I have ran piggy back programer similar to this one for years on diesel trucks with no problems. They can make crazy hp and torque on diesel engines. Now I know there is a huge difference between a mini and a diesel truck but the principal are the same.

 

Not that I'm getting this tune but the owner told me with my mods, the closer numbers I'm looking at is like how the JCW popped out those numbers(or could produce a bit more). Curious to see who's gonna do some dyno time with the RaceChip.

 

Exactly. If I can't make it happen I'd love to see someone with similar mods put it together. I'd bet your car would be laying down impressive numbers Rob.

 

Had my car for about a month and this weekend I have added the Akrapovic downpipe and Helix FMIC. Now I think I should do some tuning next. Is this the way to go?

 

Do your homework. The RaceChip, RennTech, PAW, and NM is available. See what you like for your MINI.

 

Hey congrats, it sounds like you’re doing it up right. I have been told those are the top 2 mods to make on these cars. I’m no expert, but I’ll chime in because I’m one of 2 people so far that just bought this tuner.

Firstly, I agree with Rob. Do some reading. Here's a quick overview to get you started.

Right now, you have 3 options for tuning, because the ECU is locked and so there is no handheld tuner (like the Accessport) that is available for the previous engine (or most other popular cars).

Dyno tuning - there are a couple of people who can apparently do this well with the 2011+ R56.
· Probably the most horsepower gains of any option
· Not the cheapest
· Only a couple guys that do this - have to be in person
· You know how much power you’re actually making when you're done, not guessing
· Your engine warranty is arguably gone

Sending your ECU away to have a tune loaded on.
· Apparently they overnight them back so you’re not without your car for long
· The HP gains are pretty impressive, I believe starting at 35 with the decent shops
· Probably the least expensive option (starting around $500)
· They solder onto the board, so your warranty is arguably gone

This Ultimate Chip Tuner
· Easily removed and leaves no evidence for the dealership – so you shouldn’t void your warranty
· The gains are a bit lower, but still in the same ballpark
· Installs easily
· The stock mini programming is still in place, so you can flip back in minutes – but also so that no one is fooling around with engine protection protocols built in
· Costs about $700

It really depends on what your objectives are for your car. Get comfortable with the options, there are threads on here about the other tuners (dyno etc…) and what they can do for you. Depending on your goals, I think which option you should pick will become apparent to you.

 

Hello boys...
I bought my race chip ultimate last week from MINI Dynamics and as I was raving about it to the owner in my review he pointed me over here, thought I might want to share my impressions in this thread.
So my r60 was already pretty strong in sport mode before but now... She is one hot little rocket!! Definitely much more pull, higher revs in each gear.. Does everything MINI Dynamics said it would do.
The install was simple, yes i am a girl and I did it myself..
I read everything there was about RaceChip as a company, read through all the info on MINI Dynamics' website and watched the videos. There is so much info on there, the price was right.. What more could I ask for??
So if you guys are waiting for yet another rave review before you step up to the plate and buy, this is it! I put my trust behind what MINI Dynamics had to say and I have not been disappointed. I see the results in my own car as I drive it hard.. I wasn't about to sit and wait for someone else to give me the go ahead. C'mon guys, get off the sidelines!

Jen

 

Any logs taken while installed?

 

This sounds like a bad TV ad for Rogaine. And your first post no less.

 

Clearly you get to watch a lot of late night tv alone..
And of course its my first post. If you read what I wrote, I joined and posted because I bought the race chip and this whole thread is about people that are interested in knowing more about the race chip.
Disregard my post if you want, that's fine.. keep your wallet in your fanny pack and move on.

 

Ouch. :-)

 

Welcome to the board JCW Jen! I'm new-ish myself as well, but glad to have you here. And thanks for posting up your experience, there are lots of folks who are wondering if this is worth buying from what I can tell.

 

JCW Jen is my new official MINI girlfriend!

But don't tell my wife.

 

Im sure folks are interested but are scared/nervous..........ever heard of Unichip?

 

I thought it sounds like an ad too. Maybe even from an employee. You can attack me if you want but it wont bother me. Im just glad i took my money out of my fannypack and gave it to a real tuner.

 

Yea I think anyone in the know has heard of Unichip. And while JCW Jen's posts are encouraging, I'm still waiting for logs to be taken before and after installation to see the changes in black and white so to speak. It's at a point where I think people want this to work really bad because it'll answer a high demand field for the whole community, but want more than hype, which unfortunately for MINI Dynamics, is going to be an uphill battle they're going to fight for a while.

 

Hopefully someone decides to take the logs seriously here and get it done, because I'm curious for a person with my type of mods what they can achieve. Doesn't change the fact I will get my RennTech/PAW tune but I'm always going to be curious, who wouldn't be lol.

