Hey guys been a long time since I left the MINI world. Got rid of my Manic R55 a few years back for an F55 but the only thing available at the time were the piggyback units. I'm thinking about picking up an F56 JCW. When I was working for MINI the F cars only had piggyback units available and they were bland to say the least my Dinantronics would throw overboost faults all the time and it really just didn't stack up. Do the F cars respond to real mods like the old R chassis cars did? Who's the go to these days? Manic was where it was at back then but from reading they've kind of gone by the way side? Are you guys making reliable power? Any insight is appreciated.

 

I have run NM piggy back, JB4 cat and catless, Bytetronic stage 1 catless and now Marios tune by @MarioKart . I have never had issues with any other them apart from something that was my own fault with the JB4 where it throws a check engine light if you are catless.

NM piggy back I was 100% stock and this gave a solid bump in the butt horse power department but I wanted to go catless with more parameters.

The JB4 connects to multiple sensors for what I will call a stage 2 piggyback tune. This one certainly gave more power especially when I went catless and added an intake. But since it runs a check engine light without a cat I decided to go to Bytetronic.

Bytetronic are great to work with and having a proper tune done for your car is a night and day difference. The piggy backs will add more boost but a real tune is much more than that it changes how the power is delivered and the way the car drives is completely different. On the Bytetronic I did the rest of my upgrades to improve airflow and larger intercooler. The car was a monster. I felt as soon as I put my foot down I had all of the boost at my disposal, which is what scared me. I wanted a gradual power band not a spike. In my own opinion which is by no means a professional one I did not feel comfortable with the tune.

Then came Mario's tune. He has been tuning minis since I got into the Mini game with my R56 and has a great reputation. I have rode in R56s with his tune and was very impressed. The power comes on strong but controlled. I have not yet dyno'd the car but I would imagine it a great curve instead of a spike up. I went with his stage 2 flame tune which the only drawback for me was mail my computer half way across the country but it went smoothly. Mario let me know as soon as he received it, when the flash was done (which was that night), and that it shipped the next morning. I did not fully seat one of the connectors on the computer and was having some issues but he called and helped me determine what the issue was.

All in all I think no matter who you go with you're going to be happy (except maybe Dinan). I would be happy to answer any questions you have but both Byteronic and Mario are active on NAM and I would recommend talking to them about what you would like to Mini to do.

 

Do you know why the code was up when you went catless? Did the downpipe not have a spacer on the sensor 2 position to pull the sensor out of the way and read "cleaner"? If it did, is this due to another calculation that is being performed by the ECU that will not allow you to trick the computer? Sorry for the bevy of questions but I'm about to decat an F55 and don't need the hassle of a check engine light. Thanks for any insight you can provide!

 

Even with the spacer on the sensor it is not flawless so I would get the back 2 running rich code from time to time. Some days it would just clear itself and go for a while without a code but then it would come back. I talked to Burger about it and if they could program that out, but they are EPA friendly and did not want to get in trouble for eliminating that code. I do not think any of the downpipes on the market can 100% eliminate the code from happening. My opinion is how the bungs need to be position on the downpipe. Since from the factor they go straight up the aftermarket world also has them go straight up to be able to reuse the factory heatshield. I have a hunch with them up and down the gases naturally rise and just hangout around the sensor. When running a scan tool driving around the levels are within the range to not throw a code but at idle they show running rich.

 

Gotcha! I just bought a Modsport decat downpipe and hopefully won't have this issue. I live in a county that has emissions testing so they reset and auto-run to ensure that nothing is out of whack. There are a couple of tuned car friendly shops in the area so I may have to buy someone a lunch... ;-) I run 93 in mine so wonder if a tank of good ol' 87 would help alleviate that or do quite the opposite.

On another note, were you happy with the power gains with the JB4? From a dig was it a big jump? I noticed these little motors are wound like an 8 day clock and have all the power fairly low in the power band. Did you just use the stock MAP's in the tuner or did you get comfortable enough to play around with them? Looking for any advice as I am wanting to run this (competitively) in a 14 second True Street class this June. I'm not looking to have a Mini with a built motor, just wanting to play in an arena that this car can handle with bolt-ons.

 

Actually that will help you with emissions. Higher octane fuel contains higher amounts of combustible chemicals, which means it's formulated to burn longer, in higher performance engines. The fuel won't completely burn up inside the chamber during normal driving, meaning that every time a piston fires, a little bit of unburnt fuel will be pushed out of the exhaust, causing much MORE emissions to come out of the engine.

The power gains were okay from the JB4. Basically it just raises the max boost by 4 pounds of you run map 2. Map 1 only raises it 2 pounds. That's where a custom tune comes in handy. They can run more than 4 but can do it on a curve and it would also eliminate the check engine light period.

Are you on a manual or automatic transmission? If manual your best upgrade is going to be an LSD and a power flex motor bushing. They are drastically going to help you get the power down on a front wheel drive car.

 

Auto. No amount of convincing worked for my wife to buy a stick. We live in the city so she didn't want the hassle of a stick in start stop traffic.

 

You may still want to try a powerflex motor mount bushing as it will help with wheel hop significantly. Also not sure what part of Europe you are located in but you could reach out to Lohen Mini in the UK. They build some pretty wicked cars and would be able to help you with parts and questions.

 

LoL! I'm in the Houston, Texas part of Europe! I really should put together my bio in here. Maybe I will do that now! -RR

 

I looked up the Powerflex Lower engine mount bushings. All I could find was the yellow (Part PFF5-1320) for the lower engine bushing on this year. 25% stiffer than OEM. Is this the one you are using or do you have the purple or black versions?

 

Ha sorry I was reading another post where someone was asking something similar and were from the EU. I am running the yellow with the black insert. I might bump up to the black race version all together though as this car is not a daily driver and is only use on the track or spirited drives. If it was a daily driver you might just want to go with the yellow and black insert.