I'm the resident car guy among a group of friends, and a friend decided she's ready to modify her Mini and asked me for advice.

I don't know much about Minis, but I do know turbo cars.. My 335i and I have many adventures.

I assume that your version of full bolt ons is similar to ours - intake, downpipe, FMIC, exhaust, and tune. What are the popular brands? Do you guys use Cobb's Accessport for tuning or is there another popular solution? Something open-source or community based like the MHD tuner for the BMW N54 motor?

Also, any known catches with the car? My N54 has to be blasted with walnut shells every 60k, for example, to clear up the intake valves (direct injection means no fuel or detergent ever touches the valvestem), and stock cooling won't hold up to a track day. Stuff like that?

Thanks for the advice!

 

Ok so depends on the year. the 2007-2010 mini plus jcws use the n14 engine which needs the blasting and a double catch can to keep the carbon buildup down. the n18 2011 and onwards don't need the babying the n14 seems to need, so it'll depend on what power plant she has, but a catch can would be definitely beneficial. Now also dealing with these engines, only the n14 can use the alta(cobb) AP so if it is an n18 engine you will need to bench the ecu or send it out to a tuner most likely manic, Renntech or the few others there are. So as for the MHD community you won't find much. If you are looking for stage 1 you need nothing more than a ecu remap plus an intake but they are usually optional. Any stage 1+ or stage 2 tunes are gonna require and intercooler and piping, as well as a down pipe either high flow or decanted completely, along with a minimum 2.5'' exhaust. SO In my personal opinion she needs to figure out exactly how far she wants to go.

As for where to buy there are a few botique makers with parts for the mini NM engineering(neuspeed) has high quality parts along with ALTA performance. other websites to look on would be Outmotoring.com and Minidynamics.com. I personally love alta, all the parts i have bought are of amazing quality, which is the opposite of my exhaust which came from CNT which I would avoid at all costs, they use cheap flex pipes which blow out quickly.

So for TL DR
she needs to figure whether she wants stage 1 or 2, or how much she wants to spend.
after that figure out what power plant she is using (n14 or n18)
then choose the tune maker and get a hold of them to set up the tuning.
IF stage 2 DP, intercooler plus piping, exhaust, intake and diverter valve upgrade which can be found by alta, just a spring to stiffen the stock DV.

hope this helps LMK if you have any other questions.
-Jim

 

Hi Team 503! We have some background information on our website that may help you with the modifications, and we're here to help. We have over 40 years experience with brand and received the first new BMW MINI in the USA.
For Stage 1 Tuning I would recommend:

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Resu...ge%201/default

For stage 2:

http://new.minimania.com/Search_Resu...ge%202/default

If you browse our site you will find additional stages and maintenance guides as well! Please feel free to ask any questions. We're here to help.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.