Engine Drivetrain 1st Gen Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Sprintex - Where are we now with these?

Sprintex, some people love them and some people don't. I for one dont but in the end it really doesn't matter just mod your car however you want and motor on down the road and move on already.

 

Didnt say that at all.
A tune is a tune no matter the ECU, standalone or factory. Changing the tune to more performance orented Settings taylored to the installed mods will always make power, but is it the ecu making the power? No... Its the tune getting the most out of the mods. I figgured you might be smart enough to understand what I was saying guess not.

Yes $2500 is a good chunk of change, but no BS and all the added features of the stand alone make it worth the extra cash. As MYNES has said they can not or will not ADD code to the factory ECU, so no matter how many maps are in FA it will always be limited. There is no stock source code for launch controll, the access to the knock controll is limited because there isn't much code there, there is still limitations to everything with the stock ECU. Standalone companies are continuously updating and adding features to their products (yes they are adding code) because that is how you stay ahead in that business. There are so many more features tailored to performance with a standalone than stock ECUs can think about... And the list grows daily!

That worth $2500? I say yes, just to not be held back by what the stock ECU cant do is worth the price to me.

 

Yes I do know how powerful FA can be. In inexperienced hands it can leave your car sitting in pieces for going on a year and 2 months now. It really dosent take much for things to go south real quick, but that is the same with any type of ECU tuner.

I also have a Sprintex (actually I was the first private owner to have one of the production units installed) and thats what this thread is about... So lets get back at it.

 

The real adavantage's as far as I can tell are theese:

*The power & torque comes on at a lower rpm
*The design of a twin screw compressor allows for more efficient boost therefore not taking away as much from the engine to make the same amount of boost.
*possibility of more boost overall than an M45 (the Sprintex has the potential of making 20+lb of boost)

So far the big arguement early on was that on the unit that Jan had (pre-production) there were heat issues, but I so far have not seen any when looking at my logs, now that my general running issues have apparently been resolved, we can start tuning and of course working the whole system a little harder, so now I can really see if my logs point to any heat related issues.
Speaking of effeciency though it's actualy pretty aparent, take my setup for example, the 70mm, supplied pulley should give you approx the same boost as a 15% reduction pulley on an M45 but I'm actually peaking at 17 and holding steady above 16 which we speculate is do to me running a larger throttle body and allowing more air to flow into the s/c, I personally never got any more boost out of my M45 than I should have using the same setup.

As far as the cam, I was using the NS2, I was having issues with the everyday aspects of using it, not the perfomance, I've heard if this problem with other cam's also, from what I can assertain, it was just "That Cam" in "My engine" I've heard of others not having problems at all. (crap, off topic again....) See my M/U build thread if you have any more non-Sprintex related questions.

 

The Sprintex Kit just got CARB approval yesterday. Thanks to Randy @ M7 for all his hard work.

 

I'm saying don't believe everything that's feed to you on the internet. And I think that's plenty useful.

Do your homework, figure out what the torque limiters actually do on a R53.

 

So went back over the last couple pages, to make sure I didn't mess up? And found this little nugget of information, interesting comment.

 

That's an accurate statement, You run a stand alone for other reasons that don't apply here.
I'm not disputing your power.... believe it or not your not the first sprintex to break the 280whp mark. I just think your getting close to the point at which it runs out of steam. We did it without messing with the torque limiter, without meth, and only reving to 7k rpm and on the stock ECU. In fact our very first day on the dyno with the sprintex we hit the 280 mark. But what I had on the car is radically different from the kit available now. But that First day on the Dyno I had a NASA reclass to hit a HP number and I was only allowed to make 282whp so we were trying to hit that number with as much torque as possible. I noted that the car was not going to be competitive at that hp and weight and appealed for more hp and less weight. I later got a reclass in the 290's and we developed the car up into the 290's eventually getting as much as 257 ft/lbs of torque (35.54 kg on your dyno). But we were turning the blower pretty hard to get those tq numbers.
This is what a dyno reclass looks like for those not familure with NASA rules.

 

Nathan, This is a great idea. (a thread with ground rules)

I for one look forward to reading all about actual Sprintex users feedback. (Good or bad)

 

Nathan please delete this post as i typed a response for the wrong thread, sorry!

 

Nate, here's a rehashed & Cliff Notes version of my experience:

The Kit:
Very Complete, only needed to change one bolt for a shorter one and get a slightly longer hose for the W/P connection.

Installation:
The instructions are very good, enabling anyone with an avg. amount of mechanical ability to perform the swap. (I went to my Bentley to look at the S/C swap details, and because the Sprintex instructions are so specialized I think they are actually easier to understand.) IMO, for a first timer, backyard mechanic, I would say realisticly 2 days (as long as you have the correct bolt & length of hose on hand), after doing it once, or a good qualified mechanic, one day no problem.
(the instructions in my opinion have some un-ness. steps that any basic mechanic can see and work around.)

Useage:
Once you've checked for problems, (leaks and other install related issues, if any) and are sure everything is OK.

Everyday: Get in it, drive it, enjoy the extra low end power. NO Tuning is Needed, but like any part change (change not swap), it couldn't hurt. The best I can do for everybody is try to get screen captures of my last M45 datalogs vs my first Sprintex datalog as far as true comparisons go, I was using the exact same tune for both, but I will need to know what people would like to see on the graph.

Performance: The only thing I can say for sure is that there is better mid-range power, that is very noticable right away, especially running hard through the gears or simply "high gear passing" on the highway.
As far as overall performance, personally I can't say. I was having issues with my car before the M45 went out and of course am having, and are working through, the exact same issues now, and my car has NEVER (contrary to some reports) been tuned with the Sprintex, and untill it is I can't even come close to doing a comparison. In my case, I am still using the supplied 70mm pulley which is giving me boost levels between 15.5 & 17 psi. which is comparable to a 15% reduction pulley on an M45.
As far as the use of either of the 2 available reduction/performance pulleys (64mm & 60mm), "To My knowledge", to date there has been 4 issues with cars using these pulley's. (2 engine failures, 1 strictly tuning related, 1 mechaniclly related having to do with an install, or mechanical change, not directly S/C related, 1 engine problem that was most likley there and simply enhanced by the extra boost created, and 1 basic S/C related problem ((drop in boost)), for which I've simply never heard wheather it was resolved or not.) There has been reports of other's but noone has come forward to substanciate these claims.
As a side note, everyone using either of these 2 smaller pulley's should have or should be aware that besides voiding your Sprintex warranty, you are adding a considerable amount of boost to your engine and it should be in good working order and that extra boost may possibly enhanse pre-existing issues in your engine.)
(Honestly this is only Common Sense that people seem to forget)

In my case, to date I have almost 3000 miles on the car with "0" S/C directly related prblems, and it's still cool to hear the w/p still running when you turn the car off.

 

Blown, wasent your pre and post sprintex issue something to with a wonky cam?

 

As far as I know yes, but still haven't found out for sure do to complications with the install. (whole story in my M/U thread as of today) Hopefully there will be some answers by Wed.

 

Post removed by NF...

Did not follow the guidelines of the thread.

 

Sorry Nate, I forgot the rules too......which thread is this again?