Hey guys,

So far I've been driving with a BMC intake and I'm still very happy with it.
The sound is great and the throttle response is really aggressive.
On cold days the performance really improves (dyno proven) but on hot days, the car does seem to be a bit slower.
This is normal of course with an open system.

BMC Intake

I also wanted to test other intakes, so I decided to buy a Raid Max HP.
This is a closed system, so no hot air is sucked in.
I can't really feel much difference performance wise (thick filter inside), the sound is like stock.
Of course, for people who want to make sure that they suck in 0% hot air, this is a good choice.

Raid Max HP Intake

A few days ago I also bought a K&N 57i.
The sound is about 85% compared to the BMC, and the response is about 90% compared to the BMC.

K&N 57i Intake

Now, the way the K&N is showed in the picture above, that is the way K&N wants you to install the intake.
But in my opinion, there is a better way to install this thing, and that is downwards.
With a few minor adjustments here and there, I could adjust the position of the K&N.
This is the result.

K&N 57i Intake Adjusted

The intake seems to stay cooler, and less hot air gets sucked in.

Recently, I decided to alter my carbon intake so that is sucks in cold air more fluently.

This is the result:

Compared to my K&N 57i, this setup gave me an extra 3hp (at the peak) and 8Nm (at the peak).
But throughout the rev line, the gains sometimes were 8hp and 14Nm.

I also bought an air diverter plate.

I hope this can help someone.
If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask.

Greets

Der Abt

 

Did you dyno test the stock setup, and the stock setup with a drop-in K&N or similar filter? It seems like just making the "mouth" on the stock cold air intake bigger might be useful without any other changes.

 

I didn't dyno with a drop in filter.
I did dyno when the car was stock.

 

so did u make that last intake posted?

 

the ultimate setup....

k&n with filter housing, going to stock snorkle... larger and more direct piping, heat sheild and cold air port! try it!!!!!!!111


or maybe its the beer.

 

nice photos, although in my opinion when it comes to CAI setup comparisons, dyno charts are the only thing that matters.

 

It's a Raid carbon intake.
A good choice in my opinion.
The others (Pipercross Viper, BMC CDA, ...) cost between $250 - $500, the Raid can be bought for about $130.
It's real carbon and it also has a foam filter inside, just like the Pipercross and the BMC.
I then adjusted the setup to suck in more cold air.

 

I know a guy who has built a heat shield (one of the best I've seen) around his K&N Typhoon.
He also improved the tubes to get more cold air to the filter and on top of that he also cut holes in the plastic cover on top of the radiator.
Between his setup and mine, there was only 1hp and 2,5Nm of difference

 

So far I have spent $400 on 6 dyno runs and I went on three different dynos.
So I did compare the results on a dyno

 

Hey Der Abt, where did you get the Raid Carbon Intake from?

 

Uh....no more mods.

 

LOL I was just wondering!

 

I bought it from a guy I know on the Belgian Mini forum.
You can still find it on certain sites and on ebay.

http://www.motorspeed.com/store_main...roduct_id=1632

 

post 'em up!!!

 

Here's the latest dyno with the modified carbon intake, software, eisenmann, air diverter plate.

HP @ flywheel


Torque (Nm)

 

The thing that amazes me is how "positive" dynos in the US seem to run.
I can show you guys a lot of dyno sheets of members from Europe.

There is a certain consensus over here as far as horsepower numbers go.
And these are the realistic numbers, many people have put their car on a dyno and this has always proven to be true.
I always post where you should be in between more or less, because it depends from car to car.

Software + intake -> between 118 and 122hp @ flywheel
Software + intake + header + cat. -> between 124 and 128hp @ flywheel
Software + intake + headers + cat. + cams -> between 134 and 136hp @ flywheel
Software + intake + headers + cat. + cams + polished cilinder heads -> between 136 and 140hp @ flywheel
Software + intake + headers + cat. + cams + polished cilinder heads + gasoline cooling -> between 140 and 146hp @ flywheel

Gasoline cooling is a system where they use the airco tubes to cool the gasoline lines.
This way the gas is 5° colder when injected into the engine and it produces more power.

