The oil he mentions is RLI BioSyn...

http://www.renewablelube.com/

I have a 5 gallon pail in my garage awaiting my next oil change. ScottRiqui has been running it for a while with much improved results in his oil analysis over normal synthetics. Big improvements in fuel dilution and flashpoint...

There's a thread where we've been discussing it.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=132532

 

Anything new yet? We are anxiously awaiting numbers!

 

being tuned on the 27th. i'll try to make some videos using my digital camera...

 

Ok so I'm kinda lost...
First off congrats on having the car built and anxiously awaiting the tune numbers as everyone else is I'm more than sure...

Second, I thought the "air-sucky-thingy" was the Stroker???
Got ant hints??? Hahaha

 

Read some of Jan's posts. There's a new air blowey thing in the wind. No !!!!!!! it's not a Rotrex. But similar.

 

got any links to threads?
I know he's working on the TC system...
And getting the M45 to 300.... WHAT ELSE CAN THERE BE??? AHHHHH....

 

Yes, the air-sucky-thingy is the RMW stroker.

I spent half the day putting in a new belt tensioner, with the Minspeed tensioner stop. It was a bit of a PITA because the stroker has a custom crank pulley and the side of the pulley is a bit taller, which makes taking the tensioner out the back harder to do...there's less space. Anyways, it's all together and working great... I had some really annoying belt slip and the "nack nack nack" rattle at idle, and the tensioner cured the issue.

Only 1 week until it gets tuned . I am still aiming to get videos of the exhaust... sucks that it's nearly dark outside when I get off work . It'll happen.

 

I have that issue as well with my tensioner... need to get a new one... Dealer want's 198 and gotta get it here, takes like a week...
But if I had the stroker, I'd be content to live with the rattle...

 

I changed the the second "break-in" oil today. It had a little less than 700 miles on it. It was well used up...not destroyed, but definately towards the end of its usefulness. There was some metal dust in the oil filter and in the oil, as is to be expected. And, there was some fuel visible, because it's running rich.

Anyways, the RLI 30W is in now. The car runs so smooth it's crazy, and power seems a lot more linear than it did with my previous dino oil. It became dark outside, so I haven't got any pictures for you of the oil, but I will try to snap some tomorrow.

I did grab some photos of the beat-to-death belt tensioner that I just replaced (note the failure of the bushings on the dampner):

 

So is your nasty rattle gone now???
Because mine is doing this and was curious if the shock will remody this of if I need a whole new tensioner all together...

 

Its probably the shock. However you may have a hard time finding just that. Im not sure.

 

The spring is also shot, but that is not so easily shown in a photo. Theoretically, you could just get a new shock and spring. Don't know if either is available. Honestly, though, that spring is impossible to bend by hand/install by itself when it's new...

 

So, the car is one step closer to completion. This will be a long post, but it includes a lot of useful information for those considering the stroker (which I LOVE, simply put!)

A little on the back story... my car's original tensioner was toast, so soon after getting the car from Helix I replaced it myself and added a Minspeed tensioner stop that I had lying around. But, it wasn't shipped with washers and I installed the bar without them because I didn't think better. This allowed no movement of the tensioner shock, and I was getting high-pitched belt squeal. I called Pete at Minspeed and he apologized profusely and sent me the pieces by Priority Mail for no cost to me (he's a great guy...).

Then, my upper engine mount (late 04 build...the new style) died the day before I was heading to Boston for the tuning party. Apparently Jan's had also failed with the stroker, so he had to get a new OEM upper mount and added the Ireland engineering lower inserts to further stiffen the mounts. I ordered the same. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you do this at the initial install of a stroker... you'll need it... more on this in a bit.

Anyways, with the engine bucking due to a) its insane torque and b) the lack of dampening, I was getting misfire codes on throttle off at ~6k rpm. Gnarly. This precluded my getting much of a tune once I arrived in Boston; Jan, who is a true gentleman, did not feel comfortable testing the car much at all with it throwing codes and the squeal that we were hearing.

There was one last issue that I had to chase. My bypass valve was also aged. I was getting only 8.5 psi boost at WOT at 6k because it would not close and stay closed. At ~40% throttle, my electronic boost gauge showed a fast oscillation between 4 inHg vacuum and 2 psi boost. So, this needed replacing. I ordered a DT bpv to replace it.

