerning the charge pipe.
Yadda yadda yadda I end up sending for free a charge pipe in UK so John can do all the testing along side with 1320 MINI.
Basic Spec:

Material: carbon fiber reinforced nylon.

Manufacturing Method: 3D Printing

Fitment: Plug and play, no cuts or modifications needed. All necessary hardware is included.

And this is exactly what I sent to England. (*By the way this is charge pipe version 5.)


Below you can see side by side photos of my charge pipe and the OEM Unit.




On 2/9/2020 John, went to 1320 MINI.

The vehicle was loaded on the dyno with the OEM charge pipe. Result 233.9 whp and 186.2wtq. OK so that's our base line. (I have to say John has a really really fast MINI)
Off the dyno and the installation of my charge pipe started.


Charge pipe in !

And another side by side view.

And with that back on the dyno!!

First three runs was with the same tune and only difference the TPE Precision charge pipe, resulting in 237.3 whp and 187.6 wtq.
Below the dyno run. But....



the 1320 MINI team saw that the AFR value was off (that's what I did not take into account into my own testing....) , thus more power was on
the table.

After tuning, the car made 240.5 whp and 189.4 wtq!!!



Of course numbers along are half the truth, as the car gained whp and wtq in the whole RPM range!! And yes you can feel the difference on the road!
Additionally to the above we saw reduction in IATs from 3 to 5 degrees and increased boost pressure of up to 1 psi.

I have a detailed blog post into my website (yeap i did that as well ) but I am not going to upload it here as I do not want to be considered an advertisement.

I spoke many times with the owner of the car and he is extremely happy with the results and the way the car feels. John drives his car everyday and does many trackdays every year so I respect his opinion a lot.


What do you think?
Do you like it so far ? Comments and suggestions are more than welcome !
Have a nice day,
George .

 

It's a different approach. I want to test both so I can compare. I really like the looks of the airbox but the heat shield is not bad either. Both systems are designed to have similar filter (not a panel one like the OEM). If you see I really try in both designs to eliminate hot air. With that said I would like to test some printed models and see the differences. Also I want to see how the charge pipe will perform tomorrow. I am only going to drive around the city for the next week just for evaluation reasons.

 

The main goal is extra torque and no just hp. That's something many people easily confused. So by altering the flow characteristics of the charge pipe you can achieve smoother operation, increase in torque and small difference in the intake temperature. Main goal when I started designing it ,was to remove any unnecessary geometrical changes in the airflow path. From that point with the help of cfd simulations I tried to keep a tapered design (thus increasing the volume) without creating problems to the airflow. Ok so far everything ok! But the main restriction is the available space! That's why it took me so many months trying different 3d print models. Ofcourse I have to prove everything with real data I know, I am working on it !

Cost:
The thing is that the charge pipe is a prototype. It is not a finished product. I am trying to make a startup. I have a very good estimation for the cost, which I would prefer not to say as it is not a product yet! Now if you ask me how the cost is connected with the gains I will tell that:
You should think the kit is 2 products. The charge pipe plus the intake. Charge pipe and heat-shield (or airbox) are made from carbon fiber. Everything comes with the kit and it is completely plug and play, no interfere no modifications and seals perfect. Even the throttle body cable comes as a ready extension, with BMW connectors and cables. So yes it will be a costly kit for sure.
But again it is not finished. For me sharing with people is a very big test for my skills (communication skills or answering technical questions) but also a nice thing sharing and listening all your comments!

I am sure everyone is bored by now! I hope I covered your question; whatever else you need just ask me.

By the way did you like the sound of it guys? I recorded it with my phone....

 

So yesterday I did a bit of logging in order to see some very basic data. I used two cars for the logging. Both cars were logged the same time.
I though it will be a nice comparison as the two cars are so closed spec wise, with a small advantage on car 2. Both cars had 100 RON fuel, nearly same mileage, extremely well maintained.
Car No1 specs (that's my car) : Car No2 specs:
16% sc pulley 16% sc pulley
0% Crank pulley 0% Crank pulley
Exhaust (back box only) Exhaust ( Mynes Header, 200 cell catalytic converter and back box)
Bytetronik Tune Bytetronik Tune
550 Injectors 550 Injectors
Charge Pipe without heatshield GP Intercooler
After market Bypass
OEM intake

Outside Temperature 26 degrees at 2 am !! It is very hot here !

Below you can see some graphs from the measurements. What you will realise is that car No1 produce more psi although is operating with increased IAT compare to car No2. To be honest I do not remember my car producing 15+ psi of boost with that heat. I could only see numbers above 15 only during the winter. I will need some time before the heatshield is going to be ready. When it will be done I will do exactly the same measurements with the heatshield on. Just keep in mind that I have not finished the data collection, I am aware that there are many things to be done. So far I am very happy with how it performs! Please guys give me your thoughts - opinions.

 

So I found some old logs of my car with same spec, outside temperature, fuel, driver etc and I compared them against the latest logs of the car. I could see through out the rev rage an increase in the boost level although the increased IAT (new logs are with the charge pipe but without the heatshield).
So I made a chart with the average boost level in each gear comparing the two logs. The results so far verify the feeling the car gives me , so I am very happy !!
Next steps:
New 3D scan of the engine in two days, redesign of the heatshield, print a 3d model.
Make another prototype in order to be installed in a friends car, so he can drive with it for a while and give me feedback.
Book a dyno, do back to back pulls.

By the way what do you think of the heatshield I posted in the previous post? Do you like it ?

 

Nearly done with the new design of the heatshield. Some minor modifications and then I will print and test fit it.
The last days I am playing with an idea... I want the outer layer of the heat shield to be made from aluminium fiber (Yes you can have aluminium in a fiber form exactly as carbon fiber !) and the inner from carbon fiber. So outer layer is the layer that we can not see (faces the ground and the intercooler horn). I want to make two prototypes one with the aluminium skin and one without and see if there is any difference with the temperatures.
More updates:
The billet air-filter adapter should be ready next week.

I also did some brackets but I have not fitted yet to see if everything is ok. Again I am thinking to use carbon fiber for the brackets, as I have done some to support an exhaust and the result was very nice.

 

So today I put the billet adapter on the car. I took some photos so you can see how it looks with the air filter on.
Keep in mind that the adapter is not anodised, just raw aluminium. I want to anodised them mainly to protect them from corrosion. You will notice that there is a small aluminium tube comming out of the top of the air filter. This is the return line from the PCV valve.
In the photos you can see the tapered design in order to accommodate a larger air filter without creating any step in the throttle body or the filter side.

 

I could post some stuff and see if people enjoy the extra content !!

 

Exactly ! That's why I designed a heatshield that blocks air from around the engine bay. and most important the radiator. I uploaded it in a previous post but I will attach more photos here so you can see it.