Yesterday I test drove the MCS at Ralph Schomp Mini (RSM) in Denver. Had a great time motoring. The sales staff is *really* knowledgable, helpful, and friendly. I put down my deposit and am starting The Long Great Wait.

I'm thinking about having them install the stage 2 kit that RSM installs to upgrade to 215 horsepower, including the ECU upgrade, from Mini Mania. RSM has a relationship with Mini Mania, and I'm glad to know that RSM has the experience dealing with the stage 2 upgrade.

Does anyone have this installed or have personal experience with it? The dealer staff said there were good experiences, but I was hoping to hear someone's personal experience.

Thanks,
Dan

 

>>Yesterday I test drove the MCS at Ralph Schomp Mini (RSM) in Denver. Had a great time motoring. The sales staff is *really* knowledgable, helpful, and friendly. I put down my deposit and am starting The Long Great Wait.
>>
>>I'm thinking about having them install the stage 2 kit that RSM installs to upgrade to 215 horsepower, including the ECU upgrade, from Mini Mania. RSM has a relationship with Mini Mania, and I'm glad to know that RSM has the experience dealing with the stage 2 upgrade.
>>
>>Does anyone have this installed or have personal experience with it? The dealer staff said there were good experiences, but I was hoping to hear someone's personal experience.

Did you ask them the more important question? If they do the upgrade on your new MCS then what is the status of the warranty on the car itself and the upgrade parts? You already have a 4 year warranty on the new car. Now what would it be after the upgrade of the Stage 2 kit? This is not a trivial question as they are going to tell you either your warranty is valid and stays intact as long as they do the install of the upgrades and you do your servicing with them or your warranty is valid except for the upgrade parts that are warranted by the upgrade manufacturer.

For the upgrade itself, we haven't really heard much from anyone that has the full stage 2 kit installed so if any MCO member has had one done please do come forward. You might also check around in your local area or with the MINI club if you have one who might have already done this stage 2 kit. Seems that if your dealer is as friendly as you say there should be quite a few already done.

The MiniMania stage 2 215 HP upgrade would be much cheaper at $2150 than the John Cooper works upgrade but the components of the upgrade are quite different except for the pulley which is pretty much the same.
http://new.minimania.com/web/item/NMK1007/invDetail.cfm
For the MiniMania stage 2 upgrade the:
Intake and ECU are more substantial than in the JCW kit
Pulley and belt are about the same
Exhaust is lighter weight with similar or slightly better performance and likely louder than the JCW exhaust
Exhaust header includes a cat converter and isn't found in the JCW kit
JCW polished cylinder head, colder range spark plugs, silver intercooler plastic cover, and badges are not included.

 

>If they do the upgrade on your new MCS then
>what is the status of the warranty on the car itself and the upgrade parts?

RSM said that the Stage 2 kit parts are warrantied by Mini Mania and that if BMW decides that a problem was caused by the Stage 2 kit parts, then Mini Mania will pay for any new Mini parts, but not labor.

> your warranty is valid except for the upgrade parts
> that are warranted by the upgrade manufacturer.

Yes, that's what they said. Plus the extras above.

>The MiniMania stage 2 215 HP upgrade would be much
>cheaper at $2150 than the John Cooper works upgrade

It wasn't the money that I was so much interested in saving as opposed to getting more HP. Now that I think about it, I don't know what the additional torque would be, and I'm certainly more interested in torque. RSM charges $1049 for the install, making it $3250 installed vs $6000 installed for JCW. For more HP at almost half the price, it seemed the way to go.

Thanks for the great info. There's certainly nothing cut-and-dried about spec'ing out a MCS, is there?!

 

Hopefully someone that has done the full stage 2 upgrade can post something or perhaps if your dealer can put you in contact with another MCS owner in your area that has done this upgrade with your dealer, then you can see it in person and talk to the owner.

>>RSM said that the Stage 2 kit parts are warrantied by Mini Mania and that if BMW decides that a problem was caused by the Stage 2 kit parts, then Mini Mania will pay for any new Mini parts, but not labor.

That's not perfect (otherwise it would be a better deal all around than the JCW kit with warranty) but it's not bad either. Generally the reason why they can offer this is that the stage 2 upgrade kit is pretty safe and there isn't much chance for trouble. Certainly the dealer's offer is reasonable in my book and it is laudible that they have this good relationship with MiniMania.

