How much more power can I expect and is there any down side to adding these two mods? Which intake and exhaust would you reccomend. Which exhaust sounds the best, but isn't loud?

 

No real downside to adding the intake and/or exhaust. The intake is totally not necssary to this point in time - none of them make very good power. But if you like the "modded look" or want a real easy do-it-yourselfer, the intake is the mod for you. I think after forcing more air into the engine with a smaller pulley, the exhaust would be a very good idea although your MINI will run fine without one. As for your other questions, do a search. There are literally dozens of threads and thousands of posts discussing the very things you have asked. In my case I have the Madness intake and the UUC exhaust. If I had to do it again, I would get the Alta intake or the Typhoon or probably the new one Helix and RDR will offer - a carbon fiber one. But again, none of them make a lot of power. As for the exhaust, I love my UUC and think it's the best MCS exhaust on the market. The best sound, probably the most power (torque) although it is the most expensive. Well worth it, IMO.

 

tiger1- i have no mods on my mcs. I would first do the v36 ecu upgrade and
see how much richer my car runs. If rich, then will add a 15% pully and see
how leaner it gets. If its still rich, then i would add on an intake and then
try an exhaust at the end. :smile: basically what im saying is, see how lean/rich
your car running now. this will logically tell you wat you can and should do next.

 

Tiger1, I got the BMP intake 1st. It added about 4-5hp, but it was noticable in that it felt like the car had its power more easily available.
About 6 months later, I got the 15% pulley done and WOW! Should come from the factory that way. I'm not planning on adding any more "go-faster" bits. After talking to Randy Webb and reading all the posts on here, my understanding is that I have the 2 most cost effective power upgrades. The car is plenty powerful now, and I don't want to make my daily driver too aggressive for the street.
I had a dyno pull last weekend and made 161.5hp at the wheels with a hot intercooler and the heavy, stock wheels. I was told that translates to about 190.

 

>>How much more power can I expect and is there any down side to adding these two mods? Which intake and exhaust would you reccomend. Which exhaust sounds the best, but isn't loud?

There are many posts here on NAM that will document the extra power to be expected from intake & exhaust. I don't know what you or greatgro expect to see (none of them make very good power) but, with the 15% pulley, the Alta should give you an additional 5 hp and exhaust about 8-10. Most all the exhausts that make the best power are louder that stock. I have the Magnaflow and like it. The Militec (sp?) seems to be the new hot set-up but costs $700 +. My Magnaflow was $525.00. Sooo. Other than cost, there is really no downside to getting an intake and/or exhaust.

 

I would rule out exhaust, unless you have head work done, the gains are minimal due to the undersized exhaust valve, A free breathing intake is always better, but tehn again teh gains are minimal, if you plan to do future mods, they become more important, but given that you have only done a 15% they become questionable, but if you are looking for evey ounce of power, yes they will help, but small gains....All ready depends if you future mods in your plans to captilize on those....

 

>> The intake is totally not necssary to this point in time - none of them make very good power.

I don't know what is "very good power" to you but I am just shocked to hear that statement. I added the Pilo intake (highly recommended) and the difference is NOT insignificant, the car is smoother (ESPECIALLY with a pulley) and it DOES pull harder, especially on the top end. I got the intake first, pulley 2nd, exhaust last. The intake was great like I just mentioned, the pulley was great as well but I did feel the engine feel very restricted at that point by the exhaust, you can actually feel it if you know what to note. So when I got the Quicksilver exhaust (LOVE it), it REALLY made a dramatic difference, really opened it up and made the engine freer, let alone pulled a LOT stronger.

I had put the stock-airbox on a few months ago when I took it for the dealer and drove it like that for about 200 miles through some days. I have to say, I hated the way the engine felt, absolutely hated it, the difference is just that much, so I'm glad I got these things. And I know it is the pulley that caused that need for freer flowing air and backpressure because of hte level of unsmoothness that is different.

 

I dynoed 155hp to the wheels last week with an intake/exhaust, that's approximately 7-10 hp over what a stock S does, so the intake/exhaust definately helped "free up" horsepower. With the pulley, these gains will be amplified since the engine is breathing harder, so I wouldn't be surprised if you get as much as 10+ hp at the wheels with the addition of a free-flowing intake/exhaust combo. For the record, I have the Alta Intake with hose and Supersprint "race" catback exhaust utilizing the stock center tube.

 

Usually an 11% driveline loss is used for the MCS. Thus 161.5hp at the wheels would translate to 181.5hp at the crank. :smile:

Let me clear up my intake statement. Since you mentioned you already have the pulley and seem to be considering not modding any more and if it is ok, I don't think the intake is that important. I did the intake first and did "feel" it. I noticed what most people most - louder (very pleasant) supercharger whine, the MINI revs easier and some noticeable high end power improvement. However, if you do the pulley first as you have, I wonder if you'd really notice anything with the intake other than increased noise albeit good noise. That's all I was saying. That if you only have the pulley and nothing else, I think that's fine. If you wanted to add something else, I'd add the exhaust first.

 

>>How much more power can I expect and is there any down side to adding these two mods? Which intake and exhaust would you reccomend. Which exhaust sounds the best, but isn't loud?

