I had my car dyno'd when it was stock, and just had it redone after having the "standard" mods done to it, namely pulley, intake and exhaust. Specifically, I added:

WMS 15% reduction pulley
Alta V2 Cold Air Intake
Milltek Exhaust

I also had the dealer flash it with the JCW flash. Is it possible the JCW flash is making things worse? I had been expecting more like a 25 WHP difference, but only picked up 7. Here's the dyno charts:


Stock 2005 Cooper S Convertible, 17x7.5 inch Rota Subzero Wheels. Run in 3th Gear.
Atmospheric Conditions: 76.09 deg. F, 28.18 in-Hg, 12% Humidity. STD 1.06



Modified 2005 Cooper S Convertible, 17x7.5 inch Rota Subzero Wheels. 15% WMS pulley, Alta V2 CAI, Milltek Catback Exhaust, JCW ECU Mapping. Run in 3rd Gear.
Atmospheric Conditions: 94.24 deg. F, 27.63 in-Hg, 6% Humidity. STD 1.10

 

You picked up almost 20lbs of TQ though HP sells cars and TQ wins races, Cheers

 

You made 20 ft/lbs of torque, that's not something cry about. As for the HP, remember each dyno run is going to be slightly different. Did you run 3 times and average the runs?

163 wHP isn't that bad either. Remember the car is rated from the factory at 168 wHP. At 163 wHP, with 10% drivetrain loss you're making 181 bhp.

With a pulley, intake, and exhaust, most people are making between 170 and 185 whp. 170 wHP is certainly respectful considering it was close to 95 degrees out when you did the run .

JCW software isn't going to do anything at all for your HP.

 

Did you change the plugs when you put a new pulley on? Around 3700 RPM's it looks like your car pulls timing. Again towards 6500 RPM's right before the RPM cutoff. It seems like you're either not using 91/93 octane, or your plugs are too warm.

 

Thanks for the info Nick,
I am running 91 octane, (the best we can get here for pump gas), but I did not change the plugs when I changed the pulley. So cooler plugs might help? Any recommendations?

 

You can use Denso IK22's at where you're at now. If you're going any further with mods you might as well throw some IK24's in there, that's 2 ranges colder. Stock BMW/MINI plugs are NGK, and several people have had issues with the Denso's becoming projectiles and shooting out of the engine.

I personally run the NGK's and haven't had any issues.

One Heat Range colder would be BKR7E1X-11, I run 2 ranges colder, BKR8EIX-11 I think.

I'd definitely run colder plugs with more boost to prevent pinging, especially because it seems like you live in a warm climate. If your car is indeed pulling timing to prevent pinging you could pick up anywhere from 5-15 HP depending on how much timing it's pulling.

I remember seeing a post the other day with an online store selling the plugs for $9 each or so, I can't seem to find it now though. Where are you physically located? Danny at MiniCorsa in Van Nuys, CA sells them for a similar price. I'm sure he'd be willing to send you a set in the mail. Just give him a call and let him know you want a set of NGK Iridium Plugs 1 or 2 steps colder. He knows all the part numbers. Tell him I sent ya .

 

Well, for one thing it was 76 deg. when you did your baseline dyno and it was 94 deg. when you dyno'd with the mods. And with all that extra heat you would surely need colder plugs, otherwise the ecu will retard the timing.

 

I'm in Las Vegas, so yeah, it gets real hot here. The second set of dyno runs were done about 20 degrees hotter. How much difference would that make?

Steve

 

I'd say you probably lost 5 HP from the heat and another 5 or so from timing retardation.

Call Danny, he'll get a set of plugs out to you and you can see where it goes from there. You may want to ask the dyno shop to give you a copy of your dyno runs corrected to SAE (59F, 29.92 in/hg, At Sea Level). That will give you a better idea of what kind of power you actually made .

 

Very good info, thanks guy's.

 

These appear to be the JCW plugs at a great price:

http://www.ngk.com/results_cross.asp...r7equp&x=0&y=0

 

So how does the car feel with the 20 ft-lbs of torque? Are you satisfied with the car independent of the numbers?

mb

 

I'd have to agree, how's the 'butt dyno'? I had a super sweet dyno run a few months back, after all the little mods (CAI, 15% Pulley, 1 range colder plugs, performance wires) and it showed a 'whopping' 192wHP. But it was the first run on a 38 degree day with 75% humidity...

I think my 'corrected average' was 178wHP. I didn't think that was too shabby. And the 'butt dyno' says it went from stupid grin to $h*t eating grin... so I'm happy!

Also, have you had the ECU remapped/reflashed/piggybacked to take advantage of the extra ponies? I'm saving up for that now, so that with my recent exhaust 'upgrade' and the ECU, I'm hoping to stay in the 190's solidly...

 

Well, the car definitely feels stronger under acceleration, and responds better when cruising at 70 mph without having to down shift. Before, it seemed like I had to keep it around 3000 rpm to have throttle response, now I have it at lower rpms.

Steve

 

I had the dealer do the JCW flash, but I have read on other threads that JCW mapping can actually hurt performance (why I'm not sure). I was still thinking about doing a different flash, but I'm not sure which one.

The guys at the dyno shop seemed to think there was a timing problem, so maybe the plugs in the warm shop were causing some problems.

Steve

 

Thanks for the link. These are the plugs used in the JCW cars? How are the different from the ones rustyboy recommended? They seem to be the same heat range.

On another JCW topic, could there be a problem using the JCW flash without the JCW injectors?

Steve

 

Steve, the temp makes a huge difference. I had my car on the dyno last night too (just after Steve's) and the heat soak between runs was crazy. My 1st pull had me at 174hp at the wheels, 10-15 mins later, it came in at 156.

 

Does anyone know what plugs JCW comes with?

 

I think PARTSMAN has them, not positive though.

mb

 

duplicate post

 

According to this post https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...38&postcount=4
they are NGK BKR7EQUP so Hwydsgnr's post lists the correct plugs, which are the 4 electrode type. Supposed to cost $35 to $40 each at the dealer.

 

JCW's come with head mods to complement the whole thing, that may be part of the equation.

 

That was a suggestion I was going to make, but you beat me to it. If your software is looking for 380cc injectors and they aren't there, then it may be getting starved of the fuel it needs.

 

Actually, the stock early JCW's aren't 380cc, I just did the 207hp update, which included the 380cc's as well as the newest flash.

 

Since it's an OEM program, there's a good deal of latitude in the programming, it should automatically adjust to the injectors in there. Honestly the JCW program doesn't even do anything. I didn't notice any difference at all. The only reason I flashed the JCW program instead of stock is because I didn't have access to the stock program at the time.