Since I know this will come up.... Before the first tune at 85K was the health of the engine checked? Ya know Alex, I've been on drives with you and well, neither of us are shy when it comes to exercising the go pedal.
I don't think you should have to be shy about the way you drive your car. especially when its a built motor.
Its possible, but mines got just over that and i still pull 267. Its probably just a really subjective thing. I think the point is that its slightly nefarious that the engine blew 5k after a tune when it was subject to the same amount of abuse before hand on the stock tune.
First time or not, the second one was a freshly rebuilt motor done by and too the specs of the tuner. And if the motor were weak the first time, wouldn't that have shown up on the dyno?
Maybe the OP did not do any data logging but I think the Tuner would have / should have. At least when the Tuner built and tuned the 2nd motor. Also I am not sure if logging would have showed incorrectly installed oil squirters. Just saying.... my $.02.
For $14k that should have been a pretty stout motor, IMO. I'd have expected much more from people who so strongly touted their abilities to build & tune performance MINI motors. I have a hard time believing that if they were even mildly competent that they didn't build with the owner's intended use in mind. The other thing I haven't seen pointed out is that the OP was a fanboi of the builder's & tuners prior to this going so wrong. I'm not trying to toss stones at him. I just think it puts perspective on his experiences.
Regardless of the Data logging being done or not it ultimately is the responsibility of the tuner to insure that the motor is tuned in a safe manner so as not to blow up the customers existing or built motor.
Why would he need to? If he sent them the motor to build, break in & tune knowing its intended use, shouldn't he expect more from it than he got? At a bare minimum shouldn't they have offered more remote support than he's seemed to receive as well? I'd bet that even such a staunch Mynes/ABF supporter as you might feel at least mildly displeased after dropping $14k.
No health check was provided or advised. I won't deny that one those particular drives I did give it some meat and those were the hardest times I drove the car ever. BEFORE THE TUNE Didn't feel like it was tired at all if there was a snow storm I drove a WAY slower car for a few days and then when it all cleared up I went back to driving the MINI it always felt strong. I didn't notice anything except it was a dog below 4k and once past it was a raped ape. At the time I never thought about getting datalogging software because I thought I didn't need to worry about that. Now from this experience I will datalog the MINI even for the 46 mile round trip to Hays, KS on a friday night to catch a movie. Again I thought was in good hands because I thought I had a good tuner doing the tuning so why worry about datalogging when it was tuned by a so called "pro" I totally agree I am still on stock rods and crank. To break it down the motor alone has somewhere between 8-10k in it I can't exactly tell for sure because I never got a final bill when paid in full for an official break-down of parts. Supposedly it was built for the future application of going turbo-only. I admit I was very much a fanboi of ABF and Mynes. I am no longer that. I don't own Bytetronik or the datalogging software. Again I thought was in good hands because I thought I had a good tuner doing the tuning so why worry about datalogging when it was tuned by a so called "pro"
Well if he was having problems....data logging may have prevented more serious problems arising. Well there are ALWAYS two sides to every story....I just feel in my gut that there is more to this story than what is being said here. Yea it's definitely a bummer to what happened to him, but to say Mynes/ABF is the only tuner builder to have problems is stretching it.
Well there's the rub, isn't it? This thread isn't about those other tuners having problems in this case. IMO, your gut feeling betrays your bias for the builders & tuners in question here.
He never said that Jim, he is and has been merely stating his experiences and the facts as he knows them. This mess is purely between him and the tuners that actually worked on his car. Please leave any others out of the conversation. Thanks
Your gut Super-Bias Man is wrong. The opening post for this thread is how it happened in TIMELINE FORMAT. If you want more detail it will need to be physical because words and pictures can only show so much also aren't tactile to feel what's wrong in the picture. DO NOT DRAG OTHER PERFORMANCE FACILITATORS INTO THIS THREAD. Its about ABF and Mynes so if your trying to bring in some other performance facilitators problems in here you better just go back into the other room or watch from your lay-z-ee boy and piddle your thumbs because that is not what this thread's goal is.
I'm fairly certain Jiminni works for mynes/ABF. And Op sorry about your situation. I came from Subaru where there are so many stories and shoddy tuners that stories like this never stop, but at the same time I always feel sorry for the victims. Good luck with getting everything resolved.
Jim, its not like he did not contact the vendor, Thats listed in the timeline. I wonder if we will ever be able to figure out what came first in this case the chicken or the egg, and by that i mean the tune or the build causing the problem its so difficult to say after the fact. I wonder if this series of threads on all the boards has gotten back to the vendor or builders in question and if it has spurned them into taking care of this mess. and Paul, It would certainly seem that way at times. but I guess we can just chalk it up to a Zelot reveling in the glory of his chosen product.
Oh! So how can you say, "or through bytetronik you better save up for a new motor because your going to be needing one."? So you never had the ByteTroniK....but you can talk crap about it?