for any interested MCSa owners who may have missed this on main coupe board

The JCW kit for the R56 Cooper S automatic has been released. Unfortunately, we do not have access to parts availability information. Please contact the Parts Manager at your MINI dealer for further assistance.

If there are further questions I can assist with, please feel free to drop me an e-mail. I will be happy to lend a hand.

LET’S MOTOR.

Amber Wood
MINI Customer Relations and Services
Representative

I must have caught the soft launch (via the help of another NAM mmber)
and had mine installed last Wednesday. Its a very worthwhile addition to the car.

 

Ok, interesting. Do you care to share the installed cost?

What pieces are involved with the upgrade? Any nice bling or just the JCW badges for accents?

What do you think the HP gain was like or did it smooth out some of the engine character. Curious what you think!

 

$2100. plus 2 hours later. Mine was done last week. Thanks to another NAM member, I got enough info to be "soft launched" much to my dealer's surprise (and mine)

Big difference. Very pleased. Only drove a manual trans JCW for a short time and very low miles on odometer so its hard to say how much difference the JCW kit made compared to non JCW manual trans cars I have driven. However, the auto trans JCW kit does addresss the shift points and the throttle response in non sport mode quite a bit. Sounds throaty but not too loud. Pulls hard at high revs. Feels like the steering is a bit lighter. I just had an aligment due to an altercation with a pothole and they car was very tight after that. Now its just as tight but the steering feels a bit "softer to the touch".

The software download knocked out my bluetooth pairing so that had to be redone. The tech said the install was seamless and when I asked him if he test drove ( I had asked him to) it he said--Yes, I did and its QUICK- you are going to enjoy this.


The weather has been pretty shaky here since I picked the car up on Wednedsday BUT I can say during normal driving its feels alot stronger. Can't wait to have the ability to push it harder and see whatever good things are in store.

Its all good though my gas mileage ( per the OBC ) has suffered a bit. Perhaps its that constant desire to test my new found addt'l power.

I only had the front badge installed but they gave me the rear deck badge and the software disc. The pipes look WAAAY better.

Pieces...new exhaust, intake w/ JCW badge on box, software upgrade.

 

Looks like a fine upgrade, let me know what you think after you have a chance to 'really' exercise the upgrade.

Good choice on keeping the bling subtle.

If the tech. said it was quick, I suspect he knows from multiple test drives.

Thanks for the impressions. -- Don

 

Does the R56 have the Aisin 6 spd transmission? I'm a little surprised because the torque limit for that transmission is about 230 ftlb at the crank (200 at the wheels?) and the dyno's of the JCW r56 seem to surpass that.

 

Duh oh, it does in fact have the Aisin 6 speed. Given that I'm already surpassing 200ft/lbs at the wheels via ALTA mods and am really just get started, lets hope those limits are far higher on the R56.

 

Hmm.. It likely has the AISIN AW TF-60SN like the R53 (Probably not upgraded by BMW). The TF-80SN is their only other fwd transverse 6 speed and is a little big for the mini.

The torque specs are here:
http://www.ricardo.com/engineeringse...adybenchmarked

With a 15% drivetrain loss the torque limit is about 200 whp. Maybe there is an electronic torque limiter for the JCW software for the first two gears where it uses a torque converter.

I'll be watching the r56 jcw automatics carefully. Maybe I can get that 2.0 stroker kit for the r53 after all.

By the way, Msteadman, did you dyno your car?

 

Surprises me that they'd put a transmission on the MINI which is so close to the stock limits already...

I haven't dyno'd my MINI yet as I want to wait until Spring when I complete my list of mods. However, ALTA has dyno plots showing their R56 with just the cold air intake to be making 209 ft/lbs at the wheels. I also have the boost tubes and turbo inlet hose which reap an additional 8 and 10 ft/lbs respectively.

 

The JCW Tuning Kit only adds 7 foot pounds of torque. I doubt they would put a transmission that has almost no tolerance. How could a transmission malfunction with this much of a power increase and last 100,000 miles without it.

 

I agree it does seem really strange. Maybe it's a different transmission. Maybe the ECU limits the amount of torque in first gear where the Aisin runs into trouble. I'm hoping my info on the torque specs are way off and I can keep modding my car. The problem is that if there is an electronic torque limiter in first and maybe second gear it wouldn't be seen on dyno runs in 3rd or 4th gear.

