I will admit up front that I am a fairly recent MINI convert of 3 years. I recently bought an 06 R53 JCW with very low mileage and it is a very stark departure from my 06 R50. There are quite a few differences (other than the incredible power upgrade) that I am noticing, and I really don't want to make all the novice mistakes folks make when buying one of these great cars. I have been chasing an upstream exhaust leak that does not exist because of the popping and crackling in the exhaust in decel that I later found......IS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE! LOL!!!! There seems to be so much conflicting information out there about the JCW package for 06, or maybe im just looking in the wrong places for information. It is a pretty damn fast car and the chassis dyno (yea, I have unlimited access to a chassis dyno) puts her at near 230 HP after a new set of wires and plugs. Near as I can figure, this car has a Stage I tuning kit based in the very elaborate exhaust and the presents of a vacuum operated cold air intake that draws cold air from the cowl. I realized this as I was getting ready to order a DDM CAI when I noticed that this car already appears to have a cold air intake. My questions to you aficionados out here are: Do I really need to upgrade the JCW CAI with a DDM CAI? Was there any other mods made when ordering this tuning kit? If my research is correct, there was a pulley difference, fuel injector difference and a lot of re-mapping of fuel and ignition timing in the PCM. I also learned that this R53 has a much bigger front sway bar and brakes than the R50, the rear brakes and sway bar are the same as my R50. Are there any other subtle differences that separates the R53 from the average MCS? The original owner tells me that this car had some kind of dealer supercharger upgrade, but other than the pulley, I cant imagine what that upgrade could have been. I ordered a new drive belt via the VIN and it was the same as the old belt, so there has not been a pulley change other than what the car came with. Don't get me wrong folks, I am not looking to have my ego massaged about this great car, I really want to understand the nuances that this car has which makes it different from the average MCS. Thanks in advance.

 

230 hp is suspiciously high, probably dyno error.Yyour rear sway bar is also bigger than the r50 sway bar stock for stock. I'd leave the jcw intake and add a smaller pulley.

 

The JCW cold air intake is one of the best and if you already have one there's no need to replace it. They're really expensive so most people buy other CAI's. What you can do is perform a flapectomy on it. In stock form it's really only a CAI above 4,500 RPM because of the vacuum operated flap and electronics. You can permanently remove the flap to have a full time CAI. MINI set it up this way because of noise regulations in Europe.

All JCW's have about an 11% pulley, Teflon coated rotors on the supercharger and, mild head porting. Other than the pulley, the supercharger was only different pre 2005. Starting with the face lift in '05, all the S's had Teflon superchargers. Also starting in 2005, the JCW's came with bigger injectors and the CAI to make 210HP. MINI released an injector and CAI retrofit kit for the previous 200HP JCW's to bring them up to 210HP spec.

I'm not sure if that was a typo when you asked about the differences between an R53 and MCS because all supercharged hard top MCS's are R53's.

Some other 1st gen JCW notes:

The JCW's have a different ECU tune the regular R53's, and the GP JCW's have a tune which brings the HP to 215.

There were also JCW brakes and suspension available, but they were optional and not part of the JCW package. The 1st gen JCW brake upgrade included only the front brakes, and were red with JCW logos. The stock R56S front brakes are essentially the same as the JCW brake upgrade without the paint and logo's. Many people use these on 1st gen's which is known as the "poor man's JCW brake upgrade"

The optional Aero Kit, often called the JCW body kit by mistake, includes bumpers and side skirts.

There was a JCW wing, which is different from the rare aero wing.

 

Wow! This is some great information. Thank you very much. We pulled this car onto the dyno again yesterday, it was a bit hotter than it was the first time we checked it. 229 hp today. We even calibrated the dyno again, just to be sure. I really have nothing to compare it to so I am going to assume that the previous owner did something to this car I was not told about. Unfortunately, he is deceased so I am afraid I will never know. Never the less, that flap is going to disappear tomorrow for sure! I think I am also going to invest in a header and get rid of that catalytic converter.

The car has 60K and I am considering servicing the supercharger oil, but good God, it is a bit of work to pick and shovel that thing out of there isn't it?

 

Don't change the airbox...the JCW is the best...the plastic does not heat soak, and just like the Dinian it gets cool air from outside the hood area....
The only reason why folks swap it out is to get more sound....
The whole "stage" kits are overdone....
Sounds like you have the jcw210 factory kit with a custom tune...MAYBE a pulley. Lots depends on the accuracy of the dyno, but sounds like a good car.

 

Other info...the 2002-2004 JCW cars got a slightly better than non-s coated SC....WAS A GREAY COATING on ONLY the JCW ...
BUT STARTING IN 2005 ALL r53 cars got a BLACK coating....
Yes...do some reading....reading so.e old articles on MOTORING FILE about the 2006 factory JCW....

 

ohh I had not read that before, to clarify

up to 2004 no coating stock
the jcw kit up to 2004 had grey coated SC
and the 2005-2006 all had black coating both jcw and regular S

 

Removing the cat will do very little....it's more an urban legend from cars from the 70's that taking off the cat frees up lots of power....
Know of some 250+ hp gen1 cars with RMW SHORTY headers with OEM cats welded to them....
RMW goes as far to say the OEM cat is the one to get if you need one... aftermarket"high flow" ones melt, toss codes or crack.
Folks did sometimes complain that the OEM JCW exhaust was too quiet, just like the intake....but from a change to get more power, it's not there...you already have the best.
The low hanging fruit is likly done...
You might toss GOOD header on the car, but you would need to retune with most any mods ...custom tunes are a bit more unforgiving....So if you do the headers, you "might as well" items list gets long if you are going to spend the $350+ on a re-tune....
If you get the header, you might as well do a pulley (debatable), bigger injectors (if blue strip JCW 380are still there)and a cam....then you are very close to switching to a BVH.......and if there, you might as well toss a howerton or snows meth kit.....
SOUNDS like a fun car...but from the dyno numbers, the ¢ stuff was done... Except For the $5000 JCW kit when new...lol.

 

I too just bought a JCW 210. I came from a highly modified R53. The jcw is slightly too refined in stock form. The flap needs to go. I'm removing mine. Also the exhaust is way to quiet. My other car had a JCW exhaust. But it did not have the pre resonator. Remove that and you may gain a few hp, but better is the sound and burble is louder but not to loud. At speed on the freeway the sound is the same and quiet enough to not get a headache and hear your talk radio. But that resonator has to go. After that spending money on a sway bar and some shocks and springs. I have Koni yellow and h&R springs. Those are getting swapped this weekend. I really can't wait to get my parts swapped from my old mini. This new JCW will come alive. I can feel the power but am distracted by the worn out control arm bushings and the softness of the suspension.