RMW TVS900 FMIC kit with E85 upgrade on a RMW 1.8L stroker

 

This is why you “build” a car over several years.

I have the complete RMW set up with the ( BVH, Grand AM CAM , 550’s 17%, RMW Header and on and on). I did the complete suspension..blah blah blah. You name it it has been done and done right.

I finally got rid of the biggest R53 issue, the darn OEM ECU and now have a ViPEC all installed and tuned by JAN with my Meth kit. My car has been built over several years and looks like a garage queen but has 104,000 miles on it. Is it fast ? For a MINI yes.

All need to upgrade my front JCW brakes to Brembo JCW brakes sometime this summer if I can find a good deal.

Then is “RMW TVS TIME BABY’. Who hoo !

 

That's the one thing that's keeping me from doing more power mods to my MINI. Sure, I can toss $4,000+ at it for a new SC, IC, cam, injectors, head, tune, etc, etc, etc.........but at the end of the day, you are still left with a 250hp MINI that will get outran by most newer V6-V8 cars pretty easily. Hell, the newer Toyota Corollas have 300+hp V6's in them..........

At this point, I will stick with my 200-ish hp JCW and call it a day. It's never going to be super fast, but I love the way it drives...simple as that.

For the money you are better off buying an older Miata and dropping a stock LS1 in it....say hello 400hp without even breaking a sweat. Then throw another $2,000-ish at it for a single turbo kit, and now you are making 600+hp on pump gas.

 

So many threads on Sprintex and then all of a sudden I find this SC... I just put the Sprintex on my Mini after a nice long month wait because of production lag, but I'm hearing I should've went with this?? So far a few hundred miles in on my new Sprintex and that thing pulls so much harder than the stock SC. I have my Mini tuned from Mynes, cam, upper and lower pulleys on the stock SC, blah blah blah and I left the pulley on the Sprintex alone and feels way more powerful now. But who's pulling more power, this EATON one or Sprintex? Also the price seems a lot more for EATON and is it worth it? I have an 05 with 119,000 miles on it. I baby her but I also upgrade her when I can. Any input as to which SC is better would be great, not just opinions. I know Jan has his opinions from RMW but he has an opinion about EVERYTHING.

 

IMO, while the TVS can make more power overall, the Sprintex is more DIY friendly and the second gen units are much more reliable than the older ones.
plus the Sprintex kits are pretty complete and less expensive overall.
Remember, the above graph is also on a stroker motor with e85 on Church's DynoPack dyno. Take away the e85 tune and extra displacement and you'll lose plenty of that HP. That post is to show what's "possible", not what is normal.
Overall it will still be more than the Sprintex, but at a cost as well.
Honestly, be happy with your Sprintex, if you want more, you have that option with just simple pulley changes and a retune. The Sprintex with the 60mm pulley and some W/M or e85, is honestly very fun and enough for most anyone, and it will put to shame most other cars in the Mini's class. (It will blow the tires off almost anywhere in 1st gear)


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I've gone through most options, and if you really want to compete with the newer V8's, you need to go turbo and skip the S/C's all together, but.... It's nowhere near as easy of an undertaking, and will be costly. And it will still be a Mini.
Honestly it all depends on if you just want to go fast or if want to go fast in a Mini.
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Ya I won't ever go to a turbo. Honestly I love that whine, if it doesn't whine it isn't mine... Ha... But thank you for the info, I did however leave the factory pulley on the Sprintex SC, I'm wondering if it's worth putting on the reduced pulley. I mean, it's boosting about 15 psi now with the Sprintex pulley but will a few more PSI just be over spinning the SC and not getting much power from it? I was boosting the same on my stock SC with the 15% reduced pulley so already it was an upgrade just being the charger alone. Plus have you heard those things? Man, they make the stock SC's sound like whiny babies compared to this thing. It's a deep whine that sounds more muscle car. I like it. But if this one takes a dump I'll be sure to check this SC out and swap it. I plane on keeping my R53 till I die, MINI is killing that car so at least the older models are staying somewhat small :P

 

Also any good recommendations on a tune or flash tune I can do? I had Mynes do it about 10 years ago after ABF Tech (which is long gone, Dez works for a MINI dealership now...) had installed the cam and 550 injectors. They got it to about 200 hp after 4 or 5 runs. I have since upgraded the exhaust manifold, lighter rods and pistons, ported head, this Sprintex SC obviously but should it be dyno tuned again or can i do something myself? Im in so cal so RMW is close by but I already know Jan's feelings about Sprintex and will probably tell me to hit the road and Mynes never gets back to me... Any suggestions will help because tuning is a make or break kind of deal...

 

Mynes is now ByteTronik, I'd message them and see if their current tuning options suit you.
They just got done doing my turbo conversion tuning.

 

It's hard for me to say on the pulley.
I saw 17.5-18 psi on the 64mm pulley and 19.5-20 on the 60mm.
But I honestly wouldn't do the 60mm without W/M.
But the 60mm did put me in the 260+ whp range without it, but it got pretty warm in summer with it.

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Sorry double post

 

A small boy says to his mother "Look Mom those guys are putting more money into that cute little MINI than they will ever be able to sell it for." To which the Mother says "Yes son, that is what many men do."

