Sold the 2014 Stage 1 tuned mint condition R55 JCW. The car was a blast to drive, but a little jumpy at higher speed. Saw a few pre Jun 2020 1 owner 6spd JCW models going for around mid-$20k w/ about 25k miles on them only require a bench unlocked. However we really want the malted brown interior. 6 months into the search found a 2021 Mar build 1 owner 6spd Rebel Green/Brown leather interior w/ 38K miles on it. The owner custom ordered the car, came with full service records. Bought the car after I research extensively. Read Chrispy's post on F56 mini about non FEmto unlocked ECU mod on post Jun2020 cars and also reached out to Moddedmini com. FEmto unlock before tuning would cost $1600 shipped. Modded mini clone $1k before tuning plus the original ECU is untouched with no impact/risk on voiding the warranty.

The car was checked out by my mechanic only needs new tires, rear brakes and a new battery, perfect! I would probably need a Carly or bimmerlink to program the battery. Started bright and early yesterday I got the battery out and found an AMG w/4 yrs warranty for $250. Instead of heading out during an ice storm with untreated roadways, I got the ECU out and checked the build date was indeed 26Jun2021. The removal process was fairly straight forward. Well, no bench unlock or FEmto but definitely going w Moddedmini. I called Kale and chatted for a good 15 mins and felt comfortable enough to proceed. It turned out I only need to send the BDC and key, share yr/model & VIN # info that's it. BDC removal was not too difficult, Kale provided tips to remove the tiny square connector before and the side glovebox compartment cover which allows the BDC to slide out. The package was sent to Abel (Moddedmini) to in Texas for cloning onto a pre-Jun 2020 ECU. I would also need my window laptop, an ENET cable, an USB/Ethernet cable to run diagnostic. I had them wrapped really well and insured for about $4k (just in case the BDC is lost or damaged and require towing/reprogramming by the dealer). The cloning would only take a couple hours but the wait from shipping would take a couple days (which feels like an eternity, lol). I will post update once I get the ECU.

My advice is to take bunch of pix, cover the battery terminal w tape to avoid sparks and label parts /screws properly and be extremely patient not to damage the pins on the ECU and BDC during removal



The red plastic plug came out after prying gently. Slip a longer screwdriver below the black plug to slowly pull out the rectangular plug from the BDC

​​​​​

 

Maybe a silly question, but what is the BDC?

 

Not silly at all, it's the Body Domain Controller, located on the passenger side footwell area.

 

They have done an excellent job getting it up and running!
The tune is smooth and def pulls harder without getting crazy the way it's meant to be!