Just wondering... I've seen claims that after a pulley mod (either 15% or 19%) that they've seen the power band of their MCS to be at a low 2600+ rpm all the way to 6000+.... my question is, as far as a stock MCS, where is the meat of the power band? starts at 4000+? or less? or more?

 

I say 4500-5500rpm for stock.

With unichip 4500 to redline...especially powerful after 5000rpm

 

really? I thought once you pulley and chip it, you'll get more low end power..... I guess that's my real question.... which is the best mod for low and mid end power...... thanks....

 

Torque reaches its plateau at 3500 rpm or so. The pulley adds torque across the board. This shows my completely stock MCS with and without the 15% pulley:

 

With my S in stock form, the only area I felt it has decent power was from 5k to redline. Before a pulley, I redlined it constantly. Now with my mods I feel like I have more torque at 2k RPMs than I did at redline stock. I'm not sure if the numbers say the same but I'd bet it's really close! Anyway, that's the main reason why I feel my MINI is better off now reliability-wise than stock b/c while I was always revving the supercharger and engine to the max, now 3/4 of the time I'm not. Even with the 19% pulley, at 4k RPMs I have a lot more power and am still revving the supercharger less than the stock S at redline.

 

I think you want to add a pully as Andy discribes on his chart to get the lower
powerband + high. I was thinking peak power...not the entire bandwidth on
my original post.

The Unichip on stock pully is very questionable at low rpm torque response
improvement over stock. The high feels good though. This is from my
actual experience on my car with the i/e setup.. I don't plan on adding
a reduction pully on my MCS...might still do the header.
It's fast enough for the streets.

 

Would be nice to see figures that were equalized for ambient air temp and pressure. Big difference between a base run at 11:30 AM and a test run at 7:30 PM. Unless the numbers are equalized already, which the chart does not state.

 

Both runs were done with stabilized coolant temp and IAT (within 5 degrees). Ambient temp was close as well.

 

Will a pulley and chip improve off idle response..IE taking off from a standstill on a steep hill?

 

I really like the affects of the pulley. I would agree with the first statement. I feel the torque is quite good @3,000 rpm up to 6,000 rpm. This is the real advantage of a supercharger, and something I think we may lack with the new turbocharged engine. The supercharger is so linear with very little "peakiness" that you get with a turbocharger. It is a very cheap mod and further accentuates the torque curve of the Mini. No other mod gives you as much power and torque across the rev range for the money. In fact, I don't think any other mod on the market right now, gives you as much hp or torque across the rev range for any price.

Andy's curves really shows how it feels.

I don't think anything is going to help the sluggishness of the system from 1,000 to 2,000 rpm, except for a new gear ratio. It just doesn't seem to want to go at extremely low rpms.

 

Agreed, there are several factors conspiring against low-end grunt:

Small engine (1.6L ain't much for a car that can weigh ~3000 lb with driver)
Low compression (8.5:1)
Relatively low boost at low RPM
Very, very tall first gear (about 1.5 times taller than "normal cars")

 

I thought of compression and the small engine size but I forgot about gearing. Once it's beyond 2k up a steep hill it's a regular car again but before that it's a banana slug. I've restorted to using the hand brake because I can't quite get enough power off the line on steep hills in San Francisco. For those in S.F., the one I am referring to is at Castro and Elizabeth streets. That's one steep momma!

Will lighter wheels help?

 

too bad Lombard is one-way downhill, and all switchbacks at that. Still a fun ride, even downhill.

Marty

 

Technically, there is another street in S.F. that has more turns then Lombard street but the name escapes me.