I been driving my r56 since this summer now and I wana give it some more power.

 

People generally do an intake with boost tubes as one of their first power mods. If you've got money to blow look into a full exhaust system

 

forget the tubes for now. open her up with a cold air intake and throw a FULL TURBO BACK exhaust on. After this try some performance software, not the Unichip, try GAIC or something like that. At this point intercooler and tubes. Dont waste you thoughts thinking a catback exhaust will add much hp alone. your rev will be much more free and higher.

 

I've tried quite a few things, removed a lot of what I tried, and learned a lot along the way... at a steep price of course. There still isn't a whole lot of options out there but this is what I think will net most bang for the buck:

#1. Exhaust that starts at the bottom of the downpipe. Miltek makes one or you can get something made by an exhaust shop locally for probably 40% less. I recommend 2.5" but many would argue just to go 3". My experience was two things, the mid section of a 3" pipe and corresponding resonator barely fit and it introduced throttle lag, especially at lower RPM. CEL's are imminent on US spec cars if you go with a full turboback exhaust. The ECU does not like it. If you definitely will be doing an aftermarket ECU flash, the shop should be able to program the ECU to ignore the CEL fault and not throw a light. ~$500-900

#2. JCW Intake (can be bought by itself from 1fastmini.com) or just a high flow panel filter. I don't think anything currently available in the aftermarket is worth the money. ~$50-300

#3. Hot Side Boost Tube. I think M7 sells the replacement tube that deletes the muffler section. ~$150

#4 ECU Re-flash. I recommend holding off on this. More options will be available soon. The early efforts have had lots of issues. Nobody on NAM in the US has GIAC except the dealer, Helix, and everyone that tried to buy it has an incompatible ECU version. Maybe that will be sorted out soon or already is and I don't know it. Evotech seems to be the only one out that NAMers have installed and had no issues with, but if you don't have a dyno-tuner locally that can tweak it, you will just be getting a canned tune from one of their vendors. Mini-Madness sells it. $900-tbd

If you do get the ECU re-flashed, turbo boost will be increased and a big front mount intercooler becomes beneficial enough to be worth the money and installation hassle. I have the M7 one and think it's the best design among what I've checked out. With all of them you have to cut your car up a little to fit the intercooler though.

Torque steer is already something you have to manage even with a stock car, but once you bring the power up with all the above mods it becomes a real issue. If you don't already feel the handling limits are inadequate you probably will once you bring on the power. Of everything I've done, it was great tires and the right suspension mods I've felt improved performance the most. Just food for thought, your goals may be a bit different then mine.

I think the cold side boost tube and turbo inlet hose are both mods that are NOT worth the money.

 

thanks for that info, it was very helpful. I plan on making this my project car over the years. Just got to find out were to start off first and go with it from there.

 

Fix the loose nut.

Best upgrade you can ever do is attend a Driver's School at a track near you.

 

lol... that was the most important thing I was going to say in my post and I totally forgot.. thanks for filling in.

 

more power isnt fun without a great LSD, QUAIFE even guarantees their unit in racing applications for LIFE, expensive but worth it

 

Will Quaife ever release one for the R56 though?

 

i just looked at the quaife website, they list the ATB unit for the cooper 6-spd $1195, prolly do better from an independent distributor, mine was $895 plus $65 for arp bolts in 2001, vw stock uses rivets

 

That's for the R53, as far as I know they don't have one for the R56 yet.

 

I agree as to this being the only important part of the "boost tube upgrade" because of the muffler deletion. I'm not going to spend $200+ to get the other two tiny pieces that might have smoother inner walls.

However, my only hang-up on the M7 hot-side tube is the dyno. See here: http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=110. They show quite a significant loss of power below 3000 and above 5500. Now I don't know if this was just a difference between the two runs or the operator or something like that, but that's concerning. With that said, if I can't be convinced that it doesn't in fact have that low-end power loss then I'll probably be simply replacing the muffler section with a pipe. Any input?

 

Wow, that does look concerning. It looks like overall, it wouldn't make your car any faster, at least from a standstill.

 

[/quote] However, my only hang-up on the M7 hot-side tube is the dyno. See here: http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=110. They show quite a significant loss of power below 3000 and above 5500. Now I don't know if this was just a difference between the two runs or the operator or something like that, but that's concerning. With that said, if I can't be convinced that it doesn't in fact have that low-end power loss then I'll probably be simply replacing the muffler section with a pipe. Any input?[/quote]

How so? The dynos are from a car with other mods. The torque in both runs is way over stock numbers. I can't vouch for the accuracy, but I would be very happy with the displayed results.

 

+1.

 

Even so, that doesn't make up for the fact that a car with "X" mods makes 40 more ft-lbs at 2400rpm than the same car with "X + charge pipe." I mean, maybe if they have some crazy tune on the car that is going to make it respond completely different on the low-end with the added air flow, then I can kind of see why they would have that loss and we wouldn't. But even if that is the case, I still don't want the product in case I decide to do an ECU tune. I mean, am I crazy for this or am I competely missing something?

 

I'm glad you mentioned this. It really makes a lot of sense no matter what performance level your MINI is at!! I'd like to do that myself!

 

Itjpunk7
Inexpensive enough to try.
I just ordered one. I'll let you know if anything is noticable.

 

Sounds like a plan. Let us know what you think and also what mods you currently have. Thanks!

 

This is my 2nd Mini, and I am just starting to see what works for me. I installed a turbo wrap and a cold air intake, deleted the hood scoop grill to divert heat out and air in, a cat back exhaust, light wheels and Dunlop Direza Star Specs. This is the 5th tire I've tried and by far the best. I want to do a track weekend in the spring to help decide about suspension needs (wants actually). I ordered the car with LSD and DSC.
I'll let you know about the hot side tube.

 

As these folks have mentioned, the answer depends a LOT on what YOU want to do.

As an example, I think the OEM exhaust is a bit too muted, and for me I first open up the exhaust. Starting with a cat-back then moving to a Turbo-Back based on budget and if someone wants a bit more sound.

Moving back to the front, a cold air intake and inlet hose make a pleasant sound when shifting and WOT, plus again make more HP.

All of these mods above round out the package that MINI started with the Cooper S and Cooper JCW.

If you have ANY questions PLEASE don't hesitate to let me know!

CLICK HERE FOR A YOU TUBE VIDEO

 

+1. Great advice, Adam... don't think anyone could have put it better.

 

Those Dunlop Dirrezza Star Specs.... will the 215/40/17 fit on the stock 205/45/17? If they do, I'd get them... they got better reviews than the RE01 from Bridgestone and are much cheaper.

 

+1 best point in the whole thread. Its the only mod that you'll take with you to every other car you drive. The lap times between a driver that has done this and one that hasn't can be massively different.

For myself, I typically start with tires and suspension. Your tires are the only contact with the ground, and therefore a major performance bottleneck. You can add a ton of power to a car and get worse lap times simply because you're overwhelming the available grip. Suspension comes into play because it keeps your tires on the ground through the agressive stuff.

 

Good points for sure. But again it depends on what a client is wanting to do. I think if budget wasn't an obstacle, we would do ALL of it right?

But yes a driving school is a good idea for any performance minded enthusiast! While not a Performance Upgrade for the MINI it is certainly a Performance Upgrade for us all!

Thanks again!