Yesterday, I took my car back to Helix to have the new upper mm, lower mm inserts, DT bpv, and the new hardware for the tensioner stop.

I got it back today. THE CAR IS UNREAL NOW with the added stiffness in the drivetrain and my now-improved boost. I'm getting around 2 psi more boost, at 10 psi at 6k when WOT.

I am now just waiting for Helix to have a tuning day in a few months so I can get a proper tune on the car and some good numbers to boot.

Again, sorry for the long post, but in general I believe that it's better for me to put more information out there, just in case it's needed.

 

Glad to hear you got things sorted out. Jan told me about some of your problems and it's good to hear things are well. Let us know when Helix is going to have their tuning day. I may have to travel down.

 

Did you do the trans mount too? I was really happy with that simple insert after doing upper and lower engine steady inserts.

Good luck with the tune!

Jeremy

 

ingsoc-

Everything looks great! Im glad I had a chance to see it! Good luck with fixing those mounts...

 

Glad to hear you've gotten things straightened out on it. Thanks for the tidbits of information as I'm sure it will help others in the future.

 

I may need to try to make it to the next Helix tune day just to oogle your car.

 

I have a question about the engine build.
it seems like after reading this thread, that there was a lot of adjusting being needed. More-so then the average engine build. what would you contribute this to, and what would make the build more successfull to the next person who builds it this way?
I was considering doing this swap when my engine gets tired, but after reading this, i'm not sure all the bugs have been worked out for it to be a "non stressfull" build.
And living here in AZ I don't have access to the builder for the fine tuning. any suggestions?
And a total $ and power for that $ spent would be interesting to see as well.

 

--->muladesigns1: If you don't have access to tuning, it limits your options dramatically. Going to a stroker engine mandates new ECU tuning as the VE is totally different, not to mention base fuel and transient fuel maps. Same story if you dramatically change the stock engine with a high flow cylinder head [a good one like Jan's] or turbo conversion. The MINI's ECU is MAP based, which is great for adapting to simple boost changes but it can't adapt very well to significant VE changes. The major crutch for the MINI is the ECU, not the engine itself.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

OK, So, how and whom do you go to for the propper ECU tune?
and why is there so much trouble programming it if all the information is given to the code writer?
Again, I ask this because i am considering doing some work to mine, but how much all depends on the "PITA" factor!
I am at 50K on the odometer now and am looking to get at least 50K more + before doing a swap, but may consider a head and cam swap if it can be done without theses ECU tuning problems. does anyone do a code change with just a head and cam swap? If so, how reliable is the source?

 

My understanding is that you need dimsport to properly tune the Mini and the equipment is quite expensive. I seem to recall $13,000 being mentioned on a thread somewhere, although I'm not sure if the statement came from Jan. Either way, with such a cost it can be very difficult to find a tuner that has dimsport and knows something about the Mini. I think Jan is the only one and his efforts to establish remote tuning seem to address this dilemma.

 

Couldn't an all-out stand alone be installed and set up for that kind of cash outlay?

 

Hey man,

There are two local shops here, well local compared to going to Cali.
One, is in ScottsDale. Rich over at Dynocomp has "said" capability and software for tuning Ecutech I think it's called.... It's around $900 I think.
The second is Mynes Performance in Mesa... They do the Fireballed software I believe... And Jay has worked with Tim a lot with tuning and does there stuff...
Might wanna check with them, but not until you talk to Jan... To my understanding, he has the ability to tweak the ECU without any additional software upgrades... don't quote me on that... But he is doing great thing's with the tuning as you can see all across the board's so there's your source... And if it's more efficient to take it to a local shop with what you have, that way be an option. But if your going to do Jan's head and cam, or even his stroker... wouldn't you want the man who know his own stuff to tune it???

 

Thanks for the info.
And yes, i would rather get all the items from one source as a "kit" especially the "original' source. I also have heard very good things about Jan on here and would trust his opinion(s) during my tunning.

And as far as the above posted was it 13K for a computer? ha! i only paid 16K for the car!! I'll never justify that much $ for that.