Tempting as it may be, I just can't justify the pulley at least until my warranty is over. My reasoning is that I don't want to give my dealer any reason to justify denying any potential warranty work. (After that, all bets are off!)

In the meantime, I thought I'd go with a phased approach, starting with a less-restrictive intake and,say, 6 months later adding the Evotech ECU upgrade offered by Mini-Motorsport or Mini Madness.

The dyno figures for this combo at Mini Madness look intriguing. Anyone have experience with these two items without the pulley or exhaust? My wife is relatively satisfied with the power of the stock MCS (though I'm sure she would not complain about more power as long as reliability is not compromised). Is this the right order to upgrade?

 

Intake give you the least and is only somewhat noticeable so yeah - you should start with an intake. If you put the intake in last, you'll never "feel it". I thnk the intake is a great place to start b/c it's cheap HP and an easier do-it-yourself install.

The new EVO chip might be good, but it only gives 12HP added to a car without a pulley. Together, the chip and intake will prob give you a 16-18HP increase and maybe 7 or 8 lbs of torque. I'm just guessing at those numbers but I think those are reasonable.

If you really don't want the pulley, think about an exhaust. An intake, exhaust and chip would be a pretty nice setup and give very noticeable power gains when you plant you foot on the floor!

 

If you are worried about wour warranty, then I would be real worried about a chip upgrade. While it varies from dealer to dealer, mot dealers would probably have a problem with that. While they may never notice it and I will probably do it as well, it could be a bit of a problem later on. I guess you have to ask yourself...Do you feel lucky?

 

Mexibeetle-
You didn't mention what you are trying to do with your MCS upgrades-
What is your goal of doing the upgrades. Better on the track, autoX, street only, driving school?
What is your budget over time?
Do you want to limit the upgrades to- do it yourself- you'll need a budget for labor costs

If you split the reasons for upgrading into categories

Performance-
Power/Torque-
Intake-cheapest, many levels, biggest benefit from alta intake or madness, pilo intake good price, green filter-good stock look-mild gains. All are do it yourself.
Exhaust-many options-doesn't have to be loud-consider Borla or Quicksilver about $600-900 installed
ECU-Costly from $490 to $720+, specify if using pulley or not. voids warranty. best gains with pulley
Re-bored Throttle body-adds smoother response to throttle,costs $450 plus one hour labor
exhaust manifold header with cat-adds power 5-9 HP,london stainless-no added loudness $1350, others $650
Pulley- Biggest power upgrade but voids warranty bigtime, cost $500 or more
Spark plugs-magnacor vs nology- doesn't add that much for $100-150, Looks nice

Suspension-Just as important or more important than power
Rear Swaybar- Madness 3 position bar for $190 with one hour labor-very good results-car corners flatter
Front tower strut support-BMP alloy bar $240 adds stiffness to front. Useful for cornering
Upgraded sport springs-H-sport springs about $250 lowers front and rear by 1", progressive rate, 2+ hours labor
Coil over upgrade- Costly for kit and labor
Lighter wheelset- The standard S-lites/X-Lites are Heavy and the runflats are harsh riding, lighter rims and Toyo or Yokohama ES100 tires would allow better acceleration and less harsh ride. About $900 to $1300.
Brakes-Aftermarket powerslot rotor discs, brake pads, brake kits (better brake fluid, Stainless steel brake hoses)

Appearance-
Interior- center console and glovebox organizers, stereo upgrade, window tinting, armrest, euro parcel shelf
Front Grille- chrome, aero, custom
aerokit- paint the fender-wheel arches
Bonnet stripes-
Tail lights- Tinted, white
Rally Lights

What to start with-
Definitely intake- with the larger more free flowing intakes the MCS supercharger makes a louder whine- very nice at wide open throttle. Make sure that if you are adding the front strut bar you get the correct intake to match this- See BMP intake and strut bar combination. Alta intake is new and looks good- uses a foam filter and opens up the airbox to the rear firewall. Pilo intake is less costly and works fine.
Exhaust- very good place to start. Stock intake is very quiet. If it is already too loud for you then don't upgrade exhaust. Unless you want to add only the exhaust manifold header with cat- more costly- about one hour labor but mild increase in loudness with most brands except for London Stainless- which is quiet. Adds to HP-but less gains if you leave the stock exhaust on. Magnaflow and Borla Sports are the loudess. Borla regular exhaust for MCS is the most quiet upgrade- about 6 HP gain.
Intake and exhaust may be all that is needed for most people- you can do others but with added cost and some measured benefit. If you have a limited budget I would say that suspension-improved handling would be a good place to start.

Suspension-
Very overlooked place to upgrade- the MCS comes with lots of power but mostly in the mid to high range revs. Doesn't have much low end pick up. Adding power may not really add to that deficit except if you add the pulley, ECU, throttle body.- OR you improve the weight of the wheels which in stock set up is heavy. Best plan is for a reasonable light 16" rim about 13 to 15 pounds each with a non runflat performance all season tire. You can put on track tires like the Yokohama Parada2 or Falken Azenis Sports if you are doing some racing/competition but they don't wear as well and can be noisy or harsh riding.
The rearsway bar is a good place to start if you don't want to change springs. It is thicker than stock and can have multiple settings for firmness. It helps to allow all four wheels to maintain contact with the road at all time for better cornering at speed. For daily driving at speed limits and no fast corners it is not needed. For any spirited driving or track use, it is good to have.
Springs like the H-sport springs are good- lower the car all around about 1" and improve handling at speed and with cornering. For daily driving you don't really feel it much- it doesn feel more harsh or rough.

Take your pick and have fun

 

>>Tempting as it may be, I just can't justify the pulley at least until my warranty is over. My reasoning is that I don't want to give my dealer any reason to justify denying any potential warranty work. (After that, all bets are off!)


Installing a pulley a car that has 50,000 miles is what sounds silly to me.

 

I have the BMP Intake, Borla Exhaust and now the Alta Pulley installed by Randy himself. And soon to come will be the Evotech ECU upgrade. And then I will be complete with the HP upgrades. And the last thing I am thinking about is a warrenty that could be voided by the littlest modification. If you think something will go wrong something will. Be positive and enjoy it.

 

Nobull - What do you think of the Borla exhaust? I've been thinking about it lately. How does it sound? Is there ANY drone on the highway at constant speed?

Also, I assume you had the BMP and Borla together for a while. HOw was the combination power-wise?

I have the madness intake and pulley and I'm thinking about the ECU upgrade and maybe the Borla before stopping. Do you think the Borla makes a definite, very noticeable power increase???

Thanks Nobull!

 

greatgro- The Borla has as close to stock sound as you can get. A little rumble but not even close to the others. With the BMP and Borla combo I felt some increase but not alot. With the pulley it makes a huge amount of power. Unreal !!! The combo of BMP,Borla and pulley is awesome. Now going to get the ECU done next. I raced a MINI with BMP intake and the Pulley and it could not keep up or catch me and the driver was alot better then I am. I have the exhaust and they had stock so I believe it does make a difference with all the mod's added together.