As for me I'm in a parts holding pattern, Sprintex kit should be here today (Thur.) the car is down to the s/c, I'll be pulling that when I get home this afternoon. (slow process I work from 11p to noon M-Sat, so doesn't leave much time to do the work), having the intake match ported and it won't be back until late next week. (I have an axle boot to repair while the car's down anyway)

 

Hey blumini, there are rumors running around that your car did not make it through the testing phase without destroying your engine. Is this true? If so, it would be nice to have an update so that others can learn from your experience and make a more informed decision regarding this upgrade. Two out of two engine failures from owners posting on NAM would raise a red flag for me personally. I hope daveke and BlwnAway have better news to report from their install

 

So did you git your new toy?

 

Me? No, distributor had to wait on something from Sprintex, but it was picked up by fed-ex today and on the way. (I have been traccking it )
Intake should be back by Fri. 09/30, hopefully it will be a busy w/e next week.

 

Bump...

 

BlwnAway, knowing what you know about the other 2 on this thread that has installed said SC and since tore up a motor, are you still going to jump right to the unwarrantied SC pulley, or play it safe for a bit to see how it goes with tune etc???
I believe the 1st one was self-tuned and the 2nd (who hasn't owned up to it yet ) got their tune from a source, yet neither lasted very long and 2nd one actually shorter then the first.. What is your thoughts going forward???
Thread was started to inform us all good or bad. I have a "just-a" so no dog in this fight either way but every one is watching..
I got to read your post before it was all deleted about how you know going in that you are taking a chance with jumping right to the optional pulley, are you still taking that chance of tearing up your motor vs easing into it not know what is actually causing the problem, SC, pulley, tune etc...

 

Actually I'm undecided, I'd be lying to say I'm not starting to lean toward starting with the 70mm, esp. since the pulleys on the sprintex are much easier to change than on the M45.
I'm doing as much research as possible and waiting to see if some answers are found as to what might be going on.

If you read my post you know that there has been no failures of any kind with the Sprintex & 70mm combo, but that being said there are also some cars with the 64 & 60mm pulleys with no problems, so therein lies the dilema. I won't be doing the install until next w/e (waiting for the intake to come back to install first)

I'll let everyone know what I decide. (and yes the age of my motor does come into play)

 

Cool deal, but who has if anyone been tuning the cars that have the 70mm and are still living... Are they just doing a bolt-on and leaving all else alone...No tune??

 

Don't really know, I know Mynes has done some of them but I don't know if they've done them all, I also do know that their car has the smaller pulley and they haven't had any problems. (just another part of the puzzle),my purchase included tuning and I also have the F/A software so I have those bases covered

Regardless of which way I go I should still be looking at a gain, simply from the efficiency and even with the 70mm pulley I'll have an increase in boost over my M45 & JCW combo.

 

I seem to be lost here. Have there been motors explode because of the Sprintex or not. I don't care with what pulley. N2MINI are you say yes and BlwnAway are you saying no?

 

Richard's car's engine blew.

Blumini's engine apparently blew and apparently is being rebuilt, but hasn't been confirmed by Blumini himself, hopefully he'll chime in at some point as to exactly what did or didn't happen. Having something like that happen is a huge headache; it's understandable why posting on the boards might not be a high priority at the moment.

There is debate over the cause. There are some common denominators however, and to be fair, different schools of thought of what happened on the first car. There simply isn't enough data yet on the second car.

But I'm not seeing where BlwnAway ever said the engines did or didn't blow because of the Sprintex; he's about to install the Sprintex, and hopefully with due diligence (i.e. proper tune and attention to the condition of internals) won't have the issues the previous cars had. Two is enough. I suspect there's no warranty coverage on either car.

 

Basicly I'm confident that in either case it was NOT the sprintex and I'm going ahead with the install.

 

I don't know what caused the failure.. There are 2 members in the sprintex owner thread and they have apparently both blown motors.. The cause is still debate-able...

 

I received my unit yesterday, and will be installing it thurday and friday together with a Thumper TPR2R, intake manifold, ATI 1% damper, Dave F filter, 550cc's, NGK BCR8ES plugs and a Newman cam. Hopefully receive my Janspeed manifold next week or so, drill a hole in for a bung to put a lambda sonde in and drive off to England for a Mynes-tune at the beginning of October. I'll get it tuned at 1320mini and want it to be tuned with AFR-monitoring. My engine has done 60.000 mostly easy highway miles and I'm not planning on running the **** out of it now the Sprintex is going on. Engine bearings are not my main concern, they pop because there's no oil in the engine and not because of a sprintex. I'm heading towards the fact that the tune kills the engine, not the charger. As for intake temps, I'll see what it does the oncoming weeks and will eventually install W/M when it gets too hot.

Oh and by the way, I'm changing to a 60mm pulley at the day of the tune.

Will keep you posted

 

Debate over cause would be an understatement...

My apologies for my absence as I have been rather busy and under strict gag order until we can confirm the cause of the failure. Since it seems word has leaked out, I thought I'd clear up some rumors swirling around.

Here are the facts as we know them:

Pryor to the Sprintex install, my modified JCW engine had 41K maintenance free miles on it. Never burned or leaked oil, had great compression and It produced 230 - 220 whp on various dynos.

