So, I have had my MCS for a couple months now and have driven about 1000km, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, " it is a truly brilliant car, I like this one.".
Anyway, new shoes (205 50 16 Conti extreme contact DWS's) made a giant improvement over the pilot snows that came off. As a point of interest for those buying tires in the near future, these are the best all round tires I've ever owned. They are slightly soft in the side walls but when you realize they wont roll off the rim and push them they grip almost as well as the summer tires I've used in the past and they are vastly better in the wet and cold.
Also did the resonator delete, a day or so after doing the delete the sound seems to have changed and settled to a permanent tone. I had a guy in an Audi R8 pull up beside me today (he had a supercharger and aftermarket exhaust and ooohhhhh what a glorious racket that made) and tell me my Mini "sounds phenomenal and where did i get the custom exhaust?" I didn't tell him I had hacked off a chunk of car and welded in a 15 stainless pipe.
So do the resonator delete, it makes R8 owners happy.
Next on the list is a DIY carbon fiber splitter and then maybe an Access port?

 

Be wary of the mods. You can dump a chunk of change into your MINI really quickly.

I bought this '09 MCS almost 8 weeks ago.





It now looks like this.





Sounds like you are in the right direction so far. Make sure you plan what you want to do a make a list. When you make a mod that is on the list, you can cross it off and move on to the next one. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

 

Ya, the list is getting long though, I need to do more modding and less listing. That wing of yours is bonkers.......... Is it functional ( in terms of air flow not giving kids nightmares )?

 

It is absolutely functional, but not until I reach a speed of about 60-70mph.

 

I used this long weekend to do some mods myself.






The tail lights are going to get tinted, I am looking into Lamin-x for that as well as yellow fogs.

Have to figure out what to do with the door handles and headlights.

I also have a set of X lite wheels that are going on it once I feel like having the tires swapped, that are currently wrapped with the cars winter boots.

Hey MinMin2000 what side scuttles are those?

 

Aftermarket front/ rear bumber covers? If so, what type (manufacture)?
I dig subtleness of the front lip and the rear diffusers.

 

The dechromeing (thats a word now) looks good, is it plasti dip or vinyl?

 

The bumper covers are the originals. The rear bumper cover was cut (per a template) to install the diffuser.

 

I used Pasti Dip on my car. The color and texture matched the plastic trim pretty well.

 

I am looking to do the resonator delete too. Is it a simple DIY? What is the major benefit of this? What pipe did you get to replace it? I believe NM Engineering provides a resonator delete pipe too.

 

He's referring to the exhaust resonator delete, not the intake (which I believe is the NM part you're referring too)

The major benefit is the sound! You simply cut out the resonator and weld in a stainless steel straight pipe, and you're done. A shop should charge between 50-100 bucks for the job (but I wouldnt pay more than 50-60 for it)

 

Is this safe to do? Any side effects? Sounds like a really good idea for the price!

 

As long as you remove only the resonator, and not the 2nd Cat too. I have heard that in some states you may not pass emissions without the 2nd cat. The side effects? The exhaust note gets louder from the outside of the car, some people do not like 'loud' althought I can assure you that it is not as loud as most cat-back systems.

If your looking for more growl from the exahust, you can't go wrong with this mod. It sounds great!

 

On a side note, there are many people on the forums that removed the 2nd cat too and have no issues with it. I would check your state's emissions laws before deciding

 

Your mods are about the same as mine Does it make it very loud though? I dont want the car sounding loud and not on the highway atleast.

 

what do you use the scangauge for?

 

I use the scan gauge as a boost/temperature gauge, for reading/clearing codes, and occasionally use the 0-60, 1/4, and other performance timers.

As far as the sound w/ resonator removed, the increase in noise is very subtle from inside the car, but the tone is different (more growl). There is absolutely no drone at highway speeds

 

dude that wing is atrocious, besides that nice mods.

 

The second cat is not a part of the systems sensors, The JCW doesnt even have it. There is a lot of speculation as to why it even exists given that no measurements are taken from it. About the only state it is truely required is California as they do visual inspections as well, I believe there are a couple other states as well.

I plan on at least the Resonator delete, and will probably so this soon as most people seem to get decent pricing. I am considering the second cat be removed as well. But will see how it sounds with the resonator removed first.

 

Sorry to take so long to answer about the resonator delete questions, ( I might as well be on the moon where I am working. That and some crackheads were nice enough to break into and live in my house for some time. )Anyway, the res delete really only makes a noticeable difference when you get deep into the throttle or high rpm. My wife didnt even notice i did it until passed a semi on the highway. Cost wise, its really cheap if you do it yourself, the pipe was 15 dollars. I called a couple shops (in Canada) and was quoted 50 to 75 dollars.
It is the single best exhaust mod ever in the history of cars........... very few cars sound this good with even with full replacement exhausts.
Just do it, its very easy to replace if you dont like it. (if your the sort of person that does not like air, fresh bread or life in general...)

 

As a next mod I am going to do the shifter **** and parking brake handle, any thoughts on a high end matched set that includes boots?