Now before you plunk your money down please do read in the performance mod forum about the upcoming DINAN stage 1 and 2 upgrades for the MCS in the under $2000 and under $3000 range with full DINAN warranty for up to 4 years. They are not as powerful and only reach up to 198 HP but they do come with full warranties. You can contact a BMW dealer that is part of the DINAN dealer network.

>>> your warranty is valid except for the upgrade parts
>>> that are warranted by the upgrade manufacturer.
>>
>>Yes, that's what they said. Plus the extras above.
Excellent.

>>>The MiniMania stage 2 215 HP upgrade would be much
>>>cheaper at $2150 than the John Cooper works upgrade
>>
>>It wasn't the money that I was so much interested in saving as opposed to getting more HP. Now that I think about it, I don't know what the additional torque would be, and I'm certainly more interested in torque. RSM charges $1049 for the install, making it $3250 installed vs $6000 installed for JCW. For more HP at almost half the price, it seemed the way to go.

You will find that once you reach about 190 HP that power not an issue unless you are trying to drive at 134 mph all the time. There is ample power from any kit that offers from 190 HP to 220 HP. Then you need better wheels, tires and better suspension so you can stick to the ground and balance off your MINI.

Another thing to ask about is with the stage 2 kit what is the ECU upgrade- it is not mentioned by name but the rough cost seems to be $400 which indicates it might be the Shark injector. If it is not the Shark Injector then it might also be an option to get the stage 1 upgrade kit from MiniMania which lacks the ECU upgrade then buy the Shark injector from MINI mania separately for $400 and do the install yourself which is easy. You don't need your dealer for that.
As far as simple ECU upgrades for $400 are concerned the Shark injector is competitive. It's worth asking for it.

>>Thanks for the great info. There's certainly nothing cut-and-dried about spec'ing out a MCS, is there?!

 

Thanks, I will call RSM and ask to speak to a Mini Mania stage 2 owner. I'm also running right now over to the performance mod forum to read about the DINANs.

That's excellent info about the 190 HP -- sounds logical. It makes sense that the different stage 2 upgrades will get the job done, but it's the extras that count -- reliability, warranty, reputation, relationship, etc.

Thanks again!
Dan

 

The JCW kit doesn't put out much torque. An aftermarket pulley and intake alone will give you around the same torque. With the other improvements in the MINI Mania kit, i would suspect the torque would be considerably higher. My current setup of 15% pulley, intake and exhaust should have me at over 180 lbs of torque at the crank (although I have never dynoed my MINI) while the JCW kit only puts out 177. When GIAC comes out with their ECU upgrade, my torque should bump up to 190.

 

I just got off the phone with an MCS owner who installed the Mini Mania stage 2 kit with ECU upgrade. I was referred by the Ralph Schomp dealer.

He says the kit is great and it gives him about 200 HP. On his daily drive, he said he definitely feels the boost. He went with the stage 2 kit with the "NRP" exhaust, I think it's called.

I'm personally leaning towards the Borla exhaust in the stage 2 kit with the ECU upgrade. It's the same price, and from what I've heard and read, the Borla exhaust is quieter. I want a stealth MCS. :smile:

One last thing: he said it has some "torque steer", that is, his MCS pulls a bit to the right. It must be the extra torque is just torqueing things to the right a bit.

I'm using the rest of lunch hour to try to find out the amount of torque the stage 2 kit is rated at, plus some more info on whether the NRP or Borla exhaust is quieter and less whiny.

I also want to know if the Mini Mania ECU upgrade is the Shark ECU upgrade or not. I have a call in to Mini Mania.

Seems to me that since it's all just software, like the current ECU thread is saying, you just extract your file, email it to a company for upgrading, get the file back via email, and upload it. Then you could have different ECU files to upload into your MCS whenever you felt like tweaking the engine! :smile:

Cheers,
Dan

 

You may want to call Randy Webb at Webb Motorsports He's in Highlands Ranch and has more MINI tuning experience than anyone (200+ supercharger pulley installations for example).

 

>>I just got off the phone with an MCS owner who installed the Mini Mania stage 2 kit with ECU upgrade. I was referred by the Ralph Schomp dealer.

Good job. If he doesn't live too far away then go and see the car in person to listen to the NRP exhaust.

