Hello,

Please find the instructions (my style of course) texted below and a .pdf version at the bottom. I decided to forgoe the BOV for now (Also, I couldn't find one as we are moving!) Let me know if I can answer any questions. I do really like this upgrade!

Thanks for paying attention!

Howard” Gets new lungs!

Hey low again everyone! Just a brief update on Howard and the parts that were added this week!

He got a new set of intercooler hoses and an intake system. I know that many of you R56 owners have been dying for us to release these items and my apologies for the delay!

Well here we go! Starting with the I/c plumbing and I/C muffler delete.

As with nearly everything on the MINI, raise the hood, disconnect the battery and raise the car onto suitable ramps or stands. Please take necessary precautions to avoid injuring yourself or your MINI!

Now looking under the hood and near the radiator, locate the coolant reservoir. Loosen and remove the mounting bolt and wiggle the tank back away from the radiator. I then secured it out of the way using some cable ties I had in the garage. The photo below shows the tank still in the factory location. (Do not open the cap or remove any of the rubber lines to the tank. That will make a big and unnecessary mess!)

Also in the photo below you can see the single clamp securing the boost tube to the outlet of the turbo. Simply loosen the clamp with a 7mm nut driver or socket.

Now go under the vehicle and remove the two clamps that secure the lower portion of the tubing to the intercooler. Then remove the 90 deg rubber elbow from the bottom of the IC muffler. This is a snug fit so be patient. The photo below shows the upper clamp loosened. You can see in the right side of the photo, the muffler. This will be removed next.

The photo below shows the lower elbow removed and the muffler still in place. Dead center in the photo is the PITA torx headed screw that secures the muffler to the radiator core. Find a way to loosen and remove this screw. Then the upper hose and muffler drop out the bottom as an assembly. Now on to the easy part!

Using the supplied hose clamps from the ALTA kit, place the appropriate size over both ends of the new IC hose. Then simply drop it in from the top into the engine bay. Gently secure the upper end to the turbo, then align and final tighten the bottom clamp to the intercooler. Then final tighten the upper clamp. Lastly re-install the coolant reservoir and secure it with the bolt removed
earlier.

Now that wasn’t so bad right? Well now on to the slightly more difficult stuff. I will now detail the steps necessary to do both the cold side I/C pipe AND the intake. The reason being that the intake box etc. must come off to access the Cold side IC pipe as well as install the intake. You do not HAVE to remove the cold side IC tube to install the intake if that is the only product you are installing. If you have questions PLEASE let me know! (adam.taft@altaminiperformance.com or 503-222-MINI)

Now loosen and remove the clamp securing the MAF sensor to the intake tube. Then unplug the MAF sensor from the engine harness. Next remove the four bolts that secure the air box top to the bottom. Then tilt the assembly back and remove it from the bottom portion of the air box. Remove the panel filter from the box. Then simply lift up on the bottom to remove it from the rubber feet holding it to the intake manifold. Then twist the fresh air tube (lower section connects to the air box bottom) approx 60 degrees to release it. You can look inside the box as you do this to see when the tab lines up with the holes. Also, on later production car there is an air line that is connected to a stay on the fresh air tube. Un-clip this hose to prevent damaging it later on. This releases the box from the engine. Separate the MAF sensor from the air box top by removing the two torx screws. DO NOT DROP THIS SENSOR! It is easily damaged and expensive!
The photo below shows the air box removed and the cold side IC pipe still installed. On the lower left side you can see the clamp securing it to the plastic boost tube. Loosen this clamp. Then loosen the clamp near the firewall that secures the sound generator recirc hose to the boost tube. Once loosened then remove the hose from the boost tube and tuck it out of the way. This will allow access to the last clamp on the throttle body directly below it.

Then loosen and remove the clamp securing the tube to the T/B. This can be a bugger and may require a couple screwdrivers of varying lengths, or 7mm swivel sockets etc. Once that is off then remove the tube as an assembly.

