Let me begin by saying that I contacted Mario Palza about two months ago about getting the stage 2 remap and one of his downpipes, over the last two months Mario Palza and myself went back and forth through several phone calls and texts messages until I finally decided that I was going to go through with both the remap and the downpipe. I would send him a text in the middle of the day on a weekend and it seemed as though he was just waiting there by his phone because he would text me back with the information I was asking about within minutes. Every time we talked on the phone he had so much information to pass on to me about things that I had never thought of before, he was always very professional with me and very courteous.

I will be honest and say that in the beginning of this process I was skeptical about spending what seemed like a lot of money, and sending my ECU out to be remapped. After the experience I had with Mario I can say that I have found someone who I can trust with my mini. I sent Mario my ECU Monday after noon and by Wednesday morning I had the ECU back as well as the down pipe I had ordered the week before.

The DP that I ordered came as exactly what I was expecting and the install was as simple as taking off the old one and putting on the new one, there was no crazy tools needed, no cutting, no bending, no guessing it just fit the first time. The remap is great so far, I have only had the ECU installed for about 5 hours and 2 of those hours was spent with the install of the downpipe, but from what I felt so far just doing some local town driving, the remap is a night and day difference in the car I had before I got the remap and the car I have now after the remap is done.

I would recommend Mario to anyone that is looking to bring their mini to the next level, it is worth every penny you spend on it, I can say that I will be driving a lot more now that I have done Thanks Mario

Rob

 

Rob, thank you for the kind words and UPS got you up and running even faster in a couple days. Enjoy the new power and get those plugs, sticky tires and if you come across E85( 3 gallons) or 100 octane, treat your self, to even more smoother lpower. On a side note, N14 motor is all about maintenance. I change my oil with Royal Purple every 2500 miles and change the filter every 5000 miles. When he get a chance take it on some canyons Thanks again Mario mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Mario's Manic Tune and K04 turbo. It's a 1st to 3rd gear pull.

 

Another vote for Mario - we met yesterday and although it took a little longer than we both had anticipated the end result is what counts -> solid manic car!

Mario is a great guy - highly recommended!

 

Sorry for the highjack, what BOV is that?


Thanks,
Roby!

 

Another satisfied customer! Mario gave me a nice deal on a blemished uncoated pipe. Install was a little tricky due to my lack of proper tools but fitment and function of the pipe itself is outstanding. Nice sound and the pops and bangs from the backfire complemented by my Invidia system and Stage 1 tune are massive from such a little car.

 

How come you only went with a Stage 1? Any chance you can post a video of the exhaust sound?

 

I was already stage 1 before the install. Going stage 2 with a local(ish) shop sometime after the snow stops.

 

I gotcha. I'm gathering parts myself for Stage 2

 

Also, update. Today my car shot flames and two-stepped. 100% worth it.

 

It's the stock BPV. Since I have a custom 3" aluminum intake you can hear the BPV with almost zero muffling echoing to the front left side of the engine bay. I do want to get the Forge BPV soon, just so it's not a plastic pieces. Not a big fan of the blow off versions.

 

I'm just gonna leave this right here:



#FireEndFriday

once again Mario doesn't disappoint

290.7 WHP

 

sorry for the double vid looks like NAM is having issues with its YOUTUBE embed

 

See if this works

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

haha yeah that looks better. now it on there 3 times

 

Did you just use the "youtube" embed icon? or something else?

 

Mario I have a question for you. It seems as though a lot of these people are going stage 2 without the recommended specs of the tune. Is that possible and if so safe? Also if I were to go that route and added more parts later does the tune scale or will I need another tune?

 

Hi Guys,

This is my first post actually. Long time lurker here; I'm a researcher and not much of a poster. NAM is such an incredible place for information though. So very helpful. I just wanted to chime in and share my experience with Mario as well. I've got a 07 R56 MCS with 42k miles on it. I bought the car in 2012 with 17k miles on it. Awesome car and an awesome deal with a crazy crazy story; for another time…