>>He says the kit is great and it gives him about 200 HP. On his daily drive, he said he definitely feels the boost. He went with the stage 2 kit with the "NRP" exhaust, I think it's called.

Any MCS with the Pulley alone will feel this boost so that is nothing new.

>>I'm personally leaning towards the Borla exhaust in the stage 2 kit with the ECU upgrade. It's the same price, and from what I've heard and read, the Borla exhaust is quieter. I want a stealth MCS. :smile:

This is definitely an option. You might call MiniMania and ask about their opinion on the two exhaust options but the Borla street is likely to be more quiet and less HP/ torque gained by a little and also heavier but not as heavy as the stock exhaust.

>>One last thing: he said it has some "torque steer", that is, his MCS pulls a bit to the right. It must be the extra torque is just torqueing things to the right a bit.

Torque steer is common in highly powered front wheel drive cars that are driven hard. The MINI trys to minimize this with balanced length drive shafts in the front. If you add too much power then obviously you can overdo it because you are loosing contact of the tire with the ground in uneven amounts for each of the front driving wheels.

Here is a good article:
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/ed..._technobabble/
The author mentions at the end-
"There is very little that you, as a non-car manufacturer, can do to reduce torque steer, but there are things you can do to make it worse (or not do to not make it worse). Wider tires have wider contact patches, and therefore more latitude for the scrub radius to move around when you encounter uneven surfaces. Low profile tires with stiff sidewalls are less willing to conform to those surfaces, and so can actually move the patch around even more. Having the wrong offset on your wheels can increase the scrub radius by moving the contact patch. Even extreme alignment settings can increase the scrub radius by moving the Dave Point around."

>>I'm using the rest of lunch hour to try to find out the amount of torque the stage 2 kit is rated at, plus some more info on whether the NRP or Borla exhaust is quieter and less whiny.

I would not worry too much about the actual amount of torque the Mini Mania Stage 2 kit affords. If it is 215 HP then the torque no matter how much it is should be fine. It's an academic question. You will not be short on power or torque.

>>I also want to know if the Mini Mania ECU upgrade is the Shark ECU upgrade or not. I have a call in to Mini Mania.

This makes some difference in overall added HP and ease of installation.

>>Seems to me that since it's all just software, like the current ECU thread is saying, you just extract your file, email it to a company for upgrading, get the file back via email, and upload it. Then you could have different ECU files to upload into your MCS whenever you felt like tweaking the engine! :smile:

It is NOT all just software. If it were we would not have so many choices and such a dilemma. With the Shark injector you use the OBD port on your MINI under the dash by the driver to self install the program into your ECU. You do not touch your ECU. You do not send it anywhere. You do not need a laptop. It is an easy self install. Whether the Shark results are on par with the rest of the ECU upgrade competitors remains to be seen. Not all of the ECU upgrades are done- still waiting on the GIAC and maybe the newest from Evotech or Powerchip.

Enjoy.

 

>I'm using the rest of lunch hour to try to find out the
> amount of torque the stage 2 kit is rated at

Just got off the phone with Mini Mania. It's rated at about 180 for torque.

> plus some more info on whether the NRP or Borla
> exhaust is quieter and less whiny.

Borla is definitely quieter. The NRP is louder at idle and at speed. The Borla is quiet at idle but louder at speed. Mini Mania said the Borla is just a bit louder than stock.

>I also want to know if the Mini Mania ECU upgrade
> is the Shark ECU upgrade or not.

They were selling an Evo/PowerSomething ECU upgrade with their stage 2 kit previously, but now it's the Shark. The Shark accounts for the price drop.

So my current thinking is the Mini Mania stage 2 kit (with Shark ECU upgrade) with Borla exhaust with Ralph Schomp Mini doing the install. I could do the Shark myself, but I'm not qualified to do the engine work.

Today I'll call Randy Webb at Webb Motor Sports to see if he has any thoughts to add.

By the way, I live in Montana, so it's not so easy for me to stop by a stage 2 owner's house to check out their MCS.

Btw, my neighbor across the street has an Electric Blue MCS. I've also seen a blue and a yellow new Mini in town. My neighbor has raced his MCS against Porsches at the track. He said in the twisties he had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting them from behind, and in the straights he was hanging in just a little bit behind them.

Cheers,
Dan