Glad im getting one of the first ones.

 

im looking forward to mine as well

 

Pricing was anounced thismorning. The ECU plus a base tune will cost you $2250.00! Worth it... Hell yeah, if you really want the most from your MINI its the only way to go.

 

Ill have mine in Feb.

So everybody out there that was saying there is no way it would be under $2500 looks like it is, and it comes with a basemap....

RMW FTW

 

FYI for everybody. You can purchase this ECU through any ViPEC dealer. (there website has a nice list)
The pricing Jan released was for an introductory price, it is now at $2950 retail. . but I am still getting one.

**Update**: talked with Jan and he has a special deal with the owner of vipec that allows him to get them at a different rate due to he buys in bulk and other factors. He is in fact the cheapest option and has the full support and backing of ViPEC NZ despite what the sales team is aware of.

What I will be doing:
(or what I will tell you guys as of now )
1: purchasing 4 LS2 Truck coils
2: re-wiring the vipec and output controls for sequential ignition! (i hate out damn wasted spark)
3: finally get a descent idle with this CatCam that is in the car.

 

1&2 are pointless....You also wouldn't have to rewire anything you would just have to run more wire, and you would lose two outputs by doing it. Like I said its pointless. The stock coil and wire work fine even with the rotrex stuff. You can also up the dwell and keep all your stock stuff. Im sure you are not near the power of needing a CNP, or COP system. If anything wire up COP not CNP using LS coils and run it wasted spark still. Nothing wrong with wasted spark.

 

why cant you get a decent idle on your stock ecu? thats odd..

 

sequential spark is actually MUCH better when running a large cam setup as my intake valve on a wasted piston is already open when the firing piston ignites at idle. every now and then it ignites the incoming fuel mix .

And I have an older revision ECU. tried bytetronic. They can get my cam to idle well on a facelift ECU, but mine is from early 03 and has different subroutines controlling air flow calculations and fueling. It will idle perfectly for 45 seconds at a time and then lope and sputter like crazy.

also

not quite as simple as running an extra wire.
The ECU has 5 outputs that could be used for igniters.
The stock mini pinout uses these (they are 5 larger-ish tabs on the longer ECU connector).
2 are designated for igniter circuits A and B
2 are for high and low speed fan, and the 5th is not used (to my memory. if it is, the use escapes me)

I will have to re-wire the high and low circuits to a different auxiliary output from the ECU (weather I do this harness side or inside the vipec case I do not yet know) and run 2 new leads to the igniter bank.
From here I will need to simply splice in the existing ground and 12v batery power leads to all 4 igniters, splice in the new ecu ignition outputs, and run a NEW common ecu ground. (the coils use a separate ground for the two coils inside of each igniter) as well as wire in capacitors between ground and hot lead (if you want more technical documentation on this I can draw some up or find it for you)
Then I will have to go into the ECU and tell it to run sequential from wasted spark.

Is it possible that the vipec would have handled my car fine on wasted spark? yes. will I have a small level more of control with wasted spark? most definately. That is why I am doing it.

 

Alright then, Ill go ahead and be the first to tell you i think your wrong and disagree, I have a much much much larger cam than your car and it idled pretty alright on a stock ecu and it idles perfect on a vipec both running wasted spark.
what you are doing is a waste of time and money but if it makes you happy it should be interesting to see how much you spend and how much it wont make a bit of difference.

 

colin, I think it will make more sense once you see the rest of the build on my car. Keeping it partially secret for now to the mini community as I want it to be a surprise.
What cam are you running?! to my knowledge, unless you run a full race turbo-only camshaft and get new springs and relief cut valves, the one I am running is about as large as you can go.
278/280 duration with 10.45 and 8.45mm lift. (very similar too but not the 1320 cam!)

