I currently have M7 16% supercharger pulley, 2% crank pulley, and BMP intake on my 03 MCS running with JCW Program. I'm thinking of getting the Alta Twin charge or M7 Cosworth stage 2. Both are reallly good.. i really can't decide. please help me out. need advice about both. or even other more worth mod. good and bad advice. worth it or not? the power gain? problems after install? any more mods need to be done for the kit to work better?? .... PLZ give me ur opinions! I'm in vancouver.

 

It's the top item in the Drivetrain forum as a sticky:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=59630

They have LOTS of info about the Twurbo kits, probably all you'd need to know.

RM2k5

 

(update: RallyMini2005 just beat my post.. I too will read his referenced thread)

Sent Email to Alta asking them to educate me on how you can boost power that much without compromising other components (drive train, whatever...)

I am not a mechanic, but it seems unrealistic that you can bump up the engine horse power by 100% give or take, and not have other components need modification, or be prone to fail...

Never heard back from Alta. It has been about 4 weeks.

No info or comment regarding M7 Cosworth...

Good Luck, report back what you find out / do

 

Honestly, I'd be a little wary of either. The "twurbo" is brand new and may suffer from lack of developement. I only say that because they chose to release it without finishing the kit (ecu).

The Cosworth may be okay but there also seems to be little info out there.

I chose the TurboKompressor because it's been out for 2+ years and several iterations. The same can be said for the SPI kit.

My .02

 

Ask Tuls about the SPI kit. He has a lot of experience with it.

 

What is it you are looking for? How will you use the car?

 

I am thrilled with my Cosworth car. There are more than a few owners out there who will answer any questions you have. Honestly, the kit didn't affect the reliability of my car one bit, nor would I have installed it if that would be a side effect. It's more civilized now than ever, and it perfectly suits my needs- FAST and a treat to drive.

I have no experience with the Alta kit. I would shy away from any kit that does not include a pre-tuned, idiot-proof fuel map, and I would recommend larger injectors if you're gonna turbo, since even people with reduction pulleys have done so. I don't believe that the basic Alta kit does either... but I'm no expert on it.

My biggest advice is ask around and choose what suits you. Echo of onasled: what are your goals out of the car? That's the best gauge of which suits you best.

 

I would recommend calling both vendors and talk to them. Also look into the helix twin charge kit. www.helix13.com Eric is a well respected tuner. Good luck -- Johan

 

Or the SPI Kit... it's been out for the longest.... Personally I would stay away from the Alta kit as like others said, it was rushed into production and released without an ECU. Also, it doesn't include an intercooler, something which I think one should have with a TwinCharge pushing 250WHP+... SPI or Helix would be better bets. No clue about the Cosworth but I think TwinCharge is cheaper?

 

All the turbo kits seem to be fine, as long as you don't go crazy w/ the boost. The temptation is great, but you will pay for it in the end, that is if you're running stock pistons. Some engine work and you can have LOTS of fun And not get anywhere since you'll be spinning your wheels all day

 

MadHatter,
Sounds like we missed your email, or AOL ate it up! Sorry for that! An email is very hard to communicate exaclty what is needed and recommended with this kit. There are so many variables, and options that i think we can better serve you by giving us a call or giving us your phone number.

This kit wasn't rushed into production at all. 3 months isn't rushing.

It seems many people are scared of these kits and that they will blow their car up. I am sticking up for all the TC kits out there in saying that the kit is not at fault, its the tuning that goes with them.

The kits are simple, header, downpipe, intake, boost tube, and some hoses to connect oil and coolant to them. But the amount of boost, timing and fuel needed to run them properly are all the varibles.

Lets take our kit. All the parts are there to make a turbo function with the Supercharger, and funciton well. But it depends on what is wanted from kit. A little more power, a lot more power, or break my axles power. We supply the tool to do all of those. The kit doesn't come with the IC, but we make one for it, so add that in the price, and we are still competative with others.

We offer larger 550CC injectors, and a fuel pump to go with our kit that will allow for 350WHP. Again the tools are there.

The one tool we don't make is the ECU. We don't make one nor will we ever. But we have been working with Hydra (yes it has been a while) to build a plug and play stand alone ECU. This will be the ultimate tool for tuning the Mini to crazy HP levels. When this is avalible we will sell this with base maps for our TC kit at different boost levels.

Since this isn't a tool we sell, everyone that buys the kit and wants to run more HP than the lowest 1.1 bar setting, we tell them they need to buy an Apex AFC, Unichip, HKS F-con, or one of the many other ECU tuning devices. Then secondly someone that can tune the tune the car. Both the ECU, and tuner are a very important part of the mix in gettting your TC kit to function and operate forever.

We released the kit before the Hydra was availible because there are plenty of competent customers and tuners out there that can tune the car with the avalible tools. But once the Hydra is shipping, you will see many people out there with reliable HP and a TC kit.

 

Any dyno's? I know you've stated certain costumers making certain numbers, but any actual dynos? How much time until the Hydra ECU is finally finished?

 

Sorry, the customer with the dyno graphs hasn't sent them to us. But i will poke a little and see if i can get those right away. He is not a forum user or he would have posted them already. He also just did the 1/4 mile in just over 14, with a very high trap speed of 108. So Mid 13's are knocking on his door! This run was with the TC turned on for 1-2 gear with huge bogs, then it was turned off for the other gears (during the run!)

The Hydra is a tuff one. Lets say everything is done now. I wouldn't be able to ship ECU's for about 3 weeks due to the main chip they use being out of stock. So with that said, in 3 weeks all the little details will be worked out like the CEL's that are produced with the way it is hooked up, and other minor details. Other than that, the ECU functions, and everything just fine, but its how the OEM ECU is integrated and how we can keep everything working 100% like stock. But at this point there will be no Cruise control, but possibly traction control.

But the possibility to have this ready in 3-4 weeks is very high. But Qty's will be limited.

This customer with the dyno numbers and all that was using and AFC by the way. So maybe optimized fueling, but definaltey not optimized timing.

 

Wow, impressive trap speed... I'm sure he could hit mid-low 13s with some good rubber... Glad to see everything is finally being worked out... Good luck with everything!

 

how do you "turn off" the TC? I thought the wastegate spring pressure would be high enough to still create some boost from the turbo..no?

 

MassMiniac,
Sorry for the slow response! The TC can't be turned off. Even with the Waste gate door "flapping in the wind" the boost is still about 1.1bar at redline. This is because the WG hole is small enough to create some boost do to the restriction. Yes its only 4-5 lbs, but with the larger SC it keeps the low boost pretty low.