OK I love my car, but I want more! Anyone experimenting with performance cylinder head modifications...[FONT=Tahoma]DPR Racing; Madness Motorworks; Thumper Performance; Cosworth....? Maybe Alta Billet Turbo...?[/FONT]

 

I can tell you from 1st hand experience DPR heads are awesome. I don't know on a MINI how good, but when I ran my Integra it was one of the 1st heads he did back in 95-96 and it made power. My Integra as you can see was even featured in Sport Compact Car January 1996.

 

The clyinder head will hold you back but, you better have already done the bolt ons and upgraded your turbo before because if you haven't you are wasting your time.

 

I kind of think of it the other way around. Why upgrade the turbo if the head is restricting air flow anyway? I would do them both at the same time or just start with the head. Don't forget the cost of custom tuning gar56!

BTW, Thumper has started to do R56 head work even though it's not listed on his site. You can check Motoring 8lliance in the vendor section to see the pricing. http://thumperheads.com/

 

Another place that does head work that I have always though highly of is: http://www.theoldone.com/components/

 

If you have the money this is a valid point. The only person to do head work on an R56 had to find everything out one at a time. Also I have talked to Thumper about a head job and unless he has come down in price it is not worth at the moment.


FYI for anyone considering this DO NOT SLAP A PnP HEAD ON YOUR CAR WITHOUT TUNING IT TO RUN PROPERLY.



Trying to prevent someone from screwing their car up doing **** all ignorantly like Hondas do.

 

Yes $1700 is sort of steep when you consider no higher strength valve springs or bigger valves. Not any good data showing before/after with tuning to support it either. I guess it pays to be the only show in town. Man, by the time someone did a head, bigger turbo, manifold, tuning, clutch & LSD, might as well buy a different car

 

Owning a modified MINI cannot be justified with a cost/benefit analysis. It’s crazy to throw money at a perfectly reliable car just to make it a little faster. ….sorry and your point was?

 

Got a buddy in Miami that did all of that but he doesn't care about the price he loves every bit of what his MINI is now and is working at making it even faster. Also Thumper is local to me. I hang out with his grandson all the time.

 

Ha, and that's the ONLY thing that justifies the cost - LOVE!! Not a bad thing I must say.

 

 

Unless it is a woman.

 

I have a head. My shop could work it for you.

 

Details? Details... let's hear them!

 

what he said.

 

We could work out a core and you send me yours and we can work mine. Trade it and get some out there.

 

I highly modded my Infiniti FX. You don't mod a car for resale value, that's for sure. And it certainly is not a value purchase.

Someone made a comment of just buying another car. You mod a car to make it unique and more fun for you to drive.

For the money I put into my FX I could have gotten a very nice sports car. But it was more fun for me to have an SUV that could show taillights to most sports cars.

I find myself thinking the same thing about my one week old Countryman.

An important lesson I learned from my FX experience is make darn sure you are working with a reliable shop who knows their business. I went through a set of turbos because I went to the wrong shop.

 

Thumper worked the head I've been using for 1 1/2 years now, no problems. There's a few people out there who will work the head for you --- be sure to pick one with experience on the R56 head. As mentioned earlier, get a custom tune to get all the benefits out of this investment. And don't ignore the extra "breathing" capability of this head --- bigger exhaust, hybrid turbo, oversize IC, etc.

All my upgrades were done at the same time, so no comparison data to OEM parts. Results can be viewed at http://www.accessecu.com/dyno/ . Yes, I threw a bunch of money at my Mini, and it's one hell of a lot of fun to drive! I call it my "sleeper" and "one of, if not THE baddest Mini in Northern NV".

 

Is anyone interested in a head?

 

I could be if theres some data to go with it

 

We have a flow bench