After much reflection and consideration, my R53--5 years old and 87,000 miles--finally has a 15% reduction pulley!
I got the
typical package from
Way Motor Works, and Way hooked me up with a San Diego pulley installer extraordinaire by the name of Blair.
Blair was a great guy, clearly knew what he was doing, and was very detail oriented even when it came to things unrelated to his task (like realizing my intercooler is being held on by one bolt instead of 4, and that I'm missing skid plates front and rear). He kept commenting about how smoothly the process went, and we decided that my Mini was just begging for more mods. I'm not planning on going far (DDM intake, rear bar and new dampers/springs in the next few months), but it was great to have the first step of the process go so painlessly.
As for the pulley, well, you all know the story. It's a wonderful thing. Blair unplugged the ECU to reset it after the install, but it will still have some learning to do with the pulley. Even so, the power increase above maybe 3000 rpm is noticeable, and more importantly everything is a lot smoother. There's no hesitation starting from a stop, and the weird "bump" that hit when the tach dropped below 2000 rpm disappeared. Whether that's all from the pulley, or partially due to the ECU reset, I don't know - but it's great nevertheless!
Do I wish I would have done it 5 years ago? Not really, my Mini has served me well, but I am looking forward to the next 5 years more eagerly.
