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JCW GarageInterested in John Cooper Works (JCW) parts for your 1st Generation MINI? This is where JCW upgrades and accessories for the Cooper (R50), Cabrio (R52), and Cooper S (R53) MINIs are discussed.
I have found a few others from old posts that were added, but i dont know where they are now or if they are still on the road. Im up to ~20 JCWs from 2003 to 2004(PFL)
Any of the dealer JCWs...i think(im probably wrong) that there may be some later R53/R52s that were facelift dealer installs as well as dealer installs.
Any of the dealer JCWs...i think(im probably wrong) that there may be some later R53/R52s that were facelift dealer installs as well as dealer installs.
R50 and R52 Cooper with the JCW Sound kit, then the JCW Tuning kit for the R50. I heard some people putting them on R52 Cooper also.
They were add on kits and at the time before the Works shop in UK closed installed there also I believe. But so were the early R53 kits until the VDC installed them. Most were dealer installed.
Most of the parts were made in the UK, yes the tuning kit parts plastic have GB as country of origin and some of the mechanical parts. They even had the "Cooper" badge in the plastic, so my guess is they were designed there before BMW group took over.
And now for some old school MINI pics from back in the early 2000's
Look at the old pipercross filter on the R50 challenge cars
Yes you can still add the tuning kits. Since the complete tuning kit is NLA from MINI, the trick is finding one. I bought a kit that was up for auction on Ebay and had it shipped all the way from Athens, Greece. It is "new old stock" that they were getting rid of. It is a 210HP kit but someone took the injectors and airbox out of the kit box. I plan to install the complete kit (including injectors and airbox) in the near future in to my 2008 MINI Cooper S Sidewalk. Also plan to add LSD as well. I plan to hold on to the upgraded Sidewalk for a long time. Tuning kit comes complete with serialized engine plate, dealer JCW tuning code, and serialized certificate signed by Mike Cooper
Yes you can still add the tuning kits. Since the complete tuning kit is NLA from MINI, the trick is finding one. I bought a kit that was up for auction on Ebay and had it shipped all the way from Athens, Greece. It is "new old stock" that they were getting rid of. It is a 210HP kit but someone took the injectors and airbox out of the kit box. I plan to install the complete kit (including injectors and airbox) in the near future in to my 2008 MINI Cooper S Sidewalk. Also plan to add LSD as well. I plan to hold on to the upgraded Sidewalk for a long time. Tuning kit comes complete with serialized engine plate, dealer JCW tuning code, and serialized certificate signed by Mike Cooper
Also,
it may be of interest here to post up some of the variants of the JCW cam cover badge.
sound kit:
clubsport or challenge?
The earliest example I think? JOHN COOPER MOTORSPORT
So rare I can't even find a pic online, had to take a rather crummy photo from a book - New MINI Performance Manual by Tim Mundy,
you can just barely make it out:
Yes you can still add the tuning kits. Since the complete tuning kit is NLA from MINI, the trick is finding one. I bought a kit that was up for auction on Ebay and had it shipped all the way from Athens, Greece. It is "new old stock" that they were getting rid of. It is a 210HP kit but someone took the injectors and airbox out of the kit box. I plan to install the complete kit (including injectors and airbox) in the near future in to my 2008 MINI Cooper S Sidewalk. Also plan to add LSD as well. I plan to hold on to the upgraded Sidewalk for a long time. Tuning kit comes complete with serialized engine plate, dealer JCW tuning code, and serialized certificate signed by Mike Cooper
Thats cool! So there are some hidden kits still floating around. From the numbers i have gathered that plate# would have been a factory install kit. I dont have the spreadsheet in front of me, but I *think* I have a good guesstimate of 'plate-to-year' spanning. I just need more kits to add to the spreadsheet to het better guesstimates🤓
Thats cool! So there are some hidden kits still floating around. From the numbers i have gathered that plate# would have been a factory install kit. I dont have the spreadsheet in front of me, but I *think* I have a good guesstimate of 'plate-to-year' spanning. I just need more kits to add to the spreadsheet to het better guesstimates��
Good work my man!
I appreciate the effort.
I wish my car had the certificate, that'd be icing on the cake.
They also help form a concrete dateline...
...like for instance,
#1952 was circa late 2003:
The kit I found on CL was #3466 and I'd guess mid-to-late 2004.
Sadly, it was undated.
I nearly bought the headless kit myself, but never did mainly due to the s/c being of the earlier non-teflon variety.
:
Regarding the cam cover badges I posted about above, I asked if the JCW/C was Clubsport or Challenge,
apparently it was Challenge as the Clubsport spec had their own special design:
Correction edit of the above concerning the rocker cover badges...
...JCW/C was merely an internal coding system and did not indicate Challenge after all:
From the John Cooper Garages sales brochure it is important to pickup on the distinction in the wording used for these 2 types of MINI Cooper Works. If a car was converted by John Cooper Garages pre sale it was given a CAR No. JCW/C plate on the engine, but if a was taken to them post sale it was given a Conversion No. JCW/K plate on the engine.
:
A bit of rambling --- I really like how they continued the tradition of the engine plaques which had been around since the early days, for example, from the many various old school tuners,
here are examples from Swiftune and Speedwell:
Not sure how it ended up in the US, or if it was from a pre or post sale conversion, but there was a JCW engine for sale with this style of plate about two months ago in Northern CA.
Not sure how it ended up in the US, or if it was from a pre or post sale conversion, but there was a JCW engine for sale with this style of plate about two months ago in Northern CA.
Interesting.
Curious as to how it got here too.
Recently came across a news article in which Cooper Garages reached the milestone of the 5,000th kit in April of 2004.
I guess that number includes all the different variants of the conversion.
April 6, 2004
Exactly one year after the UK launch of the John Cooper Works Kits for the MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S, John Cooper Garages will today assemble and despatch its 5000th unit.
In the wake of its UK introduction, launches have followed worldwide with the power-enhancing tuning kits now available in most countries. To date, the UK leads the way, accounting for 959 units, but with demand currently exceeding supply for kits in many markets, the global success story shows no signs of abating.
Fyi, for anyone looking to buy a 200HP or 210HP JCW Tuning Kit - New, uninstalled kits are out there to be found, but it will take some searching and a little luck to find one. I bought my kit last month for $3,529.44, plus $457.52 for the international freight shipping charge, plus another $350 to pay a US Customs broker and fees for importing to the US from Athens, Greece. So that was a total of $4,336.96 to get the kit. I still need to spend $1,100 to get the 380cc injectors and airbox (still available from MINI) bringing the grand total up to $5,436.96. Thought I'd share what it cost me for anyone looking to buy one and what the costs are.
The 200bhp JCW Tuning Kit originally retailed for $4,500 (plus 10 hours labor). The JCW Upgrade (airbox, 380cc injectors plus remap) was originally $525 (plus 1.5 hours labor). The 210bph Tuning Kit was originally $4,775 (plus 11.5 hours labor).
The factory JCW Package (3AL) which also included the JCW Sport Brakes and LSD was $6,300 but it required ordering the $1,400 Sport Package.
02-10-2019, 10:19 AM
