ALTA BILLET 56 MCS TURBO UPGRADE SNEAK PEAK

Until now, there have have not been many options for upgraded turbos. The newest and best option for a turbo upgrade is the new ALTA Billet 56 MCS Turbo. This has the benefits of the stock turbo in that it bolts on with no additional parts or modifications to parts. It makes more HP than the JCW turbo (roughly 15% more), the responsiveness is very similar to the JCW turbo, while costing only slightly more. The question is "Is the added cost worth the difference? The ALTA Billet 56 MCS turbo will flow about 30 more HP than the JCW turbo and with almost the same response. Meaning it will not have the typical trade off of response for power.



To give you an idea how these all stack up:
Turbo____________Air Flow lbs-min_____ Est. Engine HP______ Wheel HP seen
Stock MCS Turbo________ 21 lbs-min___________ 210HP______________ 210WHP
Stock JCW Turbo ________ 25 lbs-min___________ 250HP______________ 240WHP
ALTA Billet 56 Turbo______ 28 lbs-min___________ 280HP______________ ???
Garrett GT2560R Turbo___ 30 lbs-min___________ 300HP______________ 280WHP

Remember bigger is not always better. When we tested out GT2560 kit the one thing that was missing is the super responsiveness of the OEM turbo. That is something we felt customers would not like even if it meant more HP. When testing and tuning the ALTA Billet 56 MCS Turbo this was one of the most important features it needed to have. We knew that it had the potential to make plenty of power, but if that meant the turbo wouldn't reach full boost until 3000-4000 RPM(Tuned MCS reach full boost by 2200), then we felt this would NOT be a good trade off.



Above is a picture showing the boost response of our old GT2560R kit. What you can't see here is the off boost TQ and power is gone until 3000.
Well as you can see from the pics below, turbo response is not an issue at all!






Test Case #1 our 2010 MCS Manual

This car started life as a Stage 3 setup (3" Turboback Exhaust, Larger Intercooler and ALTA AccessPORT), and now in its Stage 4 form, we started to really pushing! Going into this we knew that limits of the MCS MAP sensors could be an issue, and it was. Even with us being limited to 20psi, its still a huge improvement! This is JCW power but with more power up top!



Below is a comparison of a local customers JCW we tuned a while back and the ALTA Billet 56 Turbo. For all intensive purposes, its the same until 5500 where the larger turbo starts to make some big power!



Look for future results with new MAP sensors on the MCS and then results on the JCW!

I know there are guys going, "why did this take so long for these kind of results to come out?" That is easy engine management! New Mini owners are never going to know the difference as they will have all these new choices to make. Old Minis owners have been sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for something new to do to their car! With the release of the ALTA AccessPORT and its ability to tune Minis, and the growing group of tuners throughout the USA, custom dyno tunes, big turbos, and methanol injection systems finally being installed, Mini owners will no longer feel like they are held back.


Turbo Stats and comparisons:

Compressor Wheel comparison

-ALTA Billet 56 Wheel
_____56mm exducer with 59.32mm extended tips.
_____43.3mm Inducer size.
_____Rated at 28lbs/min

-K03 compressor wheel from MCS
_____50mm exducer with 53.77mm extended tips
_____37.8mm inducer size
_____Rated at 20-21lbs/min

K04-S4 compressor wheel
_____50mm exducer
_____39.77 inducer
_____Rated at 23lb-min

Inducer is the smaller leading edge of the compressor wheel and exducer is the larger side of the compressor wheel.

Here is a picture showing the MCS compressor wheel next to the ALTA Billet 56 wheel.




Turbine Wheel Comparison

-ALTA Billet 56 Turbine Wheel 50mm major exducer , 42mm exducer.
-JCW Turbine Wheel 45mm major Exducer, 40.5mm exducer
-MCS Turbine Wheel 45mm major exducer, 40.5mm exducer


Here is a shot of the ALTA turbine wheel machined into the exhaust housing.




Compressor Map Comparisons

There is a lot to understand about a compressor map, but in simple terms it shows how efficient the compressor is at different air flows. You can see how in the middle of the map the turbo is most efficient which means it pumping out cooler air. For those who know what you are looking at below are the compressor maps that represent the turbos above.


At 65% eff, this map represents the ALTA Billet 56 compressor. This is roughly 27.8 lb-min at .21kg/sec, call it 280 engine HP



At 64% eff, this is the JCW compressor map. This is roughly 24.7 or .187kg/sec, call it 250 engine HP.



At 65%eff this is the stock MCS turbo compressor map. This roughly flows 21.1lbs/min or .16kg/sec, call it 210 engine HP



With this kind of data you can clearly see that the ALTA Billet 56 MCS turbo is a great choice for any MCS customer looking for more power. That and the fact its a rather simple install anyone with normal tools and a little mechanical know how can do this install. Look for more info very soon on pricing and availability.

 

First response to what is going to become a huge thread =)

Are you taking stock turbos and converting them?


Your plots are showing something like 20-21 lbs boost.. You've got my JCW turbo pushing 23.5 right now. When you gonna turn up the boost to 26+ and show us the dynos?

 

 

The S seems to hit a boost ceiling around 22 psi where it will dump the boost. Believed to be a map sensor issue, as Jeff said.

