Oh great drivetrain experts, I have been pondering an important life decision regarding the manner in which I void my warranty on my MCS :smile:

Should I save up my pennies and take the plunge into getting the full-on John Cooper Works performance package or should I work my way there in dribs and drabs first starting with the Alta Performance Intake (this seems to be the favorite) and then getting a new pulley and then slowly building my way up to some sort of JCW-equivalent set up?

Thoughts, opinions, advice, donations all appreciated.

(Yes, I do know that getting the dealer to install the JCW package will not void my warranty)

 

In a effort to have this not evolve into another JCW vs Aftermarket thread I will say this.

It is all a matter of what you value.

If you are looking for the name and security that go with the JCW, then go with that way.

If you are looking for gains that are the same or better than JCW for less $$ but without the "prestige" as some would call it and warranty, then go Aftermarket.

The rest, I leave up to you

 

My decision was ended like this:

Wife: Whats the point of a warranty if you're going to viod it w/in 2 weeks of getting the car?

Part of the reason I'm getting the car brand new is because I'm tired of having to work on all my other cars all of the time due to performance parts wearing out stock parts faster than normal. Although its a kick right in the wallet...having a 3 year warranty and a 210hp Mini is my idea of bliss. Its really your personal choice...the arguments are pretty obvious

 

With what the JCW costs I can but a used engine online and along with a few buddies put it back in...that sort of was the main thing in my opinion. Dont' get me wrong the JCW kit is great and for those of you that can afford it congrats but for me it just wasn't logical
Mike

 

here we go again

 

Couldn't help it. It really is a personal preference. I say we leave it at that

 

That thought had crossed my mind before so I searched for about 10 minutes on google and couldnt find a used mini S engine anywhere, nothing on Ebay either. Do you know where you can find one? I'd love to buy a spare and build it to high heaven and swap it in over winter

 

A used S engine popped up on ebay last week. They should be getting more available as time goes on and people crash... I know a wrecker in NorCal (minirecycling.com) that has two Coopers.

neilgj, you haven't really given us enough info to provide informed opinions. How old is the car (in-service date)? Do you have $5500-6000 to spend? If no, how long would it take you to earn it? Are you going to want that 'next thing' (cam, N20, etc) which will put the vaunted warranty at risk? Do you like to tinker, or pay your money and drive away? Do you live near any MINI tuner shops?

If you haven't read all the other JCW threads, I'd recommend it as an educational tool, and for expectation setting.

The answer to the question is 'it depends' or '42', if you like Douglas Adams.

 

I have done a lot of the popular after market mods and in fact am going for a custom tune today and I have been thinking on this same subject. Should i have spent the money and got the JCW kit?

1) when I started to mod my car I had no idea how obsessed I was going to get and how much money I was going to spend.

2) I have had a lot of fun/entertainment picking and choosing and watching my car evolve.

Going back to item #1, I have never driven a JCW car but I plan to do it as soon as I can find one to drive. Since integration seems to be the magic of getting all the mods to play together nice, it will be interesting to see how the JCW kit performs. My car is already faster than I can drive it. The thing that I do want is the 170 ft lb of torque which currently I am not close to at about 155 even though my peak hp is about the same or greater than the JCW kit. (I hope this improves greatly after the tune) I am pretty sure that I have spent at least as much as the JCW kit and wonder if my numbers don't improve to what I believe I should have attained, if I made a smart move?

Item # 2 ..... It has been a lot of entertainment to pour over this stuff, ask stupid questions, meet some great people, read all the threads. If I had done the JCW kit I would have had none of those experiences which I truly enjoyed, even the frustrating moments.

Is it a hobby or is a car? that is what it is boiling down to for me.

 

Another option is to go with a Dinan dealer, which will also preserve your warranty: http://www.dinancars.com/Mini.asp?Se...is=40&Model=91

 

btw ....what are you doing up at this hour?

