I agree with this thread, I still have the stock IC, because the jury is still out on this subject. I still have the OEM crank pulley, same as above. But this car still has many mods that cost major money. What this is saying is that these cars still need "hardware" to make more power. Yes some of these mods are frivolous and are mostly bling, but in the end the major ones are still needed. And I do agree that a good tune seems to make all the differance. I hope guy's like Don at DMH pass on their info. so people in other parts of the country can benefit also.

 

<funny rant>

I think you are leaving out some details bob... and I am disapointed...

you DID make more power... infact... with a LARGER pulley you made MUCH more power... especially when you droped the power starving exhaust you have on teh car... please... let's not take away from the mods that accually work... stop taking your car to ten different people... letting them tell you what they think... and then doing stuff... STOP THE MADDNESS! LOL

on the other side of this..

I have always said... bolting on more stuff doesn't help... you have to use the right combo... I made 190 WHP with an untuned... intake, pulley, exhaust... imagine if I had tuned the car... with RPM... I would made 200 WHP easy... with NO HEAD... then you get a head like RMW... maybe a PROPER intercooler... and BAM!... are you guys kidding!....

I am sorry that people believed the more you bolt on the better... I for one have ALWAYS gone out of my way to educate FROM expirence... and what's funny is there are TOO MANY cooks in the MINI modding kitchen... and THAT is the problem....

I have spent three years going round and round with people... even MARIO can attest.. I said.. if you do X .... you will pop the motor... BAM! people blamed the tune... people pointed fingers... FINE! I guess I just have magical powers and willed his motor to blow..... LOL

this thread is a slap in the face to me.. someone who has spent so much time trying to help others and say... "that doesn't help... do this... etc" For all credit to go to someone who told me... my car CAN'T do what it's doing... LOL

</funny rant>

 

Respectfully, I don’t necessarily see that as being a problem Tools, it’s that competition that brings better products to the market…I see this in the skydiving community, there are better, faster parachutes out there, but until the market calls for them venders aren’t going to release them. All the cooks are doing nothing but pushing better products to the market…For real, and you know it!

 

I see what you mean... while I don't disagree... I have been privy to MANY people who have fell victim to the overload of infomation from conflicting sources... and the reason it pains me is cause other than my short stint with Furballed! Racing.... I ahve always been an independant... so that peopel knew I wasn't trying to sell them anything... jsut telling them what expirence has taught... and I don't know too many people who had access to dynos.. and parts... etc to independantly test... LOL..

this is why I am glad to be Rogue on performance now... cuase I just tell people how it is from expirence.... I turn the wrenchs... I tune... I dyno... and I report...

who am I?... no one...

I'm just another MINI owner...

 

You mention the sc belt slipping. I know you said they determined that from looking at the dyno readings. Were you noticing any effects from that while driving? (aside from, I would assume, a little less power) Do you have a boost gauge and if so were you noticing anything through that?

Along with a scheduled service, I recently had my sc belt and belt tensioner replaced with new parts (a JCW belt, btw), and I'm getting less boost than before the new parts were installed. I also have really sloppy feeling power delivery, although I kinda had that before, too. I'm just wondering if the new belt could be slipping and it's not causing enough of a noticeable problem to be obvious.

 

Was the change to 15% from 17% due to prone of slippage? heat?

 

Honestly, I didn't notice it. I do have a gauge, but I wasn't really paying attention. When I'm on full boost, it's usually on the track or at an auto-x and boost isn't really what I'm watching then.

 

Actually, I simply followed John's lead. He had no use for the 17% or 19%, nor the crank pulley.

He felt that it introduced no more power and in fact negatively affected what could be done to greater effect by tuning with the 15.

I think heat is part of it.

 

Tuls, this thread isn't about you.

Nor was it meant to be about John, although I admit it kinda turned out that way.

I was simply saying what you've said before, that slapping on a bunch of gee-whiz hardware isn't the road (or maybe the best road) to nirvana.

IIRC, I first heard about the Exedy from one of your posts.

And while I haven't said anything about it, it made a huge difference in throttle response. At least as big as most any engine mod we hear about.

So thanks!

 

Actually with the larger pulley we made the same power and with the *** end of the milltek pulled off we made 15 more whp.... (an unreal scenario) what I tried to say about the RMW head was that with the RMW head I believe it is possible to get to 300 whp with a 62.... I believe it is the only head that I know of that will/can get there.... (not sure about Wegner) I also believe it is the most aggresssive head on the market and that is why I bought it..... I believe that with the RMW head that my car has the beest chance of making the most power with roots SC either 45 or 62.....

