Good news, good news.

 

Still no news on a UK version of the AP?

Had all my mods done on monday going from stock to Milltek turbo back, Bilstein PSS10's, Helix Short Shift, Hotchkis Competition rear sway bar and control arms.

Next up FMIC and remap / AP.

 

Burble and pop would be an option though, right?

I don't think I'd want it to burble and pop.

Dave

 

Pointless unless it helps the tune.

 

We're still working on the compatibility, give us a month or so!

Yes, the maps that we have now don't have the burble so you will be able to run a map without it.

 

Initial impressions: Awesome!!

The AccessPort is so easy to use. Both of my previous CELs(P0420 & P0597) are gone. I also had another issue like some other '07 cars have had related to the stock ecu mapping, and MINI came out with an ecu update to fix this, but the dealership would not do it because they simply don't know what they're doing. That doesn't matter anymore because that is also fixed now! The powerband is very smooth now and it keeps pulling hard all the way to redline, and there is a massive amount of torque available. I only drive with the sport button on and the throttle is very linear and more responsive as compared to the stock sport button throttle mapping. The overall driveability is much better and much smoother, oh yea, and it's way faster. I'm peaking at 22-23psi.
Right now the only thing I'd change would be to make the throttle more responsive during initial throttle tip-in; obviously this can be easily done by modifying the map.

Initial rating = 10/10...I'll report back after I log some more miles over the coming days.
Nice job Alta!

 

I went for a proper drive this morning to test out my Tune. I am running a test tune for the 91 octane fuel. It is pretty awesome. I ran a few parameters and they were as follows: Ran it pretty hard for a short time and seen engine temps at about 220 and boost topped out at about 18 lbs. The access port is a cool tool as well, it maps and/or logs 20 or so functions. I really like this tune and the stage 1 tune is about all I can handle with my driving ability. Need to take some driving/racing lessons in my MINI.

 

I also went for a proper drive this weekend. 100 miles in the mountains. Went from 1000ft to over 5000ft elevation. I'm testing the AP here in the Arizona heat. I'm an auto, since most Arizonans buy them because of our traffic. (when did we get to be the 5th largest city?) anyway. Jeff gave me this crazy map that is linear on the throttle position. Works great except vie been having misfires in the upper rpm band in 3 rd and 4. This right after the dealership replaced all my plugs under warranty. I had a bad plug. Well after I found out the dealership didn't bother to gap the plugs at .20 (they were at .29 & .30). We worked out a lot of the misfire. But sadly it is still there even with this new map. The funny part of the new map is when you hit the sport bitten. The idle jump to 1500 rpm (hard to hold with stock brakes, next project) and the steering gets very light. Sort of fun on the twists but not useful long term. I'm also concerned my soon to be 16 yr old will hit the sport button accidentally and reared someone.

Anyone have any ideas on the misfires. And how hit is too hot for these cars? I normally see 220 - 224. I was seeing 232 water temp 237 oil temp and 119- 94 intake manifold temp. I seafoamed just a month ago with just 30k on the car. Didn't get any smoke after the first 15 min so i did another 15 minutes and got a little smoke but nit much. I drive this car hard. Could it be I just didn't have any buildup? Or did I just not get enough heat in the tailpipe. My current get is 1200- 1700 degrees. Help?

 

Oops almost posted same thing twice.

I'll take this space to thank the Alta team for making my car so fun. If you read my sig you can see I've supported Alta in a big way and they are helping me in ways i didn't realize. So thanks guys for working so hard to make our cars be all they can be.

Chris

 

Hey, hey, hey… "Phoenix" is not the same as "Arizona".
Us non-Phoenix (and manual trans. owning) Arizonans would appreciate it if you kept that in mind.

As I posted in the other thread you asked this in…

 

I have a few bulb out warnings because I replaced the bulbs with working LEDs and everytime I start the car I gotta see the bulb out warning. Any way the accessport can delete these in the near future?

Oh, and when is launch control going to be released I wanna test thing thing out when I go up to the track soon

 

That doesn't sound normal or fun at all....

Running above 230 seems a little hot...the thermostat should be kicking on below that. The 220-224 that you would see before is normal. Czar made a good post before about how the thermostat works in our car and is described in the quote that follows:And about the misfires, are you getting CEL's? Any audible detonation/pinging? And how did you discover the plugs weren't gapped correctly? Interesting considering they come pre-gapped.

Don't be grouping me in that bunch! I wouldn't be caught dead driving an auto mini

Have you ever been to LA? lol....you don't know what traffic is till you've lived there. Phx basically has no traffic comparatively!

