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Well, some of you might remember my recent news about being able to order the JCW Exhaust, tips, badging etc. for my R56, instead of together with the intake and jcw ecu flash. 1200.00.
Hmm.. Well I have more news.
Just wanted to share. Maybe others of you out there can work the same angle for the jcw parts.
I talked with dealer again today - I was really only just curious about the potential obtaining of the, and price of the, JCW ECU tune.. I remember that having talked with nammers about the jcw exhaust, the gains from the Stage 1 R56 really come from the ecu remap, at least, this is from my understanding. SO. I was curious as to *IF*, and HOW MUCH, the dealer would charge to take me the next step to stage one and jcw-flash my car, which has (or, will have on saturday) the jcw exhaust already.
I wasn't getting my hopes up, as insofar I've been pretty darn lucky to slice off the exhaust pie separately from the intake and remap and the whole kit and kaboodle's XXXX.00 price tag.. !! (i mean, it's not too outrageous, but for an intake, remap, and exhaust, 2300+ is really alot)...
The person in the tech department said that what he would do, on saturday, would be to flash my car (and ??update the DME and Control Unit??) with the jcw-stage-one software, though he wouldn't be able to provide me YET with this 'vin-specific' CD i keep hearing about here on the forums.. He said I didn't need it, would have the jcw-software, warranty, and receipt anyway,.. But he will be adding the JCW-ecu tune for extra $$$, and of course I have to pay for the time the car sits there collecting dust getting flashed... Still though, I'm excited Smooth power curve, more torque, all that jazz.
BUT.
Just thought it might be interesting to some of you..
I am getting the JCW Exhaust installed, with tips, and badging (that I am wearing with full confidence and pride, but, understandably, and remembering recent arguments about this subject- to each his own).
and, I am getting the JCW SOFTWARE, as part of the stage-one kit..
I asked the tech for any reference or part number I could have, so I might be able to reference it with you already JCW-ers here on nam, to check. I don't know what this means, but, as per what the bmw/mini tech said,
it's JCW-software 29.2 .
I am not, getting the jcw intake. And I am -I-don't-know-how-but, extremely luckily, not paying anywhere near what the stage-one-ers are seeming to go for.
HELLO JCW-S
Cheers!
*Q* to you JCW owners, was there a difference (other than in power, obviously) with the ecu tune? I've heard/read something about steering becoming heavier, and/or the sport button functions a little differently ? Or is more sensitive.. I'd like to know what your experience and feedback is on the kit and any knowledge/discussion is welcome ! Thanks again.
So you're getting the JCW Stage 1 exhaust, badges AND the ecu software for considerably less dough than paying for the kit as a whole and getting an intake that you didn't want and didn't do that much? Sounds like you lucked out to me!
Always better to open up the intake and exhaust when adding more power to the engine...just a thought...
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Was thinking Blue...leaning to silver...onto green..finally...Hot Chocolate. Premium and Sport Package, Punch leather with oak accent and gray lines.
Just guessing but I think he meant he'd prefer to go aftermarket for an exhaust and intake. The JCW tune coupled with a full aftermarket turboback and good aftermarket open CAI would make a whole lot more power and fun than the JCW Stage 1 on it's own for about the same money but the great thing is since it's just the exhaust and CAI that are aftermarket then you won't lose your warranty like you could with an aftermarket reflash/piggyback like Unichip. If this dealer has any brains and market nous he could sell the JCW flash by the bucket load.
Since I have the ddm works intake, I mean, it hasn't made sense to me to again purchase an intake if I already have one, so that was the big kink in my plans looking at the jcw kit ... But... if I could get everything else, well, I would do that
*Question* - if the JCW Software is on my S, and somewhere down the road someone flashes it like GIAC, does the JCW get erased ?? Or does it go on top of the jcw ? Like, firmware and software and all that... I wouldn't want to get a flash and have it erase it!
I know.. that's why I'm still really skeptical..
Excited... Curious.. but a a bit skeptical.
I called several dealers today, including the one that has scheduled me for the JCW ecu flash, to find out some more details on- VO codes, or what not..
They're checking with some tech contacts at the port and in germany maybe ? to see if they can get what they need, or if they have something like a "master-code" that will work on the jcw flash for my car.
We have two R56 JCW cars (one with the everything you can get from JCW on it, the other with just the tunning kit and aero kit) plus another stock standard R56 Cooper S (my personally daily drive) - my wife works for Mini New Zealand and I can tell you for a fact that the JCW software is VIN specific (we have both JCW tuning discs at home for both JCW cars) and you can't and won't be able to upload one onto another - they are vin specific. In fact both cars had issues initially uploading the JCW tuning software because JCW sent the wrong VIN disc, this happened to both cars.
I can also tell you that the JCW cars drive very differently to the normal R56 - there is a lot more torque down low and it doesn't run out of puff up high. The difference is absolute night and day. It is well worth the money in my opinion - and to be honest the JCW intake is one of the best system out there even compared to a lot of aftermarket systems (larger intake pipe, cone filter, utilisation of stock cold air pick up, enlarged airbox - it is a well thought out system).
NZ .. That's exactly what I was thinking yesterday on the phone with the tech- what in the world is he talking about- all I've heard on the forums is vin-specific tuning... Disc.. Etc. I asked him upwards of five times, "are you sure its for the R56"-"it's the same JCw software??"
.. Then the last time I asked him he said,
"if someone.. Bought the r56, turbo mini cooper S, stage 1 jcw, I would put the intake on his car.. I would put the jcw exhaust on his car.. I would put the badges, on his car... And I would put this software.. On his car..."
Well then I asked, "doesn't the software have to come from a vin # cd?"
The technician replied, "no, thejcw software comes from my computer.."
So right now I am terribly confused!
I will call theMINI tech again today and see if I can't clear this up...
samroberto - trust me on this one - we've already tried to upload the JCW software onto two different R56s - one a JCW car but with the wrong VIN, one non JCW car - if the VIN (between the car and the CD) don't match the JCW tuning codes and maps won't upload.
The softwares are all the same, it's really just about getting an authorisation code from JCW directly so that it will talk to the vehicle ECU with that particular vin - hard to explain, but it can be done. We had one car with a full tuning kit, but the kit was ordered on another VIN - the CD wouldn't upload for obvious reason, so the tech emailed Germany and obtained another Code for the correct VIN, and used the SAME CD to upload the software. So it's not really the CD per se, but the authorisation code.
I don't know how successful your tech can get JCW to provide an authorisation code for a non JCW car, but he might have a way around it.
Hmm.. Well I have more news. 
Smooth power curve, more torque, all that jazz.
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