R53 Turbo Specialties Turbo Kit


Hey guys! Stumbled upon this turbo kit. Looks pretty complete minus injectors.

Could be a nice alternative if someone has a bad supercharger or looking for an upgrade

If anyone has any experience with this kit, don't be afraid to speak up!

Cheers

 

There's only so much the stock ecu can do and that "brain" is just dumping more fuel in with the extra injectors. Tuning is usually the only limitation when it comes to turbo'ing an R53.

 

Going with this kit you would have to custom tune or run aftermarket ecu.

It just seems like a good alternative from sprintex!

 

Most turbo kits need a separate ecu....a standalone....the stock ecu doesn't do well with boost at idle like a turbo...and there are variations on tuning a turbo that out ECU's CANNOT ADJUST FOR....the volume of air coming off the turbo changes largely based on BOTH engine speed(well understood ) AND LOAD...hotter exhaust , the harder the turbo spins cause there is more gas expansion ....our ecu CANNOT COMPENSATE.
Twincharge kits tried to get around the turbo issues with a supercharger at lower rpms, and a turbo at higher...
Was interesting...a few ran good...many were garage Queens....
Then the option of a standalone ecu came out for turbo folks...
Issue is....since you can do about 250-300 up on a stock parts, and bit more with better parts, like an RMW stroker...what do you gain with a turbo...
The sprintex was a failure...that was just an upgraded supercharger....
I'll believe it when I see it...but unless it includes a $2000 ecu...I might think it is a future garage Queen in the making....

 

Very good info zippy! I do 100% agree with the standalone now.

However if done properly and tuned WELL I imagine there could be some very aggressive r53's made from this kit.

300hp plus on a car of this size is absolutely insane to think of, and quite possibly POINTLESS as traction would be near impossible to achieve off the line without some fancy clutch work and probably a set of drag radials on the front. Of course you would need several new clutches on the bench awaiting their (short) time to be installed

Although I do love the sounds turbos make, I'm a supercharger guy deep down. I love the look on some people's faces when they don't believe our cars are supercharged in an emerging era of turbocharged small vehicles.

This kit, however, is the first one I've seen in a long time that has all the necessary base parts to build upon and is available to the public.

 

Yeah...base parts...
But they sell it as a kit...folks are gonna expect a running kit when done...not have to spend another $2000.
Guess it solves the custom turbo flange and maiifold issues for some...
Just hope folks getting it realize it only gets then 60% of the way there after install...

 

Yea I never understood the desire for a turbo, the supercharger is the best feature of the r53. Like zippy said, you can get great power with the stock charger. If that's not enough just put another motor in the hatch.

 

Damn....too bad I'm stuck with this damn convertible JCW

Although if I could cram an engine in that tiny thing BMW considers a trunk it'd be bada$$!!

 

You mean like put a motorcycle motor in it like on the i8?!
An electric car with a motorcycle motor as a generator !!

For the price of this kit...and about half what you need to get it running..you COULD get a RMW stroker kit..add the header , tune.have a 300hp daily driver...no garage Queen for half the price of a turbo....yes..might want meth to be safe at 300...but have heard . but like 285 without on pump gas...but honestly anything about 250 is bragging rites only.....till somebody makes a 4x4 mini....

 

.....or nitrous

 

We'll forgive me if I am wrong, but even 250hp MINIs are very civilized mainly because they still only put down 220 WTQ.......the stock drive train can easily handle this, heck R56s have no problem putting down 250WTQ from what I understand.

 

They do just fine with 250, make a serious WRX killer. Fun as hell to drive and the wheel spin is manageable.

 

Would it be possible to run something like Megasquirt with this turbo kit?....I'm assuming that when you dumb the stock ECU....you are going to have lots of issues?

Zippy, can you expand more on why the MINI ECU/DME doesn’t deal well with turbos? Don’t you have A/F and V/E tables that you can change on the mini ECU just like any other automotive ECU? At certain levels of vacuum/boost you have corresponding fuel trim levels that are dialed in to get your AFR ratios that you want?..right? Why would the mini ECU care if 15psi of boost is coming from a supercharger vs. a turbo? Why would it matter?

