So when it came time for the next round of major work and modifications i decided to go with a high performance ported and polished head for my mini.

After a very long bit of researching and reading 100's of post around the interwebs to find the right head for my Mini. I had it, a TPR1 from Thumperheads The head work is top notch not some slop CNC job that is left rough but hand polishing with blending and silky smooth. My only regret is that i didn't go for the TPR2 or TPR2R. When it come time to build my next project Mini, i know who ill be going to to get the head work done, hands down Thumper Performance. Next to the pulley and a rear anti-sway bar, the TPR1 head is power that i can feel. It took my modified Mini from Mild to Wild.

-Davis

 

I agree on the TPR1, made a real difference in how my Mini runs. Just right for me as I do not race the car at all. This is a good option for those who want to enjoy the streets.

 

+1

Kevin

 

Welcome to the "Breathe-Right" club.

 

Wait till you put A header on..mine showed a big improvement when I put a Mynes V2 on

 

You made a great choice Mike does quality work! Really, great that we have him doing Mini Heads. . He set me staright on my race car also.

 

Man I was literally just reading about these heads. I'm just on the fence because I want to make some good numbers but I don't race my car and it doesn't see redline everyday. Yet I haven't seen anyone making the power of other heads on the market. But then again I haven't been able to find too many people with Thumper heads. Wish more people would speak up and give good input!

 

Interesting, I just had an RMW head/header/cam combo put on my car (at a race shop), tuned (RMW) remotely Monday, and the final results couldn't have come out any better--I'll start a thread next week on how it all went down when I get the car back for some play time (getting some unrelated suspension work done).

My car does hit the track, so it's not exactly apples to apples, but I still drive it on the street, so midrange torque still needs to be there. And it is. This head flat out makes power, the valves/springs are top notch (I did upgrade the exhaust valves), and it works well/plays well with the other mods. I came to this setup through a fair amount of phone calls and pm's; sometime it's tough to sift through all the banter back and forth in the threads, but the bottom line is this combo flat out works, and it works well. There are other ways to skin this cat, but especially if you don't have the luxury of a stand alone tuner in your neighborhood, and you can find a good shop with a dyno, it's pretty tough to beat.

 

Maybe my comments were taken wrong. I am fully aware that RMW makes the power. In fact I have a RMW header and the cam should be here shortly. I've also owned a previous MINI with this header and another RMW cam installed on it. They are great products and they work.

I was saying that I was reading up on the Thumper head which they claim to beat RMW head on the low-mid range power yet I haven't seen a Thumper head-equipped car put out impressive numbers. But at the same time over their website and things they have writen, that is not what they were personally going for...

 

Gotcha. All I can say is that there are people out there who have experience tuning virtually all the heads out there, that are independent of the manufacturers of the heads themselves. These are the people to talk to....

 

There may be a reason as to why you don't see many people with the TPR1 head posting numbers.. Surely they have them.. Just not posting them???
Everyone knows it's not a peak number piece, but what are those mid-range numbers??? I too can't believe that someone isn't willing to post them..
Just tell us, hey I gained 12 HP at 3500 rpm's or something..
Which would spark the next post that they know is coming, post your dyno sheet..

 

Whenever you add major mods to your car like a new head, cam , header, tune, it "usually" feels fantastic at first. It should be better but part of that is a placebo effect, you want it to feel faster in the midrange, so it is. Very few of us have a butt dyno that is highly calibrated. So whatever brand of dyno you use, it is the delta change after new mods that is important, not the absolute HP and Torque numbers. You quickly get used to the new mod and then you want more. That is the slippery slope.

 

and to the OP, I'm glad you enjoy your parts, as that's what its all about , your enjoyment and satisfaction.

 

Can I ask why you did a head before a pulley?? It's kinda backwards

 

I'm not sure that's what he is saying. And even if it is, why backwards? I don't think there is any real order to these mods these days.

 

i think way just mean a-typical that someone would drop 1.5+k into a head for 20hp, and THEN drop <$200 for another 15-20hp. instead of vice verse.

 

I think those numbers you threw out may be overly optimistic. What would be even more interesting would be to see some numbers with the pulley alone, the head alone, and then the two together....

