Hi all,

So my 2005 MCS arrives in a week or so and I'm already looking ahead to mods. My last car was a 2000 A4 1.8t and while I had heavily modified it I had always wished I had gone with a specially-designed kit to avoid complications. I'm pretty serious about modding the crap out of my MINI so the fact that Mini Mania provided some pretty aggressive kits appealed to me. However in looking around I have found very few people who have actually used their kits (1 or 2), and of those I have found, they all had problems. Can anyone provide me with positive feedback about Mini Mania's Stage 2 and 3 kits, or should I really just avoid them?

Thanks!

-mike

P.S. I realize the kit will need some changing for 2005 - MM says they are working on this.

 

i would tell you to get parts from multiple sources, since most of the kits sold here aren't developed by the same people anyways, you are probably looking more at kits developed by companies like bbr, west, hartage etc...

all of which involve similar parts... heck jcw was designed the same way

all in all, i still think the package thing is useless, you are better off choosing parts you want instead of ones developed together... alot of people have done so without ill effects

ps. i got alta parts, playmini, pilo, h-sport, ferodos, and none of them have given me trouble so far

 

Thanks kryiian, yeah I've been considering going a similar route. I liked that extra bit of comfort that a kit provides, being able to say "this is a car by X", but that doesn't seem realistic given the tuning market for the MINI. I think I will end up going the separate parts route. However I'd still like to hear from anyone with Mini Mania experience?

-mike

 

I bought most of my mods from Webb Motor Sports and am very happy with them. In fact only one item is not from Randy Webb (with the exceptions of wheels and tires) and it was the same item I could have gotten from him but it was a last minute decision to add it.

Earl

 

make your own, just decide ahead of time what you want
the mods for the cooper are really pretty simple now
and I would wait on upgrading the intercooler

 

I say find a local engine builder and do something worth your time and money. Mill the head to tighten compression, flow and polish. Yeah, you could source from MINI venders, but you'll find its less expensive than the market thinks.

 

Thanks for the suggestions all. I can't help but think that the aftermarket scene for the MCS is in its infancy - there just isn't that much out there compared to lots of other cars (I'm thinking of the A4 in particular)... I'm sure part of it has to do with the fact that it's still early in its lifespan, and I also think the fact that MINI holds a small marketshare in the overall car market added to the fact that I would guess that there are more drivers of MINIs who are not interested in modifications then there are, say, drivers of A4's, percentage-wise, adds up to a small aftermarket scene. It does seem that the handful of companies that are doing MINI stuff are generally very high quality people, e.g., Webb Motorsports.

Thanks again.

-mike

 

I've got a few MINI Madness parts, and would not hesitate to put in one of their full kits -- and might do it down the road.

 

I have had the stage II MCS kit from Mini Mania installed on both my MCS', well except for the plugs, and I couldn't be happier with them. I have had a great relationship with Mini Mania for almost 2 years now and it has been awesome working with those guys. I plan on getting the same kit on my MCS Convt when I finally get it, and bumping one of my MCSs to stage 3 and beyond! Good luck with your ride.

 

Thanks for the info Schlick, you have a PM.

 

mlebeau,
There are many approaches to modding-
1. Leave everything stock until after warranty, then mod.
2. Leave things mostly stock and do appearance mods only.
3. Leave things mostly stock and do only a few choice mods.
4. Leave things mostly stock and mod only one system- like audio/video.
5. Leave things stock and do bolt on removal mods for autocross-
(racing wheels, drop in air filter, racing harnesses, race numbers)
6. Mod only with kits that offer a warranty- JCW and Dinan kits for MC and MCS.

7. Mod only with kits offered by established companies that know MINI tuning- like Mini Mania. This has some appeal since there are various stages to the upgrades and the choice of various mods have been choosen to work together. This takes some of the guesswork out of doing upgrades. The warranty on parts would come from one source.

8. Take a tip from a MINI tuner- We have access to great info on NAM and excellent sponsors. Many of which do race, fix and tune MINIs. On the west coast there is M7, in Denver area is Webbmotorsports, in Philly is Helix13 and in Florida is Rspeed.net to name a few. You can literally do a full on kit but you need to set a budget and tell them what you want to use the car for.

9. Mix and match and have some fun figuring out what you want and how to do it on your own budget and in your own time. Consult with the Pros at Webbmotorsports, Helix13, M7, Rspeed.net, Outdoormotoring, Tirerack.com, etc for advice as they all know MINIs pretty well. The worst part of this approach is that there are too many choices and sometimes no clear winner.

A comment on budget- Set a limit whether a ceiling or limit per month or year. It's so easy to go overboard. Mods for an MC can reach $5000+ and for the MCS more like $10,000-20,000 if you can't control yourself.

A comment on planning- You really need to ask yourself from the beginning what you are using this MINI for. Street only, auto shows, autocross, track or a mix. Then you'll have to compromise comfort, noise, ride quality, mileage and performance depending on what your goals are. Amazingly the MINI can do all of the above well. Notice I didn't list dragstrip? That's going to take a bit more $$$ to do well.

