I believe that I have narrowed down my choices to:

1.) WMW Catless downpipe - $429.00

or

2.) Akrapovic catted downpipe - $725.00

They both will cause a CEL so why not go with the catless? They don't do an emissions sniffer test here in NC so it should pass emission with a tune.

Performance wise you'd think that the catless dp would be better.

I know there is a lot about downpipes on this board and I've read a bunch of it, any opinions out there?

 

I just added a 3" cat less DP from jmturbocoopers.com. Cheaper price than anything else I could find. Very nice build. SS and includes a 3" to 2.5" coupler to connect to existing exhaust.

I have had CEL for O2 sensor but am working with the vendor on that. He seems to think that I should be able to correct that code with some changes on how the o2 sensor is placed. We will see.

 

I have a riss racing catless DP (discontinued but very similar to the WMW one) and I absolutely love it. Beautiful sound and a very sharp increase in torque, Id definitely recommend it.

 

Also check out a catless DP by Evolve, it's like $300 for it. Listen to some videos on YouTube for them. Sounds great and good price!

 

What's the price on the jm turbo cooper dp?

 

Lots of people are going to argue there is no point to going catless because of how closed loop ECUs work nowadays, but if you get the car tuned correctly you get the most gains from a catless downpipe. The trick is getting it tuned!

 

$377 for the R56. http://www.jmturbocoopers.com/Mini-C...Down-Pipe.html

 

Thank you!

 

I got my from Evolve UK for $300. The fit was perfect. Sounds great.

 

Can you expand on this? (I'm being serious).

My point was that both will cause a CEL and the catless is half the price, and you'll probably get better performance and sound. You're right, I'm finding that the tuning is the hard part.

 

From what I've read here, a spacer or a couple of spark plug anti foulers, stacked one on the other, will eliminate the OBD2 code, but you have to insulate the downstream O2 sensor as it is temperature sensitive.

A more pronounced benefit will be found with a custom tune.

Dave

 

If you take a look at any technical article regarding how two oxygen sensors (one before cat and one after) calculate lambda values, they used closed loop logic. Basically the O2 sensors continuously tell the computer if the car is running too rich or too lean based on the load factor and environmental conditions of the engine. When you remove the catalyst the computer tries its best to compensate for the lack of catalyst. It's not going to harm your engine, but performance wise it will suffer a little bit. It sure sounds bossy though!

Here is a basic article...
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question257.htm

I have an Evolve ECU tune and they have a special calibration to recover some of this power and also a piece of coding that eliminates any catalyst related CEL codes from populating. Cobb used to do something similar too.

Before I had the ECU tune but had a downpipe, my seat of pants meter felt a little bit of low-end torque was lost but it felt stronger on the top end. After I got it tuned, everything was much smoother.

 

Got a CNT racing catted downpipe $450Aus which included shipping from the US, you guys can get it for $350US and I think it's free shipping within the US. However I did have to grind where the top 02 sensor goes because the weld was blocking it but apart from that fits well and sounds good when you get on it with a nice loud deep burble on idle. Cheaper to go catless but for the slight increase in power over the 200 cell cat didn't like the idea of the added smell and pollution. Also not tuned yet so does throw a CEL.

 

http://www.cntracing.com/CNT-Racing-...dp-mini-nc.htm

I ordered this from CNT, it arrives today. I had a 5% coupon too, so $236 shipped. It has a resonator to hopefully keep the noise down. Will keep you posted.

scubbysnacks: how's the quality of the CNT? You're the first person I've seen that's running it. I took a little bit of a leap of faith as it seemed like other forums like the brand (Subaru, etc.)

 

Itjpunk7 you do get what you pay for but I was still a bit pissed that I had to grind that weld but I will say considering the price it seems to be good quality and fit was good and I saw the number 304 stamped on the inside so assume that's the stainless steel it's made of. Been running it for about 2 months no problems but also not a great deal of mileage as it's the girlfriends car and I just use it as a toy on the weekend.

 

Great, thanks. Do you have it with a stock catback or aftermarket?

I just got it today. Looks pretty nice. Not sure when I'm gonna be able to put it on. Contemplating doing it myself, but I may be in over my head because ever since moving to Philly I'm limited on tools and workspace. May end up being more hassle than its worth. But I was quoted $170 for install by a local MINI shop. What's the going rate for it for everyone that has one?

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

No worries mate, yep stock cat back and did the install myself as you've properly already read it is a pita but with patience and minimum tools doable I also used new turbo and bottom gasket and glad I did wouldn't want to go back in there to fix a leak.

 

Did you notice any faster spool? I may have read over it, but what size dp did you get? Coming from the mk4 community the general consensus was 3 inch dp you will lose a little bottom end and gain a fair bit top end, 2.5 inch little bit of gains all over. I truly never understood the logic of it,but it is what basically everyone went by. I don't have a tune as I'm waiting for the jb+ and I'm hoping to see the 10hp and 12tq evolve claims.

 

Do you have any smoke from tail pipe after riss racing DP ... Most of R56 has

 

Riss is 2.5". I really haven't paid attention to spool time. Most time on the track I'm at 3500+rpm anyways.

 

so do you think i really won't see any gains because i'm on a stock tune and/or i will lose power down low until i get a tune?

 

You will lose power down low but gain higher end power on stock tune.

 

this is slightly disheartening. I hope the loss of low end power isn't too bad. It's going to be a while till i get a tune.

 

No experience ??

 

+1

I'm tellin' ya, if you have an N18 MINI focus on something else besides powertrain for now