>>All I can say is... if someone wanted to give me a free JCW kit, by all means, slap it on there. Period. Who cares if it's the 'ultimate' mod like some people are saying you 'should' have gotten... you got a smooth, reliable, unique vehicle.
>>

Amen, brother!

I'll gladly take my car to them if they want to add $10K worth of warranty friendly improvements to it at no cost to me. I might even be able to muster up some kind of over-emotional reaction when it's done. OK, probably not...

Anyway, congratulations Paul. Free is good!

 

>>>>All I can say is... if someone wanted to give me a free JCW kit, by all means, slap it on there. Period. Who cares if it's the 'ultimate' mod like some people are saying you 'should' have gotten... you got a smooth, reliable, unique vehicle.
>>>>
>>
>>Amen, brother!
>>
>>I'll gladly take my car to them if they want to add $10K worth of warranty friendly improvements to it at no cost to me. I might even be able to muster up some kind of over-emotional reaction when it's done. OK, probably not...
>>
>>Anyway, congratulations Paul. Free is good!




If they'd done that to my Mini, it'd be a big step backwards


_________________

 

Not only does this appear to be a Civic LX, but check the slowness of the times:


_________________
SHOW ME THE NUMBERS!

...How Fast is Your MINI?...My Mods...

 

The "Style" guru on the show is a radio announcer here in Toronto "Johnny B" who hosts a show called "Guy's Garage". The amount he knows about cars is shockingly small and manages to demonstrate it often during his show. Spends more time on his radio show looking for freebies for himself. Once I realized it was the same guy on Tuner Transformation, I started to realize that he doesn't do any hands on work with the cars...he just goes around to people who do the work and makes grade 4 bathroom humor.

 

Case you missed the show here are the other times it's scheduled to play.

Fri., Apr. 2:
10 a.m. EST (7 a.m. PST)

Sat., Apr. 3
6 & 9:30 p.m. EST
(3 & 6:30 PST)


I got an Email from Mini Mania plugging their "Phantom Grip LSD" and it listed the times for the show.

 

Paul:

Again, congrats on the fame. I loved your tepid response to the JCW kit. I thought that you were going to grab a control arm and smash the tuner show bimbette in the head when she was trying to elicit excitement from you. Mr. Graphics nosed out the other 2 too-good-for-a-MINI tuners as the biggest tool. All I could think of when he was bragging about his massive artistry: here's a vanilla suburbanite trying to be Jesse James. Even I out-cool that tool.

As others have said, free is free, and thanks for holding the dignity candle for MINI owners, and not blubbering out some 'Pimp My Ride' emotional melt-down.

 

**** and thanks for holding the dignity candle for MINI owners, and not blubbering out some 'Pimp My Ride' emotional melt-down.


Right on!
I was looking forward to a set of chromie spinners though!

 

>>Paul:
>>
>>Again, congrats on the fame. I loved your tepid response to the JCW kit. I thought that you were going to grab a control arm and smash the tuner show bimbette in the head when she was trying to elicit excitement from you. Mr. Graphics nosed out the other 2 too-good-for-a-MINI tuners as the biggest tool. All I could think of when he was bragging about his massive artistry: here's a vanilla suburbanite trying to be Jesse James. Even I out-cool that tool.
>>
>>As others have said, free is free, and thanks for holding the dignity candle for MINI owners, and not blubbering out some 'Pimp My Ride' emotional melt-down.

Cheers Eric. They actually edited out some of my comments. They asked why I was underwhelmed and I told them on camera that my car was already making that kind of power. Don't get me wrong, the JCW is smooth and having the warranty back is great but I think they've got to take into account what the person already as on their car before they choose either the person or the mods they're going to do. I just think they took the easy way out by going to MINI. They could have tried MINI Mania or MINI Madness for example to sponsor the entire thing and could have done their various stage 3 goodies.

The other thing is, those that know me know that it takes a something out of the ordinary to get me hyper and giddy like a school girl. The LSD was that something.