Note on installing kits- once you install a kit it may have several upgrade components that allow for better performance. Some of us really enjoy the process of adding one mod at a time and even dyno the car to see the difference only one addition can make. With a kit you get the whole cost up front and the install cost as well so the cash invested is usually done in big chunks. With modding by part you can keep costs down to whatever your budget allows.

So in the end the MINI Mania kits are fine and an easy choice for those that like that option. Many of us on NAM are past that stage, we really like to tinker and do our own stuff. Kits are limited to the parts being used and in some cases limited/safe in design so that the warranty can be offered and not push the envelope for the MINI. To each his own.

 

Minihune, thanks for the info, a lot of it is stuff I already knew, and I have modded cars pretty heavily in the past going the 'piece by piece' route you mention. This is actually why I am considering the kit as I feel the kit route is 'past' the piece by piece route, instead of the piece by piece route being 'past' the kit route... Here are my reasons:

1) I went the piece by piece route with my last car because I didn't have the money to spend on a kit at the time, nor did it seem like a good option because I looked at the price and thought "boy, that's a lot of money". However, I ended up spending probably about the same for an amalgamation of parts that probably in the end was not as good a mix as a kit would have been from one of the well respected tuners (this was an A4 1.8t). I looked back and somewhat wished I had sucked it up and dropped more money at once and spent money on the kit instead. I did like the ability to add small bits here and there and see all the little differences, but I'm not sure it makes up for what I lost in terms of part-harmony, if you will.

2) The kit route doesn't seem to cost any more really, and as you say you can have some trust in the fact that all your parts were designed to work together and there is a company backing that design. With MM you also get that warranty, which I know some people have said is lame, but I think it is probably pretty useful to have. If you can spend the money up front (which I now can), it seems a better route to go for lots of reasons.

3) One of the things that attracts me to a kit also is that I would at least be able to have some of the fun of incremental upgrades. I wouldn't slap a Stage III on first thing or anything, I'd probably start with Stage I or II and move my way up whenever I felt some more performance would be nice. I think there are enough other little things I would do to the car (probably not engine-related) that would keep me satisfied with that feeling of adding little mods.

4) My biggest issue is that when I look at going just with the 'basics', a pulley, ECU, exhaust, maybe CAI, I can't see myself stopping there. Maybe I will be happy, although I think after having a 217whp A4, I might not be satisfied with just that... I need to get a ride in someone's MINI around here that is modded to that level, and that should help me decide. So I look at it and say, if I'm not happy with just that, it probably makes more sense to go with a kit, because I'm looking at some pretty serious modifications and with this being my only car and all, I'd like to make sure I protect the investment as much as possible by going through a warrantied kit, etc. I wouldn't say that MM's 245hp Stage III kit is 'not pushing the envelope on the MINI'... I'd say that's exactly what it's doing. And since I have a tendency to do that on my cars, I'm thinking it'd be better to go with a kit to avoid some of the headaches I had with one-off mods on my old car.

Excellent point you made, by the way, about stopping at the beginning and deciding what the car is to be for. It's going to be majority street-only, but my concern is that I'd like to start autocrossing, which would be difficult if I already had a number of mods. This is why I'm thinking I may autocross it a bit while stock (I'm not planning to mod for power until I'm really itching for it), and if I get really into that maybe it'll change my mind about adding a lot of power, since it will put me in a different class, and with little autocrossing skill that could be frustrating.

If you have any further comments based on all that I've said above, I'd love to hear them. Thanks again!

-mike

 

Mike,
I understand your points and it is true that when doing mods piece by piece you can run up the tab without intending to. Hence a budget beforehand.
Here's the problem I have with so called kits- some like the JCW and Dinan kits are thoughtfully designed and have some R&D to back up their goods and offer a warranty. That's great if you need a warranty and some of us appreciate it. For others these kits don't go far enough on performance for the total price of the kit installed. You end up paying more to cover the cost of the warranty plus you get some performance-maybe not to the max.

The Mini Mania kits are staged so you can start at one level or jump up to higher levels of performance for more cash. This is OK but the parts themselves are not made or designed by MM so some of think we can mix and match parts to get more of what we want.

For the DIY MINI tuner this can be a good thing or as you say- a problem.
Many of us don't make the right decisions on parts and once installed we may decide we made an error and end up taking it off and buying another replacement mod. Been there done that. It's costly I agree. One has to do their homework and be thoughtful about modding and not rush into things if you want to not overspend and get quality products. If you don't want the responsibility of that then the kits might be a good option.

As for autocrossing in a 2005 MCS- I would highly recommend trying autocross in a stock class first. You are allowed any front swaybar (don't change it), any drop in air filter (foam, gauze, green filter or K&N), any cat-back exhaust, and any DOT tire with at least 140 tread wear on a stock sized rim (16x6.5 or 17x7 for MCS). Once you do mods you will send your MCS into much more competitive classes which would be really tough to do as well as in stock class and be a big money pit if you are not careful.

Good luck