Do they do the same thing? Is the pulley on the JCW's blower smaller than stock (similar to a doing a pulley upgrade)??

 

The JCW is a 15% reduction pulley just like all the pulley upgrade kits.
Bluesmaster

 

Actually the JCW is a whole new supercharger with a 15% reduction pulley....

However, is there a big change in the actual supercharger other than the pulley? That's the big question that no one can really answer for sure. They say the paddles in the supercharger are teflon coated on the JCW supercharger but so are the paddles on the stock supercharger. Is it an extra coat or something special? This is certainly a grey area and my bet would be that they are offering a whole new supercharger to try and convince people that it is better than a just a new pulley.

With the JCW, you're paying to keep your warantee, not for performance.
-Chris

 

I wonder if the dealership would warrantee just the supercharger upgrade or not? Would they sell it separate from the other stuff?

The reason I ask this, is becuase it appears most of the torque increase to be had by any one mod in the MCS comes from the 15% pulley....

 

>>Actually the JCW is a whole new supercharger with a 15% reduction pulley....
>>


Basically, it is just the 15% pulley. HOWEVER, to make installation easier, they take out your supercharger with the stock pulley and put in a new one with the 15% pulley. But really - it's the same supercharger - just not yours.

 

>>>>Actually the JCW is a whole new supercharger with a 15% reduction pulley....
>>>>
>>
>>
>>Basically, it is just the 15% pulley. HOWEVER, to make installation easier, they take out your supercharger with the stock pulley and put in a new one with the 15% pulley. But really - it's the same supercharger - just not yours.

Nope, someone else will get yours by the sound of it. You don't get to keep your own supercharger (or head for that matter). Can anyone say CORE CHARGE. ARGH!

Paul

 

>>>>Actually the JCW is a whole new supercharger with a 15% reduction pulley....
>>>>
>>
>>
>>Basically, it is just the 15% pulley. HOWEVER, to make installation easier, they take out your supercharger with the stock pulley and put in a new one with the 15% pulley. But really - it's the same supercharger - just not yours.

Actually, it is not just the same kind of supercharger with a 15% reduction pulley, and they don't just change the whole thing to make it easier.
The JCW supercharger has ceramic-coated vanes instead of the standard teflon coated vanes. The ceramic coated ones can be manufactured and run at much tighter tolerances. The bottom line is that a SC with ceramic coated vanes should have a slightly higher boost rate at the same rpm than a teflon coated one, because of less air leakage around the vanes under pressure.

 

Not according to the parts list and descriptions, or the e-mails I've had with JCW.


BTW, we are now at 220 horspower with ECU, pulley, intake, and exhaust. More is available - but these mods will run $1818 plus installation. Just food for thought. You do not get to keep your warranty though, so for a lot of folks, the JCW is like buying an extneded warranty.

There is a market for the JCW kit, as well as aftermarket tuners. It just depends on what you want.

 

>>Not according to the parts list and descriptions, or the e-mails I've had with JCW.
>>
>>
>>BTW, we are now at 220 horspower with ECU, pulley, intake, and exhaust. More is available - but these mods will run $1818 plus installation. Just food for thought. You do not get to keep your warranty though, so for a lot of folks, the JCW is like buying an extneded warranty.
>>
>>There is a market for the JCW kit, as well as aftermarket tuners. It just depends on what you want.
>>

Randy, what ECU is this?!?!? Please, do tell. :smile:

Paul

 

Monday...

 

>>Monday...

Well, it's currently Mondayin Japan.

Paul

 

Randy, Is that 220 to the wheels?

 

>>Not according to the parts list and descriptions, or the e-mails I've had with JCW.
>>
>>
>>BTW, we are now at 220 horspower with ECU, pulley, intake, and exhaust. More is available - but these mods will run $1818 plus installation.

You sure it isn't $1808?

