Has anyone had the JCW Tuning kit installed during the limited time it was available? If so what was the difference from stock as far as the driveability, and performance?

 

Not sure of what gen your asking about, if you are discussing first gen, there may be some older threads laying about on NAM.

You might find some interesting information here in Gen 1. which is an Alta thread, but a lot of comparison are discussed.

If your discussing 2nd Gen, here is the most complete thread about the JCW tuning kit.

Since I have an R56, not much help, other than to point you at some older info.

Good luck with your question.

 

i think he's asking about the first tuning kit for the new mini from JCW, for the non-s cars, and not the sound kit, right?

i've seen 2 cars in the for sale section w/ those kits (one of them is still for sale now, i believe). seems like they're pretty rare here in the US 'cuz due to the late availability, it would've cost about the same to just get the mcs instead. i think there's a mild bump in power (~10hp) due to the jcw head, exhaust, and ecu flash and that's about it. there's a brochure of it on motoringfile somewhere. when the mcs came out i guess it pretty much made it pointless and they moved on to the mcs tuning kit and the cheaper mc sound kit

 

I should have mentioned it was for a 1st Gen. MINI. For a short time there was a JCW Tuning kit available complete with head. I was just wondering what the effect was on the car with that kit. It was only available for a short time then dissapeared. I was also curious about the nature of the porting, and how radical or mild that might have been.

 

From MotoringFile:

JCW Cooper Review

JCW Cooper Kit coming to the US

JCW Cooper Kit components

Official Brochure

 

Here, this person had it done.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...6&postcount=15

Perhaps a PM to him will give you the answers you seek.

 

When looking at a JCW Head (non S or S) should the ports be smooth with no casting grain visible? Does someone have a picture of the porting on a JCW head?

 

Intake


Exhaust


Chamber


I took these a while back so I'm not sure about the porting on the intake side other than what is shown. You can definently see the porting on the exhaust side; the machining/polishing.

If you are looking at a head an trying to determine if it is a JCW, short of having the authentic paper work, there is probably no way to confirm. You might call a dealership with the part code that is cast into the head, but I don't think you'll get far. The part # on mine matches a # written on the JCW box that the kit came in, but not the actual part# of the JCW kit.

 

Thanks goin440. I would have thought the portwors would have been more extensive than the pix show. I have been entertaining the idea of doing some cleanup porting on my head. I was surprised to see some of the same casting roughness left in the JCW head. I may look for a used head I can work on then swap out.

 

Keep in mind, its very streetable, emisions safe-er, and massed produced (somewhat I guess). But yeah, I was disappointed too.

 

How did the car drive? What was the difference in performance?

 

I put a JCW head on my MC with a Sound Kit, it's an '06. At the tuner shop we briefly compared the head to stock, it's a subtle port, I don't think anything was done on the intake side. Chamber is shaped different and exhaust side was pretty good.
I now peel out more when not trying (need wider rubber), it's a deeper and marginally louder tone, and 4000+ pulls hard.
I'm also using the S valves.

 

What is the cost of this vs the Cosworth head?

 

A JCW Cooper head is probably impossible to find in the U.S. One of the venders (MyMini/Minspeed) seems to be able to get the head seperate. Price?

Now comparing the JCW head to the Cosworth is probably going to be apples to oranges... the JCW head has a very minor porting and I suspect the Cosworth to be more aggressive.

I think your biggest decision would offset any price differences; how bad do you want to carry on your JCW theme?

 

Less, and Less JCW seems to be more name than anything else. The John Cooper Works Garage is shuttered, isn't it.

 

I found these through Yahoo!shopping:
Standard size valves: http://store.titanmotorsports.com/cobigvacyhef3.html
Big Valve head: http://store.titanmotorsports.com/cobigvacyhef2.html
Not cheap either way. The JCW kit reailed for what $2500-3000? 2K for a Cosworth head is most of the cost of the JCW parts except with the JC kit, you also get a filter (whoop-de-doo), a cat back and an ECU upgrade.

 

The actual garage closed, but JCW still R&Ds and MINI controls the retail.

 

I am having so much trouble with electrical shorts in my little car. That I am going to hold off on anymore upgrades for now. The Digital Power SoundModul screams static after every rain, water getting in somewhere.
I would hate to spend 2K on a head just to lemon law the car. The 2007 model has a different engine.

 

I have this Tuning Kit (#475) installed on my 2004 MC. Gabe posted a link to my review above. Minspeed (formerly MyMini) sold my kit, but I don't think they are able to get them anymore; you might give Pete a call.

My review still holds true. The engine is quicker to rev and the power comes at lower rpms than a regular MC. My gas mileage improved 1-2 mpg and I normally get 31-32 mpg in mixed motoring (36-37 mph highway).

You can see photos from my installation.

 

I purchased a Sound Kit that I will be installing it soon. I will do a DIY mechanical install of the intake and exhaust. I have talked with my local MINI Tech, and he will do the ECU flash after I get the parts on. Pictures of a JCW head are in this thread. I used those as well as pictures of a head ported by an individual to determine what was done. The web site pictures of the ported head had a ruler in the pic so dimensions could be determined for the ports. I just need to get a head to play with, and do a little port work from the dimensions determined from the pics. What little that is done to the JCW head must work. It also goes along with a reference I have on what is the best configuration for exhaust ports (Performance Tuning in Theory & Practice by A. Graham Bell). After that probably an OBX header with stock cat sold by Helix.

 

Make sure MINI will honor the warranty if you install the Sound Kit yourself.

 

my personal goal is to void the warrenty as fast as possible. hahaha, but im beyond sanity, hahah

Beecher

 

I have 55k+ so the warranty on the car itself is gone. Is there a warranty on the SK? The MINI Tech at Century MINI talked like it is no big deal. I have downloaded the installation instructions, and there is not much to the mechanical installation. There are some parts to change out on the intake, and then change the exhaust (cat back). The only thing I need to have done by the dealer that I can't do myself is to have the ECU programming done.

 

I think all Mini accessories, that are dealer installed carry a 2 year, 24 thousand mile warranty.