Help me decide what my first mods should be. I just got my 05 mcs home and broken in. I’ve got about $700 right now to spend. the parts I want are

alta 15% SC pulley 119.00
alta short shifter 179.99
M7 180degree thermostat 44.95
alta intercooler air diverter 169.99
Rear Sway Bar Forged 22mm By R Speed $189.95 buy it now on ebay
aero kit from classic prepainted 1000ish

and maybe
AGS w/ fiberglass Hs $ 299.00
invidia catback exhaust 500+

I'm considering fabricating the exhaust and intake to save money.

 

I would get the pulley, MTH ECU flash, sway bar, AGS, and have a one ball done. You will be very happy.

 

The_R1_Kid,
Aloha and welcome to NAM.

The first question to ask yourself is-
Do you want to keep your new warranty intact or not. If the warranty is important to you then you have to be careful doing big mods that void your warranty so early. Any problem, legitimate or not will not be covered once you do certain mods on certain systems. So if you do a reduction pulley you void your supercharger warranty. Are you willing to assume this risk- if not then do other things.

MTH is a flash of the ECU software- it's cheap and for some owners it helps but the dealership will consider messing with ECU as not a good thing if you run into trouble. You can remove it if needed.

Your best mod with no regard for warranty is-
Any 15, 17, or 19% reduction pulley upgrade. Get someone that knows how to install it to perform the upgrade. Errors can be made in installation.

Best mods that doesn't mess with your warranty-
Any cat-back exhaust including for you the One Ball for your stock exhaust- Your 05' MCS exhaust is OK and a One Ball mod is removing the left rear part of the muffler to lighten the whole system.

Any intake- although the AGS is quite involved and does alter quite a bit- hard to go back to stock compared to a drop in foam filter.

Rear sway bar- adjustable 22mm bar is good. R-speed is fine. Useful only with hard cornering or performance driving, not much use for normal street driving.

Any short shift kit and ****- easy, pretty safe. See if you can find another MINI owner with the same SS kit to try out first.

 

My 2 cents:

Rear Sway Bar Forged 22mm By R Speed $189.95 buy it now on ebay
alta 15% SC pulley 119.00
alta short shifter 179.99
alta intercooler air diverter 169.99

Then save your money for a Borla Exhust

 

dont bother doin ur own exhaust... if you want to save money... get an hai! just get the right k&n filter, and you are good to go, otherwise pilo racing makes an excellent cai for about 120

you dont need the alta ss kit.. pilo sells a 40% reduction kit for 89 bucks

mth is a serious money saver on a chip,.... runs MUCH better than stock too

exhaust? go by your sound preference... not numbers.... you want loud get magnaflow or borla race... mid tone uuc or miltek... quiet? borla street...

there are plenty of options...

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I didn't know about the MTH ECU flash. I'm thinking about doing:

M7 180degree thermostat
Hot air intake
one ball exhaust
alta 15%pulley and sway bar

In a few months the ecu flash and a short shifter. Can anyone think of anything else?

 

So you know with the MTH can be retuned at anytime for no additional cost.

So you can do it at anytime. It has been shown to even help a stock MCS.