With the intro of the turbo models for '07+, many of us (me included) where hopeful for even better tunability than the R53 models. In practice, it doesn't seem as though that's happened but admittedly, I've not kept up. Has anybody broken 300whp with a stock turbo? Obviously, the JCW model would be the prime candidate. Anybody gone higher with a turbo swap? I know a few vendors are selling the right parts but I've not seen any details for results.
no, this thread isn't for drama. I really do want to know where things are with tuning the Prince engine.
Depends on if you are in the US or not. In Europe with the different air flow sensor style they seemed to have been able to tune for more power. In the US not so much. There are anecdotal reports that tuning and some part swapping has yielded some gains but I've seen nothing that screams at me and says "Yes, look at all this gain"
PGT, I hear alot of "crickets" when I ask R56 questions as well. I asked early on for some mod suggestion with about the same response as your getting. It then hit me that like Nathan, who pushes his R53 jalopy uphill both ways to the shop , that a majority of the early adopters of MA are R53ers. I trust us young turk R56ers will be populating soon. I too am really curious what the possibilities are. Granted I am about a year out from the initial 3 yr warranty so I am holding off on doing anything major to the engine. I'd imagine allot of us are in the same boat. I have a awesome service dept at Mini of St. Louis yet I'm sure, and I can't quite blame them, they are not going to take on the responsibility of 3rd party gear under their warranty. The M7's and Alta's of the world are certainly aware of this and no doubt are spending their R&D dollars accordingly Soooo we wait
Hit me also that the answer to our question might be found in what WHP is possible with the MINI sanctioned JCW engine tune. a CAI and a lighter pulley
usually, turbo engines respond well to basic mods....REALLY well. It's surprising there hasn't been much press on what the R56 can do....surely, there are a few doing turbo swaps. That said, I have seen a few reputable tuners say the Prince engine is a 'turd' so perhaps there isn't easy power to be made as in other cars and the R53 models. It's also interesting that it did take MANY years to get power out of the R53. One key part was tuning the ECU effectively.
I think you'll start to see some more results now that the ECU is finally cracked. Of course, it's not the best economic environment for aftermarket tuning, either. Folks may be risk-adverse right now with tweaking new cars. That being said, Way has tried a couple of basic tunes on my R56 to hold me over until I can meet him at the dyno for a full tune, and I have been VERY pleased with the results. I won't have numbers until after the dyno, but based on the butt dyno with the basic "performance" map, I'm expecting HP and Tq to both be around 225. The car pre-tune was at 195/215.
it's possible but it's also a MAJOR benefit with tuning the car. It's possible to have much more aggressive AFR's b/c you have better control of fueling.
air/fuel ratio. Direct injection cars run MUCH leaner...one of the reason's they get better gas mileage...they use less fuel than traditional injectors.
There has been talk about compressor wheel swaps. Whole turbo swaps, etc. This should be very promising, once the the ECU can keep up. Once again, BMW has stuck it to us with a closed up ECU. Crack that and get past the boost limit and/or the calculated power management, you can make some power. As far as the direct injection playing a part, the 2.0L LNF motor that GM uses in the Cobalts, Solstice, etc. has had good success in reaching 300 whp 340 wtrq. with the stock (direct) injectors. If i'm not mistaken, and please correct me if I'm incorrect, the GM injector setup and ECU is similar to the MINI. Bosch. Software is diff., though.
Some tuning is happening as we type in this thread. MM has a tuner in Hawaii who is using the Genius unit from Italy as is Jan B. Jan is working on a re-flash tool option for the R56 and has one out for the R53. Not sure who else has worked into the R56 ecu, good to see Way has started poking around, too. Orangecrush has just finished his tune with Jan/RMW, his numbers were 221WHP 250TQ on a Dyno Dynamics. At the Louisville, KY tune event. Other R56's have been getting baseline dyno's with some of our basic mods. My base line is 205.22 WHP and 238 WTQ. AF/Rs were in the green. This was on a DynoJet Dyno wheel dyno with a probe up the tail-pipe. I'm working a tune event in Denver with Jan, I hope to have 2 09 JCWs on the Dyno and a few R56s, mine included. My mods are DDM CAI (or warm air intake), I will have an ED cat-back before the tune, I hope to get a new baseline on the same dyno before the tune. We had a bone stock R56 on the dyno, results are posted across the river in NA(M) in the 5280 club area. Don
Now you know why I'm not overly impressed with my dyno results. You're running 238 tq stock compared to my 250 with a tune???? Apparently my tune must suck... I don't get it. Mark
As noted, different dynos can show different results, as well as days, altitude, outside temps, dyno bay temps and humidity levels. A side note, my last run was lower due to heat soak. When I get the cat back on the MINI, I will be doing some baselines again, I hope to run on two different dynos. I must remember a 40 degree, low humidity day is going to produce different results than a 80 degree day with low humidity. If it does not, then my dyno theory thoughts need to be reworked. :idea: :mad2: Edit: We will find out what the tune does with my MINI, I may not have any room to grow, but I hope to see TQ in the middle to top. Don
He's running an MCS with the autobox though. I've heard in the past that the steptronic trannies produce odd dyno readings, due to their torque converters.
They do... but they don't read "high"... they just make bizarre looking torque and HP curves because of the torque converter slip and the lock-up point. At least mine does. And the ink runs when you get it wet. :lol: