Has anyone driven or does anyone own a fully built cooper, Im talked heads, exhaust, intake, chip, throttle body, cam, etc. I looking to see if I fully built my cooper if it would be worth it.

My delay right now is that if I did this once I did all those mods, thats most likely the max of the engine, and it would probably only be like 130-140hp. I trying to compare this to trading up for a cooper.

 

I'm pretty close.

ENGINE MODIFICATIONS
Redline SAE 5W30, Denso Iridium spark plugs, Magnecor KV85 Competition (8.5mm) ignition cables, Mini-Madness Twister Cold Air Intake, M7 58mm throttle body V.2, MTH high-performance manifold, OBX Racing Sports Exhaust

ENGINE MANAGEMENT
MTH tuning software

DRIVETRAIN MODIFICATIONS
Redline MTL 70W80, Mini Mania UK uprated gearbox, SPEC Stage 2 clutch, SPEC light weight flywheel, Rogue short shift kit

If I add a head and cam, I think I would make probably 165hp at the crank at most. I THOUGHT it was worth it, but after all the effort and money spent, I'm going to bail.

Don't get me wrong, it's bad @ss on the street/every day use, loads off fun, but for leisure only use (summer/weekends), I want something with more potential.

sniff... sniff... I smell B18C Type R Classic Mini in my future...

 

Ranzo, why don't you change out the pistons and connecting rods and put on an m62? You already have the tranny to handle it...

 

dude, not trying to be a jerk, but how many of these HP threads can you make? (you must have 5+ on various boards) It's pretty clear that besides anything crazy, the MCS route is the way to go for big HP numbers. The Cooper is made to be a balanced lightweight machine.

I understand you're asking for personal experience, but the information is out there, no one can hand hold you into making a decision.

 

Go turbo or getn an S it'll save you money for the same power (flame suit on)

 

Take all your nice parts off of your Cooper and trade it for a stock S. Put your nice wheels and sway bar and stuff on the new S and you'll have a faster MINI for less $$$ and a lot less headaches than if you tried to build up your Cooper.

Then, if you think you want to go faster than a stock S, do a couple cheap things and get even more.

 

cheaper to go with an "S" than spend the money trying to figuere out a turbo.

 

I drove a Cooper with a 6-speed transmission, beefed-up bottom end, high-rpm supercharger and intercooler, modified head, exhaust, cai and big injectors. It was awesome. I think they called it a JCW S, or something like that. You should check it out.

 

Shut yo mouth about the S thang...I see you trying to fit a GT4082R with me so we can see who the first one to reach 550 is. There was a dood here in Scottsdale that had one for sale for $800

 

O sorry that 240 is a typo its supposed to be 140, that should be a obvious mistake

Well posting is free so I post all of my ideas and yes I am looking for personnal experience. Yeah a lot of my posts are the same but with ever one I learn something new and gain something, I am also still really on the fence about trading up or not.

And with this post I am obviously not looking for high horsepower, Im sorry if I didnt make it clear that this time I am asking what a fully modded cooper would drive like, which means balance and spunk, believe me I accept that my cooper will never be competing in the high hp race.


Im also sorry if me posting my ideas on different boards is a crime and last time I checked I am only active on NAM and MU not 5+

 

Yeah I think I have heard of those

 

A. I said 5+ threads (which you do have), not boards.

B. If something is not clear than it's not obvious.

C. You say you want balance and spunk, but every mod you mention only has to do with HP, no suspension or weight reduction at all.

D. I'm over this, and don't really care if you make 1 million threads in the future. I was just pointing it out in the hope that you'd realize everyone keeps giving you the same answer over and over again (i.e. to get an S), an answer which apparently you don't want to hear.

 

Why would he want an S? I sure don't. Especially, in my future quest of more horsepower.

 

If you don't like his threads...then don't read them. Quit your bitchin!

JuniorMint is obviously not sure what he wants. He wants some help figuring it out. While his threads may be very similar, they are not identical. Anyone who questions someone wanting to keep their MC and make it faster obviously has no idea of how strong a person's attachment to their car can be. It IS obvious that if you want 200+ hp and don't want to spend 10K plus, then you get an S. If you want a faster MC, then do what ever mods you must.


What has been posted on many many threads is:...go for the S...it's cheaper. We all know! For a couple thousand more, you get the solid bottom end, SC, 6spd...We know. (not bashing anyone for giving their opinion. it is obviously cheaper and will yield more hp). My wish list of mods to make my MC a monster is 10K, and thats NA!

Please...opinions are one thing, but thread bashing is just F'ed up.

 

My reason for my choice of a toy car...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj3LmIuovYQ

I want to keep it NA for lower maintenence, reliability and awesome sound.

Classic VTEC Mini VS New Mini Cooper

1.8 DOHC VTEC VS 1.6 SOHC

forged internals VS casted internals

1600lbs VS 2500lbs

220bhp not modded VS 165bhp fully modded

75 shot no problem VS 50 and up shot yes problem

Classic Minis are very rare in my City. I like being unique.

Character and go-kart handling of the British plus the power and reliability of the Japanese. Best of both worlds.

Perfect summer car for me.

Sorry guys I don't mean to be a trader but I have to follow my heart. But its still a Mini!!!

I wish I could keep both but unfortunately, I can't... I'm going to miss her.

 

I definitely see your point! Reduce weight by A LOT...and double the stock power. I just hope that you can get a good chunk of money back after all that money in mods.

 

Mint... have you taken your car as it is now out to an autocross or track day? In my opinion, that's the best bang for the buck mod you can do. Just f-in drive it.

Yeah, a more powerful Cooper would help out in a few places out there on the track, like trying to go up the hills at Watkins Glen. But, most of the time you're having too much fun and things are still happening too fast when you're in a "slow" Cooper.

After two years of driving my Cooper on the track and autocross courses, I'm still getting a little faster each time I go out. There's one small track our local club runs time trials on, and I've been there five different weekends over the last two years. Here are my fast times for each weekend:

1:05.51
1:03.15
1:03.45
1:02.32
1:01.59

Okay, so the third time out I didn't pick up any speed... And a few mods have been done to the car during that time, but suspension mods, not power mods. But, I'm still getting faster. There's no real need for me to seek out more power until I cannot go faster without it. And I still haven't slapped R-compounds on the car yet, which will be good for a little more speed.

And the other MINI that has been out there a fair amount is a modded MCS (pulley, intake, exhaust, chip, camber plates, coilovers, R-compounds, etc ,etc etc) and just broke into the 59 second range at the last event after trying to do so for a 3 years...

I never expected to get my car down into the 1:01's. Now I'm wondering if a 1:00 is in the cards for next year. And it might not be impossible to add R-compounds to my car and see a 59 second lap myself.

If you've already done autocrosses and track days, and want more power, great!

If you have no desire to do autocrosses and track days, then... ummm.. great?!

I think a well set up suspension and braking system, and working on driving ability is more fun that just adding power.

 

I bet the same weight and handling + 15 hp, better brakes (i don't know what you have) on r compound will help a lot too...

I haven't done any autocross yet, but it seems to me that with the gear ratio that we have, that you would be working a lot between 1st and 2nd back and forth...is that the case?

 

My experience is a little strange because our autocrosses have all been in absurdly small parking lots, not nice big stadium parking lots or airport runways like most autocrosses get.

For most of the events I've been at, first gear is good enough for the whole course. I'll bump up against the rev limiter once or twice in first, but not enough to make me want to shift into second.

Unless you're really good at heel / toe shifting (rev matching on downshifts), the 2->1 downshift is really hard while moving. The few courses I've been on where I need to shift into second, I just leave it in second for the rest of the course once I get into second. The downshift to first is just really rough for me.

Perhaps someone who has experience on larger courses can chime in, but I'm pretty sure the conventional wisdom is that once you get into second gear it's not worth dhwnshifting back into first - and courses that are designed such that you'd need a 2->1 downshift are poorly designed.

 

Mike of AC's has a VTEC mini. I don't know if he has ever posted it on here. I drive like a crazy whipper-snapper and that thing scared the bejeezus out of me!

 

Just in case you didnt notice, if you look at my signature than you would see how much money I have put into suspension work

 

I have never officially autocrossed my car the only organized events I have found are drags and that not to interesting for me, Im sure I could easly find events if I wanted to, but I find other ways to have fun with my car. Me and my finds set up make shift autox courses in the parking lot of my dad's business. I wouldnt have it any other way, in every other situtation my friends kick my *** but not on the coarse.

 

Yeah you are putting a Japanese heart into a mini, but than again thats a pretty crazy engine making a pretty crazy car so I still have respect for it. I feel bad for any unsuspecting ricer's that may fall victim to that sleeper

 

hasnt anybody thought of different gearings?
I believe this can be done in the diff?

That would give you a 6sec 0-60mph cooper, but on the downside itll rev 5k at the highway...
there must be some compromise possible...?

 

modded coopers drive like stock coopers

not much can be done besides suspension to make them faster (besides a comple MCS overhaul)

if you are looking for HP an acceleration just buy an MCS....the MC is good for auto-x handling etc