Very nice shoes Longboard . Also have a question for you. Both of us being in California, what do you think is going to happen when you have to smog your car? Do you foresee any problems? I'm very interested, as I would like to do more mod's but am kinda leary.

 

I was pinging bad with the lovely 91 here in so cal with the stock head. With the RMW head the pinging is gone. I found out the 76 station down the street sells 100 at the pump. I put 4 gallons in with 7 gallons of 91 today and all I can say is WOW. I won't do it very often because of the $10 a gallon price but it sure runs strong.

Longboard

Longboard

 

91 Octane gas only here and minimal data logging has shown no timing retardation. It's been pretty mild here so far, and I’m running 2 steps cooler for plugs, so I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. I may have to start mixing some race gas with the 91 once it heats up, or going with water/meth injection like Longboard . When Jan gets back from the Dragon, we're going to try and get a tune on the car, and then I’ll have to see where we're at, and decide where we're going .

 

What are you seeeing timing wise?

 

For clarification, the pinging was gone AFTER the RMW head was installed and BEFORE you installed the Coolingmist WI system? Any comments on the state of the piston rings and other components that may have been affected by the pinging?

I just might be able to justify the RMW head in the near future instead of waiting until next year.

 

Not that it helps, but there's a pump out here that sells 101 Octane for right around 6.50 a gallon .

 

Next time i'm on the dyno i'll write the figures down, I don't remember off the top of my head, I just remember that we checked to see if it pulled timing and it didn't until we ran it up about 5 times and the IC was so hot you could have fried a chicken on it . I have no idea if the cam issue would have affected the timing at all too, so... we'll see.

 

The only downside to having to blend 101 octane racing unleaded with the 91 octane crap is that you are tethered to gas stations that sell the good stuff. Depending where you want to go in California, that can be something of a challenge that requires fairly serious pre-planning if you are wanting to go on a road trip out of your local area.

Since the weather is starting to warm up, I would appreciate it if rusty and Longboard (and others if there are any) would update their experience the next time we get a heat wave (may not be too long to wait). Especially if you are doing multiple dyno runs on a hot day....

What I am trying to understand is where the tipping point is that will require going to a higher octane gas - Head + header? Head + Header + ECU tune? Head + ECU tune? Or???? The tipping point is out there at some stage of tune, the question is where.

 

The worst case scenerio would be that the car would start to pull timing. I highly doubt it's going to be pinging so badly that Longboard or I would actually be tethered to 93+ octane fuel. If it was that bad we'd run a water/meth injection system to offset some timing retardation. Longboard is already testing such a system.

As for the Smog question, as we've said before, smog techs in CA aren't always as perceptive as you'd think depending on where you go . Not to mention you don't need to smog until 5 years after a new car purchase.

 

contributes a lot to pinging. Just cleaning the crap out will reduce or eliminate it. Timing pull isn't audible, but it is noticeable!

Matt

 

Yea, it's too bad it's such a pain to get to the cylinder's or I'd try it. Not having any issues with pinging yet, so I'm ok .

 

The good doctor was referring to decarbonization with Seafoam, as he detailed in this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=74535

FWIW, I've been doing a Seafoam decarb every 3K miles, and it hasn't had any correlation with the amount of pinging. The smoke show is well worth it, though.

 

do a search for sea foam

 

Interesting, i've never seen that before. Any tips or MINI specific write up on how to do the full procedure? I have a lot of build up on the cylinder's from an excessivly rich mixture (Thanks MTH! ).

 

I have MTH to thank for an excessively rich AF as well. My plugs weren't black, but they did have a nice build-up of carbon.

As Dr. O described in the thread, you can inject Seafoam through the exit IC boot. Look through that thread for more information (including the link to the Audi forum thread). Alternately, I've also used the grey BPV hose behind the IC. The ball-inflation needle that he uses is spot on - it will work in either circumstance (to insert into the stock IC boot or it will fit snugly into the hose that I run from the catch can to the BPV).

I've generally been conservative with letting the Seafoam sit for 20-30 minutes. The more smoke you see, the more carbon deposits you had. The first time I did a Seaform decarb, I was rewarded with 5 minutes of dark grey smoke.

