So I take it that the R56 tune won't be ready for the upcoming Seattle tuning day? I know at least one person that's very interested in it.

 

FOR THE HORDE!!





and thanks for the tip about behe performance. it turns out they are local. I'm definitely gonna check them out.



btw, Donnie Darko is an awesome movie. Just saw it last week. Sequel (S. Darko) comes out next year.

 

hahah unfortunately I'm alliance on Burning legion Shhh dont tell :(.

and i had no idea a sequel was coming out! deff going to check that out!

-Hutch-

 

Red Bull, I know how you are feeling. I ordered my Cooper S at the beginning of summer last year and spent the 90 day wait for delivery planning all the mods I could to boost power and make it a 'manly' car... a philosophy borne from having a Subaru Impreza STi as my last car. Not to say the STi is anything like the ultimate manly twin-turbo Corvette, at least not if you're a white guy like me!

So I received my car and start modding away. I put every bolt-on out there and the piggy back ECU. Two things changed me... one was joining the BMWCCA and the other was CEL's. I spent so much time and money troubleshooting and undoing problematic mods which really don't do much for the 0-60 and quarter mile times anyway. That on top of learning through starting to autocross that the power does very little compared to suspension and tire upgrades.

But you know all this and still want to feel some semblance of that power you've been so accustomed to. Unfortunately, if you ordered a factory JCW car, I don't think there are any mods available that will do much of anything for your horsepower. Eventually there will be custom tunes. Evotech and GIAC sound like they're just starting to roll out their tunes for the standard S. They'll work out the bugs and expand to JCW. Eventually heads and cams will come out. You'll be able to drop in a bigger turbo and be able to tune the car to it. That stuff will get you real power. You'll get very little bang for the buck out of the current crop of bolt-ons. If your goal is 250HP at the wheels it will probably be acheivable with just a tune and maybe turbo back exhaust.

All the best... you'll love your car... and it will be a lot more fun within street legal limits than you're used to!

 

Stay away from the bolt ons with one exception. Turbo Back Exhaust. This will give you a solid 15WHP. When building a JCW keep in mind it already makes 125 HP per liter and sometimes that is difficult to improve on. The JCW with the Turbo Back would be a solid 225 HP car or about 135 HP per liter. That is an improvement of 55HP over the stock Cooper S. How much more power do you think this little motor is capable of safely especially if you want to daily drive it or take it on long distance trips. 3 years from now there will be R56 Mini's that are not reliable or smog legal that will make 270-290 HP but they will have to completely build the motors.

 

A 15WHP increase seems like quite a bit for a turbo back exhaust. Where are you getting that figure?

 

One of the best pieces of advice I've read on NAM!!!

 

Jan, I'm the guy that interested in the R56 tune. Here's what I recommend you do in Oct.

Get Dimsport to release the tune for the US R56.

Come to Seattle on the 2nd and tune my car after you bring and install the new downpipe that bolts up to my Milltek exhaust.

Then drive to Spokane with our small group and put another track under your belt. BMW Inland Empire is doing a two day HPDE and you can caravan with us.

Drive back to Seattle and set up the tuning session for everyone else.

Seems selfish but if I don't look out for me, who will? Plus you would have a blast up here ripping up the Spokane track. Stay long enough and I think PCA has a day later that month at Pacific Raceways. That would be two new tracks.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the insite....I am finding what you said to be true. I have the high Hourse Power car when I need to feel it. I am going to focus on the suspension,brakes and the cosmetic mods first and see what is developed in the coming year. Thanks for the good feedback

 

Im telling you guys, as soon as RMW get this ECU figured out, you will see manifolds, turbos, injectors, cylinder heads, cams etc. Until then you will see unicrap and these BS canned tunes, much like when the r53 first came out. People would call BS if you pulled over 210hp withoug going crazy back in the day.

 

I've been bugging him about it since January! Me first....me first!

Oh and FWIW...I e-mailed Dimsport last week about the US tunes and asked if they have come out with US tuning software or if their Euro version will work. Their answer surprised me....they said they didn't know as they haven't even tried doing it on a US car yet. They said that it "could be possible that their system can crack the US version also."

Jan, do you know anything else? Even if you have to remove the ECU, do you have the ability yet at this point to do that?

Amen brother. I keep tellin' em that, but no one listens! They'll see...they will see....

This is why I have not bothered to buy any other products for my car right now...the future holds a lot and why waste the money now on BS products??

 

I talked to Dimsport and they have no clue if it will work. So they want me to spend more money with them to find out...... beautiful

hard to believe the north american distributor hasn't checked it out

 

the JCW doesn't need more power. It can't put the current power down as it is from the factory (thus the e-nannies). Sort out the suspension, get some real (wide!) tires, then worry about power....by then, tuning will be sorted out.

 

PM SENT!

 

Traction smaction lollllzzzzz

 

uhhhh.... better tires!!!!!

 

That's what I was thinking.... I installed just the JCW Stage I kit on my automatic and it's RIGHT on the edge of having too much torque steer. I can't imagine the factory JCW and then some.

Not to mention that the OP mentioned he wanted to do some SCCA and track days... more HP is NOT where it's at.... driving ability, suspension and tires will help more than anything on the track.
Mark

 

Never enough hourse power.....

 

The factory JCW I drove had no more torque steer than my S. Which to me, is next to none.

 

I may be off on this on but to me the Mini is a momentum car. The more HP you try to put into it, the more parts you have to change to make sure it can put the HP onto the ground reliably.

Reminds me of a friend who put a highly tuned small block Chevy into a Porsche 944 to run club races. After 5 years, he never completed a single race with that car but runs it now in his 911S.

If you want a lot of HP, you should get a high HP car to begin with.

 

I have a Twin Turbo Corvette....has nothing to do with trying to have the most but, I want to squeeze every bit of power safely out of my JCW as possible. Dont need to be told I don't need more, I already know that. I want feedback from people that have the same intrest in increasing the power. I am looking at some parts from Alta.

OH...bye the way my TT Corvette is taken on 1,00 mile trips to car shows to promote my business and I take it to the track on occasion. If you going to build a car right you will have a reliable car...if your buddy never finished a race it because it was probably not built correctly...

 

Thanks for your flame reply. I guess there is no place for a different opinion.

 

UH yeah OK....Read my origional post...it didn't say should I add more HP...it says the best way to ADD HP. I wasn't looking for your opinion, just good information from people who have done mods. You may like your car stock and don't care about power, and thats fine but, your in a thread where most here are on the subject of performance.

 

Keep your shirt on. Don't go ballistic here. We all have to get along.

 

Not even slightly ballistic... .....didn't even launch. Just trying to get some good direction.....