First off, I didn't want to spend $100 or more on a piece of fancy coated pipe that shouldn't cost more than a couple dollars. (If you want to fancy it, be my guest at the end, before installation, otherwise, no one will ever see it, except the guy changing your oil..)

1. Tools - Flat head screwdriver, I believe a 7 or 8mm socket and a small socket wrench, jack and jackstands - 1 7/8" piping from a mufflershop, or, autozone (cost- $4.94 @ autozone), magic marker, hacksaw / sawzall, vice or something to hold a pipe in place, and a dremel / sandpaper.

2. Jack the car up.

3. Remove the clamp on the turbo side first. This is the piece thats connected to the stock tubing going down into the intercooler (it's the hose next to the white fluid container)



4. Remove the clamp on the bottom of the intercooler that this hose is connecting to with the flat head screwdriver (I couldn't get to it with a socket)

(Sorry - this is a finished pic, but if you notice following the silver piping downwards, you'll see the connecting hose that goes into the intercooler..This is the clamp you'll need to loosen.)



5. After you have it apart, unclamp the two center pieces holding this muffler piece together



6. Mark the length of the muffler restrictor up against the pipe you will need to cut to size.



The finished product



7. Next, you're going to want to dremel / sand down the edges of the pipe, so it's smooth - as we don't want to cut the stock rubber hose in the car.







8. Once it's all smoothed out MAKE SURE YOU CLEAN THE PIPE AND THE HOSE TO MAKE SURE NO METAL SHAVINGS ARE LEFT. Next, connect your hoses back together with the clamps in order you pulled them apart - make sure the hose is firmly pressed onto the new pipe - then clamp together, while also adjusting the angle in the right direction. The top hose needs to face towards the left - to connect back in to the turbo, and the bottom section of the hose needs to face towards you (front of the car) to connect back to the intercooler.

Once you have that complete and tightened, simply put the hose back into the intercooler up from the bottom and secure the clamp, then do the same for the top of the hose going into the turbo.

The finished product:


Cheap, easy, effective...

Any differences? Shifting feels stiffer in 4th > 6th.. unless it's just me, but it feels a tid bit harder to shift under acceleration - from what I've noticed.. Otherwise, was it worth it? For a couple dollars if you have the right tools - why not?

 

what do you mean harder to shift? do you mean harder to shift smoothly?

also, does this effect turbo whine noise? id love to hear the car more but my plans for an intake come in a little later as my piggy bank begins to fill up.

 

Harder to shift, I don't know if I bumped something or just the different flow of the tube, but going to 4th > 5th > 6th, sometimes feel like - it's still smooth, but if you were pushing it through something more plush then into gear.. Make sense? lol

Turbo whine, I haven't really noticed a difference, as I have no catback, so the car is LOUD ..but the biggest difference, is an intake. To me, it's not worth almost 300 for an intake when a filter on the end will do the same, and it's still getting the cool air from the tube underneath.. I have a post under the R56 drivetrain section that shows my mods and you'll see what I mean.. works just as well and best of all the filter from autozone was $25 bucks or a K&N could be had for about 40 and will do the SAME thing as any other intake.. So if you're willing to go my route, and pay 25 bucks, then you wallet won't be broken.
Think of it like this:
CAI : ~$275
Catback: ~$750
Muffler Delete ~$125 / tubing = ~$300
Total: ~$1,150 to $1,325
My cost: dropping the catback, slapping on a filter, and making a muffler delete section.
Filter - $25 and a full wallet

 

well i couldnt do that exhaust deal since cali has really strict emissions laws. plus i feel thats too ghetto. ive seen the filter and the hot side pipe swap though.

 

the "muffler" they call it doesn't have anything to do with exhaust, it restricts/slows down flow from intercooler to turbo.. that's all..nothing to do with emissions.

 

haha, sorry for the confusion, i was talking about your mod where you just simply removed the exhaust system.

