If MINI wanted you to tune and mod their cars they wouldnt have made the ECU such a ***** to crack.

Not all cars are meant to be modded, not say you cant try and see. but as seen mini didnt leave much room for more power and the enhanced emissions controls on the new engine reduce its potential greatly.

Again, you are playing with fire. Not saying it cant be done but dont expect huge gains or huge supports. Most companies have dropped major support for it. Hence why there are limited turbo options, no standalone, rods/pistons only for R53 and Gen 1 R56. The market isnt there and obviously bmw doesnt seem to want people screwing with their tuning haha.

The longevity of these tunes is still to be seen.

 

That's why I'm going with RennTech. Not to crazy and still reliable from talking to a couple Mercedes guys on their forums.

 

when jaremy says this, he's referring to RENNtech as well.

 

RENNtech has done Mercedes for years. I would trust them, I have spoken to them personally on the phone about their tunes.

I would still go for a dyno tune over a canned tune.

And yes none of these tunes longevity have been tested, accept ETG.. lols. Surviving 10k miles tuned isnt the same as 100k miles tuned. And i know no one has put that mileage on there yet.

Granted i am sure some of these tunes are super conservative meaning not big gains for the price. I just like to get the most I can out my car hence my choice in tuning.

Knowing what i know now, I would have gotten the r53.

The second R56 generation will never see high HP ever, unless its built by MINI or given access to do so from MINI like WRC teams. Until then 200-210WHP is all i can see for these cars. JCWs seeing a little more. Granted the Gen 1 only sees a little more potential.

Bottom line. you want a tuners car go get an EVO or 240.

 

dude ive always told you, im not trying to make my car 350hp. i just want it to be a bit faster than stock. i think you may be coming at these forums as someone who will always truly want to get maximum power out of your car. when some of us mini owners are just trying to put a lil pep in our step haha. i aint trying to smoke lambos over here. just wanna be able to tail cars like evos and have more fun driving my clubman in general. im not looking for more than a good looking car with around 220-250 hp. now i know i wouldnt make those numbers, but in a light nimble car like a mini, it makes canyon driving and for those who go to the track, a more fun experience. now knowing what i know, i will be asking RENNtech about the increased boost levels and make sure they dont go past 18psi (20 at maximum??) but you know better than anyone on here that im still a noob. im learning and unfortunately i learned the hard way a couple weeks ago. 210 - 220 hp in our car, to ME because i dont have an extensive racing/modding history, feels like 300 hp. the power increase from ETG felt SO GOOD. so now its reaaallllly hard acting content with the stock 180 hp or whatever it is..so there was my rant. damnit can i not just have 30-40 extra hp gain without worrying that my engine is gonna blow!!?? OY

 

Well for reliable cars, I only need 205whp and 230wtq. I could care less for more power. When I start doing track days it's about the driver and the suspension, not how much power I put down. Anyone can push the gas down in straight line. Once I have the tune from RennTech I will dyno the car sometime in September when the weather gets a bit cooler in Michigan.

I don't want any other car cause everyone here has it but not more than a couple of a few tuned MINIs.

 

tru dat

 

Hey guys,

Been away from the MINI scene for a few years but the new BMW engine has me intrigued. So I borrowed a customers 2013 Cooper S N18 for some exploratory piggyback tuning. I've made some interesting discoveries on the DME logic side and have found that the basic TMAP+MAP attenuation (2 sensor only) piggyback style tuning that most of these European piggyback box makers offer does not add any measurable amount of power to the N18. At least with the USA DME programming. I've worked up a different approach to piggyback tuning it and so far its working well. So far I've picked up around 2mph in the 1/4 on a mild Stage1 tune and there is plenty more in it. We'll see what the dyno says next week.

Anyway, I'm obviously very familiar with BMW turbo tuning, but not at all in the N18 loop. What are you guys putting down on a dynojet both stock and with these OBDII bench flash tunes available?

*** EDIT *** Had a chance to read through some of the posts on this thread and it looks like they do 170-180whp 100% stock and anywhere from 190whp to 220whp 100% stock with the bench flash tunes. Running anywhere from 15psi to 20psi tuned vs. ~12psi stock.

 

Every platform is different. But with the N18 the trick of it is getting the DME to alter it's load target so that it runs from different parts of the already programmed factory mapping. That way you get the combination of higher boost, less timing, and richer air/fuel ratios that we're looking for.

 

Rut-Ro Rob's gonna flip... (again)

 

?...

 

Terry, it's been a long time since I've seen you on the forums. I used to be on e90post back in '07-'08 when you were coming onto the N54 scene. That was an adventure;-)

I'd be excited to see what you come up with for the N18, especially in R60all4 trim. If you haven't already, once we pick up our CMS4, I'd be willing to assist in the development.

aaron

 

I thought there was a CODE that was required to unlock the ODPII access to the ECU, or is this tuning that is being discussed done by bypassing the ODPII and cracking into the ECU directly?

 

I have never seen an N18 make 220WHP.

Anyone have the dyno. I think most are 190-200whp.



Sounds like he is using a piggyback still not tuning through ODB2 ports.

 

Page 50 of this thread.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=76184&d=1370119963

 

Its a JCW makes more sense. I thought he was talking S. Weird the N18 cant make the same power as the Gen 1.

 

I think you mean gen 2's N14.

 

I am surprised a teenage hacker that has a need for speed has not hacked the ECU/OBDPII Code yet on the N18!

 

No I meant Gen 1 R56 N14 (07-10) vs Gen 2 R56 N18 (10-13)

 

Typically gen 1 refers to the R53.

 

That's what I thought too.

As far as how much whp N18s getting, im sure more like 200-210whp is realistic. And for those with Stage 2 NM tune might be seeing a little more than that. We're waiting on Tony to get his dyno done to see what's the deal on the numbers from NM.

 

figured it was implied I was talking about the same body series.

my bad.

I refer to n14 as gen1 and lci gen2 as do most sites now.

I am in for dynos.

 

Rut-Ro Rob's gonna flip... (again)

flip...not as in 'flip out' but rather 'change'

over the past 4 or 5 months picking this tune, then that tune, then another...and so on and so on

 

Never touching a piggyback style tune. Never. RennTech has given me my quote, awaiting for my grandfathers car since he's leaving in Romania the first week of July. I work almost every day so I can't be out of commission.

 

Thanks. As of today we have two working N18 prototypes. One that can be installed in 10 seconds and other that takes more like 10 minutes to install. Both are invisible to the DME once removed making them "warranty/lease friendly". To start we'd be shooting for the low hanging fruit. The easy gains with minimal risk and minimal cost. What I refer to as a Stage1. The tuning is currently dialed in well enough to study the approaches on the dyno so we can quantify whether it's reasonable to move forward to customer alpha testing with either. But I'm cautiously optimistic things will work out nicely. Will know more next week. Fortunately the sensors and logic used are very similar to other BMW models we tune meaning no waiting for connectors or PCBs.

To start the Stage1 N18 tuning system would be simple (similar to an N54 JB+) but we also have a relatively advanced Stage2+ CAN based JB4 system with features like in dash gauge hijacking (showing boost in dash, for example), on the fly map switching, 1st & 2nd gear boost limiting, etc, that we could adapt down the road if demand justified it. The CAN based system is able to datalog timing, air/fuel, knock count, etc, all through the factory DME and even self tune itself to optimize performance and safety as you race around. I won't waste my time talking about the JB4 much as that would be a long way out for N18 owners I will say its one of the most popular BMW N54/N55 tunes in use today.