Hey guys, looking to do some engine mods in the coming few months, was looking to get some info on a "jcw" flash from mini themselves. Is this a thing? If so what are the requirements for it? I have an 03 mini Cooper s.

 

Most Mini dealers no longer have the equipment to access a DME from a first generation Mini. If you want an actual JCW tune you'd have to send your DME to a third party tuner, like Way Motor Works - but if you're going to do that just get Way's Quicktune . . far better

 

Are there other ways of getting it tuned, without shipping the DME out?

 

You can get a canned tune. How good are you at turning a wrench as there are lots of ways to mod your car and get some significant power without spending a ton of money.

Going to move this to the Mod section. If you have not already done so, may I suggest you check out that section as there are almost 12,000 threads on Gen1 Drivetrain mods.

 

You can buy a flash loader tool for about $300, which doesn't include the tune cost, and upload the new tune yourself. It will also store your old tune, or any other tunes you have if you need to change tunes. I think 10 is the max number of tunes it can hold.

If you are going custom, you download your tune and email it to the tuner. They'll email a new tune back to load. This can even be done on a dyno if everything is coordinated with the tuner. If you are getting a vendor canned tune, or JCW tune, they might be able to preload the tool so you can upload it as soon as you receive the loader.

Don't buy a used flash loader as they are locked to a single VIN unless reset and resetting is about $200.

 

Where are you ( OP ) located. There are Tuning Parties a few times a year in certain parts of the country with tuning from RMW. Florida, up north, RMW is in CA so could go straight to the source. Way is in Atlanta area..

 

Located in eastern PA, wrenching isn't the problem I have, I'll gladly do the mods myself, although I'm new to tuning, I saw the bytetronik kit and found it interesting, but was also put of a bit by how confusing that could get.

 

Helix 13 is in PA. Give them a call. They have the said Tuning Parties...

 

Depending on your budget and taking into consideration that you can do the labor, you could create one little pocket rocket. The only big ticket item you need is a good cat-back. With that in place, a pulley, a cam, bigger injectors, cai and a tune would put up in that 220-230 bhp range, perhaps a little higher.

That is a night and day difference. How many miles on your engine??

 

Your welcome to ship the DME to us as we do a 24hr turn around from the time we get it to time we ship back. This saves you from buying a flash tool
We offer both the JCW
https://www.waymotorworks.com/jcw-ec...-cooper-s.html

or our Quicktune
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-ec...-cooper-s.html