Install the new ALTA tube into the vehicle and secure it with the supplied clamps at the throttle body and hard plastic boost tube. Now, on earlier cars the crossover tube may NOT need to be trimmed, on later production models (like mine) I had to trim about 1” off the crossover tube. Once trimmed, place the supplied aluminum coupler into the crossover tube and secure with supplied clamp. Then press it into the ALTA IC tube and secure with clamp! Then it will look like the photo below! Now onto completing the intake!

Mount the air box to the intake manifold using the supplied hardware. The hardware shown in the photo below WILL vary from that included in the kit, this is a pre-production hardware setup shown. Essentially the box mounts to the manifold re-using the OEM rubber cushions. The plate washers, bolts and nuts secure it through those mounts. Do not final tighten at this time.

Then using the supplied reducer coupler, attach the OEM fresh air tube to the lower tube on the ALTA air-box. First secure the coupler to the fresh air tube and final tighten the clamp. Then slide the coupler over the air box and tighten the clamp. Be sure to hold the air box vertical while tightening. Also, the coupler shown below is also pre-production and the kit will include a proper coupler in the same color as the upper tube, logo etc.

Now install the MAF sensor into the ALTA upper tube and secure with supplied clamp. Then carefully slide the sensor into the OEM inlet hose and then the ALTA hose over the upper tube of the air box. Tighten clamps. Again photo depicts a pre-production tube. Production versions have an ALTA logo.

You are CLOSE to being done! Final tighten the mounting hardware for the air box. Then using the supplied trim, run it around the air box. Lastly install the filter. Use an old rag or paper towel to remove excess oil from the filter from the mfring process. Especially from the inside lip of the mounting surface. I use a light amount of simple green to help remove the oil in this area. Then slide it on, align the logo and tighten it.

DONE!

Now lower the vehicle from the jackstands, find any missing tools, re-connect the battery and close the hood. Start the motor and get ready for more POWER! Plus the intake and muffler delete allow the turbo and blow-off valve to be heard more readily. Not enough to be obnoxious, but just loud enough to mean business!

I am really enjoying these two pieces. They give me a nice splash of color under the hood and a bit more power under my foot!

Let me know if I can help in anyway!

Adam
ADAMSALTAMINI
Adam.taft@altaminiperformance.com
503-222-MINI

 

Adam are the tubes merely cosmetic or are you expecting an increase in engine volume?

 

On a MAF based intake that's a bad idea unless you have some way to tune for the loss of metered air when you vent.

 

While this is technically true, the amount of time the car runs rich between shifts is real quick, most of the time less than a second. Other than a little wasted gas, it really hasn't been an issue on turbo/intercooled cars. If it has, there may be more underlying problems than a blow off valve

 

It hasn't? My experience on this has been entirely different. Throttle response suffers, it bogs from running rich and then getting back on it, and the smoothness of power suffers (and lets face it, the car isn't exactly smooth with the factory tune).

 

The VTA on the MCS is not an issue, unlike some other MAF based vehicles. As an example running VTA on a WRX is murder on fuel economy etc. Our Mule has nearly 7k miles on the setup and no issues at all. So it is all relative.

I did get the boost tubes on, the intake etc. But waited on the BOV VTA as I couldn't find one in our recent move. I will post pics later this weekend. PROMISE! Sorry for the delay.

On the tubes for the IC, the volume is changed, but most importantly the corregated pipes and dramatic changes in the OEM pieces are completely eliminated. Less restriction, more HP!

Hope that helps.

 

That's strange, I had a VTA BOV back in the day and never noticed a decrease in fuel mileage on my WRX. I only took it off because I got annoyed with the sound :p

Glad you guys were able to replace some corrogated piping! It's always nice knowing you have smooth air flow

 

when you say volume is changed I assume you mean more of it? I konw the move is holding you guys back but do you know when we will see the tubes on the site? thanks as usual adam!
-Bryan

 

Yup more air flow volume! The tubes are available now, call me to order. They will be on the website later this week. Sorry for the delay!

Thanks folks! Enjoy the update above!

