Has anyone out there tried the 15% pulley then swithed to a 19%? If so, can you post the differences and nuances you felt.

Thanks

 

Yes, and it is noticeable, especially in the low and mid RPM range. Definitely more torque for daily driving, and no complaints to date.

 

Check out this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=22636

And here are a few quotes from me:

"...The 19% is at least 50% better than the 15%. It certainly is in torque increase at least. It actually feels even greater than that - which it is in fact. The 15% makes about 15lbs of torque while the 19% makes as much as 22lbs. Not only 50% more torque but torque earlier in the range. I switched from the 15% to the 19% b/c I was getting ansy waiting for the GIAC chip and needed more power now. "
"And the answer is...NO! The 19% is fantastic! Granted it's quite cold out now, but I'd estimate that the 15% to 19% jump gives HALF - ) is now the new king. The MINI is SOOOOOO much mroe driveable now. It has more power in the
TWO THOUSAND RPM range than a stock MINI has in the 5 grand range. You can cruise around in third gear at only 30mph and mash the gas and still easily pass other cars and weave in and out of traffic. It really transforms the MINI like the 15% did.
I find myself not revving MINI much at all now. There is good power in the 2k RPM range. Very good torque in the 3k's. I find myself accelerating quite fast yet shifting by 4-4.5k RPMs - like I was in the break-in period or something. Most of my driving is in "suburban areas" and I have yet to floor it in first or second gear. I don't need to and don't really have room to! I love this mod!
One more thing. I was never sure if I had a stumble or not. From what I read in the stumble threads, it doesn't sound like I do. But I do feel a BOG in low RPMs after you pull out the clutch in first gear. I also have the 17" all-season S-lite runflats. Adding the 15% pulley helped a lot. Obviously the cold weather helps quite a bit also. But there's always a little hint of it. Well not any more!!! It's very smooth. Which brings me to another point - if you want smoother acceleration, get the 19%! Add enough torque and that'll take care of any bog-type issues."

"Remember though, that's just from the ol' butt-dyno. But I feel like it's an entirely different car now. I can't imagine how RACECARDRIVER feels after going from just a Pilo intake to the 19% pulley and Borla Race. That's REALLY got to be some increase! But just changing pulleys, the results are amazing. I'm keeping my RPMs a lot lower and I'm hardly able to floor it. It just has that much low power that I almost don't need it. This is where I wanted to get my MINI to - the point where I have more power than I need, most of the time. "

"I know you guys want numbers and graphs and all, and I don't blame you. But believe me - AT LEAST IN THIS COLD WEATHER, the difference between the 15% and 19% is night and day with regards to driveability. NIGHT AND DAY. The 19% makes the MCS a whole new species. I floored it in 2nd for the first time this morning and it was up a steep hill and I still got slammed back into my seat! "

Enjoy!

 

As I said before it is like having a new car. One of my buddies has a 15% with a shark injector and his is not as fast as my 19% with just an intake. It just rips. Soooo much torque available, this is what the Mini should have been to start with.

 

I have a 15% and was thinking about switching to 19%, when I called Alta and asked if I would have long term risks they said yes. First they asked me the way I drive my car, if I often push it to 6500-7000 rpm, if I have a disabled rev limiter….They analyzed my driving style and replied that they would not recommend a 19% for me.

For those who have switched from 15% to 17%. Is it safer then 19% and have you noticed a significant difference?

 

i have learned to shift a little quicker, you don't lose much...

 

Mo' boost everywhere:

 

How long have these 19% pulley's been around for now. Obviously the long term issues are a bit of a concern, so once they've had enough miles put on them it will be interesting to see what kind of reliability issues people are coming up with.

If the results are good, I can seriously see everybody hooking one up. It will truly make our MCS's the GIANT KILLERS they deserve to be!!!

 

Unfortunately, although the low-end torque is great and much better than the 15%, the high end power (HP) is not that much greater than the 15%. Therefore a 19% would accelerate (0-60) that much faster than the 15%. But for daily driving, wherever you are in the RPM range (esp in the bottom 2/3) you'll just fly compared to the 15%.

 

Promini has had one of the P&D 19% pullies on their rig for a year, +/-

 

The low-end lag is the main let down for me so i'm sure this would absolutely blow my socks off – in fact, i'm sure either one would as i've only had mine for a few months and it's still bone-stock. WOO-HOO, bring on the power!


jlm, that sounds like a pretty extensive testing timeframe to me. Have they noticed any problems; if not, pretty much sounds like a shoe-in.