Anyhow, I've started doing weekend track events recently and I'm loving it. (Coincidently, if you're in the southeast, check out the justtrackit.net guys. They run great events.) Other than swapping out my wheels, tires and brake pads, the car has remained stock. So after getting a few track events under my belt and LOTS of research, I decided to pull the trigger on a Helix FMIC, a catless DP and a stage 2 Manic tune with the switch. Like most of us I’m sure, I was initially reluctant to ship off my ECU and I wanted to explore other options. So I visited a local shop that does Manic tunes. I honestly was less than impressed with the response I received, so I gave Mario a call. He was very helpful and informative. He answered any questions I had and made a few very helpful recommendations for some other important parts (DP studs, a set of ILKR8E6 plugs, Alta BOV spring, etc.) that would insure everything went smooth. I ended up shipping my ECU out to him overnight. He had it tuned and heading back to me within hours of having received it. I initially ordered a DP from another vendor, only to receive a call back 4 business days later letting me know that not only were the DP’s not in stock, but, they had no idea when or if they would be back in stock again. I should add, I would have actually bought one of Mario’s DP’s to begin with, but, my wife actually had placed that order as a surprise. Anyhow, I cancelled the order and immediately gave Mario another call. Within 30 minutes he had one of his catless SS DP’s mailed out and heading my way. I had really been hoping to get all of this installed over that weekend and was now not going to be able to do it because of the botched dp order. Mario, hearing my situation, offered to cover the extra shipping cost to get his DP overnighted to me so I'd have it in time for the weekend. I was impressed to say the least. The install was a breeze. Ironically, the only snag I experienced was that I needed a particularly thin-walled socket that I didn’t have to get the stock plugs out. Mario’s DP is truly a thing of beauty. It bolted up with zero issues. The welds are awesome and the lack of welds even more so! As E85 is available locally, I’ve been exclusively running Mario’s recommended 30% blend for a week now. I won’t ramble about Manic as there’s plenty of great info on NAM about it. My experience with Map A, B and C have all been as others have described. The car is COMPLETELY transformed! The feedback on Dash Command is impressive. It’s pretty incredible. Manic is an amazing tune.

Anyhow, I really can’t say enough good things about both Mario and the experience I had working with him. If you’re considering these mods, Mario is THE guy to call. Period. Thanks again Mario!

-ian

 

Just wanted to take a minute to express howhappy I am after dealing with Mario on a recent issue I was having with mymanic tune. Mario did not do the tune but was able to help me out and fix myissue. I also purchased one of his very very very ( did I say very?) amazing stainlesssteel downpipes and this thing is a beauty and should almost be mounted ona wall for display and not hidden on my Mini but I want more power so in itgoes ,


I also purchased a Manic switch to helpcontrol my stage 2 tune. Mario was extremely helpful and knowledgeable on allitems and provided me with amazing customer service and kept me up to date oneverything. He even took time to send me a video of manic tune and what waswrong to show me how he fixed it.


If anyone ever asks me about who to buy atune from I will always be sending them to Mario. To me customer service is abig thing as I am in sales business and Mario defiantly went above and beyondmy expectations. I look forward to buying from him again in the future.

 

So, it's been about two weeks now since I met with Mario to get my manic tune. Like all the rest of us here, I am very happy with my tune. I too have all the extras Mario recommends, and the entire process was all too easy.

I ordered, and installed the Alta spring, I ordered and Mario's Mech installed the 8es plugs, and I added the ceramic coated DP for the complete transformation.

Holy crap! Getting on the freeway to come home after the install I could not keep the car off the red line. I had learned where the power band was prior to my tune, and the general pace of manually shifting my auto trans. With a clear lane and no traffic, I nailed the throttle. Sadly I was woefully late on all my shifts, ridding the red line through three shifts till I gave up and lifted. WOW!!!! What a rush. Since then I have had time to relearn where the power is and when to shift. Now the rush is even better.

I have to stay off the top end though as there is a lot of resonance in my car. I have a Magnaflow catback, with a resonator delete, and Mario's Dp. Great sound, but it can be a bit much at the top end. The sound on downshifts is spot on. Nice little roar, and just the right amount of popping. I find that using the gear selector in the +/- position and using the paddles or the stick the car shift, the car shifts better. Without it I feel the auto trans shifts too slow.

It was a good day for me driving down from my house to see Mario. It was a rain day here in SoCal, and my wife and I had a good time in town waiting for my install to finish. Good driving, good day, great tune. I'm so glad I talked to Mario. You should too.

Mario, thank you again.

 

Could you elaborate on the extrasame that Mario suggest for the Manic Tune. Not sure I understand what you were saying but I'm building towards one and would like to have everything I can to squeeze out as much power as possible.

 

Sorry, I'm not exactly clear what your question is? What year, model, transmission and mods do you currently have?

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Sorry it's that damn auto correct lol. In your post you stated something about the extra stuff he recommended for the stage 2 tune. I was asking what the extra things were. I have a 2012 cooper s with a nm intake I'll have my q300 tomorrow. About to buy the wagner competition intercooler and Alta boost tube then I'll go catless.

 

Autocorrect is my friend and nemesis. Stage 2 is designed to work with IC, catless or highflo DP, no second cat. Premium fuel is a must 91 octane and if you are lucky 93 octane. 2+ would be for owners using race fuel (100+) or methanol for map C. As always, I suggest colder spark plugs and stiffer spring for the diverter valve, since it will need to hold 50% more boost for a long window of time.

mQubed Motorsport, Manic Tuning Dealer

 

nice flame thrower