Props to RandyBMC! His How-to made the job a synch. Then again, I was able to work in a professional garage with a lift and floor jacks... and I'm a do-it-yerselfer, comfortable with anything short of cracking the case of a motor.

Installed the Alta 19%. 4 hours and one skinned knuckle to do the job by myself. The lower engine mount was fun getting lined back up, but not bad once I realized it was rubber mounted and not ridged-- just bend it down and over into its seat. I used Alta's pulley tool, and it worked great - I may sell it off now that I no longer need it. Everything went back together really quick.

Wow, amazing performance difference. With the DSC turned off the power is nearly violent!. Gets rubber in 3 gears, and revs so much quicker through the gears.

Have the Borla Sport installed, and waiting on a K&N Typhoon. Three more areas of my focus will be a header with a hi-flow cat, and looking for more efficient intercooling without adding complexity or weight (or expense) of air/H2O. I'm sorry but all the headers sold at Mini speciality stores are just outragiously expensive-- and is what one would pay for a full blown, custom, one-off designed header. So I'm leaning toward a simple Cat-less header and splicing in my Cat of choice. I'd love to hear suggestions on the Cat. Finally, will look at fuel and timing management. Not critical to me right now as the factory maps run rich and dump fuel to keep things from detonating.... but that's not really efficient either, eh? I'm encouraged by the UniChip, if they can get the DSC bug worked out and develope a map that can handle the 19% pulley and its associated heat issues, I may go that route.

Regards,

 

You need to budget in some sticky tires soon!

Congrats! Welcome to the 19% club! :smile:

 

How much for the tool?

 

> Gets rubber in 3 gears

That is so cool. I can't get rubber in 3rd gear, and I get just a little in 2nd gear with my standard Pirelli Euforia runflats.

 

did you have a 15% before the mod?

 

just to let you know, Im the one that came up with that method, Randy just clarified my how-to.....Randy deserve many how-to props but not that one....

 

>>just to let you know, Im the one that came up with that method, Randy just clarified my how-to.....Randy deserve many how-to props but not that one....

Well done Caddman! I didn't know that. It sure is much simpler than taking most of the front of the car off and the cooling system.

Bisch: Sticky tires are a must now. I hate the Perelli runflats. If I weren't living abroad in Italy, I'd have gotten them changed already. Too expensive locally.

Jeru: There are some fellow mini owners around here who I intend to let use the tool before I actually part with it. I will post here on NAM when ready to part with it.

I suspect if I were to try getting rubber on good American asphault roads, I'd be hard pressed to get anything more than a chirp in 3rd. The asphault here in Italy has a lava content that makes it just a tiny bit slicker when dry.... its hell in the rain, like driving on glass.

SteveS: Nope, I went from stock to 19% after reading all I could find on NAM and Mini2.
Regards,

 

>>and I'm a do-it-yerselfer, comfortable with anything short of cracking the case of a motor.

Oh, but that's when the fun really begins.

 

Blu,

Congrats. I too am contemplating doing this job myself. Any tricks you learned or problems you encountered that aren't in the How-To?

Thanks

Chuck

 

cdconsor: I didn't really hit any snags. There are a couple points where disassembly and reassembly slow down... for example, removing and reinstalling the rear-most 10mm bolt from the belt compressor is a very tight squeeze. I couldn't get a 1/4" drive socket in there after I lifted the motor, but I could get a box end wrench in there, turning it at 20 degree increments takes a while to get it out. Then, like I mentioned with the under-car motor mount... I kept lifting and lowering the motor while shoving it around, trying to get it the mount point on the motor to settle back into the mount... wasted 30 minutes... then I realized the mount is not ridged, but fixed to a rubber bushed point on the frame. I just honked down and over on it to move it into the mount point on the motor.... then I just dropped the motor down onto/into the remaining mounts. The motor settles back into its original position with only a little shove here or there to get the remaining mount bolts through their holes.

The caddman method as hosted in the WebMotorSports how-to literally takes you through it step by step.

Did I need a lift? Heck no. It would have been just as easy putting the car up on jackstands. Definitely something that could be done under a shade-tree

In my opinion, if you've ever changed an alternator, water pump, fuel pump, etc, buried under other engine components, this isn't really any more difficult.

Regards,

 

I would agree. It's not that difficult to do. The biggest problem I had was pinning the belt tentioner without using the tool, but the actual pulley install is fairly straight forward especially with the "How-to". I did mine myself along with the Alta intake. I took about 4hrs to do.

Get some Falken Azenis tires when you get done and that will take care of most of the Tire issues. I found out after doing my pulley that it was way too much power for the stock Pirelli Run Flats.

 

Already got Eagle F1 DS-G3's (or is it GS-D3 I can never remember) and I recommend them highly, waaaay better than the runflats and Alex@tierack had 'em on my door in 1 day.

 

Already got Eagle F1 DS-G3's (or is it GS-D3 I can never remember) and I recommend them highly, waaaay better than the runflats and Alex@tierack had 'em on my door in 1 day.