Inspired by earlier posts I have seen from folks that have looked at improving the performance or functioning of their Mini's without spending much if any $, I thought I'd see if anyone else has been tinkering and would like to contribute.

What I hope everyone will avoid in this thread are:
1. All the usual performance upgrades being discussed elsewhere (air filters, plugs,etc).
2. Customization for aesthetic purposes only.

Please limit any contributions to mods that would cost less than $20 to make. So, modest or minor, all inputs are welcome! If you have contributed elsewhere previously on this topic please let us know!

Here are 2 of my minor mods to hopefully get things rolling:

1. I noticed that every time I cleaned my windshield on the go, the residue water would invariably splash and make a mess of my side windows too... very annoying. I wondered why the design of the pillars did not consider this and channel it away?

So I took matters into my own hands. I got some narrow black body side molding that I had around and attached a vertical strip to each pillar (on the windshield edge) with just enough of an air gap to trap the water. Now at low to moderate speeds the windshield fluid is mostly - if not completely - channeled to the roof. Voila!

Close-up Picture of pillar and molding:
http://au.msnusers.com/OzMini/mymini...mp;PhotoID=104


2. After looking at Alta's new supercharger intercooler cover I was intrigued by the slight modification that was made to divert all of the scoop air into the supercharger intercooler. Tests done (http://www.webbmotorsports.com/performance.php) on the diverter were impressive. But not needing the sprayer, and trying to replicate the mod, I took a couple of strips of thick weatherstripping and imitated the angle of the Alta cover and placed them on the underside of the hood (aka bonett) I played around with the positioning a few tiems by dabbing some car wax on the weather stripping and saw where it left marks on the cover until I got is just right.

While I was there I also noticed (by doing the same test) that the original rear weatherstip was in fact overlapping the rear most fins of the intercooler

Picture of underside of scoop showing added weatherstrip and trimmed seal:
http://au.msnusers.com/OzMini/mymini...mp;PhotoID=105


Okay, who's next?


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Don't believe all the dyno results you see. I would really doubt if that Alta air diverter did anything whatsoever to increase performance - even if some vendor published dyno results or temp readings from it.... :smile:

 

If Randy said a specific mod will increase performance, you can take that to the bank. Now the air diverter mod may be hard to see any increase on a dyno without one hell of a big fan. Would be easier and probably better info. to use cheap $9.00 temp gauge from K-Mart and check intercooler temp. at speed. You would of course have to do before & after tests. As I recall, Randy did some testing and saw about 10 degree change. May not generate a bunch more whp but, the way you did it the cost was zero.... so... whats the down side... nothing.

 

Thanks Greatgro and Apexer for your comments. I will do a temperature check eventually myself just to confirm that the mod is at least doing what it is meant to. But the mod appears logical and cheap with no downside.

Meanwhile, I would be interested in other mods out there?

OzMini