The myth of our Coopers producing more than the stock 115hp is simply not true.
After seeing so many of them dyno, most stock Coopers were producing between 107hp and 115hp at the flywheel.

There are a couple of people who have done all the mods (not forced induction) and they all produced between 140hp and 150hp.

 

Here's an example of a guy who did all the mods.

He drives a Mini One (90hp stock).
And has done all the modifications.
A modded One is exactly at the same level as a modded Cooper, a Mini One is a detuned Cooper.

Power (flywheel)

Stock : 97hp
Modded : 144hp

Torque

Stock : 144Nm
Modded : 178Nm

His modifications:
Software, carbon intake (modified), cat., cams, gasoline cooling, exhaust, polished cilinder heads.

Here are some pics of his setup:








Link to the article (in Dutch) : http://www.r53.nl/one_kelleners/index.php

 

And a few more examples of people who modded their Cooper.

Mini Cooper
Software
Supersprint headers
Supersprint mid pipe
Supersprint exhaust
Pipercross Viper intake
Result : 128hp

Mini Cooper
MTH software
Pipercross open filter
Result : 115hp

Mini Cooper
software
Supersprint headers
JCW exhaust
K&N Typhoon
Result : 121hp

 

good info, thanks for the post

 

No problem

 

Another thing you should take into account is the % of drivetrain loss between the power at the wheels and the power at the flywheel.

The absolute minimum can be no less than 16% and the absolute maximum shouldn't be more than 23%.
Most Coopers are around 20%.
That means that stock Coopers (if you produce 115hp, most of the time it's somewhere between 107hp and 115hp), produce about 95hp-96hp at the wheels.
But like I said, most people will most likely be producing about 92-94hp at the wheels.

Have there been dynos that show a lower % of loss or a higher ?
Yes.
The worst I've seen was 9%.
This is NOT possible, way too low.
The highest I've seen was 30%, which is also ridiculous, because that's way too high.

You see, it's not just about what dyno you put your car on, it also depends on the people who control the dyno.
If they are honest of dishonest, or if they know what they are doing or not.

 

WOW some pretty cool info in here! It's obvious that the Cooper Tunning scene in Europe is much stronger than here in the USA!!!

 

Thanks for the info. Do you have figures for the software changes alone?

 

NICE!!

 

Software alone is gonna get you about 5-10hp.
Why is there such a big difference ?
Because it depends on what type of "tuning" that you use and which tuner you go to.

Unichip is gonna get you the best results (10hp is not difficult using this product, maybe even a little bit more), but at a price of 895 euros (495 for hardware that is connected to the computer of your car and most tuners ask around 400 for the tuning itself) it isn't a cheap choice.

Another option is flashing your software using the OBDII port.
This is where the big differences can occur.
A tuners that spends about 15-30 minutes of his time working on your software might get 5-7hp.
But a tuner that spends a couple of hours on your software, might achieve an 8-9hp increase.

Most Coopers with just software produce between 116hp, if your car has between 108 and 110hp stock, or 118-121hp, if your car produces between 110-115hp stock.

I know this might come as a shock to some, but yes, some people with just software have produced 116hp (which is more or less what the car should have in stock form) on a dyno.
It all depends on how strong your car is to begin with.
I've seen people dyno at 119hp with just a cold air intake and an exhaust (no headers, no cat.).
And on the other hand, I've seen people dyno at 116hp with software and an open intake.

My advice is the following, when you go to a tuner to get software, make sure you go to one that spends a lot of time working on it.
If you decide to change your intake, don't use an open intake.
Open intakes suck in hot air and this does not help.
When my car (and many others that I've seen) was on the dyno with the modified K&N 57i, they did three runs at full throttle.
The difference between the first and the third run was already 4hp !
Don't get me wrong, you CAN gain hp with an open intake, but these situations will not often occur.
Therefore it is much better to install a heat shield if you have an open intake, or to install a closed intake (Pipercross Viper, BMC CDA, Raid Max HP Carbon, JCW intake, ...) or to simply use a drop in filter.