After posting about whether to keep the r53 or get an r56 we have decided to stay with the 53. 56s just don't seem to handle near as well. I am wanting more low end power. Currently the car has a 16% pulley, bpv and cai. Thinking maybe a 2% crank pulley and exhaust. Any opinions? This is my fiances car so it rarely ever revs past 5k.

 

Still have runflats and stock wheels? If so, lighter wheels and tires will make a huge difference in low end response. With the stock wheels and tires and the A/C on, I had so little low end grunt I had to turn the A/C off if crossing an intersection or merging with traffic. With the SSR's and Yoko's the A/C is a non-issue. Try it and you will be amazed.

Kevin

 

It's always nice to run into R53 fans Pretty much ditto on firenewt's advice. If you have the nice looking factory S-lites, they weigh approximatley 25lbs. If you are running factory runflats as well, you actually have a pretty heavy wheel setup. Just loosing the runflats will help. Loosing the S-lites for some true performance wheels will make a noticable difference too. This sounds almost impossible, but you can loose about 15lbs per wheel going with light rims and performance tires. Of course good performance wheels/tires are not cheap

Now if you really want your tiny 1.6SC to offer some low-end grunt, you will have to dig even deeper in your billfold. The bottom line is to get more airflow through the motor by having your supercharger performance ported, replace the head, injectors and cam along with the exhaust including the header. All of this properly tuned in the ECU will give more power and torque through the entire power curve. The MINI will never offer stump-pulling torque, but a friend of mine with a MINI GP has shown me that the 1.6SC can certainly have more torque over the standard MCS. You can have this too if you are willing to spend the money.

 

And what you have to remember about losing weight from wheels is that losing weight in rotational inertia means A LOT more to a car than losing weight in the car.

If you lose 15lbs. or more in each tire, that is only 60lbs. Take 60lbs. out of your car (let's say a week of groceries) and you won't notice a difference.

Lose 60lbs. from the tires and in rotational inertia and it will seem like you added 15hp. Or more....

 

Consider a Sprint Booster. A somewhat reasonable priced mod.
No real power added but it does help the responsiveness as you start. Some people have said it seems like it adds low end power. I will let you know once I get mine, ordered and just waiting.

 

Thanks for the help guys. Not sure which way she is going to go. How do those cars with the head and cam swap drive?

 

My opinion: Stay away from crank pullys, if you must WAY MOTOR WORKS has an oversized ATI super damper, that is the only one other than stock that I would trust. Lighter wheels and tires will help, and might be cheaper than my alternitive.

Get a GOOD quality header, and a tune, if money is still in an acceptable range find a Cam to suit your needs(before you tune). You will more than likely need bigger than stock fuel injectors aswell. The tune and header will be fine with your current (80K) milage.

 

Best thing I did was the tune (from Jan @ RMW). It does increase peak HP and torque, but more importantly, it smooths everything out so that it pulls harder at all RPMs.

 

One thing to keep in mind when considering a head and cam combo is what improvement you're looking for. There are head/cam combinations that improve low/mid range hp and torque as well as those that don't really come on until higher rpms. You want a low end/mid range boost. Also, to keep the low end performance you have to maintain exhaust back pressure. Forgive me if I am stating the obvious. The head/cam/header and exhaust I chose reflex my desire for low/mid improvement.

Kevin

 

Lighter rims/tires will help...as will a tune.
Stay away from crank pulleys...if you must, get the ati one from WMW...
Header's might help, but many will cause lights...
The real power is in getting a ported head...
Then the right cam for someone who stays at low rpm's.....most are better ABOVE 5500 rpm's or so...so shop carefully...

 

Newman cam and a Tune... those are the best things I've used for low end power.

 

No codes from the Milltek header - been running it since May of 03'.

Kevin

 

What about a shorter diff ratio or a gearbox out of a later car with the shorter first gear?

 

Special RMW pistons and methanol injection should do the job

 

Torque at the ground is a factor of gearing. Want more Tq.... Gear it lower and rev it higher.

 

I brought that up earlyer. The final drive gear set that Helix sells is probbably a lot cheaper than a '05 and up tranny plus it will lower the gearing in ALL the gears. Plus they use a straight cut gear that will add a lot more strength to the trans.

 

I was told by a miniguru that the Helix (or any) straight cut gears add significant noise to the MINI. I was planning on getting them but was talked out of it due to the noise. Opinions?

Kevin

 

They do add the noise, but being only the final drive gear (differential) depending on how much tou can tollerate it can be liveable. Most of your transmissions still use a straight cut gear for reverse, and I think the Getreg box in the MINI does. One way you can get an estimate of the noise factor is just to get to max speed in reverse (in a controlled enviornment, with nobody around)

 

we have a stock sized crank pulley that is a REAL FLUID DAMPER.......... cost is $285 and it really smooths out the engine. We haven't tested anything better. It will NOT ever need replacing. There is no rubber to eventually wear out like the ATI's. It's been tested over 350whp for quite some time now.......

and for low end torque our street/tq cam made by Newman cannot be beat

 

Our boxes use a helical reverse gear on the 3rd and 4th mainshaft meshed with 1st gear on the other mainshaft=no noise while boosting in reverse.

Jeremy

 

Thanks Jan, the OP was asking about an upsized crank pulley, as far as I know of only ATI makes a oversized one that still has a damper.

Your Newmann cams are realy good for low end power from what I hear though.

 

You gotta lay all that power down on the road. Try an LSD

 

Remember when... https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nd-pinion.html and the last news https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...continued.html

 

While you're there with the lsd, Jan/RMW can hook you up with a lighter flywheel and clutch setup.

Jeremy

 

yes they are
our motto is stay away from the extra heat.......while you can make a good dyno pull, what you see on the track is another animal


we have those too