 

I've had nothing but bad luck with my AP since day one. First it wouldnt communicate with my ECU. I have a JCW Tuning Kit on my car. That may have caused the conflict. My next 2-3 maps seemed to be OK power wise but it was over boosting and cutting power a lot. I got a 4th map to take care of the over boost issue then my throttle response was not smooth to say the least. Now I think my car is slower with the Alta tune then is was stock. I raced a friend with a 07 MCS before I got the AP. all he had was a Alta CAI. We raced from 2nd gear roll up to 100mph or so. (closed course) and my JCW Tuned car beat him by a few car lengths. He wanted to run our cars again since I have the AccessPort. He has since added an Invidia cat back exhaust. Well we raced again. 2nd gear roll up to 100 mph or so and we were side by side the entire time. This was done over 3 separate runs. Same results. Jeff has always been helpful and going over my datalogs and sending me new maps. After I told him about what had happened he sent me a new map and asked me to update my AP. Well I did all that and I get a "Fatal Error " message. I'm scheduled to take my car in for service tomorrow but not only am I not able to load my new "better" map I am also unable to return to stock. So it looks like I will not be able to make my service appointment. This is very frustrating. I'm thinking about going back to my JCW tune and enjoying my car with out all the problems I have had. You my see my AP in the marketplace for cheap soon.

I want to add that Jeff has went out of his way to help but it looks like the AP is not for MY car for whatever reason. I never once had a problem with the AccessPort on my 2006 WRX. I know Cobb has a great reputation in the Suby world. I'm glad to see that most people are seeing great gains and aren't having any issues with it on their MINI. Just wish I was too.

 

That's one thing that makes me nervous about the AccessPort… what happens if your unit goes bad, gets broken/lost/stolen, etc.? I'd love to be able to make a backup of my stock ECU "stuff" and be able to load it back in there with any AP device if things go to hell for some reason. Right now there doesn't seem to be much of a safety net.

 

The AP does have a back up of your stock ECU settings but it isnt doing me any good now that I get the "Fatal Error" message.

Hopefully Jeff will have a fix for this tomorrow and all will be good but I'm still thinking about getting rid of the AP and spending the money on a I/C or something.

 

weird...

If I were you I'd see if MINI will do a software update for you. That way you can start from scratch if you will...

Also, it would seem to me that there is more going on with your car than just the problems you're having with the AP. I've learned this recently with my own car, was wondering why it was doing weird stuff when trying to tune it, turns out had a huge boost leak that I had no idea about, among other things. I'd recommend to anyone to really give your car a good once over before you have it tuned. Otherwise you'll be chasing problems for an eternity. And a lot of the time, a tune will just exacerbate an underlying problem, which you might not notice when stock.

 

But it backs it up … to the device, right?
Does it back up to a PC so I can make redundant copies of it or include it with my usual off-site computer backup routine (for safety)?

Also, doesn't it require the very same AP device to re-load it back on the ECU? I can't use a replacement device or borrow a friend's device in an emergency to re-load the factory ECU data, can I?

 

It only backs it up on your AP as far as I know.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles man, This was suppose to be the holy grail of sorts for tuning the MINIs hopefully you can get it resolved and working correctly


But If you do sell the unit would I with a 2008 MCS Automatic be able to use it?
@ALTA, Would you be able to make his unit orignially for a JCW Manual car work for a Automatic MCS?


I call Dibs!!! (as long as I can afford it of course )

 

I'm afraid to take it to the dealer for an update because the AP Tune may void my warranty. Also my car seemed to rum great before all of this and it was definatly faster than my friends before I added the AP. That leads me to believe I didnt have any prior issues but I'm not 100% sure.

 

I believe all the AP's are the same. So it should be able to go back to completely stock form like the day I got it.

 

I just want to say this again. I am not bashing Alta. I think the AP is the best thing to come along for the Mini. It does soo much and is the best bang for your buck. I'm sure when the AP was first released for the Suby's there was a lot of trial and error before everything got sorted. Thats why they need al our feedback, good or bad so that they can learn and make changes.

 

I just want to say this again. I am not bashing Alta. I think the AP is the best thing to come along for the MINI. It does soo much and is the best bang for your buck. I'm sure when the AP was first released for the Suby's there was a lot of trial and error before everything got sorted. Thats why they need al our feedback, good or bad so that they can learn and make changes.

 

They shouldn't be able to see it, but don't quote me on that...dunno how they have the AP writing to the ECU. I understand your concern though....you're kinda stuck in a hard place. Hope that they can get your AP working and get everything figured out.

 

Good to know, I'm trying to stick to a budget when I comes to buying mods, I just cannot afford them new for some of the crazy prices some companies ask. Though I know its a new tech and that demands high prices, so nothing against you ALTA.

This is one of the must have mods but I just cannot justify spending $900 on a AP unit personally, my financial situation with college payments and all the other living expenses won't allow it