 

>>The JCW supercharger has ceramic-coated vanes instead of the standard teflon coated vanes. The ceramic coated ones can be manufactured and run at much tighter tolerances. The bottom line is that a SC with ceramic coated vanes should have a slightly higher boost rate at the same rpm than a teflon coated one, because of less air leakage around the vanes under pressure.
>>


Yeah, I'm with Randy b/c I don't know where you got that info. I got a letter from JCW and they claim a 5th generation TEFLON coating - not ceramic.

 

>>Not according to the parts list and descriptions, or the e-mails I've had with JCW.
>>
>>
>>BTW, we are now at 220 horspower with ECU, pulley, intake, and exhaust. More is available - but these mods will run $1818 plus installation.
>>

Randy, for that kind of power, I'm sold. Is this a "Denver Only" install or are you gong to make it part of your road show if enough people are interested? What are we looking at for installation costs?

X2

 

I'll find out Monday if the ECU upgrade is something I can do on the road by the time the installs all roll around. The Florida installs will be able to do the upgrade at the time of the pulley install, and get dyno runs before and after.

The intake and exhaust are an hour or so for labor from anyone that has the right set of tools, and I probably won't have time to do all of that during the pulley parties, so I could just sell the parts and you could have it installed. The Florida shop may be available for the installs after I leave (they are busy as is), and the Dallas shop will most definitely be set up for all of the installs (but the ECU may need to be FedExed to Denver still).

Randy

 

Randy,

Love the work you're doing, especially to sell it as a package in conjunction with the group installs. I don't know what your "real" job is, but I could easily foresee you forsaking it soon for a prosperous future wandering from city to city making MCS owners happy! When will San Antonio be on your schedule?!

 

Randy,

How much torque are you getting with your mods?

 

With the pulley upgrade, does the car still stay under warranty?

 

This is my "real" job!

You should drive up to the Dallas install in June - just to check it out. It's the 20, 21 and 22.

The hp and torque without the throttle body or header is 193hp and 163lb-ft at the wheels. I will be posting the throttle body results shortly.

 

Randy has done a lot of excellent research and testing on this equipment. The aftermarket equipment is really a steal next to the JCW kit. While the JCW kit does come with a name, is packaged by the manufacturer and comes with a warranty, the price difference is look like a bigger issue every day. We know that the engine and transmission can handle the 200hp increase, since the JCW kit does not replace any of the internals of the engine or the transmission. With Randy's kit only costing $1800, and the installation being much cheaper than the JCW installation, the difference of @$4000 is huge, warranty or no warranty. With that price difference you can purchase a new engine and still have money in the bank.

 

JCW Kit is a Rip-Off, please read further
JCW Kit is a total Rip off!!!! Please read my comparision of what you a real performance package should be.

BMW 330i Performance Package (offered from the factory) inludes:

Full aero redesign including:
a deep front airdam, side
skirts, and rear decklid
spoiler and apron.
Redesigned Headlights
M sport Steering Wheel in suede like material, multi-fuction too
8-way Power Sport Seats in Alacantra (suded like bolsters)
Revised engine management +300rpm redline 155 mph governor
Polished exhaust tips
New Camshaft
Sportier Springs and suspension
6 spd Transmission with short shifter
shorter rear axle ratio 3.071:1
18" M Double Spoke alloy wheels with camber set at -0.5
Imola Red Color, only offered in M-Cars or 330i Perf Pkg

MINI JCW Kit

JCW cylinder head
JCW exhaust system
JCW engine calibration
JCW supercharger
Spark plugs
0-60 6.7 seconds Stock 7.4
197 hp 177 lb-ft tq
Cost $4500 + 9-10 hours install
They keep you old cylinder head and your old supercharger

So what is this all about: This is for the BMW 330i
1. This package is offered by BMW and it is already
installed from the factory at no additional install
charge to the customer.
2. The pakage addresses everything from the exterior to
the interior, wheels, and ofcourse the performance
3. an increase of 10hp and 8 lb/ft tq small but look below
4. Perf Pkg 0-60 6 seconds Stock 0-60 7 seconds
5. And it is only $3,900
6. You still have the factory warranty with both kits

Come on now, I hope this is clear to everyone else as it is with me!
For what you get for under $4000 with the BMW 330i Performance Package is so much better and even cheaper than just the parts of the JCW $4500 package uninstalled.

