Hey there! I have an '09 Base Cooper and I discovered just how wonderful my little N12 sounds when I take the intake muffler off. Now I see that VIP sells a tube that connects from the air filter inlet to the pipe that goes through the front of the car (original intake pipe that went into the intake muffler) and would completely bypass the removed muffler, and not be sucking in hot engine air. Does anyone have any tips or have made their own before? I'm stuck inside until this is over, and I'd like to get my hands dirty and not spend $150 on a piece of pipe with a piece of metal attached to it. I'm just not sure what type of tubing I should use for this modification.
My second question to the community is that I've heard of "resetting adaptations" before on your Mini and was curious if anyone knew how to do it with either an ISTA+ cable or with the OBC. I'm going to look into both of my questions more after posting, but would really appreciate any feedback or suggestions everyone has.
Thank you!

 

Take some tape and place it over the holes you see on the inside of the intake muffler. Problem solved. That's what I did to mine and it works perfectly.

 

I am planning to remove the floppy, leaning and leaking intake muffler thing with a pipe. Will post when done.

 

Just my $0.02. I too have a Mini Cooper Base, mine's a 2013 with ~110k on the clock. Bought the car in June after selling my Golf R.

Initially I went with the DDM Works version which removes the stock muffler and filter box. It's loud. Kind of fun too. Throttle response is better, but still not great. Low gears and WOT is awesome sounding, but it is a loud one.

Then I installed my exhaust (local muffler shop version). Intake drowned out the exhaust note a lot. Throttle response was AWESOME (or so I thought - more later).

Because I wanted more of the engine exhaust sound, I removed the DDM, installed the VIP tube and put a K&N filter in the original box. It's PERFECT. Throaty, but doesn't drown out the exhaust. I love the exhaust burbles and throaty tone. Throttle response was still good to great. I drove my car this way for almost 4k miles.

Finally, I installed a Sprint Booster. Now, intake sound, exhaust note and throttle response is all awesome. I absolutely love my car now.

Just a FWIW, I'd do my version - VIP tube to replace the intake muffler, K&N filter, 2" stainless muffler shop exhaust (with your choice of muffler) and the Sprint Booster. BTW, I daily drive my Mini (sometimes in bumper to bumper traffic), I drive it on SB Race #7 or #9 most of the time. Engaging the Mini "Sport" button on SB Race #9 is a riot - but not for the faint of heart. My normal mode is SB #9 on and no "Sport" button engagement. Just a hoot...

Oh and after the intake and exhaust, the longest I drove was right at 525 miles on a full tank of gas. I normally saw 490 to 510 regularly driving the car like I stole it. Now I normally see ~480 to 495 miles per tank with the SB on #9 - all driving with a heavy foot. Also with the SB, intake and exhaust the car just seems to love ~80+ MPH. Accelerates like a champ in 4th, 5th and 6th too.

Again, IMHO.

John