I know people that tune the GM Delphi ECU’s that get used on all of the LS motors……and when tuning those, they have A/F and V/E tables that account for boost……..it doesn’t matter where the boost comes from, as long as it’s registered by the ECU and the correct amount of fuel/timing it supplied.

Does the BMW/Mini ECU not work like that? Why would 15psi of boost from a supercharger be just fine….but 15psi of boost from a turbo cause all kinds of problems?

And as far as boost at idle……why couldn’t you just hook up a wastegate to the turbo similar to the blow off valve the mini’s have….so you don’t build any boost until you are on the gas?

 

I dont believe it can't work with a stock ECU, I believe it would take too much time and effort to make it work PROPERLY with a stock ecu. And all that time spent on a dyno, usually charged per hour, gets QUITE expensive. Especially when there are aftermarket plug and play ECU's available for our cars that makes tuning much quicker, and easier.

This is not to mention you will need wideband o2 sensor, which the stock ECU will not recognize properly without a 'spoof' device to interrupt the signal of the wideband to the stock ecu so it recognizes the 'increased resolution' of the wideband.

Think about it this way, a narrow band sensor sees stoic, rich, and lean. That's it.
A wideband, on the other hand, can see stoic, rich, and lean as well--but the major difference here is the wideband can tell the ecu how rich or how lean the a/f ratios are (hence 'higher resolution').

Unfortunately, as far as I know, our ECU's cannot utilize wideband. Hence the 'spoof' device. You would then use an a/f gauge piggybacked from the wideband to tune your ratios.
And as far as the computer not being able to compensate for the type of boost, etc. I don't know honestly how that would work out.


In short, an aftermarket unit would make things easier.

Here is a link to a sticky thread about a plug and play option:
G4 MiniLink

Correct me if I'm wrong, anyone, but this seems like it'd be the easiest way to get a proper tune running a turbo, injectors, and wideband.

As far as wastegate, bov, etc, a wastegate is a necessary part of a turbo. It regulates how much boost is created via regulating exhaust gasses through the hot side of the turbine. Put a 14 psi spring in it will only let the turbo build 14 psi of boost. No wastegate=lots of boost=bye bye motor.

Bov's release pressure from behind the throttle plate when it is slammed shut, I.e. when shifting. A bov is somewhat similar to the diverter valve we have in our mini's except the diverter valve recirculates boost where a bov does not. Also, some bov's make insane noises that are guaranteed to make women drop panties when they hear it.


Now stop and think for a second how the ENTIRE intake system on our car is designed around the supercharger.

Throttle body would need relocated. Somehow make something work to hook it up on the intake manifold.

I think it would take some custom fabrication to make it all proper.

Now factor in cost.





It's just cheaper to build the motor around the supercharger. And you CAN make a really quick car that won't be broken every other day.


BUT if you have a lot of money and wanna make this turbo kit work, post the pics here and dyno sheet. Cause all that money better make 300+ HP, and a lot of jealous NAM r53 members

Cheers!

 

Don't want too get in too over my head on how to tune a car...
But I can tell you...a turbo with the MINI ecu doesn't work...(ok, the kit has two special boxe!..maybe 3 if you include their post office box....yes internet companies can be nothing but a box, and a garage selling parts they assembled, no r&d).notice no pics of installs...just promise ?!
That's WHY twin charged cars were made. Companies like helix had them... the twincharge cars..many were attempting full turbo cars....Folks blew lots of motors up finding out.these cars have been around (and the ecu) since 2001...yes outside the ... the new mini was introduced a few months early...so in computer terms you have a late 1990's computer here.
The simplest thing I can say is on a SUPERCHARGED car, boost is directly related to engine rpm....on a turbo, NO. the amount of boost on a turbo car depends on engine rpms, but also on load and sometimes on a waste gate/BOV. ..also if note...the ecu is similar on both the sc and normally aspirated cars ..that tells you something....about the complexity of it...or rather the simplicity of it...
Even the Guys that tuned r53 cars had issues with tuning the gen2 cars....it's a different skill....
The maps you can create on out cars mean you can't run a turbo with any reliability....
A wideband 02 sense would help...but can't support that either...
To get the kind of power this kits is hoping to get, you need a custom motor. And a standalone ecu....the piping they give you and "black boxes" might make it run....but how many of these kits do you see?!
Do they have one at mini events?! Showing it off?!
RMW has tried for years....and keeps coming back to a stroker using the stock SC.
But said?! He was an early sprintex seller...notice he doesn't push it...let's just say the sprintex was all promise....to actually get power, you have t have a running car....garage Queens that don't run anywhere but a dyno don't make power in the real world.
Notice we don't have a "turbo" gen1 mini section or a section for sprintex owners....
They pop up...talk about "wow" then a month later are gone...that should speak volumes.