 

Exactly, when I'm working with a customer I would not recommend a head before a pulley. Mainly based on HP to $$ ratio. Also a head for a car with 10lbs of boost would be slightly different than a head for 15lbs of boost.

 

What are the recommended heads for an R50, other than the JCW?

 

Thanks for sharing your experience about the head

I have had a TPR1 on my car for over 3 years and it hasn't missed a beat. Great value for money, puts out great power and Thumper is a great guy to deal with.

 

I know first hand about things like this, I did a head before exhaust, and it was absolutley backwards, ask Jan, the most we could get out of the car was 208whp simply because of the choking effect, $2500.00 for head & install, and then only $1000.00 for header and viola 230whp. $2500.00 for maybe 10hp, $1000.00 for 20...

I think Thumper might be doing one.

 

Way-

I meant it as in addition to the pulley anti-sway, (which i had installed 2 years ago), The head was the next big power gain that i could feel change the engine characteristics.


RMW-

And about to the sloppy CNC work, i grew up in my family's machine shop learning from my grandfather, my father and other master machinist along with working their myself for several years. A CNC is wonderfully piece of machinery for being able to duplicate the same cut over and over again. But for multiple changing angles it leaves a lot of material behind that only a hand port and polish by someone that has been doing Porting and Polishing for many years could accomplish.

A CNC in most cases are great machines for rough cuts but when you are talking about blending edges, by hand is normally the best route. And that was a MAJOR deciding factor in going with the Thumper head over the other heads. You can ask damn near any GOOD machinist that when a part comes off a CNC it still has work that most be done to it to finish it up.


Plus Thumper is someone that only focuses on HEADS not stoker kits or trying to hijack a simple peaceful thread(RMW) or running one of the best Mini performance shops(Way) so he has a good bit more time to dump into developing his head and perfecting his craft like a machinist would.



When i did my research i looked at all heads that i could find on the internet i weighted the good and bad about all the heads i could find.

RMW- when it came down to it i don't Race my Mini every day so running a head that is build for racing was out of the question. my mini is still my daily driver and if you advertize a race had that is good for the street you end up changing the flow characteristic that make a great RACE HEAD and big valves are not my style.


Way- I know you must have dumped a lot of money into development and you run one of the best Mini performance shops but when you have lots of projects on your plate in addition to development sometimes things slip though and if i was going to be dropping 1000$+ i wanted a head built by a head guy.


Thumper- This made the best choose for ME he is an old school port and polish guy that also works on muscle cars and he does nothing but heads. so he doesn't have a lot of extra projects to distract him like winning races or running a Pro shop.

 

 

Well said.

 

The debate between porting by CNC and by hand goes back to since when CNC started. I asked the very same question in a different thread. Here's what I've learned, correct me if I'm wrong:

The critics of CNC will say it's great in the sense that everything comes out consistent, but what if you're off on your measurements in the first place? Then everything will be consistently bad. On the other hand, the RMW head most people would agree is spot on, so at least in this instance, the heads are coming out consistently good.

Like you said, there are advantages of hand porting, but consistency isn't one of them. Blending by hand gets rid of all those ridges, but just like CNC, you can wind up taking too much material. The hand porting helps with flow, and getting rid of the little ridges at least theoretically gets rid of a surface variation that potentially can be a source of carbon buildup (Seafoam anyone?)

As for flow testing, it's important to ensure the head is flowing properly, but it doesn't guarantee anything--you can also do a dye test, which adds a little more information, but I don't think anyone is doing that. The flow test will tell if the head is potentially good (or bad), but putting it on the engine and testing on an engine dyno (preferable but impractical) or car dyno is the only way to know for sure.

So what's the best head? Probably one that's initially CNC'd, then finished off with hand polishing. But then you're talking prohibitive cost, and the few heads that I know of that have been done this way aren't making more power than the RMW head.

Anyway, it'd be cool to see some numbers off the dyno on the TPR-1. If your happy with it, that's all that's important--but the forums are littered with parts that people think are making all sorts of power (mainly because they make all sorts of noise) only to be disappointed in what its laying down.