When you are ready for a custom ecu tune.

 

What would that do for me exactly?? I'm really sorry to
Be nuisance but I do not know much about fuel injected cars! I'm doin all boltons possible for my car without having to do engine work!

 

It will add more fuel for the mods you have and ecu tune to run properly. With 380 injectors and with the ECU upgrade the car is will run smoother and will be better at the top end.

 

You upgrade injectors when you run out of enough fuel to feed the engine to get the right air to fuel mix.

Right now you don't need the injectors.

What does a throttlebody spacer do?

Custom ECU tune can be done at nearly anytime depending on which tune and what your expectations are.

Using a 15% reduction pulley does not require upgraded fuel injectors but if you had a 19% pulley, ported and polished cylinder head, race cam, or straight pipe header/exhaust system with custom ECU tune then larger injectors are desireable.

 

Your stock fuel injectors are controlled by the ECU, they are capable of providing more or less fuel to be burned in each cylinder. Air is being furnished by your intake and forced into the engine by the supercharger, less rpm means less air is flowing while a higher rpm spins the supercharger faster (and the reduction pulley adds to this) and forces more air which then mixes with fuel to be ignited.

The ECU can be custom tuned to allow for more fuel to be mixed with the forced air from the upgraded supercharger, in the case of a 15% pulley there is enough additional fuel provided by the stock injector to do a decent job given the level of forced air from the supercharger. As the supercharger pulley is further reduced it forces even more air and at some point the stock injectors run out of fuel to mix with the air, they top off so a larger injector is helpful to make better use of the additional air from the supercharger.

If the engine has other large upgrades and can tolerate more fuel and more air then the ECU can make better use of larger injectors, this can be the case when the entire supercharger is upgraded or when upgrading turbochargers on an engine.

Another bolt on upgrade that is helpful is a larger more efficient intercooler. The stock intercooler isn't that efficient and tends to get heat soaked. The intercooler cools the air being fed into the engine, this air gets hot due to the high rpm of the supercharger.

 

With your plans, an upgrade to the 380's would be appropriate with the header install, then you could do the tune when you wanted.

 

You can only install 380 JCW injectors (with a dealer JCW ecu tune) before you have to do a full dyno tune. So, short answer is, whenever you have extra cash $$$!

What will a throttle body spacer do exactly? Thought that was only really for naturally aspirated engines...

 

http://throttlebodyspacer.com/faq.html

 

Right, I guess I meant, wtf will it do to a SC'd mini?... Other than take $$ from your wallet.

 

I don't think I would look at the throttlebody spacer as a source for power for the MINI.
In fact I am not certain that an enlarged throttlebody does much for power.

See post #45
What is your budget?

 

It wont do anything on a R53. period.
Its already on a plastic manifold, isolating it from heat.
and a larger throttle body is not needed, we have run 350 wheel hp though one.

 

Alright, I have to put my 2 cents into the ring. I don't mean to be negative, nor stomp on dreams here, but I have to be honest on this situation. In the first post, you say you want this car to last you for a while, yet you want to beat your friends SRT4, AND there is a budget on how fast to make it, and keep it maintained. Sorry, but you have to pick one, reliable, or fast. To base how fast you want to go because someone else is faster then you is a poor reason to upgrade your first car. A kid your age should keep the car as is for a year to understand its limits within a controlled environment, while at the same time using the 3,000 to replace worn parts on a 10+ year old car such as the control arm bushings, hoses, supercharger inspection; replacement and such, cause it's one thing to lose a race cause your not fast enough, but its just plain embarrassing to lose cause you broke something.
I've driven SRT4's, both regular, and ACR editions at racing school, they are quick, but you will have an advantage if you race at a local auto-x event, and it wouldn't cost you 3grand, AND you could push your car to the limits safely.
I'm going to skip the explanation of what the advantages are and tell you that if you absolutely must upgrade, do "insurance" upgrades to allow for mods without the potential risk of damaging the engine and components. I would start with as I said above, standard maintenance that these cars commonly develop, just to get those out of the way, then replace the head bolts with an ARP stud kit to give additional clamping force, and reduce the chance of head lift when having additional boost. LSD will do nicely to help put the power to the ground, upgrade the brakes to an R56 setup to help with slowing down the car since there's additional power, change over stock suspension bushings to poly urethane and suspension parts to heim joint/adjustable to give a more precise and instant feeling. Upgrade your intercooler to a gp style, don't get those ones off eBay, they aren't as efficient, and may actually reduce performance, and after that, do small upgrades till you feel the car can handle extra power. As my dad said, no point in putting a powerful engine in if you can't get it all to the ground, and reliably too.

