I suppose it's all relative!

Many folks happily spent 2x that amount for 1/2 the power... on exhaust.



Of course, you could also try some Splitfire Plugs, I think their box claims up to a 25 HP gain by using them!!!

 

Hmmm... it's half the price of a nice exhaust, which has half the performance impact... it's half the price of a good header+highflow cat, which has about the same performance impact.... it's about the same price as a good dyno tune, which has similar or perhaps a bit more performance impact.... it's cheaper than most ICs that have little or no performance impact... true, it is more expensive than hot wires....

But, other than the pulley, I don't know of many mods that provide more bang-for-the-buck... especially in the midrange.

 

well you can always buy the schrick for $559 and it does even less

seriously........though

I didn't want to have to get into a fluctuating cam war with the pound. Even though schrick comes from Germany the price has stayed the same. Same with the Aquamist kits from England. THEY PRICE THEM IN DOLLARS so we don't have this all over the place "what am I going to pay this month routine" I have to pay for 20-50 cams up front, ship them here, pay the duties and then sit on them til we sell them. Do the math

I have vendors that then buy them from me to sell to you (or people who don't know about NAM) they have to make a buck to stay in business.
Do any of you go to work for free? My guess would be.....absolutely not....
so why then would you want to expect others to work for free?

Sure we can knock $50 off the price but when your local vendor now get's nothing for the cam are you going to be the one to tell him he works for free? My guess is he will now ding you even more for labor. It's the nature of the beast. I really hate to have to write posts like these as people seem to forget this is a business and we all love our cars but it still costs money to operate them and to mod them.

 

profit != evil

 

Dan.... I never would have guessed you to be a Democrat

 

it's a basic tenet of economics and people forget that. profit drives life.

 

Having spent more money on cars than I care to remember, I know for years there was a general marketing rule that used the $100 per HP limit. That was the financial threshold for the market, and products were, a times, priced based on performance. So 10hp would cost usually no more than $1000, sometimes less. Using this old rule, the pulley and the cam are somewhat bargains for the MINI.

The funny part is most folks have a few hundred dollars in their pocket will buy wires( no gain) or something else insignificant that gives little to no performance increase. I don't think you'd ever get more than 2-3hp from a CAI but it has a lot of bling/virtual-speed factor and costs $200-$300, right at $100/hp.

 

don't forget, if you get red wires that adds another 3hp

 

I fear speaking up here, but as an economics professor, I can speak to the idea of profit. In fact, as defined in the discipline of economics, profit is the excess of revenue over all costs, which include a fair return to all inputs/resources used. This fair return includes the return to the entrepreneur/capitalist who has invested in the business. In the case of small business owners like Jan (also Randy Webb, the guys at TSW, Todd of TCE, etc.) they are the entrepreneurs--there may be silent partners but it doesn't change the math. Therefore Jan not only puts his labor into the business, he puts his capital and should expect compensation for his labor (at fair market value) and compensation for the risk he has exposed his capital to. In fact, very few small businesses are economically sound when properly valued--owners rarely get a fair wage and a fair return on their capital. And very few make an economic profit. Most would do better working for someone else for wages, and investing their capital in iShares. Of course, most accept a lower overall compensation in return for all those intangibles such as working for ones' self and doing something unique.

OK, lecture mode off...
back to normal transmission.

 

ahh, just like the good ole days back in college. Thanks Phil!

 

+1

 

Well said Doc. Thanks for the dose of reality and thanks to Jan for continuing development on go fast parts for an "obsolete" car that many vendors have pretty much abandoned new development for.

to your continued developmental (and financial) success.

 

btw, for those who want to know -one- difference between accountants and economists (there are many, trust me), it's the way we deal with profits. The normal return to the capital invested, excluding loans of course, is included as a cost by economists, and therefore not included in profit, whereas accountants do not include this in accounting costs, and hence it resides in the profit line. Hence an accountant may show the business is making a profit, but the economist may not.
I once worked part time for a high-end audio retailer--after his cost of goods, rent and wages paid (including a modest draw for himself) he rarely had 3-5% left over. He wasn't making economic profits, that's for sure!

 

the big box stores would make one to two pennies on the dollar. My old hi-fi employer would do six or seven. So much more profitable that potential investors didnt believe it was true. Still....6-7% net margins are THIN

 

Profit=Interest=Jan=Great new products!!!

Or we could do it the way Russia used to do it and we all know what fine Automobile stuff they make.....

 

yeah cause I want this baby! not one of those hideous rmw jobs!

 

but then's there's this cool M6 transplanted Volga to make it all better

 

No Profit=No motivation=No Jan=What we have above.

 

or, that could be an example of ALL motivation and no profit (i.e. weld up the leftover soup cans to make a car part)

 

Bingo Bingo Bingo.

Man you nailed it. No one other than Jan is working on and developing products for the R53.

If you add up all the other Mini vendors together I bet you can't name one "performance" (power) product brought to market by any of them in the last two years for the R53. And that's if they developed it or someone else did.

What has RMW brought out in that time?

Big valve head
Water to Air intercooler
Cam
adjustable cam gear
Shorty Header
Race header
Traveling Dyno tunes
Rotrex
Water Meth injection designed just for the R53
TVS
Worlds first 2.0L engines

And I'm sure I'm missing a few others plus all the suspension options he offers.

Point being that people can try and give Jan BS about this or that but the truth speaks for its self.

RMW is "the" only true mini tuner developing, testing, tuning and bringing to market quality performance solutions for the R53. And if what he told yesterday works as it should, what next thing is going to blow you away.

Longboard

 

Well said Longboard! This should be called the support Jan thread

 

GTT are one in the UK to start with, turbo conversions, mills his own heads etc

1320 are also involved with stuff

as are thinkmini, lohen are working with dastek on uni chipping.

to name a few

 

Wow so true. Jan, don't make over $500k or the Pres. may get you .........

 

Hey jan, just sent an email to you

 

Until you drive with it, then your like "damn, that was money well spent"!!