 

Oh goodie I can't wait to see these numbers because I might be getting some umphh that I think the r56 needs.

 

Very interesting. Let the R56 S evolution continue

 

I think I am having a fuel issue with my stock turbo on my MCS at about 18.5 lbs of boost. :(

This looks promising though!

 

What makes you think your having a fuel issue ?

Apart from the common symptoms of a failing HPFP!

 

I hit about 18.5 psi and it feels like it is running out of steam (kinda stumbles) (this is going really fast in 6th gear though) up to that point it pulls like h3ll though!

 

Uber Badass turbo....I gotta get another R56

 

What RPM are you at when you get this issue in 6th gear ?

And just how much are you expecting of the very tiny stock MCS turbo ?

At that level of boost (18.5psi) your way out of it's efficiency range, and no surprise it's running out of steam (your words)

 

stuff like this is whats holding me back from thinking about trading my mini for a camaro ss :P

 

 

So judging by this picture are we to expect a new manifold with this turbo kit?

 

I'm excited to see what comes of this.

 

hey jeff... does this mean i can start jumping in on this thread with what we've been doing with my stage 4???

 

Took it to PM's.

 

I am really interested in that... It seems like my next mod.
I have some questions though.
I have the stage 3 software. If I replace the turbo with the billet unit of yours, will I need another software?
My car currently hits 22psi above 4500rpm and it holds 18psi at the redline.
Will that change after the installation of the new turbo?
Will I need to replace the map sensor at the intake manifold, the temp/map sensor before the throttle intake and the boost pressure converter with the JCW's parts? Mine is a 10/2007 MCS.
Thank you for the great tuning solutions you provide and i am really looking forward to get the accessport when it is ready in Europe...

 

How much is "only slightly more" than a JCW turbo?

You must have an idea or you wouldn't have said that.

You'd probably sell a mess of 'em, if they were only slightly less!

Dave

 

Long shot but... group buy!!

 

I gather from your post this is a simple Turbo swap that a novice could do with hand tools. If so Count Me In and When can I get one!

 

this looks interesting!

my guess is theres going to be a core exchange program, send in ur stock turbo, and get back a billet unit...


Are there any gains to be made playing with the manifold before the turbo?

 

Awesome, more details on how you get one of these bad mama jamas. So the one half of the turbo is machines and the wheel looks to be machines too, but will the surface finish bee smoother than what we see on the very back of the wheel or is that going to be how they are sold?

 

We are working on adding MAP sensor calibrations to the AccessPORT software so we can just plug in JCW sensors. When that happens, i expect quite a bit more power from the MCS. JCW results will comes soon also as i also expect alot more! But realistically 280WHP is about the max i would expect to see from this turbo. If the OEM one is rated to 250 (JCW) and we see 250-ish, then i am guessing that 280WHP will be the max we see, but still if we can get 270-280WHP with virtually no change to response.....

Regarding how we are doing this. Yes, its involves a donor turbo. Its a new compressor wheel, new turbine wheel, re balancing and machining of the housings.

You got it! Even with the limits raised up beyond this, we found that there is another limit relating to voltage of the sensor being capped. So adding some new parameters to the AccessPORT tuner software will help fix that.

Camaro SS is cool for sure, but wouldn't it be more fun to beat a Camaro SS in your MCS? Plus gas mileage sucks on those.

The first picture was recapping our old kit which shows it being bolted to exhaust manifold. The ALTA Billet 56 is just the turbo. Its built from an OEM turbo so it bolts perfectly in place to all existing parts.

I would have posted up the pictures of it, but it looks just like any under hood shot of the car.

Go for it! dunphyj's turbo is a good representative of what to expect but he has an early version which doesn't have the billet compressor wheel (Billet flows about 5% more) but his results on Helix's dyno (known to read low) are pretty good. And that is with me doing remote tuning!

After we have Stage 4 maps set in stone, we will offer them up just like all the other maps. So you will need a special map to get the most from the turbo. Notice how i said get the most. What is really cool about how the ECU works, is that if you just throw on this turbo you will make more power! The cooler charge temps and abilty to flow more air, actually makes about 5-10WHP on an stock car(or modded) without the AccessPORT installed.

Most likely to get huge gains from the MCS you will need to replace the MAP sensors, but our current Stage 4 map makes those huge increases without the JCW map sensors. Maybe we offer an MCS Stage 4+ that includes map sensors and what not.

Prices will be published soon! Both a complete turbo will be offered (using brand new donor turbo) as will an exchange/core type turbo. Pricing will be very different between the two making it very affordable for someone to upgrade.

I doubt there is much to be gained from messing with the stock manifold. Its very short and pretty smooth. If there are gains, they would be pretty minimal for sure.

For sure normal tools! The only tool which you may want to buy is an 11mm wrench. One that you can modify a little by adding a little more angle to the end. This isn't necessary but it helps make removing one of the turbo nuts a little easier. Basic instructions are:
-Remove Downpipe, intake and boost tube.
-Remove turbo support bracket and 4 nuts at turbo
-Remove coolant and oil lines, and swap turbos.
For a DIY'er, its a 3 hour job.

 

wonnnnderful!