As for the graphics guy, word is he's pissed off MINI HQ in Canada for slagging their marketing and the car itself. What I heard was he was the one that went to MINI for the sponsorship. Rule number 1 in TV, don't **** off the sponsor.

I must give props to Chris Borba and Daniel over at MINI Woodbridge they do outstanding work. I trust the car to them completely. Eric you said yourself that yanking the tranny installing the Phantom Grip and reinstalling the tranny in 7 hours is impressive. Jack, suspension guy and the producer of the show is a good guy too. CJ, the host, is really sweet they just need to better explain to her what they did to the car so she can say the right things on camera, not her fault.

Cheers,

Paul

 

>>Not only does this appear to be a Civic LX, but check the slowness of the times:
>>
>>
>>_________________
>>SHOW ME THE NUMBERS!
>>
>>...How Fast is Your MINI?...My Mods...


Andy, to be fair the car was on winter tires for the first testing. The JCW tires aren't exactly grippy considering it was around 5c outside when they did the testing.

Paul

 

>>
>>If they'd done that to my Mini, it'd be a big step backwards
>>
>>

Agreed; but since my car is completely stock aside from the PIAA lights, it would be a major leap forward for me. I think another poster hit on the issue: Paul's car was not the best choice for what they had in mind. They should have found someone who hadn't made any performance modifications to their car.

 

HOWEVER...we are the only only ones that know Paul's car has been modified...I don't remeber them mentioning it on the show...so I think that the show will somewhat boost sales of Mini and JCW...at least the exposer will bring them more money then they spent :smile:

L

 

They did mention that he had a reduction pulley on it and they even listed on the screen what his mods were.

 

Yes. They not only listed the mods on screen, but they even discussed with the powertrain guy that he already had the pulley and the powertrain guy said it doesn't really make any power. :smile:

 

>>Can you please make it a quicktime or put it to dvd? i would gladly pay for shipping and the disk to get it to me!! Thanks! PM me if possible!


I have converted part 3 - which is where the JCW is installed - to Quicktime. A 10MB download! I hope this does not hit my bandwidth too much ...
If anyone needs this, it can be downloaded from:
http://www.gbmini.net/video/TunerTransformation3.mov

As for the other parts, we will see what happens to bandwidth with this part ...

PS: There is a nice "semi advert" bit at the end of this part, discussing the original Mini Cooper, John Cooper, etc.

 

Dayum! You've got some serious bandwidth! 10MB took a few seconds to download. I like the shot of the new cylinder head ... which they view from above ... showing exactly the same lifters, cam, etc. as the stock head.

Announcer: "Different lifters, cam profile change a little bit?"
Service Manager: "Slightly"

BS!

 

>>Dayum! You've got some serious bandwidth! 10MB took a few seconds to download. I like the shot of the new cylinder head ... which they view from above ... showing exactly the same lifters, cam, etc. as the stock head.
>>
>>Announcer: "Different lifters, cam profile change a little bit?"
>>Service Manager: "Slightly"
>>
>> BS!

Good thing they didn't notice that larger supercharger It really makes this a pocket rocket.

 

The cam profile has been changed by a certain percentage. That percentage happens to be zero.

 

Paul,

Can I get your opinion so far of the Phantom Grip LSD unit? Have you had it on the Autox track yet? I did notice that they put the "Green" springs in the LSD. That is the upgraded "Full Race/Hard Core Warrior" instead of the Gold "Street/Race Warrior" springs. Just wondering how it is on the street and track and if you have noticed anything good or bad about the unit after driving it for awhile.

 

>>Paul,
>>
>>Can I get your opinion so far of the Phantom Grip LSD unit? Have you had it on the Autox track yet? I did notice that they put the "Green" springs in the LSD. That is the upgraded "Full Race/Hard Core Warrior" instead of the Gold "Street/Race Warrior" springs. Just wondering how it is on the street and track and if you have noticed anything good or bad about the unit after driving it for awhile.

