I have about $300. to spend on my first mod.
What would you do - sway bar, intake, pulley or something else?

 

Swaybar, intake and pulley are all great mods. Don't think you could make a mistake in any of these choices.

I did CAI, Pulley, Exhaust, swaybar and springs.

My only advice is to research the mods and learn as much as possible before making a decision.

 

It all depends on what you want to do. Do you want to autocross? Do you just want useable power for the street? Do you want it to sound cooler?

 

I did pulley and intake at the same time. I would do the pulley first IMHO...

 

I would go with a CAI and a sway bar and save the pulley until you're out of warranty. I just put one on my 06 and threw a belt 1500 miles later. The tensioner hit the crank pulley and I had to pay $650 to get it fixed. I had done multiple track days and autocroses with my stock pulley with no problem. Now I'm hesitant to do track days.

I know there are hundreds (thousands) of others with pulleys but I wish I had waited.

 

I'd make sure I broke it in properly and changed the oil and filter at 1000 miles.

OK, I have my flak jacket on, I'm ready...

YD

 

i would search first. this question has been answered plenty of times.
with that said i would do a pulley first. best bang for the buck

 

If your concerned about warranty which you should be, with the $300 there aren't that many combinations of mods you can do if you want it done right ( not doing it yourself).

With only $300, which it won't do you anything that significant, and being it my 1st mod I would wait and save my money and do the mods later with more money to spend.

sorry for a buzz kill but for an "06 in the warranty car" and with only $300 to spend on mods, there isn't anything you can do that a) will keep you in warranty and b) give you an option in doing anything significant.

Sway bars cost around $200-$300 if not more then you have labor, so that's out of the question.

Pulley, and I belieive the CAI, will put you out of warranty. (I could be wrong about the CAI depending on what it looks like).

 

Pulley or sway bar will cost more than $300 unless you do the labor. CAI is doable within your budget. CAI will give you some "gee whiz" factor, but not much ooomph.
Save your money until you can afford $4-500 for an installed pulley, and you will really feel a difference!
You didn't mention exhaust, but for a small sum (I paid $45), you could get the "one-ball" mod and gain some noise. And some alleged performance gains.
Oh, and for modding on a budget, keep a close eye on the Marketplace forum. I got my Alta CAI for $100 less than retail. (Thanks Brian!).

 

I did the CAI first, $300.00....

 

Spend the money on track time...a stock '06 goes plenty fast especially on an AutoX circuit or a small tight track (not so good at Lemans). As blissful claims, there's not much more fun to be had for $300.
btw, I'm in the $15,000 club (that's after buying my '05) and track time is still the best bang for the buck.
(on Sunday at a track day there was a guy with a stock Mazda 3. He was having a blast...I recon he was happier at the end of the day than me!)

 

If you are able to do labor yourself and are not afraid of gently used parts, watch the for sale forum here on NAM...With a little bit of patience and careful shopping I bet you could do all three (Intake, pulley, sway bar) for the $300 range.

Jason

 

+1

 

Does the Alta intake void the warranty? I wouldn't think so, but I may be wrong...

 

If you want to put a pully on you have to put an intake on first as the car needs to breath before you can try and put more air into it.

 

It is possible, all depends on the situation/dealer/MINI rep. Do a search here on nam, you'll find plenty of oppinions.

 

I wouldn't say you HAVE to put an intake on before a pulley. Yes, the pulley and intake (and exhaust too) work together for the best gains, but I'd say you will get more gains from a pulley alone than an intake alone.

Jason

 

1-Get more air in.
2-Get more air out.
3-Then speed up that air!
Just seems like the right way to go for more power. Just my 2 cents.
Then Sway bar and.............

 

The best mod I would do for you right now for the money under $300 is to get an IC sprayer (perhaps a home made one or an after market) to keep your engine cool. That wold give you the best result for as little work with as little money.

 

word. any track time will be better spent money then simple parts! now if you have experience, then CAI, or pulley. have fun and drive hard!

 

+2

 

A couple of quick do-it-your self mods, and good BTW are M7's STB about $190. will help stiffen up your front end and also help prevent mushrooming of the shock towers. Also for $150. M7's ADP, will help the cooling system.

 

If you never plan to do any autocrossing then many of the upgrades mentioned including the pulley upgrade would be OK.

If you MINI is now stock you can compete in a stock class for autocross in SCCA or BMWCCA sponsored events. Once you make any upgrade beyond any Cat -back exhaust then you may be re-classified into a more competitive and serious class. If you don't care what class you get advanced to due to your upgrades then you can do anything you want.

Biggest mistake is to do a pulley upgrade only and get bounced into Street Mod class due to increased boost from the pulley upgrade. This is not a friendly autocross class to be in with many allowable upgrades.

Typically you get good handling improvements with suspension changes-
Rear adjustable swaybar, probably 19mm is good for you.
Koni FDS shocks (later on due to expense)
Lighter rims and non runflat tires (later on due to expense).

Power upgrades-
cold air intake (not legal for stock classes of autocross in SCCA).
Cat-back exhaust

 

My first mods were lowering springs and cat-back exhaust. New springs are in your price range and you should be able to find a used exhaust near your price range.

 

Just curious... Did you get a new belt put on with your pulley?