Where I have no doubt I could run the car on wasted spark and have it run "fine", sequential ignition (while more complex) is a much better setup. And considering it is only costing me an extra $100 (max) to do it, why not? (picked up the 4 coils for $70 shipped, all connectors for $10)

I'll let a small cat out of the bag I guess.
I am doing a twincharge setup, but it is VERY different from how other people have been doing it. In fact no one I know has ever heard of someone running the turbo like I am planning too, but when I sit down with other engineers (I am a chemical engineer specializing in process control) and gearheads and tell them what I am doing they go "why on earth would you do that?!" then I explain in detail as to why, and they go "holy ***** that is going to be nuts if it works..."
Lets just say I should have near-immediate throttle response with a 47mm tubocharger. (We are talking little to no lag at all)

 

And Ill be sure to evaluate wasted spark on vipec, and then do the switch just for you colin. Everything leads me to realize it will work better. Especially with the boost pressures I will be running. I do not know the exact specifics on our stock coil pack as well as the dwell required for peak discharge, but something tells me I will be out-pacing it anyways in a wasted setup.

 

Look, I am a Aerospace engineer with my specialtys being Fluids and thermo with Aerodynamics on there as well. Im not by any means stupid.
You want to go over it with me in PM ill be happy to but i can tell you that most people that fail to heed the advice of others generally reap the rewards in blown motors and humilation.
Its sort of a theme with minis. You are demonstrating that your unwilling to listen even on just this wasted spark thing, And you cant get it to idle on a stock ecu.
Generally speaking running a huge duration cam on a turbo set up is less than ideal but
Since you think your a genius this should be a interesting meltdown to watch.
Again with the when people try to hide what they are doing is because no one will make sense of it and we will all tell you your wrong.
Guess the cliff notes are, Re inventing the wheel, don't do it.
Jan and others having twin charged the car you may want to talk to others that have tried it.
If your trying to bypass the supercharger at higher rpm and run it on just turbo i cant tell you now it wont work.
Go look at the twin charged lotus and check out how he did that..
Anyway, good luck, I guess.

 

Nothing like that. And as for the wasted spark to sequential thing, It's not a set deal. I have a bad coil anywho. I have the truck coils handy as I have a ls2 6.0L chevy in the driveway, so I will be borrowing them to see if it works well. If it does, they hooray, if not, back to stock. No big deal.
As for the cam not idling well, its an ECU issue. We went over it in extensive detail and it uses different sub routines than the later model ECU's.
I know a large cam is not great for turbo setups, which is why I have a different one picked out if it gives me issues. Currently the car is still just SC only.

As for the twincharged, it is not a bypass setup or anything. It is re-inventing the wheel "ish" but it is really just a different approach to how the turbo is set up in the car.

I am hoping to not fail in a raging pit of fire, and I did not call you stupid. I know full well who you are and respect your opinion, but changing an ignition system will at worst just bring me no gains. And seeing as it is currently cheaper than buying a new coil, why not try it? If it fails, well, now I know. If it works fine, I'll just keep it as it is cheaper and arguably the LS2 truck coils are more robust.

I'll PM you a quick schematic and description.

 

So are you thinking what I'm thinking... Have the S/C feed the "Hot" (exhaust side of the turbo?

 

Not quite. The SC would cause choke flow in that scenario (or that's what I see happening) . It would reduce the pressure ratio across the SC and possibly even run it in a slight vacuum (ie: <1 Pressure Ratio) depending on how much the turbo could pull which would reduce SC engine draw, but you would not be able to flow more than the SC was able too on its own (volume wise. Air may be more dense this way due to work put into the fluid is not as much....) Then there is the fact that centrifugal pumps don't pull well against a vacuum.
A few small design considerations aside that make it possible, the simplified version is

throttle body - (bpv) - turbo- intercooler(maybe) - SC - intercooler - intake manifold / (BPV) - engine (or back to turbo depending on bpv position)

 

Number one thing I don't know where you got your information from but if you buy a ViPEC from Jan its still $2200


Let me make this big for people that are just skimming though the thread.

