A few years ago I picked up a 2012 Coupe JCW with 1300 miles on it, VIN WMWSX5C52CT141547. Today it has 21k miles, and is about to be put away for the winter. I figured it'd be a good time to start looking at mods and/or upgrades.

My priorities are as follows:
Vehicle longevity (I'm really happy with this car and want to use it for many years to come)
Budget
Engine sound
Performance

I ran the VIN through a few sites and found one that gave me the engine code, and surprised me to find out that it's an N14 instead of the newer N18, even though my car is a 2012. The reason for this, as I understand it, is because the JCW's were tuned up for performance higher than the other models using the N14, so when the N18 was adopted, the JCW continued to use the tuned-up N14 until the N18 had been in use long enough to get figured out and tuned up for higher performance, and then finally adopted in the JCW's after September 2012 (my VIN shows my car was built in March 2012, if I recall correctly).

I was a little disappointed that I have the older N14 engine (until just recently I thought I had the N18) because it sounds like they had issues with their timing chains and especially with the PCV system causing intake sludge buildup, as well as overall a baseline horsepower being lower than the N18. That's one of my first questions, comparing the horsepower from a JCW N14 to a JCW N18, were both engines putting out equivalent horsepower, advertised as 208hp?

Since I (to the best of my knowledge) have an N14 in my JCW, I want to make some improvements on it that follow my order of priorities listed above. For longevity, I believe it sounds like the first thing I need to do is put an Oil Catch Can (OCC) in the PCV line. This is easy on the budget, so my only question is what the latest recommendation for an OCC is (many of the threads are several years old, and products change / new products come out).

There have been many mentions of timing chain problems. I haven't read enough on this issue yet to know what I need to do about it. I have not been contacted by Mini regarding any warranty recalls, but I am the 2nd owner (having bought it from a non-Mini dealership).

I was kind of hoping for more sound. This is my first real sports car, and I guess I was just hoping for some more turbo sound inside the cabin. There are plenty of upgrades available for the intake system, such as putting a straight pipe in place of the turbo-to-intercooler muffler, or my brother has suggested going to one of the silicone pipes for how loud that part made the turbo on his GTI.

In regard to performance then, one of the upgrades I have seen good reviews for is putting a custom tune in using a tool such as the AccessPort. That would let me raise the level of boost cutoff (which I sometimes encounter too easily when the engine is still cold, I mean it seems way too easy so just a little bit better would help) and it sounds like there is at least a 10% power increase to be gained from it. Living in Iowa, I'm not worrying about emissions. I pretty much exclusively run this car on 93-octane non-ethanol. The downside to the tuners is that they run somewhere around nine hundred dollars, which from my understanding is for a tool I would plug in once, apply the tune, and then not use again (once the tune is working how I want it). This makes me wonder what it would take to find a person or shop who has this tuner, and just pay them a fraction of that price to get the tune applied 1 time.

Anyways, sorry for the massive amount of text, I just wanted to get everything written down and see if anyone can help give advice.

To recap:
2012 JCW with N14 engine, currently 21k miles
Oil catch can is a necessity, yes? Recommendation for which one?
Anything I need to do about the timing chain (or anything else)?
Would a silicone pipe set be a cost-effective way to increase turbo sound?
Is there a more affordable tuning programmer out there, or how do I find a person / shop who I can take my car to for a custom tune for a fraction of the cost of buying the programmer itself?

Thanks!

 

So...

Having two MINI's, one with an N14 and one with an N18, I can say that the problem with most N14's is driver neglect. ALWAYS CHECK OIL LEVEL.

We have a 2009 Convertible S with the N14 and it goes through a lot of oil. If you keep the oil topped up, you really should not have a problem with the timing chain. Ours just hit about 95K miles and I just did a timing chain tensioner replacement to make sure the chain has adequate tension, topped off the oil and it's running very well.

I would highly recommend waiting for the car to fully warm up before giving it the beans because of it being turbo charged, you want to make sure that the oil is flowing (it flows better once warm) to make sure you get adequate lubrication on a part that spins ridiculously fast. There is not a built in temp gauge, I recommend getting an aftermarket one, specifically the P3Cars OBD2 digital one. It's about 400 bucks but gives you oil and water temp along with boost pressure and timing and everything so you can keep track of things.

Carbon buildup is a problem but can be greatly reduced with an oil catch can. But, once you let the car warm up fully, give it a couple full throttle runs to redline as this helps the boost from the turbo to flow through your intake, pushing the oil and vapors off of the intake ports, along with high heat from the high RPM's. It works like a self cleaning oven in a way. Oil catch cans are good however just for extra strength protection. Most of the PCV flows through the passenger side port on the valve cover, so make sure to get an OCC that takes that into consideration. You have another PCV line running from the valve cover to the intake line right before the turbo inlet, which is the only one on the N18 engines which don't eat much oil at all. So just be careful of the passenger side port on the rear of the valve cover. People also say seafoam doesn't work but it did seem to add responsiveness back to our N14. You can give that a try too.

As for tunes, I would say Manic is the best tune available. You can go for stage 1 at first and bump it up to stage 2 or 3 later on.

I would definitely do the hot side boost tube resonator delete by getting one from Alta, which is what I have on our N14 and it works very well. Much better top end power and mid range torque. Not much for sound though, it just flows boost better.

For sound... Intake. Get an open air intake (one without an airbox, just a free standing filter), as this will give you all the sound you want. Lot's of turbo spool noises which are just fun to have... Plus with better flow you get better top end performance because you essentially give the turbo more air to work with at higher RPM's. I have the Alta cold air intake on my N18. I love it. Plus it's cleanable so you can keep reusing the filter after it gets dirty!

If you want more exhaust sound, you could go for something really loud and do a muffler delete. Just get an exhaust shop to weld in some stainless steel pipe in its place and keep the dual center mount exhaust tips. Look it up on youtube as a reference. I know my N18 S has a resonator in the exhaust that I am going to remove to make it a little louder, i'm not sure if the JCW has a resonator or not, but you can remove that for more sound if you have it.

Let me know what you think!!

 

I'm a pretty big fan of M7 product as they know MINI's well and their product is quality. Look into the M7 Speed "Exact Fit" Oil Catch Can. The M7 catch can separates the oil vapors from the crankcase air before it is returned back into the intake charge, keeping your intercooler and sensors working at peak performance. For an intake to give you some good sound, they make the M7 Speed MAXX-FLO Cold Air Intake System. Unlike other systems on the market the MAF sensor stays in the stock location. No modifications necessary. The air filter element securely mounts to a steel adapter tube, not to the delicate MAF sensor. Good luck with your upgrades and if you need anything please let me know!

 

Also remember to change the oil often. I like a 4000 miles intervals.

The best mod for your car is methanol injection. I prefer the Howerton/Aquamist HFS4 system. It is the most expensive but is by far the best. Other less expensive systems will work too (better than not having it).

The main benefits are:

1.) Decreased intake temperatures. Below ambient temperatures are easily possible. This is power.

2.) Decreased in-cylinder temperatures. Great for not burning up pistons and exhaust valves.

3.) Huge increase in octane up to almost 100. This will really help combat knock due to oil infiltration from the PCV system of the N14.

It will NOT help with cleaning the backs of the intake valves. You will still need to perform periodic carbon cleanings.

There are really good threads here on the systems. The search function sucks though.

 

Thanks for all the very helpful replies! Definitely lots of things to start adding to the list for future upgrades.