K, Peeps! When I was in Colorado the other day, BMini and I realized that we needed to learn more about MINI-mods! We have NO clue about the lingo, and were intimidated to go and take up valuable space in threads where everyone knows the terminology!

So, here's the girlie performance thread....where we gals (and less-gearheaded guys) can find out stuff about our beloved MINIs' performance mods! RandyBMC said that he'd be happy to write up some simple how-to's for us, so here's your chance!! If you have been wondering what the heck a Magnaflow is or why it's a cool mod for your MINI, ask away! Tee hee! :smile:

And, Randy, TIA for your wonderful wealth of knowledge! You're the greatest....and so cute, too! Tee hee!

Cheers!
Clover

 

http://www.girliegirlracing.com/index_enter.asp ?

 

The magnaflow is an exaust system that will increase the airflow throught the exaust system, which will make the car a little louder, but not to much, and will also increase the horse power (HP) for better performance of you car.

 

Clo,
Randy is doing pulley installs in FL on
May 17th. Plan your visit to coincide.
You can try mine with the pulley and
Magnaflow and get hooked!! Tee heee...

 

....and you can try mine with the H-Sport springs and H&R wheelspacers

See you in T-minus 10 days Clover!
Smoochez,
Ryan

 

Thanks Clo, I've been feeling like I'm the only girlie that hangs out in the Performance Mod forum. I have learned TONS since I started reading here. Randy and the boys have been great to explain it all. Understanding how my car works and what I can do to make it work better is so empowering. I had a group of men ask me a bunch of questions last week and they were pretty impressed as I talked about HP gains with the new Helix exhaust and drop-in air filter. Just to think that a few months ago I thought LSD was an acid trip!!!!

 

HARMINI...you did the drop-in air filter? Notice anything with it? Don't want to hijack threads or anything...

-Dan

 

I'm not in here much as I am not doing any performance mods as of late, but this thread is a great idea! (I like to think I know enough stuff because I've learned from the best, but I can always use some help.) :smile: :smile: :smile:

I will be in here from time to time now...also because the name of this thread is very funny.

 

>>HARMINI...you did the drop-in air filter? Notice anything with it? Don't want to hijack threads or anything...
>>
>>-Dan

I had Chris @ Helix put in the filter when he did the exhaust, so it's kind of hard to tell which mod has done what. I'm still interested in the Green intake if it becomes available for the CVT. It sure would LOOK great under the bonnet of my Silk Green and we girlies know how important matching undies are

 

>>I'm still interested in the Green intake if it becomes available for the CVT. It sure would LOOK great under the bonnet of my Silk Green and we girlies know how important matching undies are <<

Oh my lord. This is going to be funny!

 

Clo - first of all, you made me blush...

OK, with that out of the way (you can't keep saying I'm cute in front of the guys!), let's talk performance mods.

Here are some basics to get us started.

Exhaust

The exhaust removes the spent gasses from the combustion inside the cylinder. The faster you can scavenge the used fuel/air mixutre, the more performance result you can achieve (generally). The exhaust on the MINI has two components - a manifold or header, and the "cat-back". Cat-back refers to the part of the system after the catalytic converter - an emissions component. Because it is bolted on after the "cat" and runs the rest of the length of the car, it's called a "cat-back".

Most of the systems out there are cat-back units. Remus and Laser do make a replacement muffler instead of replaceing the entire cat-back that requires you to cut the stock cat-back and replace the factory components after the cat. Those factory components are the resonator (a part used for noise suppression without restricting too much flow) and the muffler (another part used for noise suppression but also provides restriction which results in back pressure). A cat back is a bolt on system that does not require the mutilation of your stock system.

The makers of a cat-back for the S are numerous - Magnaflow, Borla, Quicksilver, Stebro, NRP, Eisenmann, B&B, Supersprint, UUC, RD, etc.

The Magnaflow is now famous for a couple of reasons - the price per horsepower is the best out there, and the sound is the throatiest of the bunch (which isn't necessarily for everyone).

There are also replacement headers - which is the part that comes right off the engine (the head to be more specific) and includes the catalytic converter (the part the cat-back systems described above bolt to).

Three manufacturers have tackled this piece - London Stainless (also known as Quicksilver), Supersprint, and Mini Mania. There is also the Milltek header, but I'm still figuring that one out... All three are finished well, some require more fabrication than others to make them work. The LS/QS unit is the best out there in my opinion for it's design and dimensions - the larger you make the diameter of the tubing, the more power the S seems to make. That would only hold true to a point, and then you would start going tooooo big and have other issues to deal with. The flow rate of the cat itself also matters when trying to make horsepower. There is more restriction in the stock cat than in the aftermarket cats, so another opportunity exists to free some horses (always good for the animal rights folks). The Mania header is very nice because of the quality of the unit, the cost of the unit, and the sound for some. It is louder than the LS. It runs $750 with the cat (compared to $1300 for the LS) but makes about 4-5 hp less than the LS. The Supersprint is pricey too, and it requires some fabrication to work so far, but that is being addressed.

