Hi all - I'm a former Jeep Wrangler owner. I sold my Jeep because the price of gas is ridiculous and I drive way too much (over 130mi/day) to keep paying those kinds of prices. My wife was okay with me getting a smaller car, but she insisted it be a convertible (who am I to argue?).
I am the proud owner of a 2007 MCS 'vert in Lightning Blue.

So far the only mods I've done is found the battery in the trunk, filled the washer fluid (both tanks!), changed the oil, changed the gear oil, and the air filter.

I have a little bit of cash left over from selling Jeep stuff I had in my garage, so now I'm wondering..after I get a pair of Piaa 510 driving lights (brackets TBD - considering fabbing my own), what's next?

If you had about $500..where would you start? I was reading about exhausts, underdrive pulleys for the SC, different software, etc - but my main concern is keeping fuel efficiency or gaining it with any performance mods. There has to be *some* leeway for this. Of course my foot will be to the floor and that eats gas in any car - but if I could find something that gave me more horsepower when I needed it, but didn't affect much otherwise (except nitrous) - that would be ideal.

I've never worked on a forced induction car before either - certainly one with this small of an engine compartment. Even my Jetta GLX VR6 had more room under the hood.

Any ideas?

 

Having no experience except browsing this site for hours and hours and hours the past two weeks, I have this to say

1) Get an AccessPort, although it is a little out of your budget (~$850 IIRC)
2) I don't think you'll have any luck with the SC pulleys as you don't have an SC

 

An MCS is a Mini Cooper S.

I do too have a supercharger, a hood scoop and a big fat intercooler (although not as big as I have seen from some of the guys on here) on top of the motor!

Now I need to learn what an AccessPort is.

 

I believe they changed to turbochargers in '07, ya?

 

As far as I know, Mini Cooper S 07+ is turbo and before that was super/

07+




Pre-07



Images found on google

 

The 2007 cabrios were still superchargers. Drop tops didn't go turbo till 2009.

 

Ah! That's right. Thanks for the clarification.

 

Ohhhhh, good to know!

Then OP, a SC pulley is for you!




Learn something new everyday

 

I've not done it and probably won't but the guys that know in our club insist that the best first upgrades to make 1, 2 and 3 are CAI, pully and rear sway bar. Were I to delve so far, that is what I would do but I'd rather spend the money motoring. The most important thing in all of this is to make it yours.

 

Yeah, I saw that Alta has a pulley/plug/ignition kit for under $400 that seems a good place to start. Am I looking at a decrease in MPG or reliability with a 15% pulley? At what point does cooling the intake air become a problem with the increased boost?

Also, I heard that the stock recirc system puts a lot of oil back into the intercooler and intake tract, and a catch can is recommended. Should this be done first and can the intercooler be cleaned (I know how to clean a t-body, etc)?

Is it worth increasing boost without decreasing backpressure due to the stock exhaust, or should the exhaust come *first* before anything else?

On previous cars, an exhaust was one of the first mods..but then again I wasn't looking at an $800 exhaust either - parts for these cars are expensive!

Thanks for the advice guys.