1st welcome to NAM.... Tiger1 :smile:
I have the following on my 2002 MCS.....added in this order
maddness/rogue intake, exhaust (i'm on my 4th exhuast)... currently have the Borla Street,Helix 15% pulley, Webb/Powerchip ECU re-map.
(I've added additionl stuff like... sways bars, brake pads. rims...etc)

You'll find that many of our members here have different incarnations of the (3) mods that you mentioned.
You have to find what works for you.
Try to find people who have the mods you are interested in and meet them face to face if possible ... read the many many posts (use the search function as it's helpful), and ask all the questions you can :smile:

If I had to do it again....
I wouldn't change my current setup at all... :smile:....as my car does exactly what I want it to do.... :smile:
I don't see any downside to adding the mods you mentioned.
The intake gives some power ( the numbers vary depending on who's testing), but I've found that it "smooths out "the acceleration.
The exhausts come in many diff flavors and add HP ( again numbers vary depending on who's testing)... Get one that you like as far as "sound/tone/drone" and make sure you are comfortable with it .

Peace,
D



_________________
PM d-mini-ero

 

Tiger,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.

Our responses seem to vary quite a bit. Remember there is a bit of truth in all viewpoints.
There are a few things to remember. First, you have done the big mod of the pulley upgrade before the little mods of intake and cat-back exhaust. So naturally by comparison the intake and exhaust will seem to be minor improvements.

>>>>How much more power can I expect and is there any down side to adding these two mods? Which intake and exhaust would you reccomend. Which exhaust sounds the best, but isn't loud?

The down side of adding intake and exhaust are:
Intake cost -$150 to 250+ and cat-back exhaust cost $600 to $875+ installation: for the investment you don't get the kind of power gain you get from the pulley upgrade. Louder exhaust does not mean more power. Louder super charger noise does not mean more power. With intake and exhaust one can expect perhaps up to an additional 10 HP and less than 10 ft-lbs of torque for the pair. Your results may vary.

Many times owners are more interested in the appearance of the mods- does it look good? Or how it sounds- too loud or not loud enough. This is where you can listen to other MINIs to get an idea of what to expect. The "best" sound is as subjective as tastes in music.

Alta intake with hose will be louder (some say too much) but also more costly. RDR is coming out with a new intake that might be worth a look. Milltek has a popular cat-back exhaust that provides adequate power with slightly more than stock levels of exhaust noise but is not particularly loud nor distinctive in appearance for about $695.

Your pulley upgrade is good but it is somewhat muted in performance by the stock intake and exhaust system. This is even more apparent when one installs a 19% pulley in an otherwise stock MCS. There is more power but it is "tamed" a bit.

Now to turn the question around a bit more let us look at an alternative you didn't mention. What about lighter rims and performance non runflat tires? Do you have anything better than the stock wheels? You can easily loose 10+ pounds per corner/wheel and that would be a great upgrade in performance and appearance. What about a rear swaybar to help keep the rear suspension more neutral- choose a19mm or 22mm bar and pick the center hole option. Finally, the money spent on an intake and exhaust could also be used for driving school tuition more than a few times over and in my book would border on being priceless.

Most of all have fun with your MINI and be safe.

 

What does 10 pounds per corner wheel mean? Are you saying lighter wheels and non runflat tires could be a better performance upgrade than the exhaust and intake?

 

>>What does 10 pounds per corner wheel mean? Are you saying lighter wheels and non runflat tires could be a better performance upgrade than the exhaust and intake?

Each corner of your MINI is held up by one rim/wheel combo. Loose 10 pounds per rim/wheel and that is 40 pounds of rotational weight saved.

A lightweight wheel upgrade can offer faster acceleration and braking, a smoother and grippy ride, better traction in dry or wet, longer tread life, a quieter ride, and lower cost per tire for replacement.

But lighter rims on bad roads can be damaged and runflats allow you the safety of not having to stop to change a tire in traffic. It is a trade off.

An upgrade of the intake and exhaust will add some power but with a fairly high price tag (with installation) and you will have to live with the louder intake and exhaust noise day to day.

 

Yes that's what I would say. Lighter wheels and tires (and stickier tires too!) would make more of a performance difference than most intakes and exhausts. That said, I have an intake and exhaust and am sticking with the heavy S-lite wheels and all-season runflats. Why? One - I love the security of the runflats. Two - IMO, the S-lites are the best looking wheels for the MINI. Three - I hit major potholes on quite a regular basis here in the Northeast - especially this time of year. I have yet to bend a wheel or flatten a tire on my MINI yet while I know in my previous cars I would have lost several wheel/tires in the past 16 months.

 

Just wanted to comment on the Intake/Exhaust question... I really didn't notice any difference after adding the Intake or Exhaust as far as power goes. I'm know they added some but physically I didn't notice much of a difference. Most important to me was the sound difference. So if you want your car to "sound" better, get an Intake and Exhaust, if you want noticeable more power other mods may be better like the ECU upgrade, but keep in mind the Intake and Exhaust should be changed eventually for optimal performance to go with your other mods.

I'm installing 13lb lighter wheels, stick tires and samller diameter tires this week on my MINI, I'll let you know what the diffrence is. I think it will be better than the exhaust and the Intake for performance but less than the pulley.