OK, so that was the first installment on the basics - join us next time when we talk about intakes, and maybe if we're lucky, matching lingerie!

_________________

CLICK THE SIG PIC!


This ain't no Disco

 

Some of us other Mini tuners out here thought it would be hard to compete with Randy before, but now? Will it come down to showing pictures of ourselves in intriguing underwear? Our tech line (847)-367-8837, includes mostly tech talk, but when we're done with the car stuff, we can talk dirty to you too!


PerfPow

P.S. While we change your pulley, feel free to visit our 'in-shop' massage parlor.

 

Not trying to step on the toes of all of our praiseworthy tuners but
a site that is pretty easy to read and that will help get you started is, http://www.howstuffworks.com . A direct link to their automotive area is here

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/channe...under-the-hood

Cheers,

Chuck

_________________
Still on order (and still changing my mind) MCS IB/W Sport, Premium, Leather, Anthracite.

 

hey perfpow,
those wheels are hot, where did you get them? what are they? 18"s?

since i know nothing about performance.. my only questions would be, what is a pulley, what does it do and why would someone have it installed?
the only mods i would do on my car in the future are ones that make it faster without it being louder.

 

I believe perfpow has the SSR GT1 18" wheels.

The supercharger is a compressor that is turned by a belt from the crank on the engine. As the belt turns, the compressor blades are turned and compress the intake charge - providing a "boosted" intake charge. This is commonly referred to as forced induction (turbos are another way of forcing induction using exhaust gasses rather than a crank belt). The smaller the pulley on the supercharger, the faster it turns relative to the crank pulley. If you spin the supercharger faster, the blades spin faster, and the intake charge is compressed more, providing more boost. The more boost you make, the more horsepower the motor makes. That's the reason people are doing the "pulley".

:smile:

 

Ok, here goes. (ppssst....Clo, what have we done!?! :smile:

Thanks in advance for any and all info!
:smile: B

 

OK, BMINI, you've got me thinking ...

First thing: leave Dave's little 'pully-thingy' alone ... or not ... whatever, i guess i won't go there (have a good time - knock yourself out ...)

Then, go ahead and start with the intake mod .... there are things like the Sway Bar that are also good mod's, but starting by letting the engine breath better is a safe bet ...

Now the Biggie: TORQUE ..... it is a force or effort, and can become work, or Power (HP) when measured over time, or with a 'rate' (torgue in ft-lbs, power in ft-lb/sec).
But torque doesn't have to imply movement - if you are 'torquing' a cylinder head by tightening the stud nuts, or torquing the wheel studs, you can apply a lot of effort after they are 'tight' and not have the fasteners turn. Torque can be distructive - if you turn the wrench more after a fastener is tight, you can snap the fastener off .... of if you have a frozen, rusted nut on a bolt and can't get it off, you get 'torqued off' and lean on the wrench, snapping the bolt.
Torque can be discribed as slow-speed, horsepower as high-speed: when you start off from rest, the low gears are transfering torque to get you moving, then as speed builds, the higher gears transfer more of the engines' power - when you approach a hill, you usually think about down-shifting to get back to a situation where you can get to more of that usable torque.

If you look at Webster's or others' definitions, they talk about a force at a distance, or perpendicular arms - think about turning a wrench, with the force from your hand pulling at the end of that wrenches' 'lever arm' ... in a motor, the crank has small lever arms that have the force applied on them by the connecting rods from the pistons; depending on the design of the motor, you may have short-stroke (with relatively short piston strokes and resulting short crank throws) or long-stroke (longer piston travel and longer crank throws).
Because the long-stroke has greater length throws, it is applying force at a greater distance from the centerline of the crank - the lever arm is longer - and most are refered to as 'torquey' motors ... but they don't spin to as high an rpm range as a short-stroke motor (able to spin faster and usuall produce more power).

If you have a motor that is all low speed torque, you have a tractor .... add a bit of power to the design and you get a truck motor .... design an even complement of power and torque and you get an average automobile engine ... if you make an ultra-short stroke motor that has a very low,flat torque curve, you get a race car motor that is only happy producing power at 10,000 rpm.

