hey guys, first post here so I'll give a brief intro.

Picked up an '04 S here in Birmingham just over a month ago now. LOVE IT!

So I had a little birthday last week and with that came alittle windfall.

I have read all the banter back and forth over 15% 16% and 19%. So that is NOT the question here.

What I am looking for here is someone who has actually tried an M7 pully as well as an Alta.

This is my work car which I put somewhere around 2000mi a month on. The last thing I want is one that is going to tear up or tear up belts.

Also, where do I go for the re-flash/ re-program of the ECU.

Lastly, whats a new map going to run me in fake American Dollars?

TIA!

Kent

 

I can only answer this, the second of your questions.

Where do you go? - To a distributor for MTH or GIAC maps. This, or go to a garage (Lucky Dog Garage, Revolution Mini Works, etc) that will do a tune using a dyno and wideband O2 sensor.

What does it run? - Costs seem to be usually in the ~$300 range, for either the pre-made MTH/GIAC maps, or a custom tune.

- Matt

 

Ooo Monoploy money!

Belt thing was on my mind when I made the choice too, I went ALTA 15% and knew of two other MINIs on the same; one with 115k on the pulley the other with about 45k neither snapped one, just stuck with the 60k mi belt life. Sorry I can't speak for M7 in that respect as well buthope it'll give some helpful info.

 

I've installed the 16% M7 pulley on one car, and both the V1 and V2 versions of the Alta 15% pulley on several cars. One of the Alta V2s chewed up a belt in fairly short order, but I think there was an alignment problem during installation. We re-seated the pulley, put on a new belt, and it's been fine since. None of the other pulleys have had any problems at all since installation. One of the Alta V1 pulleys is on my wife's car, and she's got about 15,000 miles on it, and 21,000 miles on the belt (re-used the factory belt, since it's a 15% pulley and the belt only had 6,000 miles on it at the time).

 

My bad here. What I meant was "Where" as in closest zip code to me? I would MUCH prefer to have the map made whilst on a Dyno. I'm not real sure just an off-the-shelf map would be worth the trouble. Too much talk on here of "no two Mini's being the same from the factory in performance".

Thanks for the answers on the SC pulleys. Whats the main diff between v1 and v2 on the Altas? I noticed they even have a "classic" or something like that. Probably just the beauty cap I'm guessing?

Lastly, any preferences on the installation of these critters ScottRiqui or Motor On?

Thanks again,

Kent

 

bump for zip and install ease

 

Quite honestly, the only tuner I would recommend would be RMW...I don't even have a tune by Jan (of RMW), but the tool(s) he uses - the Dimsport Race series - is easily the best. That, and he's the only available/reliable person here in the states capable of using it.

In which case, you're either looking at road-tripping to CA, or getting some buddies together and having a tune party.

Classic = ALL Stainless Steel, Comes only in Stainless for color
V2 = Stainless hub, Aluminum Body, comes powdercoated, apparently?

- Matt

 

no input on software - I am stock so far.

I have about 13K miles on my Helix 15% pulley with no issues. Very pleased.

 

[quote=verveAbsolut;1891190]Quite honestly, the only tuner I would recommend would be RMW...I don't even have a tune by Jan (of RMW), but the tool(s) he uses - the Dimsport Race series - is easily the best. That, and he's the only available/reliable person here in the states capable of using it.


What are you basing this information on? Vitesse Pro in California is the US rep for Dimsport and is recognized in the industry as the EXPERT in this area. He also does development work for Dimsports technical department. I have been using Dimsport for several years now not just for the Mini but for many other European marques. There are hundreds of Minis running around happily with LDG tunes.

 

As much as I don't care for John, I care for disinformation even less. He's right on this one. There are 2 other tuners out there other then Jan at rmw using dimsport.

They don't have any where near the customer service or class when working with a customer as Jan, in my opinion. But there are other tuners available none the less.

One thing is however certain, dimsport seems to be the best tool for tuning the mini ecu.

 

The Mini community has no idea of the scope of what an experienced tuner can do with a product like Dimsports Race software because the latest high visibility tuner uses only a small part of the available system and for one vehicle only. There will be more information forthcoming on this subject aimed at helping the community understand this complex process. There are a lot of knowledgeable computer professionals on this forum and we need to hear from them on these subjects.

 

I'm sure I'm going to regret replying to you... but i'm going to do it anyway. I guess I'm just sadistic and like feeding the troll.

I see a lot of posts and heard many comments out of you (in person at motd) that reference your experience tuning other cars. Now, while I have respect for your knowledge of many after market communities, I personally don't care about ferrari owners or w/e. I care about tangible gains and results on mini's. The dynos and drive ablility improvements I've seen out out of rmw are exciting and worth every penny of what the people are paying.

You say you can do a better job, (i don't know weather to believe you or not, quite frankly don't care) but from the dyno's i've seen of your work, it looks about on par and in some cases below par (reference: florida tuning session charts, or big daddy's car which you touted as your ultimate pully only tune on a car that was never base lined). Granted Jan's been doing this for about 4 months now so he's continuing to get better and better at it. I'm sure you know a thing or 2 from all your work with dimsport but for gods sakes stop trying to put other people down (customers and manufacterers/tuners alike) to try and sell your own products. Make them stand on their own and show us results. Focus on this community and it's members and it's car owners. I also don't really need to hear about vendors you don't agree with. I personally dont care about some other community in which people pay 5k for a shift ****.

In other words... put up or shut up.

Here is some reading for any one that's interested.

http://www.michiganmini.org/forum/index.php?topic=1822.0

http://www.michiganmini.org/forum/index.php?topic=1531.0

LDG's tuning in florida results
http://www.motoringfun.com/2007/08/0...cu-tuning-day/

 

To the OP..you state Birmingham but there are many in the US Pick one please..

* Birmingham, Alabama,
* Birmingham, Connecticut
* Birmingham, a community in Johns Creek, Georgia
* Birmingham, Iowa
* Birmingham, Michigan
* Birmingham, Missouri
* Birmingham in Pemberton Township, New Jersey
* Birmingham, Ohio:
* Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania
* Birmingham, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
* Birmingham Township, Schuyler County, Illinois
* Birmingham Township, Pennsylvania

 

"heard Neil Young sing about her, heard Neil Young put 'er down"

"in (this) Birmingham we love the Gubnor"



sorry bout dat.

 

Go for it Eric...

 

Sorry for the misstep...scouring the forums, it appeared to me the only people using it were Jan and Emil (Amil?), with Jan being the more available of the two.

I'm all for other people getting into this field...makes the possibility of me heading somewhere close all the more likely.

Just trying to be as helpful as possible to the original questioner.

- Matt