 

there are quite a few stock ecu turbo cars in the surrounding islands. ive seen them on face book and talked with a few of them. stock ecu, stock rods, stock pistons, stock cam. and they are running 15-18 psi. now a turbo 15-18 psi will make more power than a supercharged 15psi. supercharger needs power to spin the lobes. if a 15% pulley with 15psi makes 220hp, a 15psi turbo should make around 250hp, theres no parasitic loss associated with a turbo. turbos also don't make boost at idle, they arnt spinning that fast

 

I've seen people attempt this, but not fully succeed. The hardware is always the easy part, it's getting the thing tuned so it not only doesn't blow up, but drives reasonably well.


There is parasitic drag with a Turbo, but it's significantly lower than a roots blower, especially at high RPM. Your point is well taken, though, in that the torque and fueling curves are very different, meaning that the tuning has to be significantly different--something better done with a stand-alone. There's a guy that sometimes frequents these boards who goes by Ryephile. His turbo Miata is the only car that I have driven (our TK kits included) that has added or radically modified forced induction that runs like a factory-tuned car. He spent dozens, maybe hundreds of hours working on it with the help of a GM engine management expert. Low RPM; off-idle; cold start; mid-range part throttle; it behaved like a normal car. That's hard.

 

yeah I couldn't speak of the drivability, but only that it does work. and for best case scenario you would want a standalone. but according to that decription, everything is included minus the injectors, which would be the first limitation.


I am also curious on what is: Icu401 Box,Ip201.


my buddy has a mk3 jetta with a gt36 turbo (I think) with a super lumpy cam, the thing doesn't make boost till 3500 rpm and is pushing 2 bar wastegate pressure and the car runs really well. he had some fuel cutting issues late last year turning up the boost, but is all sorted. granted there is no full on ECU like ours, it still has a distributor, and different MAF sensor. running with a simple chip

 

As everyone else has stated, tuning and overall cost are your biggest issues.
Tuning:
On the factory ECU it can be done, it is extremely time consuming and difficult to work around BMW's built in safety measures, algorithms and code, also as stated, making power isn't really the issue with the ECU, it's getting it to be reliable and usable as a driver.
Cost:
By the time you factor in all the other fab that will be needed over and above that kit, including intercooler and piping, unless you do "all" of your own fab work, you had better figure a 1.5- 2 x cash layout over and above the cost of that kit, and that's without ECU, Tuning and other suggested engine mods.
To do a full and complete 300+ hp turbo Mini conversion, your looking at a minimum of $10-$15k.

 

10-15k would get you a new engine, or two. Couple superchargers on deck. Cams for days. Tune at your leisure. Every bolt on available except sprintex because, let's face it, sprintex is a joke.

I mean, for 10-15k you can just get an r56 that's turbo'd.... and have cash left over for mods!

Let's just humor the idea you want to do this turbo conversion......

Step 1) remove all power train components that are stock

Step 2) replace with your choice of old(er) Honda 4 cylinder (not single cam) + tranny + lsd + pcm

Step 3) go find any of the 1,000,000 great turbo kits they make for any of said Honda motors .

Step 4) let any of the 1,000,000,000 Honda tuners tune the ***** out of it.

Step 5) ???

Step 6) profit

Step 7) enjoy your 300 HP Honda Cooper

I've simplified this step by step conversion process due to time and lack of effort.

And I've had a few too many cool beverages tonight.

 

That's sort of my point, if you want to do it on a r50, 52 or 53 platform, that's what it's going to take.

 

Just search for soccer bummers build thread if you want a turbo. Of course he's still working on it and he's a fabrication magician.