 

Awww damn DIKK77... you busted me. I really AM a Rogaine advertiser. This whole "I have a Cooper and I bought a RaceChip" is just my cover.

I would hardly call my response to hoppes-no9 an attack.. He offered his opinion about me and I replied in kind. No hard feelings I hope, I mean after all I gave him a ..

Don't be scared, I'll be gentle... Congratulations on your real tune. You and your fanny pack seem very pleased. Similarly, I am happy with my Race Chip purchase... thus my original post. Now move along..

 

Thanks for the welcome! Looks like we both had pretty similar thoughts on what the Race Chip did for our cars..

 

Clearly I'm not in the know about unichip, but I'm sensing it was a cluster F#$k on the R53??

Also, can someone point me in the direction of how to do logging. Not sure what is required or what values you're looking for. Are you more concerned with output (HP) or whether the air/fuel ratios are healthy?

 

you can do logging though inpa or some other BMW OBD diagnostic software. I would love to see a before and after dyno of this thing.

I'm surprised the company themselves hasn't published actual dyno numbers. I'd like to know their reason for not doing so.

 

Huge cluster.....fried ECU's to over heating engines.


This is why there is much resistance to this product. I wish someone from TD would post dyno graphs along with logs to ensure the car is in good health.

Other then that, it's not like there's hate on this product, just skepticism.

 

Yea Unichip has kinda made the slope rather steep for MINI Dynamics and this Race Chip to gain any traction around here, and it doesn't help that there aren't any graphs showing these improvements to be found.

 

Someone posted up some dyno results further up on this thread, was that taken from the mini dynamics web site or where? The owner gave me the same info over the phone, so we know they have paid for some hours on a dyno.

You can shut this chip off easily, so doing a with/without dyno would be easily facilitated. I wish there was one closer to where I live... I'm curious to know how much power I'm making with all these mods I've been doing.

Oh okay, with that context some of the earlier comments make a bit more sense. I got the sense they sold a lot of these in europe on both minis and other cars. If guess if we get enough people on here that have had a good experience, it'll change.

 

So I bought a RaceChip and installed it a week ago. My car hasn't blown up, doesn't surge, no engine lights, just runs/pulls harder, and is an all around blast to drive. Plus it sounds better to boot.

When it blows up my engine you can tell me I told you so. In the mean time, take a deep breath cause it will need to last you awhile

I even threw it on a dyno, didn't get the numbers I hoped but I'm still not gonna take it off or return it.

Have a 2013 JCW Coupe with an automatic. The auto is what stopped me from getting the numbers I was hoping for, but it still FEELS better. And for my daily driver my butt dyno wins. Plus I can remove the chip in a few min and head to the dealer without warranty worries.

208 whp and 203 ft/lbs on my stock JCW on a Dynojet. Only mods were a lower arm torque bushing. With RaceChip in best pull was 203 and 203. The difference was that both the hp and torque lines were smoother and extended out without the bumps, fluctuations that I had without the chip. The air/fuel mix was also smoother and more consistant.

The auto trans definitely hurt me but keeping the wifey happy wins out on that one. The trans would shift too early to allow max of the potential hp and torque gains. Someone with a manual needs to chime in here with their numbers.

Would I do it again, you bet. Do I have any regrets? Only that I can't mess with the auto trans to get the extra RPMs.

*********************************

RaceChip the update (6/2/13)

RaceChip update. Scott at MINIDynamics and I, have had several conversations since my post on 5/1/13. Couple of issues were IDed. The code sent from RaceChip in Germany that everyone, including RaceChip, thought was for N18 ended up being N14 spec. RaceChip and MINIDynamics immediately fixed it and Scott got a replacement RaceChip to me ASAP. A few days ago Scott called me back and let me know there was a translation error with the settings for the new N18 version of the RaceChip. I grabbed a T10 torx and and a tweak of the dial later, fixed.

After looking at the dyno from 5/1/13 it looks like both graphs were with the N14 chip installed and "on". There were several pulls that were lower and I'm guessing he picked the wrong pull for chip "off". A JCW is speced at 208 HP at the crank. Looked around the net and didn't see a clean stock N18 JCW dyno but autos are estimated to be 15% lower WHP than crank. So lets call it 178-187 WHP (10-15% loss). The tech did multiple pulls including some in the 170-190 range last month that he didn't print.

I waited to post/update until I had a chance to get the MINI back on a dyno. Different dyno but both were DynoJet.

2013 MINI Cooper JCW Coupe: R58, auto trans, Atla CAI, Atla FMIC, RaceChip Ultimate, 93 gas. 212 WHP, 216 FT/LBS. The dyno chart is posted. On one of the pulls the air/fuel sensor blew out of the exhaust so bogus air/fuel graph for that one.

So car still hasn't blown up, and is running great. Based on the above let's call it +30 WHP. Still happy and RaceChip is staying on the MINI.