A friend and I were talking about various mods we had done to our MINIs and how really, to do it all over again, we'd do it a lot differently (almost to the point of not modding at all).

Exhaust: neither one of use would have spent the money on an exhaust again. $700 could easily have gone somewhere else and the power increase was very incrimental.
Springs: I'm considering going back to stock, because I'm growing increasingly tired of scraping coming out of driveways.
Koni/Camber Plates: my friend was saying that the Konis were very stiff and uncomfortable for street use (he also raced STX) and that there is a clunk sometimes from the camber plates.

Things we'd consider doing again:

intake: incrimental power or not, the change in sound is pleasant enough.
Pulley: for the money, there is no better way to boost power on the S. (my friend didn't have the pulley in his car).
wheels and tires: lighter wheels and getting rid of the run-flats help performance and comfort.

One thing my friend pointed out was that the national times for MINIs in STX really weren't all that much faster than those in the stock class.

So what was our conclusion? That modding is a waste of time? No, more that MINI got the package pretty nailed in stock form.

Dave

 

rear sway?

 

i agree. ive been modding cars for a while now (j-cars) but the cooper-s can
go without any mods. its got some compromises in the suspension, but its really not bad at all especially for guys like me dat don't race and drive spiritedly on
the weekends. i have no performance mods on my to do list. only another
set of 16's with summer tires but this is mostly for dressup.

_________________




03MCS IndiBlue/Blk


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Yeah, I'd do the rear sway again, but given that I don't autocross anymore and my car is mostly being used for commuting to work, the rear sway doesn't get much work. Thus, if I spent more time thinking about it, I might change my mind and say no.

_________________
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/(o)____(o)
Private Message DiD

 

Dave,
I just got an '04 S and am leaving it bone stock.
The car, I think, rides a little differently than the
02 or 03 S. Softer, not as stiff. It has more to do
with my neck(pain) than wanting to tweak the car though.
I don't plan on autocrossing or doing track days
with this one. I hooped in a cart on Saturday in Ocala
at the end of the autocross and I was sore all day Sunday.
Gettin' old I guess!
Mike
PS...I did put the Magnecor wires and the intake from my '03
on though, so I guess I'm not stock after all.

 

So you'd only do:

1. Pulley
2. Intake
3. Rear sway bar
4. Wheels and tires

Anything else?

 

I'd definitely do the intake again on my Cooper - love the sound, and the "under the hood" look.

 

>>So what was our conclusion? That modding is a waste of time? No, more that MINI got the package pretty nailed in stock form.

===>Right on, man . I've got a bunch of mods (exhaust included) but that was good to hear

 

I would at least do the pulley at a bare minimum. But I do love my mods and am glad to have them. Just wish I could justify different wheels now.
_________________
I’ve owned cars that blow – this one blows the bloody doors off. [img]albums/album25/ama.gif[/img]
Alta pulley, Stebro exhaust, Pipercross intake, Progress rear anti-sway bar.

VinceAndJessica.com

 

For sure: Intake and Tires (I like the stocker v-spoke wheels)
Most likely: Pulley
Debateable: Rearsway
Wouldn't do it again: springs, exhaust, konis, camber plates, ECU

 

Interesting question DID :smile:
>>A friend and I were talking about various mods we had done to our MINIs and how really, to do it all over again, we'd do it a lot differently (almost to the point of not modding at all).
>>
>>Exhaust: neither one of use would have spent the money on an exhaust again. $700 could easily have gone somewhere else and the power increase was very incrimental.
Now this one truly hits home w/ me... :smile:
I'm on my 3rd exhaust (Borla Street )which I finally like and kept).
To make a very long story ..short.. I must have wasted approxnearly $400 with all the swapping of exhaust and having to re-sell the ones I had purchased.
I got it at a group buy price of $570 ...so it's money well spent to me.:smile:.

>>Springs: I'm considering going back to stock, because I'm growing increasingly tired of scraping coming out of driveways.
No springs here...so I'm ahead of the game here.
>>Koni/Camber Plates: my friend was saying that the Konis were very stiff and uncomfortable for street use (he also raced STX) and that there is a clunk sometimes from the camber plates.
No camber plates here...so...again...I'm ahead of the game here as well.