I had originally planned on installing the Sprintex myself in my garage, but after reading about ****'s car's failure, I got cold feet. I decided to have BAY Bridge Motors perform the installation as they are by far, the most experienced Mini Cooper performance shop in the SF Bay area. It was agreed we would follow the manufactures instructions letter for letter and then perform the data logs and remote tune by Mynes - by the book, which we did. Data was pulled directly from my Innovate fuel/air gauge and sent via email to Mynes for analysis and tweaking. Then re-flashed and tested/logged again until we arrived at the proper A/F settings.

After receiving the thumbs up from Mynes on the final flash/tune, I drove the car home. Its about a 13 mile trip from BBM to my house. The car felt great and pulled like a locomotive. I would estimate at least a 15-20% gain. At 5 miles from home I called BBM to congratulate them on a job well done. I had literally just hung up my phone with them when suddenly and without warning at approx. 1.5 miles from my house the motor lost power and started to mis-fire. My dash lit up like a Christmas tree.

The next day I had the car towed back to BBM. A Compression test showed 2 & 3 had no & low compression. They scoped them to confirm that at least one piston is burnt, probably two. To date, that is all we know. Externally, all hoses were secure and hooked up properly at the moment of failure and all gauges and instruments were also installed properly and working to spec.

I have had numerous telephone conversations with the vendor/reseller & tuner. I have agreed not to comment on these conversations at this time until after we have discovered the cause of the failure. We simply don't know yet why my motor went from rock solid to a lump of coal suddenly and without any warning signs what so ever.

The motor is now out of the car and is being torn down by another independent shop that specializes in forensic tear downs. For better or worse, one way or another, we will find out exactly what caused my motor to catastrophically fail. All parties concerned have their own opinions on why my motor failed, including myself as I was hands on this project from the beginning.

In the mean time, BBM managed to locate me a complete low miles JCW engine at an amazingly reasonable price and they have installed it and the car is now running great. Bay Bridge Motors has been amazing through this entire debacle. They have bent over backwards to get me running again in less than 5 business days form a complete catastrophic failure. Tip o the hat to them.

For the time being, my Sprintex project is on the shelf. I am using a modified M45 in the new motor and it is working great, as it should. Not until we have a complete understanding of exactly what went so horribly wrong will I consider going forward with that new and untested kit.

 

I've been following this thread and just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear how this ended. Hopefully when the forensic evidence is uncovered the responsible party(ies) will do the right thing. Although I agree with the "pay to play" principle, something just doesn't feel right here.

Also, +1 on Jacques and BBM. I've taken my R56 into his shop a few times and I think he's one of the few rare, honest guys out there.

 

Thanks for the update and truly hate this happened to you and an otherwise great running JCW..........sounds like on expensive pain in the butt. Hope you get everything resolved to your satisfaction.

Good luck and please keep us informed.

 

In my experience, any time you add more HP by adding boost on a forced induction engine you are taking risks. It is definitely not the fault of the sprintex. The fact that it is shelling mini engines is a sign that it has potential to make great power. The issue is keeping the A/F ratios consistently in check and convincing the owners the dangers of hot lapping the car. The rules start changing when the HP envelope is being pushed and costs start adding up. I've been down this road many times before on my old mustangs.

Consider a modified mini is making 230-240WHP, that is 100 more at the flywheel than factory or roughly a 60% increase in power. That's a lot to ask of a stock bottom end.

 

You pulling the front wheels off the ground and bending conrods in your Saleen is forever seered into my brain...I would say "yes" you have much experience with forced induction.

 

Blumini, thanks for posting back--I've seen your car on here before, and it's a sweet setup you've put together, hate to see anything like this happen to car as nice as that. Best of luck with this--I REALLY hope you work something out to your satisfaction, and you get that thing running soon so it can get back onto the track, where it belongs!

ATXZ, I'm not sure how you can say it's definitely not the Sprintex's fault, anymore than you can say it's definitely the tune. Maybe it's a combination of both... We'll just have to wait and see. People are running 230-240 reliably, so it can be done.

 

how is it the blowers fault? was it negligent?

 

Thanks for the kind words and compliments cct1
My car is running and safely tucked in my garage next my wife's Clubman where it belongs. Jacques and the boys at BBM pulled off a miracle and had a new (to me) JCW motor in my car and running in time for a track day this weekend. As a long time road racer, that is always the most important priority.

 

I am wondering Blumini had a pyro gauge/fuel gauge in place while he was testing the sprintex and tune. (real time data vs data logging) I just dont think Sprintex is the cause....I suspect fuel/tune issues.

I had a supercharged intercooled mustang pushing 17lbs of boost. I had a fuel pressure gauge and pyro installed.....under full boost my fuel pump could not keep up.......regaurdless of what tune it was given. I sunk $1500 in new aftermarket fuel system.... big lines big pump and fat rails......only then was I safe for 17lbs of boost.

I am nervous with my factory pump with a 17% pulley on my MC40......i am amazed you guys are pushing that kind of power without serious fuel mods (beyond injectors).

Perhaps I am comparing apples and oranges here...

Dyno time and street time, I believe very different. Dyno can get you close for your tune

 

We've been making nearly 280whp on the stock bottom end M45 for years now without issue.

 

that's a significant increase in power (tip of the hat) but, could you really fault the sprintex if you installed it and the bottom end failed?