Torque steer is more noticable now but it's not a crazy amount. Haven't been on the AutoX yet (April 18th) but have enjoyed some roads in my area. The car most certainly puts the power down better, it leaps off the line. Dreaded wheels spin in the twisties is no where to be seen the car just hooks up and pulls itself around a corner. It's great! :smile: I'll post a report after the first autocross on the 18th.

Paul

 

>>>>Can you please make it a quicktime or put it to dvd? i would gladly pay for shipping and the disk to get it to me!! Thanks! PM me if possible!
>>
>>
>>I have converted part 3 - which is where the JCW is installed - to Quicktime. A 10MB download! I hope this does not hit my bandwidth too much ...
>>If anyone needs this, it can be downloaded from:
>>http://www.gbmini.net/video/TunerTransformation3.mov
>>
>>As for the other parts, we will see what happens to bandwidth with this part ...
>>
>>PS: There is a nice "semi advert" bit at the end of this part, discussing the original Mini Cooper, John Cooper, etc.
>>

Hey Ian I can host some videos for you. Give me an addy where I can d/l them and I'll u/l to my host. I'll post a link here for all to see. I can also mirror the video above it your OK with that. I think I'm allowed 10GB a month and so far I've only used 30MB.

 

kgmini,
email me at IanCull@usa.net ... I have only quicktimed that part so far, but if you want to host the rest then I can do the conversion next week.

 

>>>>Paul,
>>>>
>>>>Can I get your opinion so far of the Phantom Grip LSD unit? Have you had it on the Autox track yet? I did notice that they put the "Green" springs in the LSD. That is the upgraded "Full Race/Hard Core Warrior" instead of the Gold "Street/Race Warrior" springs. Just wondering how it is on the street and track and if you have noticed anything good or bad about the unit after driving it for awhile.
>>
>>Torque steer is more noticable now but it's not a crazy amount. Haven't been on the AutoX yet (April 18th) but have enjoyed some roads in my area. The car most certainly puts the power down better, it leaps off the line. Dreaded wheels spin in the twisties is no where to be seen the car just hooks up and pulls itself around a corner. It's great! :smile: I'll post a report after the first autocross on the 18th.
>>
>>Paul

We supplied the Phantom Grip to Tuner Transformation for this program. I know there is a lot of skepticism on this 'simple' solution for a LSD, but it WORKS! As stated earlier, it is being used by one of the race teams with good success. For this program, we provided a Phantom Grip with an upgraded spring set to match the upgraded horsepower (over stock).

Although there are order types of LSD (clutch type & torsen type), each has its benefits and drawbacks, as does the Phantom Grip.

The clutch type works well in all conditions and is a favorite of long time racers. Over time, the clutch may need replacing, but that's over a LONG time. You'll probably relpace the clutch / flywheel before you need to replace the clutch in the LSD.

The torsen type does not have the wear as others, but it is based on biasing the traction from the wheel with less traction to the wheel with good traction. It's a good concept for almost all driving conditions. I say almost because if you hit a curb on a high speed turn and lift a wheel, then the traction goes to zero and you can't bias something from nothing, so you lose the limited slip momentarily.

As for the Phantom Grip, it too will wear over time, but similar to the clutch type, you will probably be replacing the clutch / flywheel long before you need to replace the springs in the Phantom Grip.

I hope this information helps - they are all good solutions - it just depends on your own priorities and specific needs. They all have different characteristics.

ken

 

How does Phantom Grip address the claims presented here?

http://www.opmautosports.com/products/faq.html

Here's a Phantom Grip:



I can't seem to locate a pic of the OPM differential.
_________________
SHOW ME THE NUMBERS!

...How Fast is Your MINI?...My Mods...

 

ken,
I just wish they went to you or one of the other aftermarket tunners to get the mods. Stage 3 would have been sweet.

 

OK, courtesy of Ian here's the complete Tuner Transformation video. It's split into five parts. I only ask that you right click on the link and save the video..just in case you want to watch it again. That will save me some bandwidth. Once I hit the 10GB range were're thru for the month. ENJOY!


Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five