I spoke with my local MINI dealer / Dinan installer regarding upgrades.. pulley in particular. He said that the stage 1 Dinan doesn't have a pulley because it's better to start with intake/exhaust/ecu. Understandable, but I'm thinking I'd rather just do a pulley and intake. Maybe an exhaust later. I'm excited about more supercharger whine, but not so much on the extra rumble/exhaust noise.

I wonder, do they do that just to get people to buy their stage 2 system (which then also looks like a lot more power - because of the pulley upgrade)?

Obviously it's been answered a million times here before - that a 15% pulley doesn't require any other mods.

 

Having the Dinan equipment on my '03, there is more to the pulley than just the pulley. The fuel management system goes along with it which includes a Dinan modified fuel pressure regulator at the fuel rail and the biggest job of the whole install, a modified pressure regulated fuel filter and pump assembly in the fuel tank. Dinan did not go to larger injectors but with their fuel pressure change more fuel is injected for the same duration of actuation. The software is a must for optimum performance.

Amazingly, fuel economy on the road improved more than 10%. I have loved every moment with my Dinan set up and have 20K miles on it with no issues at all. Go all the way, you won't regret it.

 

Actually, that make perfect sense.

If the car can breath better and "exhaust" better, those are easy bolt-ons that rarely cause any problems. They require no ECU change and do NOT require a louder exhaust. For example the JCW exhaust, which is just as good as the masses of catbacks out there, is QUIETER than stock. Borla Street is barely louder than stock, etc.

A LOUD exhaust is not necessarily a good exhaust for adding HP and a QUIET exhaust does not necessarily means its not getting more HP than stock. Those are fallacies.

I think they got the sequence right. Everyone is in a rush to get more HP quickly but what is the point? BTW if you are "excited about more supercharger whine,", its the CAI that gives that not the Pulley. Thats one reason the Alta is so popular in that its pretty open and you hear it while the JCW CAI is basically a close box until you open the secondary valve.

You want "whine", get the Alta!

 

.....and Dinan has an excellent CAI with a quality air filter also. OK, I'm stuck on the quality of Dinan equipment, not to diminish the Alta in any way.

 

There are alot of other options for less money. And the idea of needing the fuel increased is totally unnecessary. There are so many probaly over a 1000 people with pullies and no fuel pump or pressure regulator mods.

I do have to say the Dinan intake is better than the JCW.

 

The biggest power gain for the least amount of money, isn't that the point? The s/c pulley does exactly that.

And to correct one of your fallacies, intakes and exhausts alter the engine's VE curve, thus necessitating changes to the fueling mapping far more than turning up the boost with a pulley does.

 

Pure adrenaline rush, worth it!

 

Chows4us Is right. I installed the 15% pully and the cat back exhaust and had no whine. Installed the Dinan CAI and the whine came alive along with the big noticable power gain. 3 gears of rubber squeek. YeeeeeHaaaaa

 

I had the Dinan CAI and it is very nice.....

it is a little puzzling,.....with all their talent they could do some great things for us but how much proof is necessary to recognize the 15% pulley as the biggest b/b we have.

I do wish we could get them to be more involved especially with software

let's face it...none of the big boys take the Mini very seriously

 

Spider, that is an interesting observation. By the "big boys" i assume you mean companies like Dinan, maybe Turner. Just like Ruf, farbacher & 9ff for Porsche.

I would imagine its simple economics ... there isn't enough money in it to make it worth the effort. If you a population of about 84K MCS total for all years in the US. Of those 84K cars, how many "care" about adding more HP? 10%?

How many BMWs are out there in comparison? I would bet far, far more. I think its simple economics which opens the doors for the smaller businesses.

 

Exactamundo..... as I deal in the world of marketing/manufacturing/economics I am a little familiar with these concepts.... still.....the reasons not withstanding the simple truth is they don't develop (in meaningful way) for the Mini....(again, I understand why....) What bugs me is Dinan comes to the market with a half assed effort (compared to what they do for other cars) and makes statements about pullies..... C'mon pullies..... that has been so done.... and we are supposed to get excited..... this has been talked about before..... despite WMS current problems look at what WMS, M7, Helix, Mini-Madness etc. have developed...... their is no comparison......and these for the most part are one man shows..... with no where near the resources of Dinan. My statement to Dinan is either come with your "A" game or don't dress out.... I don't think we need crumbs from their table..... (but, Bob, don't hold back,......how do you really feel?)

There is a nice book on the subject "The Long Tail" which addresses the more recent phenomenom of the development of highly segmented markets....

 

IMO, Dinan BMW . Dinan Mini

 

It took me a few paragraphs and lots of words to say what you said so succinctly

 

I understand that the CAI is what gives whine - hence why I'm planning to get the WMS HDI. For right now, it seems that pulley+intake installed by WMS while I'm at MITM is the best bang-for-the-buck and lots of fun, too.

I think software and exhaust may come later. But for now, I'm having a hard time even justifying the cost of driving to MITM (a 1600 mi drive for me).

 

Is Complete DINAN all the way, except for brakes. Trust me start at stage 1, then build up. Its worth the time and money.

 

I had the pulley and air intake upgrade on my '06 Mini Cooper S at MITM done by Way Motor Works and all I can say is it's awesome!!!!

 

Some of us don't want to spend all our free time wondering why there is a check engine light on or why the car doesn't run right. We just want more power and no other issues that are associated with other aftermarket products that have little support or support thats 4 states over after you install them. I'm not saying their bad but there is plenty of posts here with people having problems with this that or the next thing after they did a mod. I want to know that it works and if there's an issue I can go down the street to get it taken care of. All you guys modding your Mini out on your own, God bless you, I don't have the knowledge, patience or time to mess with my car like some of you guys do. Thats where Dinan or even John Cooper comes in.

 

Good points, bambam, but the original poster was referring to his MINI/Dinan dealer, so likely he'll be getting it done/serviced by them.
Unless they say "no warranty unless you do the intake/ecu/exhaust", yours is a non issue. On their website, they say they do require the ECU upgrade, but the others are just 'recommended'.
The pulley is definitely the best bang for the buck. I think they have a point with intake/exhaust, as it makes the engine more efficient, but many(most) people are more interested in making their WALLET more efficient.

 

and the thoughts behind the fuel regulator changes are sound, but the fact that our cars are so rich is why it's not really needed..... Or at least, not doing it doesn't cause big problems...

But what it comes down to is that you either increase fuel rail pressure, injector duty cycle or injector capacity as boost increases. Something needs to make up for the fact that the pressure delta between the fuel rail and the intake manifold gets smaller, and hence less fuel flows, in boosted applications.

Once again, there really isn't a right or wrong, just different ways to skin the cat!

Matt

 

Amen Dr.

The Dinan selling technique sounds like "buy our unique stuff that doesn't do much first, and then you'll really be happy with the knock-off part that does work later"

 

i went the way you're going. i did the intake coil,wires,then exhaust (header back) . i then did the pulley and oil cooler. the pulley gives good gains but i actually found the header more enjoyable.

 

Why did you find the header more enjoyable and what header did you go with?

Thanks

 

weny with alta header after alta cat back ,. the ponies seemed to arrive after the header. the noise is great also. just felt nice . the pulley definately added but below 3 grand rpms i feel the header better than the pulley ....follow? now with pulley all is complete. now to see giac.

 

Thanks for the reply and input herbie hind.