I'm not arguing that the JCW tuning kit isn't safe for the automatic, but I'm hoping someone shows me where my mistake is so I can push my r53 past 210 ftlb and 250 hp at the wheels. I'm praying my torque specs are way off.

 

Considering the JCW kit carries full factory warranty support, it would seem unlikely they would be willing to risk alot of auto trans replacements under warranty just to sell some JCW kits. I am sure there is some margin for error.

All that said, w/o having a chance to really road test all the nuances of the JCW for the automatic R56 MCS, I can tell you this--it makes the car much more pleasurable to drive. I think the re-programming of the trans and throttle response make a huge difference even running mundane errands.

Has anyone had a chance to go from non JCW to JCW upgraded manual trans cars then from auto JCW cars to auto non JCW cars ? My test drive in the manual JCW was short and the car had 100 miles on it. I am wondering if the kit makes a bigger difference from base to JCW on the auto trans cars ALBEIT starting from a different performance platform.

 

That wouldn't surprise me. Especially since the primary magic of the JCW stage 1 seems to be in its software. Obviously the auto can benefit from that in ways that the manual simply cannot.

 

It feels like the map has changed and the gear change has less "delay".
Maybe they will talk about this when the kit is "officially" announced.

 

I think I may have discovered why the car feels so much better JCWed. It appears they have programmed it to start in first gear rather than second as before.

If you move the lever over to manual and click it to shift up a gear it goes to M2, therefore, it must be starting in first. Unfortunately, there is no gear indication in non- sport mode but I think that is part of the re-programing, Very noticeable.

If anyone has a JCW MCS R56, check it out and see what you think...

 

The actual model number used in the R53 is TF-61SN (also used in the Audi TT).

 

I got an email from MINI today that said it was not official yet...

 

It may not be offcial but it can be installed. Just give your dealer your VIN and the kit will appear, if you are interested in doing the upgrade. I have had mine for 2 weeks.

Well worth doing, IMHo. I love it.

 

I test drove an Auto the other day. Loved the paddle shifters, but thought it needed a shift kit for a quicker, harder shift. Did you notice an improvement in this area with the kit?
I just ordered a MCSa and can't wait to get it. My first one.

 

I think the JCW kit does have a slightly quicker shift ( less delay )but it may be "imagined".
Does not shift harder. The kit does raise the rev limits in each gear even in non-sport mode and starts in first gear in all modes. The first gear start makes a big difference. The auto JCW car is an infinitely more pleasurable car to drive than the non JCW MCSa and I was happy with the car before the kit. I am thrilled with it now.

One of my friends has a manual trans MCS with similar mileage to mine (6000) and drove my MCSa/JCW the other day. He said--"your car is faster and feels much more powerful across the board. It also sounds great. Guess I am getting a JCW kit, too."

I don't know of any kits to change the auto trans shifting parameters. When the tech did the dowload for my car he said a module appeared that said--UPGRADE AUTO TRANS so I am sure that is where the mapping was altered.
Perhaps ALTA will come up with something.

The MCSa/JCW is a quick little car.

 

It's nice to keep the warranty intact with the approved JCW tune. How do you like the difference with the new muffler? Happy with the sound? All I need is my VIN and they can order it?

How much was labor?

Thanks...

 

sounds much better. Not LOUD but throaty. Not much different at cruising speeds but dip into throttle a bit and it sounds much more performance oriented.

2 hours labor. VIN( last 7 digits) was all I needed. Kit appeared 4 days later. Told my former MA about it yesterday..He said--there is NOT a kit for auto MCS yet...I said...go out front and drive ONE. You have to go to parts and tell them just to order it. I promise you, its doable.

 

Did they replace your full muffler from turbo to tail?

 

muffler, tailpipes..they do not replace cats from back of turbo.There is a PDF on motoringfile.com (second page) that shows the whole install including exactly where they cut off the old exhaust system to replace with the JCW setup.

http://motoringfile.com/howto/JCW_De...talled_Kit.pdf

 

The JCW exhaust is a cat back system, not turbo back like what you can get from ALTA. So basically what emtrey said.

 

emtrey,could you provide the name of the dealer you purchased your JCW kit from,i'm having some trouble here in Ca.Q