Hi Folks
i am starting this thread because i need peoples help with choosing what parts I need to purchase along the way to 300Hp. I grew up in the automotive industry, so we have some experience with this stuff. However this is my first Mini Cooper (but has been a dream car since the Gen 2's have been released). We had a Gen 1 car back when I was a kid. Thats a long time ago now. Anyway over the next couple years I am going to tear down and replace everything to make it as bullet proof as possible (fix all the manufacturer issues. We have a $10-15,000 budget). I was looking for a core to play with, but apparently that is not very common. So plan B is a tear down next Christmas and do the bottom end. Crank polish, crank bearing and seals, new forged connecting rods and forged pistons. We will replace the clutch and put in a torque steer drive shaft equalization kit. Torque steer is ridiculous now Im sure it will be crazy with 100 plus more Hp. We will then put it back together. The next step will be the top end. Valves, cams etc. Then we will do the turbo and all the air and exhaust. Then we will do the tuning. So after that long winded introduction, I have my first question. I am looking to purchase pistons at this time. I have been reading about the CR for R56 N14 turbo. there are some different compression ratios listed. There is 10.5:1 (which would be for stock I assume), 9.5:1 which would be for an S maybe, and there is 8.3:1. I am looking at the 8.3:1 CP Forged Tritec Pistons. Would these be a good piston for this application? I only want to buy these once so opinions are welcome. Please give reasons why. Im trying to learn as much as I can through about the Mini with this exercise.

Thanks Folks. Luv your Mini