I think the RMW head is an amazing product and I highly recomend it.... my car runs much smoother than before and feels a whole hell of a lot better..... the RMW head is the only change made.... I AM NOT KNOCKING THE RMW HEAD!!!!!!!! on the contrary......

I own one and for me at this stage to put out any money for more "go fast" parts I have to be pretty damn convinced......and I am and am not dissapointed..... a tune is necesary to get SC cars at this level of power to behave and run right.... some times less is more and sometimes more is more.....

Tuls, you were part of the reason that I bought the head through your recommendation and experience with the head and its genesis..... I have always and continue to respect your opinion (except when your disappointed with me)

All Of you have a great evening as ii continue to refine this post

 

awww crap... well... I humbly appologize I misunderstood what you were saying... SORRY MAN!!!

 

Thanks, hornguys. Maybe I'll see about getting that checked.

 

LDG does sell parts....at least when I was there last fall. They had a bunch of Mini Madness parts including the pulley they installed for me (a bait and switch on the advertised price I might add....though when I raise this point on NAM I inevitably get flamed).

 

Excellent post, Jim. Thanks very much for taking the time. I have a few things to do on my car then i'll be headed down to see John.

 

1) Caveat Emptor! Don't believe anthing that's posted without rigerous testing methods described.
2) Too many cooks spoil the soup. Tuning advice is just like retirement investment advice.... Work with one trusted source unless the returns are unsatisfactory.

But there's another lesson here: "Trust, but verify!" Get some sort of performance computer or data logger to actually measure what's happening. Otherwise we're all too pre-programmed to reinforce the wisdom of our own past decisions to really know if we can trust the perceptions of small improvement changes.

But if you're really going to become a car person, modding for power and handling, you'll only do it really wrong once. Kind of wrong the next time, then you get the hang of it and become pretty efficient.

Matt

 

I got it. He loves the RMW head. And I would bet it isn't ever coming off his car ever.

Longboard

 

Gee wiz

 

ha ha well the whole post wasnt for Bob... sigh... this is why I just keep out of it most times these days.... I am not a sales man... and don't have the energy... my car runs.. and hard at that...

 

I understand what you're saying now...Thanks

 

WE know each other well enough..... no worries

I edited my original post to clarify things a bit....

 

This is off topic but there is a nice M3 for sale here for $29,000, and if I knew what it would cost to really get by car to where I want it I never would have bought a MINI. With the cost of the car and the basic mods I've done I'm over that price. Still very tempted to see what I could get for the MINI in trade for the M3.

I've still got another $10 or $15 grand to spend to get the MINI "there" this is not making much sense anymore.

 

because if you had an M3, after the VF Engineering SC and other goodies went on, you'd have a $55k car. Then you'd be on an M3 board saying you could have had a Z06 corvette or a used M5 or an E55 AMG... There's always something faster.....

Matt

 

hornguys, thanks for a great post! I went to LDG last March (musta been just after you did) and got his DynoTune on what most here would call a lightly modded car (17%, CAI, ALTA exhaust) and pulled 198 whp and 164 lb/ft torque after a 3 hour session with John. My SC belt was also slipping due to a shot belt tensioner, which John identified by looking at the dyno chart. The limitation on my tune was my stock clutch which couldn't handle any more torque. When I posted the numbers from the LDG session, I took a lot of heat from smarter people with more-modded, lower-whp MINIs who tried to (unsuccessfully) dissuade me of my favorable impressions of John and LDG. By good management and serendipity, I took the slow, thoughtful route in modding my car as it was the first "modder" I had ever owned. John was very appreciative of my approach and was able to get a lot out of my car for the minimal amount that I have done to it. I wholeheartedly agree with your impressions of John and LDG and more importantly, am enjoying my MINI more than I ever would have thought possible. If I ever decide to go the next step (pronounced $$$$$) and do the head/clutch/cam, John will be the one who tunes my car.

 

Maybe a ZO6 is the answer but if I do what is planned I'll have close to a $50 grand MINI, maybe a Lotus

 

funny you say that..... I have been saying I could have bought a used Elise and put $30K in the bank...... My GF reminds me that I would have never gotten to know Sid, Peter, Tuls, Jim, Eric, John, Kieth, Mark, Dave, Joe, Ryan, Matt, on and on and on...... the Mini ride has been much more than the car......