thats what I want to accomplish in my MC.
I currently have K&N CAI magnaflow exhaust, among other things that have no affect. what else besides port and polished heads + cams can make larger gains? or is that all thats out there?

 

Header, software.

 

Head and cams are most likely your best bet, unless you wanted to go with a power adder like a NOS system. With a NA engine you basicaly have 4 things to work with: air intake, fuel dilevery, compression, and timing. To make big HP with a NA engine you are gonna need high compression (which i hear the MC already has) so the next biggest thing is a good head/cam. This is what basicaly makes or breaks a NA engine. Super high flowing cfm heads are a MUST! and a cam to move those valves further and keep them open longer to allow as much air into the chamber as possible. Of course having the fuel and spark to match is also a must. I dont know about the MC very much, and what size enjectors they come with, they could be enough from the factory i dont know.

Im use to working with NA air-cooled VW engines, and a high flowing head/large cam works wonders! Im not sure what is all offered for the mini as far as, 1.4:1 ratio rocker arms, large cams, big oversized valves, ect. But i would also look at things that reduce rotational mass on the engine. Such as a lighten flywheel, power pulleys (lighter and take reduce the strain on accesories like A/C units) and maybe even a final drive swap. depending if you want more acceleration/or top end.

im bored and rambling now, so im gonna hush.

Good luck!

 

nitrous would be fine, except only for track use. what kinda software is available for the mc?

 

I run MTH on my MCc and very happy with it. Have not had the chance to dyno the car, but on my JCW the software did pretty much what the company claims. I would however wait to do the software untill the rest of the mods are done.

 

Not sure it is a good idea for the MC to be pushed to 160hp. The MCS has forged connecting rods, special high strength pistons and a forged crankshaft.

Not sure how long the bottom end will last if you go forward with this.

JOHO

 

I really don't think 160hp from a Cooper is gonna happen - at least not for very long.

 

I read this thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=67823
with interest. It looks like the discussion about head/cam results might help in your quest for more HP. Personally, I echo the concerns about bottom engine/tranny stress, but can complete understand the desire for more WOW factor for the MC.

 

I dont think so either. I dont think there is enough afetrmarket products, that are "extreme" enough to make those kinds of gains, if you plan on staying NA.
But i could be wrong...

 

From what I gathered the current tranny is rated for 155HP. Somewhere there's a thread with information pertaining to this. It might help to do a search on NAM.

Best of luck!

 

Here's some information pertaining to that Ebay listing...

flowpassagecontrol( 184) Item: BMW MINI COOPER S GAS FLOWED PORTED CYLINDER HEAD (120021278303)
hi
this is a cooper s head . valves are as they come from the factory .
this head would be best for cooper s due to the high velocity airspeed both through the inlet and exhaust ports.
2 cams ... thats a mistake in the advert .. obviously there is only 1 cam ... too late to change ad now though.
shipping to usa will be £150 GBP
thank you
Thank you,

 

Mini-Madness sells a Stage 3 package for the Cooper which they state gets you 155 hp.

MiniMania has a Stage 2 which has no stated hp gain, I would expect nearly the same from Mania, maybe 130 hp without the TB and cam.

160 hp is totally possible, if you have the money. Madness has a high performance cylinder head and an intake manifold as well. I think that 160 is very achievable. But Madness prides itself on reliability and drivability. They may have stopped at 155 hp because the tranny can't take much more than that and remain reliable.

Oh yeah, none of that stuff is cheap.

 

Might actually be kind of like driving off of a cliff - real expensive, but the Cooper will achieve a high rate of speed very quickly . . . once

 

Im thinking that the pistons exc will withstand so long as I stay NA and dont push past 160. Head work is an obvious choice but Id prefure to stay away from it as long as I can. I have an 06, I thought it had a stronger transmission.. Am I wrong?

 

that head, is it DOHC???

