2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Mini Newbie - Please make sense of engine mods

You said your car is an '08, which means it's turbocharged, not supercharged, so a pulley isn't applicable.

Boost tubes are probably your best bang for a cheap buck, along with a a CAI/drop in filter, exhaust, and bigger intercooler. As far as tunes go, there's RMW, Mynes, and Cobb's AccesPort, and opinions on them all vary.

I'm running a DDM Streetworks intake, hot side boost tube, and a custom Magnaflow cat-back ... that combo has given me a bit of power without too much $$, plus no CEL's or other problems.

 

I was going to make the same comment, but decided to wait to see if the OP was questioning a lightened crank pulley.

 

Or

you could save your money and follow Keiths thread on doing an R56 head and cams. Then tune the sucker and have at it!

ICs are weak points on the car as well.

Matt

 

Exhaust doesn't usually do much for a car other then make it SOUND fast.

Since you've got a late model Cooper with a turbo, a downpipe might be a very good thing to think about though. It'll help your turbo spool up faster and looks to be a fairly easy thing to install at home.

It'll probably do more then an exhaust AND air intake will... at least it did on my twin turbo 300ZX...

The Mynes guys have a little yellow Cooper S setup for racing. And it SCOOTS. I think they're still running stock boost levels as well. Might want to search here for their posts and see what they've done?

 

An exhaust system matched to the exhaust flow CFM will enhance the performance (thermal property of exhaust or heated air flow or in study, laws of thermodynamics ).For a thermodynamic cycle the net heat supplied to the system equals the net work done by the system. Using this first basic law you may see how a less efficient exhaust system can inhibit power levels.

You can tailor the degree of sound for your personal taste by careful application of chosen exhaust system components as an example wrapping the pipes.

 

While that's true, can we agree that most off-the-shelf "systems" for the Minis are extremely expensive for the performance gains you'd get on a stock or close to stock Mini?

Plus, no itchy hands required with the wrap! (Although I envy you and the time and effort spent doing so...) :cornut:

 

I believe he is referring to my build thread here: http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/project-car-builds/3745-cams-headwork-track-build.html

This is all pretty new territory with little to no documentation. I would NOT recommend this for the faint of heart.

If you are looking for an improvement for a street driven car I would get an aftermarket downpipe back exhaust with a second cat delete and a tune. The engines in the R56 are very well engineered from the manufacturer and you will only get small gains by replacing parts.

I recommend the exhaust, not that it will really make more power, but the sound is nice and has a very good placebo effect. The tune is really where you will notice power. Both Mynes and RMW produce good tunes. I would stay away from the ALTA tune for quite a while. Initially it looks to make very good power, but they have a horrible track record with customers.

I would also stay away from any aftermarket downpipe, yes you will make more power, but you will almost 100% have a CEL because of it. The ECU's on these cars are extremely picky.

If you were going to be driving in the track, I would recommend a larger intercooler, helix and forge both make good units. If you are going to be doing an intercooler, I would say go ahead and throw on an NM hot side boost tube. It eliminates the stock muffler that is a restriction in the intake system.

 

Depending on what your priorities are that could be the correct order. If you primary are looking for more power then get the tune first. I am not sure how much money you are looking to spend, some of these items are not super cheap. The tune is really the only thing that is going to actually make power. The catback will make a little bit, but it is mostly just a nice sound and will not cause a CEL. The intercooler will make power in that it will keep you IAT (intake air temps) cooler, which will allow the ECU to add more fuel as the air is more dense. I have not done any logging to determine if most people are going to heat soak the stock intercooler during daily driving. I mostly recommended it if you track your car.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that I don't think any or all of these things will give you an additional 30-40hp. I would guess your delta increase on the tune is going to be around 20hp, maybe a little more, the tuners are learning more about our cars every day. The biggest thing you will notice is more area under the curve. Your car will make peak, or almost peak power much sooner and keep it for longer.

 

For as far as hard parts go the Forge intercooler will be great bang for your buck and actually gain you power.
Tuning will also net you good gains, we do custom tuning also, but don't recomend it until you've completed your build of hard parts. Otherwise you'll require retuning. We do have our quicktune or some call canned tune that will net about 20hp on a standard cooper S that is super safe to continue adding parts until your ready for a complete dyno tune.

As for exhaust save your money, ALL downpipes cause check engine lights, even the one I make.
Put your money in the NM discharge and air charge pipes. They are good reliable gains.

Call us if you need more advise.
WAY
317.201.8670

 

Sorry for the lack of mention on the tune... I forgot you were tuning as well.

Way will help take good care of you.

 

Ideally you would do the intercooler and hot side pipe first. But let's start to add all this up, intercooler is $710, hot side pipe is $240 and a tune with dyno time is probably $750. If that is within what you are wanting to spend right away, then by all means get the parts first and then tune your car. Just know that most of the improvements will be seen by just a tune alone. It is all a question of how far you are wanting to go.

 

Way knows what he speaks of. I'd follow his advice.