I'm in the process of doing a bunch of design/promotion stuff for my local dealer who is starting its own factory-backed tuning shop. In return for my services, I'll get a bunch of upgrades for my car. Pretty cool, huh? They deal primarily with Mini Mania, but my understanding is that they have access to other vendors as well. I've made a list of a bunch of stuff I want with an emphasis on going fast while keeping the car streetable and not too loud. Would be interested in hearing what you guys would change about this list and why. ENGINE: Mini Madness intake, Quicksilver exhaust, and EVOTECH ECU upgrade. Want the pulley upgrade, but want to wait 'til the software issues get worked out. HANDLING: Mini Mania rear adj. swaybar. Springs (no brand preference listed, so probably whatever Mini Mania sells.) INTERIOR: ProMini gauge cluster (tach-mounted). What do you guys think? JR

 

>>I'm in the process of doing a bunch of design/promotion stuff for my local dealer who is starting its own factory-backed tuning shop. In return for my services, I'll get a bunch of upgrades for my car. Pretty cool, huh? They deal primarily with Mini Mania, but my understanding is that they have access to other vendors as well. I've made a list of a bunch of stuff I want with an emphasis on going fast while keeping the car streetable and not too loud. Would be interested in hearing what you guys would change about this list and why. ENGINE: Mini Madness intake, Quicksilver exhaust, and EVOTECH ECU upgrade. Want the pulley upgrade, but want to wait 'til the software issues get worked out. HANDLING: Mini Mania rear adj. swaybar. Springs (no brand preference listed, so probably whatever Mini Mania sells.) INTERIOR: ProMini gauge cluster (tach-mounted). What do you guys think? JR

Sounds pretty good. From what I've been reading however I would do the pulley before the ECU upgrade. Simply because the various ECU programs don't seem to be showing as much gain as the pulley and if you get a pulley at a later date your EVOTECH upgrade won't be optimized for it. You may want to do coilovers in place of just springs.

Cheers,

Paul

 

Wow! I wish more dealers would do this! THat's great! I definitely agree with Paul. The intake, exhaust and pulley should give you a good 25 or so extra horses which you be a great gain, IMO. Add the ECU later when you'll get one optimized for all of your mods. The ECUs will get better with time.

 

Thanks, guys. I'm not 100 percent sure the pulley will be covered by BMW, so I'll have to discuss with my dealer. In general, though, it's very cool that they see the value in offering go-fast stuff for MINI owners who don't want to kill their warranty! JR

 

>>Thanks, guys. I'm not 100 percent sure the pulley will be covered by BMW, so I'll have to discuss with my dealer. In general, though, it's very cool that they see the value in offering go-fast stuff for MINI owners who don't want to kill their warranty! JR

Typically the dealer, for warranty purposes, isn't going to like the idea of a pulley or ECU upgrade. The rest of the components are minor bolt on stuff and usually doesn't give much for the dealer to complain about.

Paul

 

Jayar,

They may be pretty excited by the pulley, just from the labor side.

Your list sounds good. I would have to back the other guys in saying that if you eventually want to do the pulley, you should wait on the ECU. Let me know if your dealer needs to set up a vendor outlet with me, as I haven't yet been talking with any dealers.

I am still finishing up the entire package, then I'll probably be going to some dealers with a package - intake, pulley, ECU, exhaust, springs, swaybar, brakes. Of course, it will be offered a la carte as well.

Let me know if I can help with any of this.

Randy
randy@mini-motorsport.com
720-841-1002