Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen S The Magic Bus engine mods journal

Discussion in 'Tuning and Performance' started by Motoring Magic, Feb 17, 2014.

  1. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
    Thousand Oaks, Vta cty, socal
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    #1 Motoring Magic, Feb 17, 2014
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2014
    Hi All, the basics for this car are here in the garage:

    http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/mygarage/edit/3055#axzz2tbmUQezi

    this thread is to keep everyone updated on the reliability and power steps on an 08 MCS. We installed a MINI oem replacement engine and I began tacking its progress, as follows:
    first oil change at 506 miles, oil came out clean and clear as it went in but -I am a believer in getting out as much microscopic intial wear in debris as possible.

    Dyno test for base power levels performed on 2-12-14 on a superflow dyno at bottle blown racing in Camarillo, Ca.

    2008 MCS with replacement engine, NM engineering air charge and discharge pipes and an NM CAI installed
    STOCK ECU and STOCK turbo and I/C -tubo and IC have 88000 miles at time of first test

    Let me say here it will NEVER be the intent of this thread to discredit anyone or any product here, every car and dyno is different and I am only here to present results as it goes along. This car is my daily driver and is handed to customers for test drives of the products installed on a regualar basis.

    5 dyno pulls with 10 minute cool down periods were performed between 6 and 8 pm at BBR. The peak (highest) hp was 155 and the average was 148.5. The peak torque however was 189.8. I did not have a boost tap installed so we do not have a data graph of how well the turbo was working, but the torque number indicates it was working well.

    going forward this will considered the "base" number as the NM parts will remain installed while others are added.

    as of today, the new engine has 1400 miles, oil is full and clean, no oil use at all since the first change. Car starts and drives as designed so far although occasionally a poor cold start/30 seconds of running seems to indicate a failing high pressure fuel pump. Until it actully sets a high pressure fuel system code or refuses to start MINI will not warranty it so I will soldier on.

    dyno2_zps45228c52.jpg
     
  2. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    I think it needs more British Flag emblems.....:D

    Those are pretty good numbers for a stock engine measured at the wheels (it was, right?)

    It'll be fun to see where it goes from here :Thumbsup:
     
  3. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
    Thousand Oaks, Vta cty, socal
    Ratings:
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    yes wheel dyno, added a photo. I am very impressed with those numbers-I expected the high mileage turbo to be giving something away. Next up is a boost tap then a wagner intercooler, not expecting power increases, but checking to see if there is a loss and how much.
     
  4. Minidave

    Minidave Well-Known Member
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    We have a dyno at school where I teach, I've been thinking about doing a before/after run when I do the walnut shell carbon blast to see if it makes any difference.
     
  5. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
    Thousand Oaks, Vta cty, socal
    Ratings:
    +266 / 0 / -0
    5000 mile update

    I have made it to the 5k mark with the new engine. Just drove it to the sw minifest in Phoenix last weekend, 1600 miles in 4 days. Thus far oil consumption is zero-still full. I got 32 mpg at about 75 mph on the freeway and a hard run up 89A into jerome knocked mileage off to 27 on that tankfull. the runflat tires are just too terrible to run even on trips so I am reconsidering my spare tire options for mtts. I will do another dyno pull soon with a boost tap and see where we are.:Thumbsup:
     
  6. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
    Thousand Oaks, Vta cty, socal
    Ratings:
    +266 / 0 / -0
    Updates! FINALLY

    It has been awhile since I have added anything here-the new engine in the Shop car continues to perform admirably and in contrast to the original engine. I have now motored over 16,000 miles since January when we resurrected this beast. Including 1600 on Southwest MINI Fest and 5800 total on MTTS 14. There have been oil and filter changes at 506, then 5000 twice then after MTTS at 6000 on that oil. Not one drop of oil has passed between changes-using the Cravenspeed dipstick the level is always the same. I only checked it 4 times on MTTS, every 3rd day or so, but never any change. After a particularly long hard day in west Texas, spent at 4000 rpm or above most of the day in 6th gear, I expected to see some oil burned-nada. Zilch. Nothing. So at this point I am very pleased with the New MINI replacement engine. We will continue to see how it goes.
    At 88000 miles as mentioned earlier, (installed engine at 86000) we added a Wagner FMIC to the already installed NM aircharge and discharge tubes and the next dyno pull showed us 166 whp on the same dyno and similar weather. (Engine already had an NM CAI.) I have to say I expected nothing from the fmic so it was cool to actually see an increase. The dyno pulls were exactly one week apart. The shop uses a dyno jet and it is about 200 feet above sea level, near the Pacific. The downside of that dyno session saw the original turbo expire on the 4th pull. Oh well, on ward!

    Watch for The next update as it will will include results from installation of a new bugger turbo and tuning, all of which now have 14000 miles motored on them.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Motoring Magic

    Motoring Magic New Member
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    Dec 13, 2009
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    Motoring Magic Owner, Ventura County's ONLY MINI s
    Thousand Oaks, Vta cty, socal
    Ratings:
    +266 / 0 / -0
    #7 Motoring Magic, Sep 7, 2015
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2015
    30,000 miles later

    Update on the engine in our shop car, the Magic Bus after 30k of fun motoring:
    I just had to add 1/3 qt of oil at 2500 miles since it was changed, the first time any loss of oil occurred. This engine continues to amaze, it is regualarly driven (possibly thrashed) by customers and Steven drove it back and forth to Ventura for amonth when my new Paceman arrived.
    A customer currently has it for the upcoming SCMM Sierra trip after he wrecked his R53 pretty badly. As a side note, we installed on of these engines in a customers car that has gone over 50,000 miles with ZERO oil consumption. We also had one customer lose cylinder 2 on one of these engines, which resulted in a parts warranty engine replacement.
    Counting my car, I have installed 42 of these factory new engines with the one failure so they look to be a pretty good investment especially for the cost.
    After driving my new Paceman exclusively for 2 plus months (left knee issue-using clutch hurts!) I drove the Magic Bus last week and was once again blown away at the wide, deep power curve and overall luxury of this car. :biggrin5:
     

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