Hello all, I recently joined this website/forum in hopes that people in here could possibly help me / guide me in my journey to modifying my mini! To start off, I have a 2015 Mini Cooper S hardtop 3 door Automatic. And some modifications that I have looked at so far (nothing crazy, some simple stuff) are 1. Nm power module 2. Cold air intake and 3. Pedal commander. But, I had a question in mind when I started thinking of the NM power module mod. To start off, do I need to upgrade any internal engine parts (for the NM module)? Or can I leave it stock and hope to stay somewhat reliable with it? Some of these questions may seem pretty obvious. I just need to have the obvious explained more to me haha. But anyways, any type of help or recommendations for my Mini Cooper would be much appreciated. Thank you! (If posted on the wrong forum, I am very sorry!)

 

You won't need to do any engine upgrades with that NM power module, probably an intake will get you maxed out with whatever that module does.

If you're really looking for bang for your buck where you can really feel the difference (and without having to upgrade the engine internals), below is what I'll recommend:
- upgrade intercooler
- upgrade to catless downpipe (Most significant power mod, but will give CEL unless you have a tune to address it)
- upgrade to a cone intake system of some sort
- get your ECU tuned fully, ByteTronik stage 2 is a very good one.
You'll get about 250whp/275wtq safely with the above list of mods, and the drive feels awesome.

If you're going for more than the above, then you'll need to fit your engine with stronger pistons. And possibly look at clutch replacement if you're going for more than 300whp.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, they are definitely going to help out a lot! I did forget to mention however, that my car is an automatic. And i heard that some modifications cant be done because of the automatic transmission. Would any of these work still with the automatic trans or are some of these a no go?

 

As long as you stay under 300whp, having it tuned to stage 2 or stage 3 will get you easily in the 250-290whp range, you'll be fine. These auto trans aren't that weak, and normally if something were to snap first, it'll be the piston rings and/or the landing zone between ring 1 and ring 2. That's the weakest link that I've collected so far. So depending on how far you get with power, you'll need to look at pistons and the rings before you go beast mode.