ALTA TEST AND TUNE R56 AUTO!

I know, we have been sitting on this info for a couple weeks and its been burning a hole in my head holding onto it for so long!

So we know that the auto ECU has the same pin out for the Unichip to work. But we were a little unsure that the Unichip will work well with the auto tranny. Too much power, or a trouble light from signals being changed, or who knows.

On the dyno, we needed to establish a good base line, and establish the proper way to run it consistently. Obviously running it in manual mode was necessary, and 3rd gear worked the best. But because of how the Tranny Control Unit works, we couldn’t floor it below 2000 RPM with out it down shifting. Also if we floored it to far, you could feel the pedal hit a switch, which would also cause it to downshift. So after a little learning curve with the auto, we got very consistent runs. (which are the Blue lines on the graphs) To me all these things are strange as I rarely drive automatic tranny cars.

As with any automatic tranny car, there is more drivetrain loss when compared to a manual tranny. So on the Mini, how does this effect the Wheel HP? Actually not much! Our R56 test mule made 175-ish Wheel HP and 210ft-lbs of peak torque. Below is a graph showing the results of a catback test we did, but also it shows the stock power level.


Graph showing R56 manual tranny stock HP and HP with ALTA catback

With some base runs done, we consistently saw 175-ish WHP and a much flatter 180ft-lbs of torque. This car was not totally stock, it did have an intake system and turbo inlet hose installed. These parts have been shown to add roughly 15WHP beyond stock which means the auto is at a pretty good disadvantage over the manual. We could guess that a stock Auto would put down 160WHP, and 165ft-lbs. But all we can do is guess until we get another auto on the dyno. If you look a little closer at the HP difference at 4000-4500. At these RPM’s the manual makes about 30 extra HP. In this area, you can see where the Auto starts to suck some of the power from the engine. This could be partially due to the torque converter not being locked up, who knows?? Now that we got the bad news out of the way, lets look at the good things!

A semi local customer Gary Simpson is the Mini enthusiast letting us use his car to do the testing and tuning on. While many Auto owners are not into the performance aspects of their car, Gary is not like the normal auto customer. Gary wanted the same setup like our shop car (previous to the GT2560 turbo kit) including a Unichip. So after we did some base line runs, it was time to put on all the parts. After about 5 hours of work, the ALTA boost tubes, FMIC, Turboback exhaust, and Unichip were all installed and ready for the dyno.

With the testing on the manual with our full list of parts installed, we would see about 200WHP and about 230Ft-lbs of peak torque, or a gain of 25 peak WHP, and 30ft-lbs. The same parts installed on the auto gained roughly the same HP and TQ. If you look at 4000-4500 RPM there is a 30ft-lbs, and 30WHP gain there. The only difference is the peak numbers are lower. What is important here is the difference from one to the other. Below the purple line shows the power before the Unichip was tuned.

Next up was the Unichip. Before we loaded on an existing map, I did a little playing to see how the auto reacted to more boost, and more power. After some playing I loaded on our base stage 3 mapping. Car ran the boost it was supposed to and it was pretty happy. This mapping is the slightly detuned Stage 3 mapping we ship with all our Unichips that are to be used In areas with 92/93 octane fuel. This showed about 20WHP gain, and about 30ft-lbs, just like we advertise. But we wanted to do some custom tuning to see how the car would react to a little extra ignition timing, and a little leaner fuel mixture. After we were done with the custom tune, we were left with an aggressive map and a good daily driver map. Both were tuned to about 20PSI falling to about 14psi at redline. All this netted about an extra 10-12WHP and about 20ft-lbs.


Dyno graph showing R56 auto w/intake and Inlet hose, Stage 3 form (no tuning), and Stage 3 form with ALTA tuning.

From all this testing, we learned that the Auto does have more drivetrain loss than the manual tranny cars, but the gains are about the same as the manual. The Unichip works perfectly fine on the Auto, and it also sees similar gains as the manual sees. So all you Auto guys should feel pretty comfortable buying any of the ALTA R56 products and not have concerns with the tranny. Then secondly, the Unichip is now a solid viable option for you! I know Unichip has had some issues with the plugs, creating temporary/intermittent connection with the ECU, and we just released all this great info to get the Auto guys and gals excited about the Unichip. But we are happy to announce new ones are a couple weeks away from showing up. So while there is a slight delay in everyone getting their Unichips, we feel, (as does Unichip) that these will be 1000% better, and all 100% tested before they leave.

Thanks again to Gary Simpson for letting us use his car a test mule! Hope he still loves the new found power!

 

You are very welcome . Thank you for the extra power!!!

I had fun driving my MCSa before, but man, she is a completely different beast now. I love it. Even though I'm driving a bit more aggressively (I can't help myself, the exhaust system is sweeeeet) than I did prior to these upgrades I've also noticed a slight increase in fuel economy. I'm getting 2-3 MPG better now, even with a heavier foot.

