The significant mods are a 17% Helix Pulley & unichip. Pulley has been in for 6 months, Unichip 1 month... but I am running hotter, exhaust dark blue off cat; temp gauge at 200/205; tailpipes are sooty black. But car has good power and performance. What to do? Lose the Unichip, add cooler spark plugs, M7 thermostat? It's spring in NYC, what happens when it is 95 degrees? TIA Michael

 

You might need a good tune before you add anything else to it.

 

1. Lose the UselessChip
2. Clean the exhaust tips
3. See if that worked.
4. Sell U-Chip on NAM
5. Use money towards a real tune.
6. Smile!

 

Stop bolting on parts. Do not pass go. Go directly to a real tuner and get your **** wired right, then proceed as indicated.

Rinse and repeat!

 

start with useless chip.

 

What he said times two!!!

 

All of that plus 205F is not hot for a Mini. It's where you want and need to be. It's where the car will make the most power efficiently by design. I tune a lot of these cars and it's a balancing act on the dyno to keep the IATs low as possible while keeping the engine up to this operating temp. Low coolant temps are for boat engines.

 

Do you mind sharing more info about the coolant temps, I am curious. Thanks.

 

It's very simple. All modern engines have fuel efficiency, emissions, and catalytic efficiency as the focus of their operating strategy. There exists by design, an optimum operating temperature where not only the environment for complete combustion exists but also factors like oil being at the correct temp to lubricate and flow properly as well as the prevention of condensation inside the engine which contaminates the oil as well. The ecu has the job of responding to these changing parameters and keeping the engine operating in the most efficient range. One of the ways that it does this is by using tables and scalers that correct for engine temp and air temp. The values in these tables for temp are factored in with the values that are located in the actual tables that control fuel and spark and adjust them up or down depending on conditions. A result of this scaling is that the engine will not produce peak power and torque unless the temp is in the proper range.
You notice , with the Mini, that it reaches operating temp much quicker than older cars. This is by design as well and not just to make the heater warm faster on cold days but to get the car to the correct temp as quickly as possible. Bottom line, there's a lot more engineering here than meets the eye especially if the Mini is compared to older vehicles.

 

luckdoggarage, informative post, that’s the ticket.

 

I thought hot and rich were great combinations.... Oh, wait... wrong site.

 

You must be looking for the Paris Hilton forum.

 

Your close to LDG - take a drive, get a tune and sell yr Unichip.

You will have a great drive home.

 

bah... Bias comment