On looking at the JCW kit upgrade for the MCS it seems that the ECU software has been adjusted but only a little.

Does anyone think that it might be worthwhile considering an ECU upgrade in addition to the JCW kit assuming you cause no adverse effect to your warranty? (afterall you did go through the trouble of adding the JCW kit)

Since it is common for MCS with pulley upgrades to also upgrade ECU such as Powerchip, Webb/Powerchip, EvoTech, GIAC (soon), shark injector etc, would it not also work with the JCW kit. Maybe worth up to a 10+ HP gain??

If anyone has done this ECU upgrade on top of JCW kit would you care to comment? Thanks.

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ALOHA

 

Morn'n,

Doesn't the JCW upgrade include their version of a chip re-map?
Not just a little.... but....similar to the Powerchip re-map.
I was told this by a friend who is the service mgr at a dealership

I'm not 100% sure though....:smile:

Peace,
D

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I own a 2002 MCS w/ alot of stuff on it.

 

It does come with a "tweaked" ECU but I'm with minihune on this. I don't think it's much. The performance numbers of the JCW kit can be accounted for by the pulley and head work alone. Then you also get an exhaust with less back-pressure (although I understand the gains are minimal) AND the reworked ECU. An aftermarket MCS with 15% pulley and the Powerchip should give around the same Horsepower and the same if not MORE torque. So I can't imagine JCW's ECU does a whole lot numbers-wise.

And of course, add an intake and exhaust to an aftermarket MCS and you will definitely exceed the performance of the JCW for 1/3 the cost.

But adding a GOOD ECU to the JCW does make some sense. If these ECU upgrades are really undetectable and/or reversible as to NOT void the warranty, it would be one of the few upgrades that makes sense to a JCW kit. For me, the ONLY sense to get the JCW is to keep the warranty fully intact. So IMO, the last thing you want to do is go aftermarket with your JCW. If you do, you would have been better off going completely aftermarket. But this ECU add on to a JCW kit might be the ultimate answer for people who want maximum performance with 100% warranty.

 

In the case of the JCW kit, I think that the ECU has been tweaked a bit but just by HP alone you can calculate that the gain is very small like 2 HP if that much. This leaves room for improvement. In fact given the polished heads and any other mods like a throttlebody (not as likely), better intake, exhaust header, etc. You can tune your ECU upgrade for higher performance.

In the case of warranty one could easily use the Shark injector to modify the ECU at will changing between stock settings and the version of the Shark tuned to your upgrades. Remove the Shark program at will using the Shark unit in a few minutes. No one can detect any use of the Shark.

Someday if there is a Super Shark version with an even bigger gain in HP then that would be worth a look- higher price maybe.

There just seems to be a gap between the JCW kit's 200 HP and the 215 HP that most MCS owners enjoy with intake/pulley/ECU/Header/cat-back exhaust.

I know many JCW kit owners adding exhaust headers, wires, intakes and even one with a larger intercooler. Maybe half are keeping things stock.

Perhaps in my area that lacks mechanics that know how to install MINI upgrades these MCS owners feel more comfortable in having the dealer do the pulley/head/exhaust install with warranty.

 

I was talking to Randy at Webb yesterday about this. He mentioned that the ECU upgrade should improve JCW HP. As most others have noted, the ECU with JCW hasn't changed that much. Most other ECU upgrades will modify the timing more then anything to take advantage of the pulley different and reduced backpressure on the exhaust.

Randy mentioned he had one guy try it and noticed good results. No hard numbers. I pick up my MCS w/JCW on Saturday and might just order the ECU and take it to Gran Turismo for a run to get real numbers. I'll make sure to post results here when and if I get to this (traveling a lot these days). It should be noted that most ECU upgrade kits allow you to back up the existing code so you won't loose the JCW code if you want to go back for warranty or whatever.

I would think the first thing you would do to a JCW car would be cold air intake. I've been racing planes for quite some time and cold air is about the best thing you can do to an engine right off the bat. Definitely see it at altitude and when you drive a car around in the winter. Cold, dense air - that's what you're after.

-Mike

 

Although this is certainly true, cold air intakes on the MCS don't do a whole lot. And when added to a modded MCS or the JCW kit, I doubt the gains would be noticeable on the old butt dyno. Probably 2-4 HP at BEST when added to a modded MINI. Torque gains would probably even less. And then you also have a potential warranty issue although the intake could easily be taken out and the intakes are pretty inert that it would be very difficult to deny a warranty claim due to an intake.

I still think an ECU upgrade would be the best engine-related performance mod for JCW owners.

 

Actually you see more gains with an intake if you have the smaller pulley. Helix has a dyno online of the K&N typhoon intake making 9HP. It says over "stock" but I'm not sure if that is with the pulley or without.

I've had the 15% pulley mod for a while now and I just recently put on a K&N typhoon intake since it was time to change the paper filter anyway. I certainly noticed it. Not quite as dramatic as getting the pulley in the first place but I noticed a difference. I imagine if I had an exhaust as well it might have yielded slightly better results but this is just speculation.

The stock filter was designed to meet the needs of the stock components. As you add more performance components, the needs change. I think this is why it works better if you have mods. That said I think an intake would be the perfect addition to a JCW kit. I'd suggest waiting until Helix/GIAC comes out with their ECU to decide on which ECU to go with if you replace it but JCW might have just smoothed things out and not really tried for more performance.
-Chris
p.s. Most of this is speculation as I do not have a JCW S, just a regular S with pulley and intake.