 

You can be fast and reliable you just have to spend money.
dont touch the intercooler. biggest waste of mone on this car.
as would the ARP bolts be on a stock head.
leave the stock bolts alone till you take the head off.
they have never once failed.....

 

As I said, with a budget of 3 grand, it' not enough to make it fast, especially keep up with an SRT4, and be kept maintained, especially how much some of the stuff on these cars cost. To have parts inspected,purchased,and installed, it'll eat up a good portion of the budget.
The kids going to push this car, so getting an inter cooler to help dissipate heat soak with a larger one will help on a track day, so it's not a complete waste of money. Not everything is about making more power, as I said, these are "insurance" upgrades.

 

Great advice, Noir2005!

What ever happened to people doing their own research instead of just asking other people what they should do to their cars?

 

Why does it matter? He is asking for opinions and advice. You know, one of the greatest things about the forums, is getting info on what you want to do first from people that have already done what you are looking to do.

 

Point is most aftermarket intercoolers if not all by nature hold onto heat longer and the factory options are the best solution for the R53.
Unless you want to cook eggs
I would say it would take double your budget to safely race and beat a mostly stock SRT4
its pretty hard to compete with something thats got nearly a liter of displacement and a big *** turbo on it....

 

I agree with this completely. There isn't much of a weight advantage either, the SRT-4's stock come in around 2900, I believe we are a little under 2700lbs, but with the added displacement, and a forced induction system that's ideal for mid to high RPM range, beating it in a straight line isn't going to be easy. Back in 2004-2005, they were dyno'd by a few magazines, they were found to produce 230-238hp at the wheels, so they were around the 245-260hp at the crank........ Best to suit it to the twisties, it's a lot more fun anyway.

 

you guys are all awesome!! thank you all for your advice and help!! ya that throttle body spacer thing was just stupid.. seen it on andys auto sports website, ppl say it adds torque but they took it off their site knowing its most likely usless lol.. anyways im looking at this sprint booster on the way motor works website? anyone have any opinions on them?? i dynoed my mini with a borla cat back exhaust cold air and supercharger pullley and got 196.7 hp to the wheels! if i get a header and highflow cat and this programmer would you think i need injectors? an injector from the site i read up on it sayin after 240 hp you need bigger injectors.. the worst thing about this and researching on google about the mini is everyone says something different.. your guyes opinions help alot tho! much appreciated!!

 

Sprint boosters are awesome IMO. I have one and love it. IF you get a tune, they can usually program the computer for better throttle response. Until you do that the SB works great. I can not imagine driving my MINI without it. I run mine on green all the time. Do a search as there is lots of talk about it.

 

What pulley and any other mods?

 

As far as Injectors, you say the site said 240hp....too late....the 380's are designed for a 210bhp factory tune & honestly not much more than that.
The only way to really tell is by finding out what the duty cycle is, but as far as guessing you can figure a BVH & anything more will benefit from larger than 380's, which again will require a tune, but face it, BVH +, and you should have a custom tune anyway.

 

I put a 15% reduction pulley! It came in a kit with cooler running spark plugs had o change the bypass valve aswell ciz it wasn't workin to its fullest now I get 15lbs of boost which I'm satisfied with!! So I was thinkin about gettin an air fuel guage and seeing how in running when I put my header and cat in to see if I need more fuel.. Then upgrade to 400cc or 440 oh aswell as that sprint booster! Would loveeee to try it out :P

 

Only a tune will require bigger injectors. If you want serious power save up for an intercooler upgrade and either the sprintex or find someone to do a custom turbo set up. I will be going with the turbo set up because ultimately my MINI will be able to eat STIs and EVOs.

 

That's pretty impressive getting 196 horsepower with a cold air kit 15 percent pulley and spark plugs. Where did you have a dyno at?