I am interested in the experience of others with the JCW or MCS rev limiter. Some rev limiters (e.g. the Z06) seem to allow the engine to "stutter" at max rpm, while others tend to cause a shutdown of sorts. My JCW seems to kill the fuel pump wherein the engine dies momentarily with an almost complete loss of power. Recovery from this condition takes over several seconds and the car is essentially useless when this happens.

Is this normal for the MINI?

Thanks for your help.

Jacob

 

Honestly, I don't think you should be hitting the rev limiter enough to care what it does when it gets there. You're way out of the max hp range anyway, and you're just overrevving the engine needlessly.

 

Hmm, really? I hit the rev limiter at just about 7k in my 04 JCW, but have no idea when the peak HP is reached. When I do, it is a "soft" limiter, and does not stutter like the Z06. Cmyk, d you know when max HP occurs on a JCW?

 

Peak HP should be up there in the top of the rev range. You also don't want to shift right at peak HP rather, a bit after it so you're still in the upper parts of the powerband the whole time.

In my Cooper, the rev limiter is a very subtle thing, like you're describing with your Z06, it kind of gets there and then bobs up and down slightly, no idea on a n S or JCW though. Also, the rev limiters are there so that you don't damage your engine, revving up to it is fine. Just don't do it every time you start off.

 

That's what I thought- I didn't think I was "way out of max hp range" at close to redline, even though I ususally shift well below in daily driving.

 

Actually, max HP on the JCW is at 6950 rpm.

 

Right... the JCW redlines at 7,000, no? So you get peak horsepower just before redline. Why the heck would you take it PAST the redline into the rev limiter? I'm sorry but unless you're racing professionally and plan to replace the motor soon, I don't understand *MAYBE* getting that extra 1/10000th of a second off your lap time by taking it into the rev limiter. Plus, if you hit the limiter, you're no longer accelerating, so that extra bit of HP you gained is lost when you hit the limiter.

Don't you guys ride motorcycles? They're designed to hit peak exactly before the limiter (way after the redline), but you never shift AFTER you hit the limiter. It's always about 20 rpm before.

 

I'm just saying that it's much easier to hit the redline in the JCW than a regular S because of the higher peak hp rpm. The rev limiter on my car seems to be right at 7k, I've only hit it a couple of times.

BTW, the JCW uses the same tach as the regular S, so it still show redline at 6800rpm.

 

I suspect the tach in the JCW has a band pass filter, making it smooth in operation, but sluggish in reporting actual rpm. I hit the limiter when the tach says 6900, meaning the engine has already gone beyond 7000. I had this problem in the Z06, so I installed a shift light and set it for 250 rpm below the red line. My reactions aren't as fast as they used to be.

Since the rev limiter on the JCW renders the car useless, I will install the same shift light in the JCW and ignore the tach for red line purposes.

Jacob

 

Mini thread hijack:

Hey davisflyer! If it wasn't for the chrome, I'd swear that you were sneakin' over and driving my car when I wasn't lookin'.

Now, back to the limiter.

 

Ha! I almost got the chrome package.

 

The lights change.

 

???

 

I was wrong, I was thinking that the rev limiter lights changed on the tach.