 

Forgot to mention! On earlier production cars (I don't have the cut off date.) the hood scoop is completely blocked from incoming air. You have two options, either remove the hood scoop and then unscrew the block off plate, or open the holes. On later cars the scoop grill thingy is mostly open, in this case you can either just leave it as is, or remove it. I chose to leave it on my car. Please note the HP gain is less if that scoop is completely blocked. The ALTA intake relies on this inlet for fresh air!

Sorry for the edit!

 

Not sure what will happen when people open up the exhaust on a Mini. On a subaru, the air has already passed through the MAF and thus "been accounted for" so when you lift off the gas, the motor expect that air to be there and adds fuel. If there is no air you get unburned fuel and its not hard to get a big flaming backfire. A Cat will muffle this.

I have seen this handled a couple ways on bimmers. Some companies use a typical maf off the intake like the subaru and try to tune around it. I have seen others with a blow-through maf where the maf is located before the intake manifold and the bleed air has not been metered at all.

I'm not sure what configuration is in the current Mini or what work arounds they have in place.

 

I've heard the car doesn't really care much, its like the 2.0t vws, from the euro car having only a map sensor, I'd say that the car is more map than maf. Should be fine.

 

I believe it is a blow thru of sorts. (Which is an upgrade we offer on the Subaru BTW.) Either way it seems to be a-ok.

Thanks for the comments folks!

 

Make em in black yet?
Also how many ply is it?

 

Avaialble in both black and red. 6-ply. Thanks for asking!

 

I downloaded the PDF and am very anxious to buy this but I have a question - is there something missing in the pics or is the filter left exposed?

 

Filter is left exposed to "bathe" in the the air flow coming from the scoop through the filter and drawn down under the car. Also, there are dyno charts on our website as well to show HP gains.

Hope that helps!

 

Got it. So I'm assuming that it would be best to remove the small patch of what appears to be insulation on the underside of the scoop?

Oh man, I can't wait lol I've been waiting for you guys to come out with this intake since before I got my car.

 

Yes removal of that scoop screen will certainly help air flow. Let us know how we can help further!

 

I dont think he was refering to the vent screen but rather the "fire blanket" on the underside of the hood.....

 

Oh my total bad. I left mine on. I don't see how that would make a dramatic difference, but might be worth trying.

Again, my bad for being a tool! Thanks!

 

Some people have mentioned that our online instructions are lacking. So I am bumping this one up in hopes others will see this when the search function fails.

Thank you!

 

Installed boost tubes and turbo inlet hose. After turning on the car, I am getting a p1152 code, when I clear that code and turn the car back on, im getting CELs showing that the cylinders are missfiring. I called you guys during my lunch break at work and spoke to Ken. He said you guys might have had a defective shipment? When I drive with the p1152 code the turbo works for a few seconds and then doesnt work anymore. Then after I clear the CEL is where the missfiring happens again. Any assistance please?

 

Thanks for the purchase and the mail. I have no clue what Ken is talking about in terms of a defect, so I am going to answer with that in mind.

What your codes would indicate to ME is that something electrical is not plugged back in, OR you have a leak someplace, causes the car to go lean, and thus shows a misfire.

So, go around to EACH connection (especially those on the boost tubes) and be 100% sure they are on all the way and tight.

On the inlet hose, be sure the MAF is plugged back in, the clamps are tight etc.

PLEASE let me know what you discover! Chat soon!

 

I am sorry, the CEL read was p1142, it was a typo. Only symptons are turbo works for first few seconds and then doesnt spool up anymore. I replaced the turbo inlet hose with the OEM one and the tube that goes to IC back to OEM and still same CEL. I cannot replace the TB side tube back to OEM because I had already trimmed down the crossover tube. I rechecked that tube for leaks and no-leak. Should this be an actual o2 sensor problem


O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Low Voltage (Bank 2 Sensor 1)
that can be covered under warranty? I am deeply concerned because I been trying to get help since sunday and this is my daily driver. I have been hitching family cars temporarily and I need a solution ASAP. If its a dealer problem, would I have warranty issues with the boost tubes? And also would this cause the problem with the turbo not spooling like shouldnt I get a CEL for that?
Thanks