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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.
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A car is safe in a garage, but that is not what cars are for.
Welcome to the party. I was fashionably late too....got mine a couple of months ago. I've met Way before....and he is a great guy to get info+parts from. Congrats....and I still wonder why I waited so long!!
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l 2005 MCS l 11-04 Production l owned since new l Craven -17% Pulley l Craven Speed STD l Dinan CAI l JCW 380's l kingsbornewires l MSD Ignition l Power Steering Fan Duct l Ian Cull's Auto-Up Circuit l LightInSight l Official MINI Armrest l Euro Parcel Shelf l Brake Light PULSAR(gen2)l Power Steering Fan Duct l MyMINI-Minspeed.net Knee pad l Detroit Tuned Tensioner Stop l LED interior dome light l Blitzsafe/xmradiol Exaust and Sway-bar to Go!!
I was a late bloomer, too - Way's package @ 58K, installed by WMW at the Dragon. 19K later, I'm still LOVING it. Congratulations and many more happy miles.
I found this on the Mini Madness site: "Stock Mini Cooper S engines will see a 3-4 pound increase in boost."
More common are reported horsepower gains. Alta's site shows a dyno chart with a 10 whp gain from a 15% pulley. Usually people posting dyno runs have multiple mods so it's difficult to say what each mod does by itself.
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A car is safe in a garage, but that is not what cars are for.
That is correct with a 15% pulley you'll typically see about 4lbs of boost.
As for horsepower it's at least a 10hp gain, I usually say it's about 15hp. But the numbers don't matter, it's the real world gain that you'll feel it. Not just snake oil power.