 

i agree with mini d, here we go again

 

It all comes down to which of the two types of car people you are:

1-One who hates to work on cars and just want to drive it. Get the JCW and you'll be happy. You'll never have to look under the hood either

2-One who loves to modify (read risk takers ) and personalize their cars then DRIVE it. Do it yourself or have someone do it for you. This process is neverending and always gratifying. Just when you think you're done, new ideas comes up and you are chasing the project like you did when you first ordered the Mini. The excitement never ends:smile:

 

If you check on www.car-part.com there is a few for sale. Most expensive was 4500 and that came with a 6 speed trans and one of the cheaper ones was 1950.
Mike

 

I knew it boiled down to something like that. I could just never get beyond the thought of why anyone wouldn't want to do it themselves and just throw money at it.

 

So well said but if I may just add somehting, as a JCW owner the (problem!) with these funny little cars is that you never want to stop improving them, which in part has to do with the fantastic handling capabilities of the car (which you improve anyway!). So if you have the JCW badge and think you'll be satisfied, think again. Every time you step on it and hear the engine scream you can't help yourself from thinking what another 10 or 20.... hp will do for this great little car. So to quote spider X there is no right or wrong way this is all entertainment

 

Except once you've decide to modify a JCW, you start to wonder what you could've used that extra 4 grand for :smile:

 

Good site. It seemed that the cheapest you can get one w/ SC was about 3K, which isn't to bad. I'd guess that for 3K on your own you could make a MCS as fast as a JCW MCS, and still have 3K in reserve incase you blow it up.

 

"I'd love to buy a spare and build it to high heaven and swap it in over winter "


hehe!

 

[QUOTE=MSFITOY]Except once you've decide to modify a JCW, you start to wonder what you could've used that extra 4 grand for :smile:[/QU

you'll figure that out once you start passing a couple of those tuned minis on the track

 

I don't have half your mods and I have I a lot more torque than the JCW. I really think you're problem may be that you've modded too much. Not that you really ever can mod too much. But you just can't randomly smack on parts. The 19% pulley alone should give as much or MORE torque than the JCW upgrade. The head, header, throttle body, cams, etc, are really unnecessary...at least without a custom ECU tune. But it sounds like a basic 19%, intake, exhaust and ECU will leave you in the dust right now.

 

What my car needed was a custom tune which IS DONE and I'm very happy. The car feels integrated and is considerably faster than it was. Hornguy (196whp) drove my car the other night before the tune (and i drove his) He has 19% header, catback, powerchip, 15 inch wheels and his car is really well integrated. I think leave in the dust would be a very strong statement before the tune. Now that my car is tuned I think that I am getting out of the mods what I expected. The car is very strong smooth and I am pleased.

I will say this about dynos. I have learned that while dynos don't lie............

No two are the same and every one uses different methods on different days. Hell after the rain came today and the barometer went down we lost power. There is no standard practice that everyone uses in exactly the same atmospheric chamber etc. I suggest keep going to the same shop if you like them to establish deltas.

btw... I was told by the dealer that my car pulled much harder than a JCW before the tune and my last dyno before today was only showing 155 ft lb while JCW claims 170 yet my car pulled harder. There are several theories that might explain this.

Bottom line. I am very happy with my car right now. I was there the whole time it was tuned and saw the painstaking effort that Lee went through to "get it right" and this guy knows cars.

 

Glad you're happy. That really is the bottom line. There's nothing like spending loads of money and time and not being happy. Congrats.

 

I am seeing more and more JCW cars starting to go the tuner route in order to keep up with some of the modded cars. Now that has to really be a burn to buy something knowing a good portion of your check is going to the warrenty and then voiding it to go faster.

 

That's my point. If you want warranty and keep the value of a JCW, then you shouldn't go the modded route. Once you start to mod a JCW, the name has no value and you've lost the extra $4000 you invested ($6000 JCW versus $2000 for similar HP).