I did a search and found someone saying it's a k03?
Can anyone comfirm that?

Thanks,

 

Well, it's confirmed to say "Borg Warner" on it by several European owners, and Borg Warner makes the K03. The K03 is almost their smallest turbo, the KP39 being their smallest, used on VW turbodiesels. The K03 was used on VW's famous 1.8T engine. The K04 family isn't a likely candidate given the very low boost threshold of the R56 MCS's turbo, so it's most likely of the K03 family. The K03's compressor is typically good for about 22 Lb/min of airflow, or about 200 HP. Getting any more than that means it's revised or ported from the K03 VW used. It'll be interesting to see how much flow we can get out of this turbo in the MINI's application.

Here is their weblink

Cheers,
Ryan

 

Thanks Ryan!

 

the exhaust housing is definetly differnt than a k03... remember this car has "twin scroll technology" :impatient so at very least it is not a standard k03

 

--->isellem; If you look on Borg Warner's website, you can see that "Twin-flow turbines" are a feature of the current K03 family. The VW 1.8T K03's may not have been twin-scroll, but then again that was a generation ago too.

 

Isn't that just how the air tubings are done entering the turbo... so the
turbo itself could still be the same.

 

The exhaust housing is different. The compressor housing MIGHT be the same.

 

The only thing we probably know is the turbo family being a K03. We also know the turbine housing is twin-scroll, but the A/R's, Trims, Compressor, and Turbine maps are all up for grabs. Just because the housings look different externally doesn't mean we can conclude their internal dimensions are wildly different than previous K03 family turbo's.

 

drop a gt28 in that thing!

 

That narrows it down, lol

Garret has several "GT28.." turbos:
GT2854R, GT2860R, GT2860RS, GT2871R, and GT2876R!

 

Probably want to go with a GT2560R on this one LOL.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking! Great minds think alike!

 

its all about the gt42R

everything else is peanuts...

 

So if this turbo is an evolution of the one used in VW/Audi's 1.8t engine, could we plunder the VW aftermarket scene for turbo upgrades for the R56? Companies like Neuspeed have kits for the 1.8t.

Probably not compatible enough, I'd imagine; just thinking out loud here...

 

Any aftermarket tuner accustommed to manufacturing upgrade turbo kits will fit the bill for hardware; APR, Neuspeed, ATP, AGP, Greddy, Turbonetics, etc. The tough part is going to get the stock ECU to play ball how we see fit. Since the car is already starting as a turbo car, it'll be mega easier than the R53 was to go turbo. Signal modifiers like UNIchip may just cut the beans this time through, however an ECU flash will be a better solution for boost control, most likely.