Torque can allow you to do a tremendous amount of work with very little power: when i was designing conveyors, we would put half-horse, or 1-Hp motors on the machines and couple them to, maybe, 2 or 3 inch steel shafts ...one of the biggest design concerns was to make sure that if something got in the way and started to stall the machine, that the shafts were stout enough to not get snapped by all the torque (yeah, from a half-horse electric motor ...).....

i hope that is a bit helpful ... we all take some of this for granted - and getting our minds' around it (having to think about what it really is) can help to make us re-evaluate what types of mod's are really going to be the most beneficial ...

 

WOW every one is doing a good job with the info.....

I wanted to add my bit so here goes...

With all the talk of Mods and Pistons, con (connecting) rods ect I wanted to take a look back and hit some basics.... to help understand the WHY?

First off an old analogy is that a car motor is nothing more than an elaborate air pump... the motor suckes in air from the intake... adds fuel, compresses the air fuel mixture, sets that mixture into an explosion, and them puffs the air and burnt gas out the exhaust.... air in one end air out the other.... the left-overs of this process is that the motor turns and in turn moves your MINI...!! YAY it works...

So if you think about it the better (more efficient) the motor can suck in the air and then push it out the exhaust the more you will have left over to power your MINI... that is why cat back exhaust systems and intake systems work.... your motor is using less power to move the air leaving more HP for motoring :smile: in reality things are much more complex.... but it really does not matter... the principal is sound.

Now with that out of the way... a quicky on basic internal motor parts.....

sitting in the bottom of your MINI motor is the crank.... It runs the length of the motor and spins on bearings....

how bout a pic....

 

Thank you, Jason! I like pictures.

No really...that was a very good and clear explanation.

 

>>Thank you, Jason! I like pictures. :smile: :smile:

 

>>Here are a couple questions:
>>1. When the tax refund comes back, which mod would you recommend as #1? I'm leaning towards the intake. First, because I've heard the most about it, but second (and most importantly) because I LOVE the whine and I want the whine!! If that's not the most girly girl reason for wanting the intake I don't know what is. Of course I want the boost in HP, but the fact I can hear that whine in action, working for the HP...I'm SOLD!

Intake is good but bang for the buck a pulley is better. You'll get more HP and a slight increase in the "whine"


>>2. I know I really should know this, but I can't wrap my brain around it...every time I think I've "almost got it" it's gone. Can someone please explain "torque" in a very simplistic way, and/or provide an example. I've heard MINI torque is great - but what does that really mean?

Very simply, HP is what makes you go fast, torque is what you feel. The best way I know how to describe it is that a Harley (or cruisers in general) has a lot of torque but a crotch rocket has more HP. Of course if you don't ride motorcycles this doesn't help much huh?

I guess another way of looking at it is that you feel HP in the higer RPMs and you feel torque in the lower RPMs. Both are always there, thats just when they are most noticable. Hopefully I helped someone...
-Chris

 

I feel like I'm getting a crash-course in Automotive 101! Thanks for all the great explanations....now I just need to read and re-read this....and hope it "filters" into my thick cranium! LMAO!!! Tee hee!

 

Just an FYI, a great place to get info on really anything, but especially the "ins and outs" of the different workings of cars, engines, and whatnot, is howstuffworks.com, really cool site, with pretty easy to understand, in depth information. One of my favorite places to visit, other than MCO of course. Happy motoring girls

_________________
<IMG SRC=https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/albums/album04/bki.thumb.jpg >
Coop's back baby! Pictures with Aero bumper and rally lights to be posted soon!

 

Ohmygosh I FINALLY understand TORQUE!! :smile:
I love learning this stuff. I never even considered myself "into cars" before I got my MINI, but now that I have it I want to know everything about what makes it tick! Love it! Yippee!

:smile: B

 

Here is a question that I was a little uncertain about and asked Randy in person and got a great answer to....
What is understeer and oversteer, and why do we want to correct it?
Under/ over steer refers to where the car wants to go, as opposed to where you want it to go, while steering through a corner. These effects are more noticable the tighter the corner and the higher the speeds involved. The analogy comes in when you "get it wrong" and the car "breaks loose" or starts to slide. If the car understeers (like the MINI) then when it breaks loose the first thing to hit the wall/ go off the edge of the road will be the FRONT wheels because the car is UNDER or "less" steering than we want it to. If the car OVER steers (most older front engine, rear wheel drive cars) the REAR wheels will break loose first and hit the wall/ go off the road (think of the classic Dukes of Hazzard scene where they go around a corner and the rear end swings wide). The car wants to do more steering than we do.
Because automakers believe that drivers would rather "see where they are going" when they mess up a corner they design understeer into the cars (including the MINI). The aftermarket swaybar (the operation of that is the topic for another post and a better engineer )
Great thread, it is good to get a refresher and concise explanation for the things we all take for granted.