>>
>>Things we'd consider doing again:
>>
>>intake: incrimental power or not, the change in sound is pleasant enough.
Totally agree... money well spent...even if you just enjoy the " sound" added value :smile:
>>Pulley: for the money, there is no better way to boost power on the S. (my friend didn't have the pulley in his car).
The pulley is hands down the BEST MOD FOR THE MONEY...
>>wheels and tires: lighter wheels and getting rid of the run-flats help performance and comfort.
I felt that the rims were more for asthetic reasons to me. but may i add the sticky tires (mine are Toyo Proxes T1s's)are another must ...mod .
>>
>>So what was our conclusion? That modding is a waste of time? No, more that MINI got the package pretty nailed in stock form.


I'll add the ECU remap as an important mod.. It's rounded out my MCS to a state that it is simply..... perfect to drive. No yo-yo and no stumble here!!!!!

A less important mod..... but to me ...a must...... is the short shifter.I never was comfortable with the quality of the original shifter..so this is a godsend

Just my 2cents :smile:
Peace,
D

 

>> I'll add the ECU remap as an important mod.. It's rounded out my MCS to a state that it is simply..... perfect to drive. No yo-yo and no stumble here!!!!!

Interesting. One vote for the ECU, and one against. This seems like a pretty expensive mod from what I've read, and I wonder how much it adds if you're going to do the pulley anyway, and you don't have a stumble.

Anyone else want to chime in on the relative value of the ECU mod?

 

you know, im glad DID posted this tread because i thought i was the only one
thinking that the factory suspension was 'good' for the streets. :smile:

(intake) im not interested in making any more noise any more, my wrx is
LOUD enough with exhaust and bov, etc.

 

Now if I had a WRX I wouldnt be modding the MINI anyway!

I currently have the intake (love it) and Im getting the pulley and ECU in December. ? D-mini, did your ecu remap fix your yo-yo? I have yo-yo BAD and I was planning on going to the dealership (283 miles away) to get version 36 software loaded before I get my webb/powerchips mapping, but if this is addressed in Randy's flash I'd just assume stay out of the dealership.

I had also planned on getting the Magnaflow exhaust. Im I really reading that you folks with x-haust are not happy with your purchase??

 

I'm happy enough with the exhaust, but I wouldn't drop $700 on one again. I think I could be just as happy with the car now with the stock exhuast on it.

 

Great topic Dave, and one I have been considering now that I have a full year of experience driving a stock MCS.

My last modded hatchback was a VW GTI 1.8L turbo. Chipping it gave HUGE rewards in power. It also benefited from some significant suspension changes. I also had a huge downpipe off of the turbo with the option to run with a high-flow racing catlytic concerter or with a straight pipe in place of the cat. I spent a small fortune, and, although my VW was faster in a straight line, it paled in comparison when driven on the twisty roads with DiD at the time when I think he had only altered the exhaust on his MCS>

I decided that when I got my MCS, I would hold off on mods for a year, get to know the car, and allow others to do the initial experimentation with mods for a new model before I began to change anything other than the tires.

I really enjoy driving twisty mountain roads such as the Tail of the Dragon, and have had the opportunity to motor along with other stock MINI's as well as highly modified ones. On such roads, I have found that my stock MINI is essentially as fast as the highly modified MINI's with the exeption that they do accellerate faster than I can on the few straight segments.

After a year, I feel that BMW did an excellent job of delivering a very well balanced machine, and I really do not feel that the expense of extreme powertrain mods can be justified for my style of driving in which dyno charts and 1/4 mil timeslips are basically meaningless. Maximum raw horsepower is relatively unimportant when you are taking turns in which it is imposible to harness more than 1/2 the available HP.

So where am I going to put my mod money in the future?

1) Adjustable swaybar on the medium to decrease understeer
2) Lighter wheels and wider tires
3) Big Brake Kit
4) Limited Slip Differential

I have selected these mods for improvement of handling at the limits rather than increasing engine output. These are the sorts of mods that have the best chance of improving my actual real-world performance while driving the twisty roads where the handling of the MCS (or regular Cooper!) shines above and beyond all but a couple extreme exotic cars.

