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so, I buy this hot-tuned F-56 & it's good. then, I throw an aft. cat. oxy. sensor, & figure I've got a Forge DP so I get new oxy. sensor & have it switched out by Mini & Mario's DP. as it turns out, when I swap out DPs the one that's in there is identical to Mario's only aft.cat. port is 2&1/4" longer. SO, I find a 90deg. sport cat. that will screw into the side of Mario's DP with oxy. sensor screwing in top, but I'm not putting it on until I fry the oxy. sensor that's in there now & get a new aft. cat. oxy. sensor & do them both at the same time (I've got 2700 mi. on oxy.-sensor) RIGHT NOW the CEL is out & I've got 1 year left on oxy. sensor warranty. & I drive & I wait for CEL. IF I fry oxy. sensor in a year I got a free one to put my sport cat. in, if not I have to find an oxy. sensor for cheap. Mini wants big bucks, Pelican wants $60 but they're Out of Stock & I'm just twiddling my thumbs. would be nice to throw a CEL, go to Midnite Tuning & get sport cat. & oxy. sensor put on by Mini. it's 4 mi. from Mini to my house & 16mi. to Midnite Tuning as opposed to 2700mi. I've got on that oxy. sensor now. SO HERE WE GO, THE FINAL BUG ! (I hope)
Is there a reason you're swapping down pipes? If the one on the car is a cat-less, why switch it out for a different cat-less pipe? You're not going to gain anything going from one cat-less to another.
Also, the primary O2 sensor is the one with all the power and controls. The secondary sensor only monitors the cat efficiency. If you have a cat-less downpipe, the secondary O2 sensor isn't doing anything anyway, so its really jus there to plug the hole.
I had no idea what was there to start with the splash shield until it was in the air & done, it was a rookie mistake learning Mini Coopers. NOW I KNOW ! what I'm curious about is how good the sport cat.s are at avoiding CELs & we shall see about oxy. sensors when the time comes. I already swapped out the pre-cat. oxy. sensor myself & CEL went out. (unrelated to aft. cat. oxy. sensor) what I have is a $50+K car w/45K mi. on it now for $16.6 + $3K and I'm learning & getting away as cheap as possible. Ima 68 yr. old man with TBI.
that is exactly what I've got & with fresh Oxy. Sensor it seems to be the way to go but if you think talking to Phil @ Prototype-R so be it. I did replace the Primary Oxy. Sensor a while back. months back and my CEL disappeared.
Hey guys, picked up my 2nd Mini yesterday, (I'm guessing F56 with the B46 engine). Guy told me there was an aftermarket exhaust system installed. CEL wasn't on. I looked under the car and everything appeared brand new, so I didn't question it. Drove it around for an hour - no issues. Rest of the car is in great shape. Anyway, I had to head to the airport today and the CEL light came on. No surprise it threw an o2 code. Can't remember exactly which. Anyway, I'm not impressed with the sound (it's loud) and just doesn't sound good and I'd much prefer the old stock exhaust. That said, which route should I go, trying to quiet this setup down, or just drop a ton of cash (ugh!) and find a shop that would put everything back to stock?
I have so many questions I wish I could answer like:
1. Is there a tune (is there an easy way to tell) - because, to be honest, I don't think this 2.0T has as much acceleration as my old R53 supercharged 1.6 had, but maybe placebo?
2. If there isn't a tune - did someone rip the cat out? I'm not even sure how to tell.. it appears the cat is nearly L shaped and built into the down pipe?
3. Are the components in the stock exhaust the down pipe/cat, a resonator in-line with the longest part of the pipe (under the middle of car) and then muffler at the back, or is there no stock resonator?
4. The muffler on here now is maybe only twice the size of the exhaust pipe - and that's it! All the photos I'm finding for a stock muffler is a massive muffler situated perpendicular from the longest portion of the pipe.
5. It looks like there are two sensors under the hood that look like mass air-flow sensors. One of them is plugged into the car harness, and the other looks like someone cut a hole in the tube and put another identical looking sensor in, but no wire connected to it. Does any of this make sense to you? I can post photos later, but I had a last minute job that took me out of the state until Thursday.
I wish I knew more. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I should do - or what to look for to better help me describe what I currently have. Thanks in advance!
I don't believe there is an easy way to tell if there is a tune or not.
Cat can be seen look under car and up into engine bay where exhaust connects. The downpipe/cat is in back of engine and near impossible to see from the top.
After the downpipe, on a stock car, there is a secondary cat to a resonator connected to a muffler.
Yes stock muffler will fill up the section on the driver's side.
Idk where you are located but I have a stock exhaust from downpipe hanging in my parents barn. It's all one piece.
Here is a picture of the OEM downpipe off the car, OEM on the right side:
And a picture of the OEM exhaust:
You’ll have to get under the car to see what is there for downpipe. From your description, sounds like the whole exhaust was swapped out. Changing to a straight through muffler will add a little bit of noise, but swapping out the downpipe add a considerable amount of exhaust sound. If the CEL came on, I’d be willing to bet it has to do with the removed cat in the downpipe.
As for tune, probably no tune installed, or the CEL wouldn’t have come on, unless it’s for something other than a missing cat. I’d be curious what your intake looks like…
