Hello everyone! I wanted to take some time to make a thread detailing the experience I recently had with the team at Mynes and ByteTroniK. To start I want to express how much I really do not want this thread to turn into a tuner war. I know we all want to fight for what we have purchased and express our pleasure or displeasure, that’s what the internet and forums are for. So please take my experience for what it is, my honest opinion.

I am not stating my credentials to impress anyone, merely to show that I do have real world experience in diagnosing and fixing issues with BMW and MINI engine. I am a certified MINI Master tech trained by MINI USA up to the R60. I am aspiring to become a BMW Master tech and currently work for a small independent BMW and MINI service center, we fix cars. I stated this because everyday I monitor DME functions and signals to determine problems and the engines state of health. With that said I am not a tuner, I have zero experience tuning any car with anything other than “Canned” software such as JCW and Autologic.

I recently purchased ByteTroniK FA53-lite. FA53-lite is the package you purchase when you do not wish to have full access to tune your own DME. Again I am not a tuner and have big concerns that I would damage my engine with improper tuning. So I entrusted the team at Mynes to help me tune my R53 remotely. I contacted Mike and Mynes and he made sure I purchased or had everything I needed to be able to log DME functions and Air/Fuel ratios. Package arrived with everything I needed to get started.

Instruction in the package were very clear on what needed to be done to get the ball rolling. First and foremost you need to make sure your engine is in a good state of health. If you do not have a well running engine to start then the process can be very time consuming for everyone involved. As a mechanic I maintain all my vehicles in top running condition with regular maintenance.

Once I had my DME uploaded with the ByteTroniK software I was able to start logging at the request of the team at Mynes. Their instructions were very clear about what and when to log information. They were able to take those logs and scale the 550 injectors that I had purchased. Files are easy to log and send to the team, I got my 1st set of tunes over the weekend! Every tune has gotten better and better, the results can be felt and my feedback has always been answered when I had a concern about a running condition.

It is fantastic to have the ability to log the signals in to the DME and play them back. This helps me see how the engine is running as well as diag any physical issues there may be in the future. You don’t have to stop logging once the final tune is uploaded, keep going at your own timeline so you can monitor the health of the engine. Just being able to see smooth running values of individual cylinders can help you see problems!

I cant sit here and indulge you with dyno graphs and track times. I drive the car on the street, I am not a competition driver. I just want my MINI to perform in a way that makes me smile every time I get in it and place my foot on the gas pedal. I can say for certain that in the 5 years I have owned my R53 and the many many different engine modifications it has been through, it has never felt or ran better than it does today. Its all thanks to the Mike and the team at Mynes Performance.

I will answer any questions you have as long as I have the knowledge to do so. I stress again that I do not want to turn this into a battle, I just want to express how happy I am with the service I received. If you are in favor of another vendor or tuner I will happily read any thread of your own that you wish to start.

Thank you for reading.

 

Great review, thanks for sharing. I am thinking of having mine Jan tuned, but this may help sway my decision.

 

Well in the end its up to you the consumer to decide on the product you use and trust. There are lots of good options out there but this was the one for me.

 

The remote tuning and the recommendations of others like you are the reason I went with the mynes/bytetronik.

 

^^^^Like he said.

 

What type of diagnostic do you recommend doing for people looking to ascertain a level of heath on their own personal engine. Is their any specific things to look for, or tests to run to discover problems before you go further? To reduce the risk of complication?

 

Hey Colin that is a great question! No matter who tunes your engine its a great idea to check the state of heath.

Multiple things can be done. You can pull and read the spark plugs for potential cylinder to cylinder issues, You can do a compression check, You can do a leak down test, monitor oil consumption over a given range, smoke the intake system for leaks. If you are close to a BMW or MINI service center with DME monitoring software you can have the cylinder to cylinder true running values read, or they can can check the current stored additive and multiplicative fuel values (This is part of the adaptations people strive to reset).

Its early so I am sure I missed a test in there.

Thanks for the question Colin. Again checking engine health is a good idea no matter who tunes it.

 

+ 1 for Mynes. I've had 2 cars done and they run like clocks. My tune isn't remote but done at Advanced Auto Fab by Hank..a Mynes' dealer.

 

Putttn, minor correction: Hank is a Bytetronik Dealer (and his shop looks amazing ).

Any of our Dealers can perform a Remote Tune on your 1st Gen using the FA53. So technically, your MINIs have been "Hank's Tuned using FA "

For the FA-Lite Tuning kits, those are only available to our Master Dealers (1320MINI in the UK, and Mynes for USA & rest of the world).

We are separate entities, but we work together and corroborate on various MINI projects & products...

