my son has an 05 Mini Cooper S w/ 100K miles. I would like to do some performance upgrades to the vehicle but not sure where to start. I know with my GTO the first and foremost thing was the intake and headers. With the Mini being a 4 Cyl does replacing the stock manifold with headers really add that much?? Also he had a friend literally cut off his exhaust (i was pissed) just before you get to the mufflers. I am looking at replacement exhaust systems and looking for something kinda throaty. Honestly I think thats what he was going for when he had his friend cut off the stock exhaust thinking it would sound like my GTO.....NOT!!! Any help is greatly appreciated....Thanks!!

 

Not sure what has been done to the vehicle, but some of the major failures on the motor around that mileage are the following...

I changed the plugs(NGK 1 step cooler), wires and ignition (MSD),
Supercharger oil a must do on the list at 100k,
supercharger pulley i went with 16% M7
Belt tensioner, and belt, all seals replaced, power steering lines all replaced,
AC replaced, water pump probably forgetting something.
ATI Crank pulley...

I noticed a huge difference in performance when i did my suspension i changed my spings went with M7, H Sport rear adjustable sway bar, rear lower control arms, front tie rods were seized so those were replaced did the polyurathane control arm bushings and front sway bar bushings OHHH YEAH and a M7 strut tower brace...all this made a huge difference in performance.

A lot of people say that doing the rear adjustable sway bar and supercharger pulley are the 2 best performance gains.

As for the header if you want loud get the stepped race header from Revolution Motor Works with a JCW cat back in my opinion its the best sound. Add the Cam and a tune and youll have some nice gains. Not sure where your located and your local emissions if there not existent i would take that route.

I have an 06 MCS JCW that im planning on keeping forever i drive it all the time 121k on it and would not be afraid to drive it around the United States and put thousands and thousands of miles on it without a single problem but you have to keep up with the maintenance or it will bite you in the ***...and make sure you never go to the dealer my buddy works on mine and charges me about a 1/16 of dealer cost all the work i did to mine if i paid the dealer i could of probablu purchased a new Mini and paid it off lol

Happy Motoring! hope that helps.

 

When we bought the vehicle used it had around 70K miles on it. Since then (Ive done all the work myself) I have replaced the harmonic balancer, starter, alternator, plugs and wires and strut towers. I have also installed a CAI. All maintenance is done by me. As far as the Supercharger Oil that will be the next thing on the list and from what I have read its a PIA. As for the power upgrades I was planning on starting with the exhaust first, its obnoxiously noisy at the moment and possibly doing a different size pulley as you stated.

 

Supercharger pulley and rear adjustable sway bar are the best bang for the buck mods.


(he might like this one)


There are a lot of different set-ups out there and different combinations its almost endless and its all really personal preferance in the end some like loud some like quiet some like in-between.

Hope that helps.

 

As the others have said, the smaller supercharger pulley (15% or 17%), CAI, and exhaust are kinda the "holy trinity" -- the first three mods a lot of owners do for their R53s. I bought the Invidia N1 catback a couple of years ago & love it. Louder and lower than stock but no drone, not ricey in the least, and less expensive than the Milltek or Stratmosphere. The rear sway bar is a great first mod for the suspension.

Last year I added the shorty header (with high-flow cat), Dominator cam, and 450cc fuel injectors (all from RMW), and had Jan tune my car. When the budget allows, this is a great second phase of power mods to really make the MINI (and driver) happy

 

Have you had the car dyno'd since the tune to see what you are putting down? I'd be curious to know.

 

Yep, sure did. Had the car on a dyno while Jan tuned it. It was late Sept. in Florida, so the temp was around 95, and the speedshop has a Mustang dyno that's notorious for reading low. With all that, my car put down 216WHP & 192 lb ft TQ.

 

First off, the stock exhaust has two cans at the rear; one is a resonator and one is a muffler. I suspect both cans were cut off. The cheapest exhaust change is called the "One-Ball" where you cut out the resonator and run a pipe to the muffler. If you want to resurrect the stock exhaust for awhile, you could go the one-ball route.
My favorite is the Borla Sport (Race) cat-back which has a nice sound but can get some interior drone. Your son probably does not care about drone if he just cut off resonator/muffler.
The Milltek/Stratmosphere are louder than JCW but quieter than Borla Sport.

Rather than a Header, I would spend money on other mods first.

As stated, 15% pulley and larger rear sway bar are best bangs for the buck.

I really like adding front camber plates to increase negative camber for better handling.
Camber plates and 19mm rear sway bar are a great combination.

I also like adding aftermarket lowering springs for better handling and looks. Might also be a good time for new shocks.

 

Very cool, thanks.