So why not add a new manifold. Help vent some of that exhaust might be able to pick up some more power.

 

The manifold is very tiny and there is not a lot of space to really improve it. Creating a manifold that makes power is not a simple task like making an exhaust is. A lot of design work and testing must go into it. More often than not aftermarket tubular manifolds, although pretty, will actually make less power than stock manifolds on some cars. You can probably play with the thickness of the casting...but that will be $ for not a lot of gain.

As Jeff said:

 

Very interesting in seeing this development, I have a new cooper S on order it will be replacing my 335i so this would close the power gap quite nicely

- Is there anything known about the strength of the engine and gearbox, will
it hold with these power levels?
- Will there be anything visible when you bring in your car at the dealer, can
they tell you upgraded your turbo?
- Does the new 2011 cooper S has the same turbo as the earlier cooper S
model?
- If the tune is removed will the car drive like stock?

thanks!

 

1. Not too much, but i have yet to hear about trannys going bad, just clutches. Because its FWD (not AWD) some of the shock of big power will tend to spin tires a little instead of break gears. That is a great benifit of FWD.
2. Nothing will be visible when you go to the dealer, as it will look exactly like the OEM part.
3. Physically its the same from the outside, but there is a new part number and also its rated for more Power. So i suspect its a little bigger than the 07-10 MCS part, but it can't be much different as its only rated for 9more HP.
4. That is a great part of this turbo. Its works perfect on an untuned ECU car. Meaning you can just bolt this on with no tuning and the ECU will run it perfectly. You get about 10HP because of the cooler charge temps which is great. But it also gives customers the ability to buy it at almost any stage. Depending on how the Mini world reacts to this turbo upgrade we may even offer some tunes with stock exhaust systems for those not wanting to mess with cats.

 

I would love to get this turbo, but i would definitely need to be able to take it in for service and the service department not know anything. I just got a 2011 MCS and I would like to keep my warranty on it for as long as possible (I have a 2009 BMW 335i as well and it has full stage 3 mods... dyno'ed at 428whp, so I don't want two cars that i'm afraid to bring to the dealer).

Also, please make a tune available that can take full advantage of just the turbo, intake, and maybe a catback exhaust on 93octane and produce maybe 250whp. I'd be happy with that!

 

This just went to the top of my wish list. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure.

Thanks to Jeff and the crew at Alta for continuing to push the limits of our little cars.

 

Approx cost?

 

How much for those of us that already have a spare MCS turbo just sitting in the garage? I was going to send mine to GPop for the hybrid conversion, but someone told me they went outta business. PLEASE let me know so I can tell SANTA this year!

 

What does a JCW turbo cost? For reference since this will be slightly more?

 

In the UK it is:

The turbo is Retail £1225 plus £244.99 surcharge for the old one. £253.32 for the JCW manifold also.

As a forum member of a UK forum a mini dealer gives 10% off these prices. I already got the manifold cheaper from a classifieds section and am getting the JCW turbo cheaper also. Then I will either sell on my MCS turbo or keep it and potentially hybrid it at some point for a spare or for sell on.

 

when it will be in sale?

 

We plan to offer 2 price points, one for modifying your existing turbo, and then a price that is a brand new modified turbo.

We have set the Modified price to $1199, but we are having a hard time securing turbo(other than from the dealer) so we can't really give you a solid idea on buying one outright. The price is going to be more than the JCW, but less than your car.

Give us a ring and we can get that going for you!

We are going to start slow with doing the core thing and then ramp up to have completed brand new units on the shelf in March or so.

The nice thing is the turbo looks exactly like the OEM part! So your service guy will have no issues unless he sees the part number. BUt if you send us your 2011 turbo and it gets modified it will show like its stock.

The tuning is the one thing we are working on. MCS tune is pretty good and set in stone. But JCW tuning will happen soon. Since we were not able to get a good handle on the OEM turbos we pushed this off for a little while.

Anyway, keep the questions coming!

 

What's the wait time on getting a turbo modified?

 

Cool.... more options !! (subscribe)

 

About 2 weeks plus shipping time.

With core turbos, if the core is bad and or bearings worn out there is going to be a charge associated with that. Meaning if we receive your turbo and it doesn't pass inspection then its possible that we send it back or give you the option to pay for a new core.

 

WHAT???? for 1200 you guys arnt rebuilding them?

 

There are no rebuild kits available for these turbos. Borg Warner expects that you just buy a new CHRA (center housing) if they are worn or damaged. It makes sense as labor to rebuild vs just buying a new CHRA is similar enough that with a new CHRA you get more than just bearings but wheels and everything all balanced.

At this point, we are not able to get a good handle on turbos or the CHRA so we don't have a price on what it cost if a turbo is deemed bad.

 

I'm new to Mini's. Just bought an '07 MCS last week. From what I've gathered about the turbo is that it's an K03. Volkswagen used K03's in the early 1.8T motors (I just came from an '03 1.8T Jetta). So, is this just a K03s? Basically a K03 with K04 internals.

If so... Uh... What are you guys doing? Not ALTA specifically, but Mini modders in general. A K03s bolts to a K03 manifold... And those are pretty plentiful turbos as they are one of the more mainstream turbos.

Oh, and BTW Jeff. I drove up to Moss Mini today in Goleta and purchased one of your ALTA cold air intakes for my R56. I love it! The sound, and I actually can feel the power. Best $200 purchase I've done for a car (Moss is $30 cheaper than you guys)! But I did break the tabs on my hood scoop, and it did fly off the car tonight while pushing it a little on a back road. :( Oh, well... Just an excuse to get a carbon fiber one.

And I apologize for this rant, I took some Excedrin PM and feel a little loopy. But I would love for somebody to chime in about the turbos and educate me.

 

 

Ureka!! The R56 has been out over four years and for some reason nobody ever thought of that. Problem solved.

 

we are slightly smaller of the K03s... and with our small engine the K03s MINI decided to use makes the best sense, not to mention the fact that ours are twinscroll rather than single scroll like on the VWs... very helpful when a small engine is trying to get the most out of it's 1.6L displacement. the only other car on the US market that i can think of off the top of my head that has a similar setup is the 2.0L EVO X... the setup on that uses a twin scroll setup.

i personally never saw any need for a huge turbo, especially when the VW, Subaru and Mitsubishi crowd has such amazing success with hybrid turbos, be it just compressor work or full turbo work. i'm still hoping someone somehow will be able to make a dual ballbearing center piece for our turbos... since we have such little lag to begin with, upgrading the wheels, machining the housings, and then making it ballbearing, you'll have the most responsive turbo in the car world! cuz it's small... capable, great flow characteristics, and the ballbearings will make it WAY more responsive... i know i'd pay for it... hell if you all want i'll even look into price/modifying an existing turbo to make it ballbearing (probably won't be as budget minded as simply getting a new center piece)

 

Just because we have a KO3 turbo, and other manufacturers use them, all are not equal.

For example have a look at the compressor housing outlets on many of the similar KO3 turbo's to our KO3 compressor housing, then you need to look at
the compressor maps, to plot where the efficiency is, in comparison to our KO3 compressor map!

It is not as simple as saying, ooh looky a KO3 off of a VW/Audi/Peugeot/Citroen and presuming it's the same, it is NOT.

 

I was being facetious

 

Please let me apologize, I misread your post, sorry.

 

No worries, I was just kidding around.