Anyway, that is my take on mods for the MINI. After I finish (begin) the above list of handling mods, I will then consider adding more power.

 

Countym & Mr Whoa :smile:
Re the ECU remap.
I never had stumble in my MCS.
I think all MCS's have the some measure of yo-yo ...and in my case it went awayo away after I added a air-intake.
What the ECU remap did for my MCS is made it "smooth". I know that's not a technical term nor is it a quantitative response. It's... as all of my posts tend to be... a "seat of the pants"....response to what I personally...notice/feel/sence.
I'm sure you can find dyno numbers that prove or disprove....that the HP increase for a MCS w/ a pulley to be less HP than a MCS w/ both a pulley & the re-map.
I'll leave that to the experts...which I am NOT

The car responses perfectly, the low end pickup is there whenever I need it and at WOT it's a thing of beauty

I cruise along feeling....great

Peace,
D

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

 

mods that I am planing on MCS:

1. Rear Sway bar
2. CAI
3. Big Brake kit , Wheels, Tires, Coilover
4. Pulleys
5. Software
6. Sport Exhaust
7. Wider Body Flare

(in that order)

 

YuccaPatrol:

excellent comments. my only counter would be that some mods are not _just_ for power. my intake for example (i have a cooper) was not purcahsed for power, but to enhance driving quality by its sound.

when i get the exhaust, it will be mostly for the same reason.

wheels and the sway bar however are mostly for other reasons.

it all dpeends on what you want out of a cooper as to whether or not you should do any particular mod. but that is no surprise to anyone!

 

I have had my '02 MCS since July of '02, after reading MCO and talking with Randy, I did the following mods in this order:

1) Madness CAI
2) Madness swaybar (set to the middle position), and H Sport Springs
3) 15% Pulley and EVOtech ECU.
4) UUC exhaust (I just installed this last Saturday)
5) I just ordered Goodyear F1 GS DS Tires, 205/50 16, $75 rebate from Tire Rack.
I like the V spoke looks, and wanted to wear out my Dunlop all season runflats in a drivers school I attended 2 weeks ago and just plain commute driving.

I would do it all over again! The jury is still out a bit for the UUC since I just installed it, but so far I really love the sound and smoother power. Cheers

 

gosharks: just reinstall your stock airbox for the CA smog test. You'll be just fine. My intake was off for all of about 4 hours when I had my car smogged (pulley and Borla exhaust stayed on the car).

Dave

 

I'd do it all again, thats 3/4 the fun, doing it. but I like tinkering.. my .02

 

I also concur that the MCS, as delivered right out of the box, is a very nicely engineered and well balanced car. Personally, I have never been into mods with previous cars, but would consider doing the pulley upgrade and the intake at some point in the future. I really like the suspension tuning on my bone stock '04 MCS and wouldn't have it any other way.

A good friend of mine just purchased a "base" '04 MCS with just the MFSW and he tells me that the stock exaust system is excellent and see no reason to spend the extra $$$ for an aftermarket alternative. This guy is pretty knowledgeable so I tend to trust his opinions in these issues.


So now the other question becomes...is the JCW really necessary? or is it another market gimmick?


I feel that the car has more than enough acceleration and never find myself short on power whether in the city or highway driving.

 

>>
>>So what was our conclusion? That modding is a waste of time? No, more that MINI got the package pretty nailed in stock form.
>>
>>

Dave,
Seeing as how you are such a highly respected member of this community, I'm betting that there are a hundred aftermarket firms having a collective heart attack today ...

... but i'v left my cooper pretty much alone too : ordered it with the sport plus suspension, put on plug wires, a shift ****, an exhaust, filtre insert ... that's about it - 'til i spring for the new tyres!

 

I think you have slightly over inflated my influence.



One other thing to add about this conversation is that I realized as we were talking that since I had the pulley done (my last mod), it's been months since I even thought about doing another mod. For a while there, I had a mod'ers mentality, but now, I'd just like to sit back and enjoy the car for what it is - a very nice all around package.

Dave