You are a wise man Czar!

 

Some of you are acting like this is a new thing. Plenty of people have toyed around with hybrid turbo's and even bigger. It would behoove anyone to listen to what czar has to say in the matter.

I for one have been running a JCW turbo on my S for about 15k miles (which itself is a hybrid turbo, albeit on the smaller side of what you can do). Motor blew after 10k miles. People have taken chances and the limits have already been pushed, and as czar said...if you are going to do it right it is going to be $$$.

 

Thumper,

Have you gotten a hold of forged pistons?

 

Nah, not yet. I got the new motor for free, so why spend $ that I could be saving

We'll see how long this motor lasts....hopefully the water/meth helps things stay in check in there. Plus I'm running lower boost now. The car feels stronger now than it ever did with the old motor.

Plus, I've come to the conclusion that even if you upgrade the internals, thats all fine and dandy...but you still have other parts that are not up to par that you will have to source. It will add up quickly.

 

Here is an image of the VAG injectors:



And here is the image of the Bosch fuel injector body style as fitted to the BMW MINI, albeit this is 1 of my racing high flow injectors.

Notice the outer case body styles!

 

thas reeeal perrdy!

 

+1

There is a lot of stuff that needs to be strengthed and replaced before any crazy boost and power can be run.

Though what are the advantages of running a hybride t3/t4 then to upgrade to a t4? I am still learning to understand turbos and what all of the different sizes and trims.

 

Hey Thumper,

Have a question for ya. Why did the motor blow up? It was boost problem? AFR? What actually happened to the motor?

Thanks in advance

 

Plus you have the built-in limitation of the ecu's pressure and turbine speed readings. The stock motor is going to be fine within those boundaries.

 

Dunno 100%, but had the same piston failure that NUMEROUS other R56's have seen. AFR's were very safe...

Too much boost/heat I would say is the root cause of the failures. Was running around 22psi on the JCW turbo...combine that with a poor piston design and high inlet temps and its bound for failure.

Running a milder tune now, only about 18psi, plus with water/methanol to cool it down. I feel much safer with it....

Sadly, its not...

 

what exactly was the nature of the pistons' failure? Were they scorched? As in, excessive EGTs?

 

All failures I've heard of/seen look exactly like these, mine included:







Those are not of mine, but the last pic is from mine...and as you can see from the piece, it failed the same as the others. Found that in the oil pan.

 

They will all fail as per the images above ^^^ this un-shouldered section is the weakest point of the piston!

 

Thumper -- what's the availability of head spacers for these cars? How is the lower compression ratio achieved on the JCW?

 

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At least as you said, numerous. Very rare picture for mahle pistons. What AFR are you running? Do you have any dyno from your current set up of 18psi? If you don't, tell me your guess about the hp and the torque.

 

I do not have a current dyno yet. I can say the new motor feels worlds stronger than the other ever did, running less boost too. Plus I've added a catless dp and meth...the difference is night and day.

My old motor (the one that blew), was dyno'd 225whp/256wtrq. I'd venture to say I'm ~240whp/280trq...just a guess though.

And going with the topic of blown pistons...just took a walk through the shop (I work indirectly for a MINI dealer) and there is one in there that is getting a new motor due to the same piston failure....and it is completely stock folks. I just laughed and said "figures"....tech laughed and said "yep...I think I'm seeing a trend with these."

But don't tell people on the Stock Problems/Issues forum here...they'll get mad and tell you that these are "isolated" issues from people that mod or drive their cars too hard.

No clue...czar would know better. MINI actually makes head gaskets for them in 2 thicknesses though...

Lower compression on the JCW is from lower compression pistons (the crown is different). JCW's have seen the same piston failure, so I wouldn't say JCW pistons are a solution. Also, personally I do not want to lower the compression. I like a high compression, small turbo set up like I have. It was interesting, even though my numbers on my old motor were relatively low...you could immediately tell on the dyno the difference in compression between the S and JCW. Down low my car had almost 40 ft-lbs to the wheels higher than tuned JCW does on the same dyno.

 

Thumper,

I am looking to get a tune in the next two weeks for my MINI. But obviously seeing this issue I am hesitant as well.. I drive hard.

I have been looking into an oil cooler and w/m, do you think I should be okay with both items?

 

I wouldn't hesistate to get tuned...its too fun not to lol.

BUT, you have to be aware of what has happened. Like I've said over and over again, this has happened to completely stock cars too. Keep the boost under 20, run water/methanol...and you should be relatively safe. But its a crap shoot really....just accept the risk.

 

Hate to bump this, but Boosted_Mini did you end up going through with the hybrid turbo? if so, results? Thanks!

 

One of the better threads posted in a long time. Unfortunately, it highlites more bad then good with regards to these motors and modifying them.

I hope more information continues to get posted on this topic. Especially in discussing the motor as a whole; intake, block and head, and exhaust since they all have to work together as a glorified air pump. I guess throw in fuel and tuning as well.

 

It's a very sensitive complexed glorified air pump.

 

czar stated
How do you go about achieving this 25%?

 

For me it was simple, I installed my own air filter, intercooler, and down pipe then tuned it myself, to suit my improvements, these are the only modifications I do for running on stock components for the street, you really don't need anything more.

Power is nothing without control, it's not about overall power (hp) at a given RPM, it's how much Torque you have, and how you use it!

 

JCW or MCS for the street? Everything else was stock?