 

The istallation of the head looks no different visually than the stock head, so it would easily pass a visual inspection.

 

After installing the new RMW's head two weeks ago on my wife's car, I have noticed an even greater performance increase after driving it this weekend. Although there was noticiable performance increase as soon as it was installed, It has smoothed out and just runs even better than before. I can only attribute this to ECU adaptation.

 

Well there are other factors beyond cabon build-up that contribute to pinging/timing being pulled. The one that probably triggers the tipping point is the ECU tune. Depending on how aggressive you do the tune, you are going to need to increase the octane level (even with a brand spanking new engine - I know, my C5 had extensive mods done (that included an ECU tune) at 800 miles). What I am trying to determine is whether an octane increase requirement will be triggered before the ECU tune.

 

the cars pull timing with a stock motor on 91 on your average day. Also, the timing pull via the knock loop is REALLY AGGRESSIVE (that's why we loose so much power) where I've seen over 10 degrees of pull between sucessive firings of the same piston. So the cars are pretty much riding the knock sensor with pump gas from the factory at WOT. Go ahead and put in a few gallons of 100 from a 76 station, in a stock S or close to it, and you'll feel a difference. With mild mods on my car (pulley, intake and cat-back) I got 6-7 peak HP, and a much smoother part throttle operation to boot. There's a thread I did that I think is called "What mods giveth, timing retard taketh away" or some crap like that. it's been a while... Based on this, I think we're all at a apoint where higher octane gives performance. But you have to log the timing to be sure.....

Matt

 

I'm happy to report the rally Mini is fine. Nothing a DIY pressure car wash place couldn't dislodge. But this is really off topic. I'll have a write up with pics in a few days.

As to how the Mini preforms. Ask Mini Fireman when he gats back to Indy. I took him for run. To bad it rained on Sat. I was going to take both SpiderX and BahamaBart for a drive as well.

Lots of other exciting things to report from the the weekend as well, stay tuned.

 

You owe me a ride . When my driveway needs re-done I'll be calling you to swing by and grade the sucker for me . Ps Fontana wants its drirt back.

 

After seeing the Jesus head in person at MOTD this weekend, I can confidently say that RMW has brought to market the absolute best looking machine work in terms of aerodynamics that I've seen for the MINI to date. It's no wonder this cylinder head trounces the rest of the market, seriously. For competitive comparison, DMH had his cylinder head sitting out on Thursday evening and I got a good look at it; it's better than most heads on the market for the MINI, but it's clearly lacking in terms of geometries and finishes compared to the RMW cyl. head. It's of no surprise DMH removed his cylinder head from view soon after Jan arrived, as the DMH head is embarassing in comparison to the RMW head.

Slight side note: RMW's header is also an absolute orgasm in exhaust design and execution. It's flawless welding, fantastic merge collector and collector scavenging tuning is amazing. I'm totally thrilled for all the R53 owners, as they now have two professionally designed and manufactured pieces for their MINI's to bring their power curves to a whole new level. I'm 100% impressed, and that doesn't happen often at all. Congratulations to Jan and Revolution MINI Works, you've really nailed some high-class, intelligent designs!

 

Must..... not..... bank.....rupt.....my......self........ :impatient

 

Are you saying that you got "back" 6-7 hp at WOT that were being stolen when timing got pulled by the ECU?

100 octane racing unleaded is definitely the ticket - it is the only way that I can enjoy the C5. Otherwise drivability sucks (like walking in wet concrete) - seriously. Without 94/95 octane in the tank, the C5 has worse throttle response than a Prius (you punch the go pedal and the engine pings and the timing gets immediately pulled and you go nowhere). I don't want to get stuck with the same requirement for my MINI.

Short of me logging the timing on my car (which is admittedly, the most accurate approach; but then I have taken the plunge and am at something of a point of no return (or at least a somewhat expensive return)), I am wanting to get a sense of where the tipping point is with mods to the MINI. From what has been posted by rusty and Longboard, it seems that they are not experiencing timing pull (rusty in particular) with the head alone (without the ECU tune).

 

For those who don't know... Matt is a daddy, again! He might not be online all that often at this time, but I'll sure he'll chime-in again later...