Randy is here in the Bay Area, CA and I got my pulley installed yesterday.

First, let me say that my car now drives incredibly. For fun, I did a baseline dyno with the only mod being a Rogue cold air intake I already had on.
My car dyno'd at 164 (just lke they advertise!)
After pulley, my car dyno'd at 178
no other mods-stock, running v.36 software, no exhaust mods...

Best of all, my baseline torque was 144..after pulley 159
I'm a daily driver--the numbers don't mean nearly as much to me as the drive--WOW! It is AWESOME!
The test drive with Randy is a freebie--every one of us came back with big round eyes and a stupefied slack grin on our face...then we watched while the brake rotors cooled...a taste of driving school?

AND, my car was Randy's 250th pulley installed....and 251st, 252nd...
Long story short...my pulley tensioner had a faulty piston, which on inspection was clearly going bad, and I was destined to end up alongside a road somewhere in the future.

By luck, having the pulley installed yesterday made an early discovery of the problem, and I'll be talking to the dealer about it. (Its not a common failure, according to Randy). But the impressive thing was, that even though the problem was not Randy's responsibility, he worked on my car for several extra hours to make a safe fix so that I could drive the 90 minutes back home last night, and use my car safely until the actual repair is made. AND my pulley is installed and working.

I had a great day, "hangin out in the garage", even being the only gal, but the getup and go on my car was worth it alone. And in my case, thank goodness my mechanic was dedicated and very competent.

So if you're thinking about it, GO FOR IT--no regerets on this mod! And everybody there felt the same way yesterday after their post pulley test drive....plus a lot of people got MORE modded than I did!

Jenni....

 

Congrats!
Did you at least get Randy's famous "test run"?

 

Congrats on the pulley, definaty how the car should have been made.

I also have a bad idle tension piston. Made some annoying rattles, and some other thing. I bet randy did a better job fixing it then my dealer, they ben my harmonic balencer, and messed some other things up at the same time.

Enjoy the Car :smile:

Thanks
Dan
Pilo Racing

 

Stories like this make me smile. It comforting to know that a true enthusiast is so concerned about doing the right thing that he would halp you out like this. There are mnay other car communities but not many like the the MINI community. Good work Randy and I hope to need your services (only the pulley, though) in the near future.

 

what exactly is the idler tension piston? My car just uses a compression spring in a bracket.
There is an cam chain tension piston, but I don't think you mean that, eh?

your power change seems about right (maybe a bit low if those are crank readings), but 168hp is a lot for wheel hp without the pulley...what was the dyno, and are those wheel readings or corrected for crankshaft power?

_________________
""the onus of proof is on he who asserts the positive."

 

O.K..........the idler tension piston went south........Now let us know what the dealer says about fixing this under the warrenty. I bet they blame it on the pulley and deny fixing it under the warrenty......keep us informed as this is a major issue when we mod our MINI's. The Princeton dealer here in N.J. will not even let you install a cold air intake

 

I was there a good part of the day (noon until 9:30 or so). That would be wheel hp - on a DJ:

http://dynolabs.net/

The spring tensioner for the SC belt has a black pencil-size like piston that was apparently on the fritz. Once it was compressed for this procedure, it was then totally shot. That wasn't exactly evident until we turned her over to hear a rather unpleasant noise. The belt was loose, and there was a fine black dust from the belt on the tensionsr where it had worn away for some time. After a few attempts to to fabricate something from scrap metal in the shop, we had some guys make a Napa run to get a couple belts. A search here got us some part numbers - I think from a post by BlueMCS. Randy squeezed on the smallest of the two. With the spring very compressed, she was good to go. Not a permanent fix, but transportation. And still a nice dyno pull afterwards...

 

>>O.K..........the idler tension piston went south........Now let us know what the dealer says about fixing this under the warrenty. I bet they blame it on the pulley and deny fixing it under the warrenty......keep us informed as this is a major issue when we mod our MINI's. The Princeton dealer here in N.J. will not even let you install a cold air intake
>>

We are quite fortunate in the Bay Area to have East Bay BMW/MINI. I actually needed to go there prior to the pulley party to get a dome light installed, and they always gather around my car to see what is new. A few of the guys who work there are modding their MCS's well beyond stock also. They knew I organized the first pulley party last year, and were aware that Randy was here again. They are exceptionally cool about it!

In all of the pulleys that Randy has performed (probably 259 by day's end), only two have had an accumulation of oil under the engine - his and mine. He pointed it out after jacking my MCS up last July. Very disheartening that I would need to go to the dealer with a shiney new pulley, complaining about dripping oil.

I left them a vm, and emailed the dealer a photo as well so I would have a date record as to when it was noticed/reported, in relation to the mod. I was very honest about that, and had witnesses as well, just like Jenni does now...

It ended-up being a valve cover gasket! Covered. I told Randy, and that was his issue also...

Jenni should have no problems, at least as far as that is concerned...

_________________
2003 IB MCS

 

I've also got a vavle cover gasket that is leaking on mine... but since I am taking my head off, I am waiting until then to fix it my self. I try not to go to my dealer.. They fix 1 problem, and then another starts... the latest, I had them replace a leaky tire, only to have the next one leak as well....
Thanks
Dan
Pilo RAcing

 

Remember that BBR replaces the tensioner with their kit. I never heard what they thought was bad about it, but perhaps they had a similar experience.

Jeff in ATL

 

MiniPilo,

I've had a similar "dealer experience" to yours...and I try to avoid that place! One trip just means another...and I should NOT know more about this car than they do--scarry "

Interestingly, the idle tension piston is right in there where I got modded, so maybe this is a good test, but I'm not worried. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Randy's famous test car run...zowie!

I laughed the whole way....when I was breathing!
and as the last one (of a very long day) I was eagerly anticipating, after watching each person come back with that round eyed, open mouth slack grin on their face--Bryan in particular was priceless...

Think I'll send on ahead to the next pulley party--BE READY WITH A CAMERA TO SNAP THE LUCKY DOG AS THEY EMERGE FROM RANDY"S TEST DRIVE!
Easily as much proof to the pudding as the DYNO pictures!!!

 

MiniIntrigue,

Professionalism and Concern from Randy Webb and Steve at Dyno Lab? READ ON!

Not only did Randy mess with this for hours till he found a way to get it to work safely for me, BUT at one point "when things looked dark" he was talking about changing his flight Monday morning to stay later, so that if we could get the part, he'd stay to install it for me, (for the ?th time)....

But we didnt' have to do that.

AND Steve Simms at the Dyno Lab offered this: if East Bay MINI doesn't take care of the part under warranty, I'll just have to purchase the part & belt and Dyno Labs will install the part and the correct belt for me--free of charge...since Randy's gone and they hosted the pulley party...GO FIGURE

Flabbergasted, amazed and very appreciative...Jenni

 

jlm,

my baseline dyno run was 164 at the wheels...with only a Rogue cold air intake...

my pulley dyno run was 178hp at the wheels...

how could you get confused in all my blather??

 

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