I'm a possible future MCS owner. Doing my research first. I currently have a 01' Wolfsburg Edition VW Jetta 1.8Turbo chipped, 3"downpipe and no Cat. Currently have around 185-190 wheel HP. I run usually between half a car or neck to neck in front of 02' 4.6 Mustang GT racing 1/4. I test drove the Mini S which my brother is a sales rep. I felt in love with the handling and looks!!! My only concern is HP. I want similar accelaration to my VW. I don't know any Mini enthusiast around here, so I'm kind of confused with the mini S tunners. They're indicating different HPs and no Dynnos to show. I want to know what HP to expect with these mods to the wheels!
So I thought what better way to find out, by asking true Mini people!

*Pulley.
*Chip??
*Cold Air Intake system(not drop in square)
*Exhaust (not cat )

Without labor I'm calculating $1500 is this about right? Looking to get at least 185hp to the wheels with these mods. Is this possible? And what brands are good?

Thanks !
Christian
USA, FL.

 

I would think $1100-$1200 without labor and WITHOUT the chip. ECUs right now for the MINI S are overpriced and "underpowered", IMHO. They go around $700-800 and don't give a whole lot. ECU is one to wait on.

 

Christian,

Welcome :smile: :smile:

Pulley $200, 15 or so hp at the wheels
Cold air intake $239, 7 or so hp at the wheels
Cat-back exhaust (no change to the cat) $599 - 1100, 6-14 or so hp at the wheels
ECU - still working on it. There are a couple of options available right now, but I tend to agree with greatgro on the topic

With these mods, you will be around 180 at the wheels, so your goal is totally attainable. The pulley labor can be extensive, anywhere from 4-15 hours depending on the shop.

I'd be glad to talk with you about all of the options out there. Take a look at the how-to section at the top of the forum to get an idea of what's involved in each of the mods.

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

 

People please keep your cats on this is kind of a personal crusade of mine. The hp difference between running a hiflow cat and no cat at all is negligable. I like breathing clean air and I think most of the rest of us do too.

In the unlikely even that you ever get caught driving a vehicle without a cat that is supposed to have a cat I think the fine is around 5000 dollars.

Not really worth the 10 or so extra hp you get out of it.

 

Plus it can be a real pain to get a car to run properly without a cat; depending on how the 02 sensors are mounted and how picky the ECU is about odd 02 readings when there is no cat.

I agree, it is uncool to pull the cats off a street car.

 

Oh! Someone say Kitten??????

 

I agree. I used to run "test pipes" in the past, but no longer. It is socially irresponsible to run with out a cat on a modern car, and like you say the benefits are not that tangible. Run a high flow cat or leave the stock one on.

 

mightyMiniz -

Don't tell anyone, but I own TWO SUVs

 

Yeah Sleepless, but the Boxster S you also own can make up for a lot of SUV violations!

 

I supose the fact that I use one of the SUVs to take the Boxster to the track now and then might earn me a point or two also

 

Absolutely - you have to have a tow vehicle, right? Now we just have to come up with an excuse for the other SUV... It isn't a Cayenne, one of those hot rod AMG ML55s or the big motor X5 is it? I think that might be acceptable - almost.

 

Toyota Landcruiser; I hope that is okay... It's actually my wife's car; she lets me borrow it now and then for "recreational purposes" :smile:

 

Perfect. Now we have "reasons" for both SUVs. One is a tow vehicle, and the other is the wife's.

 

>>I'm a possible future MCS owner. Doing my research first. I currently have a 01' Wolfsburg Edition VW Jetta 1.8Turbo chipped, 3"downpipe and no Cat. Currently have around 185-190 wheel HP. I run usually between half a car or neck to neck in front of 02' 4.6 Mustang GT racing 1/4. I test drove the Mini S which my brother is a sales rep. I felt in love with the handling and looks!!! My only concern is HP. I want similar accelaration to my VW. I don't know any Mini enthusiast around here, so I'm kind of confused with the mini S tunners. They're indicating different HPs and no Dynnos to show. I want to know what HP to expect with these mods to the wheels!
>>So I thought what better way to find out, by asking true Mini people!
>>
>>*Pulley.
>>*Chip??
>>*Cold Air Intake system(not drop in square)
>>*Exhaust (not cat :smile:

I'm confident the MINI is now just as fast as the GTI, but in a very different way:



I need to make it to the dragstrip to see how the MINI does, but with relatively easy mods (pulley being the most important one), it should be a high 14 second car.

 

Thanks Everybody! Great crowd!.

Ok I'll keep the Kitty Cat on :evil: ! I think it's just an EPROMPT 2K chip they just clean and then write new binary bits to it. I don't think it cost them much more time than Nuespeed, to tune and map the fuel, air and cam timming. On my VW they completely removed the old chip and soldered the new one to the ecu. When the chips for my VW started coming out I remmember prices around $600 and only a couple of tunners where making them.

By the way anybody got Dynos to post or email me with the mods I mentioned. I would like to see how the HP climbs and if it spikes.

Thanks again everyone!

 

Here's a bunch of dyno plots for various combinations of pulley, chip, and exhaust on my '03 MCS:

http://forums.alchemyeng.com/yabbse/...ay;threadid=27

Here's my GTI's best dyno pull and timeslip (right lane), and my MINI's most recent dyno pull:




_________________
2003 MCS DS/DS Black Leather
Packs: Prem/Sport/Cold, PDC, SatNav

Helix/P&D 15% Pulley, MTH Chip, Magnaflow Exhaust 165.0 whp (14.5% HP gain, 14% Torque gain)

My MINI

 

The pulley labor can be extensive, anywhere from 4-15 hours depending on the shop.
>>

>>randy@mini-motorsport.com


The pulley upgrade should never run you in the area of 8-15 hours. Four hours is the average install time @ our shop. If a shop is charging you in that high range they are making boat payments (LOL)

 

Chris,

I totally agree! It takes us 4-5 hours, but I have seen a dealer charge up to 15 hours! Must be a pretty nice boat

Randy

 

Andy,

Do you have intake? And if not how much HP do you guys think a good intake might get to the wheels? After intake what other simple bolt-on mod might give + HP?

Thank You
Christian

 

No intake yet. I plan to test a couple different ones to see which my car (and the dyno) likes best.