 

Hey just a quick suggestion (and not in anyway a criticism) you should take that pipe to a local metal shop or exhaust shop and have them put a bead roll on the ends. If not in short order the hoses will work there way off the ends. You can also add a small bead of welding rod around the ends to give the clamp something to seat against. (NOTE in the photo above oyu can see the bead that MINI puts there for the same reason. )You would HATE to be heading off down your local freeway and have the hose blow off, then pipe falls out and tears the be jesus out of the underside of the car, possibly hitting ANOTHER car behind you etc. etc. Cheap insurance!

Otherwise nice mod and yes you can't beat the price!

 

The OEM muffler pipe looks like a straight through design. What's so bad about it?

 

Very true! Thanks for the suggestion.. I just wanted to play around to see if there was any differences.. I double checked the connections the other day after driving a whole day with it on and it still looked secured in place. These next couple days is just work and school for me, both of which are within 5 minutes from where I live and local speed limits apply.. This is just a temporary setup until I get the FMIC and new tubing, which will be very soon

 

Idk.. Just wanted to be cool and say I modded something
But really, I'm not sure what the difference is, the muffler thing is a cylinder that gets filled with whatever passes through it.. This pipe just feels difference on the shifting in the higher gears is the only thing I notice..

Alta - when you guys installed the boost tubes on to replace that muffler piece did you notice any firmer shifting in the 4th, 5th, and 6th gears, especially when getting on the gas?

 

I wonder if the harder shifting is due to the excessive heat created in and around the transmission from the open down pipe exiting right next to it? Heat equals expansion which could change the tolerences in the linkage, syncros, bearings, etc. Cross your finges that no damage was done.

 

I seriously doubt that. Tranny gets pretty hot by itself. You're not going to frag it by running open downpipe.

 

Agreed.

 

I'm sure your correct, but I can see no reason changing the intake tubing would effect the shifting of trans. Where is the linkage in respect to the open down pipe? Is it possible extra heat could be effecting that? Does the Mini use cables or linkage?

 

I'm not sure exactly, maybe it was there and I just didn't notice..but it's one of those things where you change something and you realize right away it wasn't like that before you changed that thing.. It can't be the heat because I was running open downpipe previously for a couple weeks. The only thing I can think of is now the flow is straight through with no place to settle.. That muffler is a straight through design with holes on the side that fills up the whole cylinder.. No explanation, just thoughts on what it might be...

 

i would assume this mod would make intake noises slightly louder since what was on before was some sort of muffler...

 

ok question... you wouldnt exactly know the exact length you cut the pipe? becasue i would like to just pre make one then install it. is there anyway you could find out?

 

I would also like to know the length and outside diameter of the tube. I plan to pre-fabricate a replacement tube with a pressure tap on it for boost gauge pick-up. Some people would argue that the pressure tap should be made downstream of the intercooler, however, I want to know the exact output from the compressor before cooling. I could also monitor turbo lag, if any, from an after-market intercooler.

 

Sorry I didn't see the last post minirabbit.. For you and motodude, I can't recall the exact size as I put the stock "muffler" back in place because I didn't have the beads around the edge of the pipe or stronger clamps and they kept popping off.. It's very easy to take that piece off however, if you want to just take off the lower intercooler clamp (flat headscrew driver) then, the clamp above it, then the clamp from the turbo, and it will pull / fall out (it will help to unbolt the water tank right there-engine coolant bottle?) It takes about 10 minutes or less to jack up and get that section out to see the exact size...

edit:: I measured the vice grip it's in and guess-timated that the pipe is 10" long.. with that length you should have no problems.. you want a little extra, so you can shove the more hose on the pipe so it will help not to come off...

 

Thanks Junior. Am I right to assume the O.D. of the tube is around 2.75"? My Mini is in the U.K. "awaiting transport" at the moment so can't directly measure anything. By the way, did your "stiff shifting" observation go away after removing the tube? It shouldn't be an issue with this mod.

 

Hey..ya the stiff shifting was always there.. For some reason I guess I was 'looking' extra hard to something to make a difference.. I don't think there was really any gains to be made with or without this peice..

*UPDATE: I found the pipe!! It's 8" long by 2 1/8" in diameter.

Hope this helps!