To make the JCW kit justified they need to add the Sportier JCW seats that they offer the JCW Wheels and Suspension products aswell as the MINI body kit with a slight redisgn to make it look just a little different, or even a special color sceme. That I would then consider, Of course no cost for install would have to be on that list.

Please feel free to comment this is my opinion and I feel it will be the same for many others. I hope BMW/MINI read this and put there heads together for something better than what they gave us.

Chris


__________________

http://www.fifthgearracing.com
Ordered 2003 Mini Cooper S with all the
goodies!

 

here is my idea, we all do Pulley swaps from some supplier, Don't care who as long as it is 15% and made well. But here is the one thing that we all worry about when we do the pulley swap, our warranty. So how do we prevent our warranties from becoming void by the dealer. Listed below are some ideas, hopefully we can pull some more info from JCW and other suppliers to back ourselves up with hard data proving or disproving that just the Pulley swap is safe
1. The JCW kit has a smaller Pulley just like the ones we can buy from other suppliers.
2. The reworking of the ECU by JCW is just to smooth out some uneven parts (from my understanding and increase rpms). The stock ECU already runs rich, which means no fear of detination. so no adversise effects on the engine in the fuel department, maybe we should just add the same spark plugs that JCW uses to further back this up.
3. The cylinder head: this is where i need more info about the JCW kit, all i have heard is that it is reworked by JCW. So in other words it "just might be" Blue Printed like the E36 M3 LTW engines are, they were actually hand picked, by BMW for that application.
4. The supercharger is a generation above our current superchargers, a Generation 5 instead of a Generation 4, and that just seems to be that the Gen 5 supercharger has a teflon coating and is more efficient in the creation of power. SO that means the gen 5 charger isn't as parisitic. But why would they take our old Gen 4 Superchargers unless they were going to use them for something....hmmmm maybe they just take the old Gen 4 and add a little something here and spray a little something here and rebadge it, i don't know but that sounds kina wierd to me, i mean if it is a older generation why would JCW want it, i mean the cost to store them in a big junk bin and then recylce them to metal would be so expensive, why not just let the customer deal with that problem.
still need more hard info on this too
5. Same thing for the Intercooler as with the supercharger, which i heard is a replacement.

Please feel free to add and comment, i am not an expert but I just feel that things are just a little too wierd and it all just doesn't add up. I am not out to hurt JCW in anyway I just want the best in the aftermarket and performance for our beloved MINIs.

 

>>4. The supercharger is a generation above our current superchargers, a Generation 5 instead of a Generation 4, and that just seems to be that the Gen 5 supercharger has a teflon coating and is more efficient in the creation of power. SO that means the gen 5 charger isn't as parisitic. But why would they take our old Gen 4 Superchargers unless they were going to use them for something....hmmmm maybe they just take the old Gen 4 and add a little something here and spray a little something here and rebadge it, i don't know but that sounds kina wierd to me, i mean if it is a older generation why would JCW want it, i mean the cost to store them in a big junk bin and then recylce them to metal would be so expensive, why not just let the customer deal with that problem.
>>still need more hard info on this too
>>5. Same thing for the Intercooler as with the supercharger, which i heard is a replacement.
>>


You're giving JCW and MINI WAY TOO MUCH CREDIT! 1) Of course they reuse the supercharger and
2) The intercooler ISN'T in any way, shape or form, new - it's just a JCW cover!!!

 

that is exactly my point, i think that they are just taking our old charger and intercooler,if that is replaced i thought it was, and just rebadging it. I hope we can pester JCW to tell us what makes it so special over our factory one, and I want #s and data to show not just, it is different and better. Just cause they say it is different doesn't mean that it is.

Chris