And so far, it has passed the WAT (wife acceptance test). I was a bit concerned the exhaust might be too loud for her with the full turboback exhaust but she hasn't complained about the louder system.

I've had zero issues with the PnP ECU. What I have had is... a heck-of-a-lot-of FUN!!

Thank you Jeff, I appreciate the your time, your work, and testing to get the Unichip working for those of us with automatics! The wait was well worth it!

 

Nice work Jeff!

Just so you all know Jeff worked OVERTIME on HIS dime to get the mapping done for the automatic.

Now that Jeff has put this up and many NAMers have been asking for it I am expecting LOTS of orders for them

Please post your Automatic specific questions here Regaurding the ALTA Plug-N-Play.

 

Nice Skittle/Trix post John L!

Gary brought up a good point in an email! Gary put the intake on the car before he came up to our shop! Oops so i will be fixing the above post, but for those who already read it, please note, the base power was with an intake system, and turbo inlet hose installed.

 

would you release Euro version ECU for R56 MCS manual ?

I extremely intresting in it !!!

 

Jeff/John,

The MCS with automatics trans have been shown to be quicker in the 1/4 mile over the manual trans on several occasions.

Auto: 14.77 vs Manual: 14.90

Why is this the case if the horsepower to the ground is less. Quicker shifting? better sustained boost pressure?

See these links.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70RFE0_I9tg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyfl1OmE6YQ

Any ideas?

 

The reason they were quickler is due to mediocre drivers. Put a decent driver behind a manual and those times will be quicker, however the autos will be consistent every run.

 

Adam, I think I might need to add this along with my gauge order as well. The fiance's mcsa is lagging behind on the mod dept.

 

Now I'm jealous! is it my turn yet?

Simpson, it sounds like you have a great set up going! 260/208

 

I think there is more to it than 'mediocre drivers'......14.77 is a very good 1/4 mile time for a stock MCS. Think about it....where have you seen a better ET for a bone stock MCS?

 

I have to say, my problem was grip and inexperience, I think. I did a 14.95 my first day in the car at a strip. But, the auto has 2 advantages in a drag race. It can build boost before launch. That makes those first few feet that much quicker, especially since the manual seems a little finicky to launch. Also, it does not lose boost when it shifts, so there is a little more oomph at the bottom of each gear. This is less of a problem in the mini than it is in a big truck, but I think you gotta lift at least a little to shift. Does the auto have consistently higher times in the convertible? That's not a rhetorical device, I really don't know. But I would feel pretty sure about my hypothesis if it didn't.

But, I am hoping cooler temperatures, and more experience launching a turbo car than I had last time will let me shave .2 seconds off my E.T. next month.

 

Is the same level of perform./reliability available for r53 auto?
Has same testing been done?
Does the install of the unichip need to be done in conjunction w/dyno and tune?
thanks

 

Thanks! I think so as well. All of the Alta parts have made a huge difference

 

At this time we do not have Alta Tuning for the R53 Auto it is on the radar though.

The Unichip is "plug and Play" no dyno tuning needed on your part, we do all that.

John

 

Is it a fair assumption that the unchip MCSa tune with just the Catback Exhhaust would make 25HP crank rated. How much more would the combo make if an intake was added.

Is it safe to run 20 pounds of boost. It seems like a lot for such a small motor and also rough on the turbo.

 

Radar?
But,but,but....The r53 auto has been out SLIGHTLY LONGER than the r56.PRIORITIES!!
This sounds familiar to the line JCW feeds you to make you believe that one day you'll get a tuned MCSA.

 

YOu just gotta say when we can start ordering and I'll be the first one in line.

 

You can pre-order now. The kit is the same. You just need to indicate that it is an auto either on the phone or online. I would prefer to get your order in PM, then have a CSR follow up with the intricate details, then charge when the order ships, vs. ordering through the web.

Let me know!

 

hehe, I was going to say, order now but Adam beat me to it. This is one great mod , you should notice significant changes immediately, well, provided your MINI is warmed up enough to get the full boost.

I love my PnP ECU .

 

SWEET!

 

A few of you that attended Alta Showroom Grand Opening this past weekend got to see under Demi's hood and hear her purr with the TBE exhaust. I still love the PnP ECU.

Has anyone else with an MCSa gotten a PnP ECU yet? ALTA is shipping out the new harnesses and ECUs so I'm curious to see if I'm still alone in automatic land??

 

Have one on the back order list, but I called Alta today and I believe it was christina who told me that it should be shipping by end of the week or so. Should be pretty fun on out MCSA.

SimpsonGI..Happen to have a boost gauge installed? I'm wondering how much boost you aer running with the ECU

 

I do not have one installed, but I have one on order that should ship out any day. I'm hoping to be able to install it this weekend.

While it was on the dyno, I think it was at 20-21 PSI boost. I'm real curious to see what it is hitting now.

 

I did & it looked & sounded great ! purchased my own Turbo back (just waiting on the catback portion to ship).

I hope he got something out of it

 

Thanks! It was good to meet you in person . You are going to love the TBE!