Produce a list of machine shops who can get the A/F right across the entire RPM band on a supercharged MINI.

 

There is no right blanket A/F. Sorry.

You wanted to call me out so lets here it.

 

call mynes and ask him how much time he spent cracking the mini ecu . i can send my engine to endyne (one of the best) and get it done top to bottom with all the best stuff jan sells and it will still need a tuner . and a mini tuner at that cause i'll be damned if i'd let someone who's never done a mini waist all my money .call mynes about the ecu really .

 

Ok, i just want to put in my 2 cents since this debate is getting very heated... let's take one step at a time...

Engine: The Mini R53 is still just another engine block. But within this block, there are tricks that are particular to the Mini. While any machine shop can hone a block for you, the tuner/builder usually gives the machine shop the specification... but once the shop has done enough, then they would have the experience to do their own.

Once a domestic engine builder who is accustomed to building Chevy big blocks said to me: 'an engine is an engine, there's nothing to it'... we'll, he was messed up 3 good Import motors before he figured out what he was doing wrong.

Tuner: The German computers are something else. Unlike the Japanese ecu's, the Germans are much more complex. There are tuners on here who are pure MINI tuners b/c they have the GUI software with the fancy graphs, and then there are tuners who have been around for a while. Hubie of ABF has been around for a long time and he was tuning and racing 9-sec Supras back when i was walking around in diapers. And there's Jason of Mynes who helped develop the EcuFlash sw for the Evo market and he's currently one of the top tuners in the MINI Tuning world.

Nonetheless, these engine builders/tuners didn't become MINI experts over night. It tooks years of hard work and many trial and error. So if i were to sink in some serious cash into my Mini, i would prefer to have one who's done it a few times and have made all the trials and get no more errors on my stuff. I want my build to be done right the first time b/c i don't have the $ or the time to be someone else's guinea pig... i think that's pretty much the bottom line here...

I think both of you guys are making valid points, you each are just stuck in your little corners. The car is a complex mixtures of various components and they all have to work with one another to run as an automobile. A good engine does not run by itself, and a good tune is worthless if the engine is no good = they are interdependent; so for each side to take these components out of context, then we are getting into the circular logic argument.

Ok, i'm off the podium now

 

thanks, i started to read the link on the x-300 project. I started at the beginning, not finish yet. I'll call Jan to have some info and recommendations just to be sure to spend my money at the good place.

 

Exactly right. There is no right "blanket" A/F. So get it right at EVERY point on the RPM range. That's my point. And no one is is unfamiliar with the MINI ECU is going to get it right the first time. As herbie says.

 

take my giac tune for example . it's canned . it's not the best . it is good .i could and will do much better when the time comes . giac gave probably 20 hp if i remember. i just made sure fr's didn't go lean . they went rich . with a better (custom tune ) it would've netted more . when the stand alone gets done you'll see some gains . point is a tune is a tune and can be good with a good build ; but someone crackin the mini code is gonna give the very best .

 

There are dozens of programmable options out there so why limit your self to the stock ECU? Sure, follow the herd mentality and believe they're aren't any other options (conceited). Last I checked, the performance aftermarket was something of a several BILLION dollar industry. MINI makes up less than .01% of that. To say the vendors within this community are the only ones capable of tuning a MINI (let alone tweaking a stock ECU) is preposterous. All that is known about MINI isn't contained within these walls. There are others. It works either way.

 

 

guess you'll be using a tuner from whatever pedigree ,and that's fine too .
but the mini community will stick to ourselves and be conceited as you put it . doesn't bother me in the least . when i go big it'll be with proven mini tuners. you spend your money as you will . pls . keep us posted .
to the op..... if you want the very best you know who to call . admin ; lock it down . the horse is dead and the carcuss is starting to stink and the op went to bed a long time ago .

 

Hmm... interesting. You 'seem' to know what you're talking about... so can you name one standalone (under US$10,000) ECU/EMS that can control the MINI engine while still retaining the dash? Just the R53 SC engine (i know for a fact that non can do the direct injection system inside the R56)... Pls educate all of us

I can name three that do NOT work on the R53: AEM, Hydra and MoTeC...

 

BUMP for some updates... find out anything new?

 

Just tell us ignorant Mini owners ONE of these options... thanks.

 

They all have tried on the R53 from MTH, Powerchips, Autothority, GIAC, Jim Conforti, Evotech, UniChip, Dinan and some other fly-by-night tuners I cannot remember. There is threads here on NAM on all of them. Some distributers of these tunes were brutally honest about the products they sold via dyno figures and some were not, but eventually they all came to light at dyno days or while getting custom dyno tunes.
+1
Not only would the dash be an X-Mas tree of lights but what would happen to the speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge with a stand alone unit, considering the BCM is thrown in together with the ECU? I guess there is a reason even RSR Motorsports MINIs in Koni Challenge don't run a stand alone, when its allowed.