 

Andy have you done a test comparing 15% to 17% ??

 

Nope, but I see no reason why it wouldn't fall in between the two across the board.

 

If I look at the boost using Andy's chart for the 15% pulley at 6500 rpm and then map back that level to the 19% pulley, it looks like it is roughly 5300. So here is my thought. The only time that the engine sees the 19% pulley is from 5300-6500 or so. At lower rpms the pressures are within the same threshhold. Likely my durations at 5300 plus are fairly short. Even on the Dragon run earlier in 2nd gear I only spiked into that range. If the spikes are short, heat is not likely to be the issue and fuel appears to be fine as well. Seems like 19% should work. I think I will ask Eric at Helix to install one. I was going to do 15%, but now I don't see why.

Am I out out-to-lunch?

Vince

 

I recently "torture tested" my 19% with 30 consecutive 1/4 mile runs at the dragstrip. All runs were completed within a two hour window. All runs were redlined (factory ecu). Other mods include (but not limited to ) intake, header, exhaust. I did not encounter any overheating issues. I did however start to encounter boredom .

 

I wouldn't expect you to see any heat problems from these short term events. However, for someone on a track, I would be concerned and I would have a concern over the long term cumulative effect.

Yes...No????

 

.

 

Here is a comparison of Paul's JCW MCS and my homebrew (19%,Intake,Exhaust) MCS on the dyno. There is a very clear difference in performance.

 

but with new pulleys Warranty goes BY BY....right?

or if sumtin did happen could u just replace the pulley with stock unit and call it a day?

 

Well, the warranty will go bye bye at some point. Whether you enjoy the pulley on a strong fresh engine or an older tired engine is your decision.

 

Wow! Look how much fatter that torque curve is for the 19%! Well it just backs up what I already knew! Wahoo!

 

silver-mini-s,
Alta is trying to be careful with recommending an upgrade for you.
Certainly one can be conservative and recommend the 15% pulley and that will do fine and be reliable. The 19% can provide more boost and more HP (a little) but mostly more torque as you can see from the sample dyno, especially above 4000 rpm.

Although you say you drive in the redline zone if you had the 19% pulley I would say that it is very unlikely that you would NEED to drive near redline but a fraction of the total time. You simply have much more power in all gears and don't need to redline anything. You'd run out of road before you could use all of the power that was there. If you have really long stretches of road (which I do not) then that might be different but I think you would sometimes rev up in a lower gear then find a good gear for some speed and keep it but not really above 6500 rpm which is still safe.

In fact for a person that is pushing their stock MCS to redline all the time I'd say your engine is working much harder than it would be if you had the 19% pulley and were reving in a lower range to get the same speed and responsiveness.

I'd say go for it.

Reliability is very good for street driving and general use. If running your MCS with 19% pulley on a long track you might want to get a larger intercooler which you might like to have for the track anyway. If you have more questions just call Eric at Helix13.com 1-877-HELIX13 or go for a drive in any MCS with a 19% installed.

Some owners with only a 19% pulley and no upgraded intake and cat-back exhaust have noted a little less gain (sluggish at under 2500 rpm) than those with aftermarket intake and upgraded exhaust.

 

It seems with all the experiences so far that the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I think it's safe to say that in heavy, constant racing conditions you will be putting your engine under much larger amounts of stress regardless of what mods you are running, and so must anticipate earlier reliability issues.

But for the street, considering everybody's great input and testing (of which the graphs speak for themselves), with sensible use of all that extra power as "greatgro", "felix" & "ChiliBit" have demonstrated, it sounds like a definite winner to me!

Hopefully this has helped "mini-b" in getting closer to making a decision, as it's certainly given me great confidence.

 

Thank you...Well I posted this question 1 day after I had the 15% installed. I like the 15% and I think I made a considerable difference over stock, but I was wondering about the 19%. Some have said that the 19% can/will produce more heat and that isn't a good thing, but I guess it depends how hard one drives. Im not a racer, just a "spirited" street driver. After all of your responses it has me thinking more and more about the 19%.

 

I don't think it can be done, Eric from Helix told me that it is slightly bent when taking it off. And you can't buy the pulley alone it comes with the Scharger.