 

I have zero clue, the "quote" I posted was answers to questions I had about it. I'm not sure the ebay posting is still valid...

hope that helps

 

I hate to keep bringing up the HPA car (well not really cause it's totally rad!) but how much ponies you think it produces?

This is the mod list they provided before they sold this car...

2003 MINI COOPER TRACK CAR

Chili red/black, 1,200 miles, HPA Motorsports prepared track car, pro-built engine with TBI, Schrick cam, Carillo rods, stainless headers, SDS LCD programmer, K&N, etc, AP brakes, KW Comp 3-way suspension, Borla exhaust, JCW factory body kit, Axis 17” wheels w/ Hoosiers, Sparco EVO 2 seats with 5 pt harness and steering wheel, pedals, shifter, pass foot plate, complete roll cage, custom carbon fiber door panels and dash trim, racing tach, oil press and water temp gauges, diamond plate floor, A/C removed, over $65,000 invested in this like new condition professionally prepared track car, although titled this car is sold without warranty as a race car for off-road use only and not street legal due to racing exhaust and air bag removal, $26,500

most of you probably seen this before but here it is anyway for those that haven't...




anyone here have experience with throttle body injection cars?


Mini Mania have talked about making a kit like this in the future at mini2... not sure what will become of it...

 

by the mods im guessing around 175? Track cars are alot more about suspension and driving than power, so throttle response is needed but not big power to win races.

the point in me asking is id kinda like to find another way besides port polished head, big racing exhast and intake valves, shcrick cam, and throttle body. its too much money for mediocere gains...

I had ecu in mind, but I havnt found anything at all for the MC.

it kinda seems like theres not alot left to mod haha and not much has been done.

 

Yeah I think that's about it... big numbers mean big money unfortunately... lose weight???

 

rear seats, and spare already removed. Id prefure not to take any paneling off

oh I see they have a breather filter on there. Ive had one of those laying around from my crx for a while. does it help any performance wise??

 

The simple fact is, power output is directly proportional to how much air and fuel you can get into the engine. So if you don't want to do those mods, how do you propose to get more air into the engine?

Also, even though modern fuel injection is pretty sweet, I think you'd run into driveability issues with a 160HP mini engine. There's a reason that Honda uses separate high and low RPM cam profiles in their B16 engines!

 

The 2.0L engines I had in my Neons were very closely related to the Mini 1.6L engines. I got significant gains out of my '96 Neon in naturally aspirated form, but it took a custom intake manifold, long tube header, cams, custom tuned ECU and a few other minor supportig mods to get there. A ported and polished head would have been next. As it was the engine would pull hard all the way to its (new) 8100 rpm rev limiter and turn the 1/4 mile in mid 14's on crappy street tires.

Simple, cheap bolt-ons just won't make much power on engines like the N/A 1.6L we have. The biggest gains on our engines would have to be from a well ported head and a cam, but even those won't show the most potential until the rest of the intake and exhaust system is opened up and a retuned ECU would be necessary as well. It would cost at least the price difference, probably more, between a MC and a MCS ($3000-3500) to make the car faster than a stock S, and that is assuming you do all the labor yourself. Pay someone else to do it and you'd likely have $4500-5000 or more in it.

 

the work is all done by me, my mini is my daily driver and my shop access is limited to about two times a week. Meaning my mini would be under for a while if I chose the head route... would a new intake mani fit?? we dont have a whole lot of room in the minis bay


oh btw mineon, I have a neon head if your still tunning it..

 

As for downtime, the way to minimize that is to purchase a used head, have it ported, get all your ducks (ancillary parts) in a row, and do the swap in a day. Afterwards sell your take-off to re-coop the core cost. Headwork is a proven power giver.

 

looking for 45 more hp out of a 115 hp NA car just isn't gonna happen without the head. All the rest of the bolt on stuff just can't move the air you need to move...

But good luck with whatever path you choose...

and the buy a used head method works. I got one with less than 50 miles on it for $300.

Matt