I know there are a lot of products from several manufacturers in development right now, but does anyone know the status of ECU tuning packages? Certainly this is a practical and relatively painless (installation wise) way to gain some significant power. Mini Madness suggests a 22hp gain with their upgrade alone, or 38hp when combined with their intake. This would bring the "S" to 200 hp without the installation expense and durabillity worries associated with the pulley mods. It seems like a lot of bang for the $750. Has anyone tried this Madness package, or know of other ECU mods that perform to this level? Randy, I remember you mentioning ECU work a while back from another tuner, any updates?

 

DK23,

I am still working in the development of a "piggy-back" ECU that is upgradable based on what other mods you have.

I have the ECU mod from EVO-Tech (the supplier to MINI-Madness) available, but it's flash programming, so the dealer can erase it with an update, and then you're out another $50 or so for EVO-Tech to reflash it again. Be leary of the 38 hp gain with just ECU and filter - I haven't done any independent testing on it. I would believe the 20 or so hp, and then maybe 26 or so in combination with the filter, and perhaps up to 30 with the ECU, filter and an exhaust.

Let me know if you're interested, as I'm working on having the upgrade laptop available here in Denver shortly. The other issue with flashing is that you have to package up your ECU and send it away, so your car is out of commision.

Available now:
Superchips - $300 or so, with almost no hp gain
EVO-Tech - $750 or so, with about 20 hp gain
Coming soon:
Piggy back Price NA, hp in development
GIAC (Garrett) Price NA, hp in development

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Randy

 

I know that someone over on mini2 has this package on his car. his Screen name is Silver 'S'. I'm not sure if he his over here too. His is the Dyno sheet that MINI-Madness has on their site. I think he has about 197 at the wheels.

 

Let me know if you're interested, as I'm working on having the upgrade laptop available here in Denver shortly.

How does the laptop upgrade work?

If the superchips show no HP gain, are the people that got them I've talked to just imagining that their cars are performing better?

Thx

 

"If the superchips show no HP gain, are the people that got them I've talked to just imagining that their cars are performing better?"

I had the Evo chip (with intake and exhaust) and it showed no gain; not to my butt, not to the dyno and not at the dragstrip. sent it back. Later found out that unless your firmware is 3.1 or greater, the chipping won't work. (I had prior to 3.1)

 

>>Let me know if you're interested, as I'm working on having the upgrade laptop available here in Denver shortly.
>>
>>How does the laptop upgrade work?
>>
>>If the superchips show no HP gain, are the people that got them I've talked to just imagining that their cars are performing better?
>>
>>Thx

miniblues,

Yep, they pretty much are imagining it. Here is a quote from the distributor in the US.

"Diamond Racing has brought Superchips UK technology back to the United States. Superchips UK has developed a chip for the New MINI Cooper "S". This chip gives a good boost to the new MINI Cooper Super Charged engine. This conversion increases the power from 165bhp up to 171bhp at 6,613rpm and torque from 203Nm up to 208Nm at 1,885rpm (power curves in Information/Help section of web site). The modification is not so much a performance upgrade as a throttle response improvement, making the vehicle crisper and livelier in the low to mid-range."

That's right, 6 horsepower. Like I said, not much of a gain.

As far as the laptop goes, we're still working on it. It would be a hook up between EVO-Tech and here, so that I would plug into your ECU and download the programming right to your ECU.

As always, I'd be glad to answer any other questions you have, so feel free to contact me.

Randy
720-841-1002

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