I should have my "S" in around 5 wks. from Patrick Mini in Schaumburg IL. There's this guy in Libertyville (PERFECT POWER) that says he can give me around 200 to 210 hp. for around $1,500 (15% pulley, CAI, and a remap). He also says I won't need anything done to the stock intercooler and that it will handle the excessive heat just fine. When I asked him about the stock "S" exhaust system, he asked me if I was going to do any racing. I said no, I'm 55 (an old gear head from the 60's) and just want to have a little fun. He said the exhaust system will be fine also. These modifications don't seem too radical to me, however I really wouldn't want to screw up a great 4 yr warranty! Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Has anyone from the Chicago area heard of this guy or have used him in the past??

Bill

 

Those of us from Chicago MINI Motoring Club went to Perfect Power for a tech session. He seemed to be quite knowlegeable about the car and had a good idea on what upgrades to get and when. As far as his work I have never dealt with him, but when we were there he had a car on his lift that he had done a bit of work done and looked clean. He has been in business for a long time, so that should tell you a bit about his work also. I must say he had a very clean shop too.

 

That sounds like a decent upgrade to me. Make sure to arrange to have dyno testing done before and after to gauge the results.

 

FYI: His shop only has an engine dyno, no drive on.

 

>>Those of us from Chicago MINI Motoring Club went to Perfect Power for a tech session. He seemed to be quite knowlegeable about the car and had a good idea on what upgrades to get and when. As far as his work I have never dealt with him, but when we were there he had a car on his lift that he had done a bit of work done and looked clean. He has been in business for a long time, so that should tell you a bit about his work also. I must say he had a very clean shop too.


Where do I find out more information about the Chicago Mini Motoring Club??

 

Roadglide,

Perfect Power is a sponsor on this site. Look at his site and see what you think.

Earl

 

Only thing is that I thought the Perfect Power ECU only gave a couple of horses. That and a couple for the intake plus 15 for the pulley and you're at 22-25HP at best. Still not bad for $1500. But that'll put you at 190HP not 200-210. But before and after dynos would be a great idea - hey maybe they've updated their ECU or something.

 

>>I should have my "S" in around 5 wks. from Patrick Mini in Schaumburg IL. There's this guy in Libertyville (PERFECT POWER) that says he can give me around 200 to 210 hp. for around $1,500 (15% pulley, CAI, and a remap). He also says I won't need anything done to the stock intercooler and that it will handle the excessive heat just fine. When I asked him about the stock "S" exhaust system, he asked me if I was going to do any racing. I said no, I'm 55 (an old gear head from the 60's) and just want to have a little fun. He said the exhaust system will be fine also. These modifications don't seem too radical to me, however I really wouldn't want to screw up a great 4 yr warranty! Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Has anyone from the Chicago area heard of this guy or have used him in the past??

Bill,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.
Good to hear from you. There are several options. Usually I suggest that you break in your MINI with 1200 miles in stock form first. Why do you want to do this?

Not all MINIs are trouble free. Clearly many are. During the break in you can get a feel of the car for trouble areas. If problems occur and your MINI needs to be taken ot the dealer for servicing it is better that the MINI be in stock form.
This simplifies the items that need to be removed from the car to access it for repairs. This happened to me- for an oil change my tower strut bar was in the way- they charged me to remove it. For the ECU v.36 update they needed me to remove all ignition upgrades and they charged me for removing my JL Stealthbox subwoofer since it was blocking access to the rear battery which needed to be disconnected.

After the break in you will know if you have a lemon or not. By then you will have a good feel of your MINI so that when you do upgrades you will know what the difference is. Upgrading many things all at once makes it tough to say which single upgrade helped the most.

For the Pulley, if you want to be conservative and don't really need the most power possible then the 15% reduction pulley is fine. If you want to get a bit more then consider 17% and if you want to increase torque more then consider the 19% pulley. The cost of the parts is similar and labor cost is similar but the power gains can be larger depending on which size you choose. The 15% is the most reliable and they all void your supercharger warranty. I think as long as you drive sanely and are not up at redline on a track in a hot climate then the 19% could be just fine.

ECU- usually you get what you pay for. Currently the PowerChip and Evotech ECUs are about $700 and add significant power. Shark injector adds less power, smooths things out and costs less at $399 and is easy to install. GIAC is coming soon and at $500 should be right up there or better than the more expensive options. You might consider one of the ECU upgrades that take advantage of your pulley (whatever size). This is especially true if you choose the 19% pulley because right now none of the ECU upgrades is tuned for that pulley, most are for the 15% pulley.

CAI is fine. Header I'd skip for now. Exhaust- alot has to do with looks- (having different looking tail pipes)
and alot has to do with exhaust note/noise. If you like the exhaust being louder then consider Milltek, UUC, Borla Street. Some exhausts are really loud like Magnaflow and Borla Race. All of these are about 10 pounds lighter than the stock exhaust (which is quiet). All add at least 5+HP and some 5+ ft lbs of torque.

Besides power you have to balance your upgrades with suspension parts like a rear swaybar and maybe better tires (non runflats) at some point. Light rims will help with acceleration and braking as it takes less energy to increase and decrease less weight that is rotating.

I think if you just the Pulley, an intake and rear swaybar alone you will be off to a good start. If you must do the upgrades before break in is done then that is also OK but you might risk spoiling yourself silly.

 

Pricing varies a bit but here's my car.
(These are all approx numbers...due to install costs be'n included)
pulley(15%) installed $400
powerchip $720
air intake $250
rear sway bar installed $250
exhaust installed $675
===========================
approx $2300


Peace,
D

 

First decision is whether you want to autocross competitively. If so, the pulley mod knocks you into a class you can't be competitive in without megabucks. If it's just pleasure, do the pulley and rear swaybar first. They are the major impact mods and you're only out $600.00 After that, the impact is significantly less without major bucks. I'd venture to say the next most significant impact is sticky tires (Azenis?), which I haven't done yet, but have ridden in. Given price of Milltek, which is supposedly the best cat-back out there ($800), I'd be tempted to do the Webb ECU module, as randy says the power is greater than the cat-back. Plus, the S runs so rich, I'm thinking it's going to get too coked up running so rich. IMHO.