JAN (RMW) STILL SELLS VIPEC'S FOR $2200

JAN (RMW) STILL SELLS VIPEC'S FOR $2200

JAN (RMW) STILL SELLS VIPEC'S FOR $2200

JAN (RMW) STILL SELLS VIPEC'S FOR $2200


Now as far as the ignition goes. I run Wasted Spark on my 700whp HUGE cam'd evo, without a issue one.
Like I said nothing is wrong with wasted spark.

Also you're right its is more then two wires, its anywhere from 4-6 depending on how you run it, IGN3 and IGN4 are unused on the vipec you would just need to run those to the coil, the two power wires and two grounds, or you can share the ground and 12v. Its been awhile since I have messed with LS coils, but I believe the igniters are built into the coil. Just like with Denso COP setups. So you dont have to run to 4 igniters you just run to the signal wire on the coil. Then the 12v and ground.I mean if you are going to go through all the trouble why not rig up a CDI box?

 

Dear Soccerbummer - I look forward to the rest of that cat...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

I take it you are running a Comp turbo, because you are going to run the TB before the compressor, major vac issue with oil being sucked in ect ect..Those oiless aren't the best but to each his own...If you are indeed running a Comp

 

it is a comp. CT2-4747 .50 A/R.
I was skeptical about it as well, but the turbo E49 M5 I helped build is using one and it works flawlessly and has an excellent spool time (it is a 57mm), so I decided to give it a go (plus you are correct in it allows me to run in vacuum with intercooler heat transfer and turbo seal life degradation)

and Jan is currently selling them for $2200, not sure how much longer that will last though. It is just an FYI as it was a promotional deal. he may continue being able to get them for less cost, but the other dealers are getting them at 25% off retail which puts the price just over $2200, and are told to "sell units only at retail or suffer the penalties"** see update**

source: Vipec Sales group from NZ and local US side dealer in NC confirmed. I cannot speak for Jan personally, but they said "once he runs out of promotional units, he should also be up to the retail $2950 price point".
As I said, I cannot speak for Jan. He may ignore it and sell them at cost or a slight loss/profit (loss leader) but I am not sure.

**Update**: talked with Jan and he has a special deal with the owner of vipec that allows him to get them at a different rate due to he buys in bulk and other factors. He is in fact the cheapest option and has the full support and backing of ViPEC NZ despite what the sales team is aware of.

You can still go through another dealer, but you will potentially suffer a little sticker shock.

As for the wasted spark, since I seem to be catching some "why" flak,
Well my answer is "because" . is it absolutely needed ? probably not, but if I get a single cylinder misfire I can diagnose coil or something else easier. Is that worth the cost and frustration of setting it up? well no, but I need something to keep my mind entertained. Well why are you doing it? - because I like to be different and have people say "now why in the world did you do that?! " my response? - because I can.. just because I can.
That and I over-engineer the **** out of everything I touch. It's a gift and a curse.
So to me its not (pun intended) wasteful

 

Jesus this is dicks garage all over again.
Seriously.
And as far as the vipec, just ask Jan... Duh. Hes not that scary honestly.

 

hey one of us is bound to get it right! or fail in epic style. so just sit back and .

No one who explores the "impossible" is able to achieve the improbable.

 

Right then. Enjoy that.

 

Yep... Just like me! Well in a round a bout sort of way. :D

However upon my failure, I realized my interweb nemesis was right, and look where I ended up... Not spending my time here looking for new ideas that are destined for failure.

Without the epic failures people find during innovation, we would all still be driving horses instead of cars. I say keep it going, start a solid build thread and link it here... You have one subscriber right here!

PS... Jan = Not a scary guy, and one hell of a stand up man that puts the customer first... No mater who it is. :D

 

Who is this Dave.O guy? I agree that if I tried doing this stuff on the stock ecu it may go boom when it decides it knows better than me, but with the vipec It shouldn't be a problem. Only real concern here is will it do what I want it to do. so sit back and I'll start a build thread of my own soon.