Sounds like me and my car.

 

I was once asked "why did you need to do that?"
My response was...
What's "NEED" got to do with it?

 

Wondered if anyone has installed and run this new SC. About this time every year I get the “bug” for more power. Good to know that Jan sells them but wondered if there are any results here?
blnawy. Have you been happy with your turbo setup? What would you think cost would be compared to this new SC since I have most of the needed mods already?

 

I'm guessing that doing a custom turbo setup, having to have stuff fabricated up for you (unless you can do it yourself), and doing all of the installation and tuning to make it work is going to cost you as much as your car is worth...if not more.

What about installing a 50hp wet nitrous kit? Easy...cheap....works great with the supercharger to cool the intake charge. If it's jetted right, I'm pretty sure no additional tuning would be required.

...just an idea...

 

do they even allow those at the track? I wonder how many hpde sessions a tank would last, bet that is more expensive

 

I've thought about that but my goal is 300+hp and would love to have a Mini that would run at the 911 crowd.

 

I thought Jan had a turbo setup but repeated questions on this forum about price are silent from RMW. WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW A PRICE.

 

Overall yes, and I wouldn't consider going back, I've actually only had a few issues, and all of those either had to do with my car specifically or having to rethink what you're used to with some of the systems like vacuum.
As far as cost, yes, it would be more expensive, if you didn't source used components like your turbo, and doing much of the work yourself. It's still a custom setup, the builders fab skills make a big difference.
Plus as in everything, it depends on what you want, if your interested in a system that works with the stock bottom end, meaning close to OEM boost levels, you're probably looking at $3000-5000 depending on what you can do yourself and what you need done for you. The Exhaust/Turbo manifold is the most difficult part, it's not only the most difficult to build, it dictates the positioning of many of the other components. Most everything else, can be sourced or built by by a good -to- avg. garage mechanic. Plus power levels dictate clutch concerns.
To do a big power setup, it's not the fab work that costs more, it's all the needed components to make that happen, realistically with engine build, clutch and turbo system your looking at $10-15k, depending on what you do yourself.


Cost is simply not an issue, most any modification is going to be value prohibitive, all of this depends on how much enjoyment the individual gets from the results. For me personally I also get enjoyment from doing the actual work almost as much as the results.

Yes...absolutely... A simple, 50 shot of wet nitrous would absolutely be cheaper to get a 250 whp car close to 300 whp, and be much easier, but for most there's a real stigma around using it, and there is a learning curve to overcome to use it safely.

For 300+ WHP, turbo really is they only way to go as far as reliability, while the TVS will get you there, in the real world (Pump gas, mildly built motor) anything above 300-320 WHP "ish" is starting to push it's limits. With turbo those numbers, while more expensive, are considered easily attainable, and no where near its limitations on either the induction system or the engine.

To put it in perspective, stock bottom end, Head, Cam, Turbo, and Injectors, should get you close or near 280-300 WHP, with only 18 psi. or so.

Problem is, the whole "kit" idea, so far there are no real kits, even though there have been cars done, there are still variables being worked out and mass producing some of the items to have on a shelf "just in case" is a pricey proposition.

The ByteTronik team is also working on a kit, but there's will be an in-house build, you take them your car and they do the install and tuning.
Honestly, because of the fab work and variables in play, this may be the only real viable solution to a kit, esp from a business standpoint, realistically, the unknowns involved with selling and standing behind a "kit" for a project this involved, to the general public (with far varying skill levels), could quite frankly be a real nightmare.

 

With the mods I have and the Bytetronic I’m part way there. I won’t be the guy wrenching but we have a great shop who’s done some turbos. Advanced Auto Fabrication is a Mynes tuner and has tuned my car. One consideration I have is the State of Wa does a CEL test but not sure how that would go.
It sounds like my choice is Turbo or TVS. I like the Turbo idea and I think I could get it done aroun 10k??

 

The only CEL issue is going to be a 1238 (high manifold pressure) code, even if your not running past the MAP sensor range (there is no way to adjust it with the stock ECU) it will still read an issue with the way the boost comes on.

But.... Simply staying out of heavy boost for a few days prior to the plug in, after clearing the code, is actually just a matter of stopping yourself from causing it, it's not difficult to do at all, and only needed to pass the test, then back to the fun! Until the next test.

 

Can that code be cleared wit a scangauge? Will $10k get me there?

 

Should be no issue, I use a cheap AutoZone OBDII scanner to clear it.
As far as cost, for just the conversion, again, shouldn't be an issue. Most of the cost will depend on the amount you need done and the amount you do, plus how stealthy do you want it.

I really don't think we should get into too much more detail in this thread, it's been hijacked from the original topic pretty much already. Plus the TVS is still actually an easier DIY option for most.

I'll get into adding some info to this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-cooper-s.html
when I get some more time, it really should be discussed more.

 

Agreed. See you at the other thread. Thanks for the help and experience.

 

Looks like my option between TVS and Turbo is boiling down to TVS. Too much cost difference and the TVS will get me pretty close to what I want. Does anyone have any experience with the TVS?