 

Very good clarification. Thank you very much

 

Can't wait to hear spike, awesome strong before tune.

 

I'll throw my experience in here as well as it was similar to Professor's.

I had gone through some engine work (head/cam/header) and knew that I needed larger injectors. I toyed with the idea of the 380s, but the more I talked to people who had already used Mynes and the FA software paired with the 550 injectors, the more that started to sound like the best option. And I definitely do not regret it. Mike and George over at Mynes have both taken great care of me and my car. I've had what feels like hundreds of questions and Mike has answered all of them quickly. As for George, that guy knows his way around this ECU no questions asked. My car felt like a whole new vehicle from the first tune.

Best part about all of it is that the support is still there even after the initial interaction. A quick email, phone call or text message gets an answer to almost any issue. The experience I've had with the guys at Mynes is rivaled only by the experience I've had with Thumper, but both have made modifying this car a very enjoyable process.

And I have to thank putttn and a few other members on this forum for taking the time to exchange multiple messages with me while I was searching for the right head and tuning software to get this car right. Everyone was very accessible and shared any information they could, and ultimately helped in getting me going in what I now definitely think was the right direction.

 

Yeah, I have to second all that. Great experience with all these guys even though Thumper is old as dirt he really puts out a nice consistent quality package. Of course when you're that old you've already made most of the mistakes possible!!! :-)

 

Just to update this thread. I received an updated tune recently with some exciting additions.

I have a Pre-facelift R53 with a Facelift Gearbox / LSD. So my cruise would not work as the DME can not recognize the gear selection. They were able to make the alterations to allow the DME to see the new gearing. This resulted in easier logging files as well as more burble that we all love .

Also had some DSC additions but I am still learning those changes.

Happy Camper here

 

Hey Professor,
Glad to hear you're happy with your FA-R53 lite. Mike is a good guy. I have one as well sitting in my Garage.
I will install it after I install my Sprintex and Thumper head.
My question is (To Anyone): What did you use to install/read the tune? I have all apple products and I'm wondering if there is an inexpensive tablet/note book/laptop I can use for the tune. Is there any Mac users out there that were successful using the FA R53 lite?

 

I don't think there is anything mac compatible yet, but any windows 7 machine will do if you're buying something, so you should be able to go pretty inexpensive. (all it needs is a usb port and you should be good)

 

Thanx BlwnAway.

 

Minian: for the Initial Loading of FA (53 or Lite), MUST use a Windows-based machine. You can borrow a friend's or neighbor's laptop for this, it does take about 10 minutes for the 1st load so AC Power is required.

Option 2: If you'd like us to load it for you, simply send it your ECU along with your MINIPort and we will load FA into that ECU for you on the bench (free of charge), then send it back to you via Ground shipping. If your car is down right now awaiting parts install, then this option might be best, no?

Once FA has been loaded into your ECU, then you can run VMware on your MAC and 'upload/flash' the maps that we will be sending you for the CRM (Custom Remote Mapping). The flashing process takes only 45-seconds ...

 

I would like to know at which point would the bigger injectors be effective?
I have the jcw 380 injectors right now. I am thinking of getting an exhaust header and that is about it I think and a tune and that's about it for the engine mods. I wanted to do this last year but since I decided to buy a header I might as well wait.
Thanks for your feed back Prof' I guess I will go with these guys too after I get my header.

 

It all depends on your driving style and the purpose of the vehicle. If you track the car and find yourself constantly above 6k rpm, then going better would be a good insurance policy.

From a pure modification standpoint: if you have "Cam + 15% + Ported Head", then upgrading to the 550s would be beneficial (notice these mods all affect the air intake side of the equation; so with more air, add'l fuel is needed to keep the engine balanced).

The header is on the exhaust side of the equation, as such, it doesn't play into the injector equation.

Hope this helps...

 

Thanks Bytetronik - Question? I have a canned tune already on my ECU, will the FA Lite have any issues?

 

There won't be any issues; FA-Lite will just load on top of your current tune. The only down side is that your current canned tune will be your "stock tune".

But when you send in your ECU, we can wipe that canned tune out and put a factory tune in there. We will then load FA on top of that... this way, your "stock tune" will truly be an OEM tune... and we will customize your tune using the factory tune as a base (this is actually more desirable b/c we won't have to 'second guessing' what the other guy might have done to your tune).

 

Believe it from one who's had a couple of cars done exactly that way and it works.

 

+1, Minian this would absolutely be your best option since you're working from a canned tune.

 

Bytetronik/BlwnAway - Thanks, I was looking for an excuse to go to Cali anyway.
Vegas to Cali will help shorten the break-in on the Sprintex.