Well, im posting on my girlfriends account. She has a 2003 Mini cooper non-s. It's a five speed, and peppy little car. But more and more she wants some performance mods, especially whenever we are in my gt30'd STi.

I dont know much about these cars...but what do they respond well too? Could u slap a s/c off an S on it? Do they respond well to boost? Any help/suggestions will be appreciated!

 

I don't know that anyone's gotten substantial power gains on a Cooper. The engine block is the same, so theoretically the supercharger from an 'S' could be adapted to a Cooper, but the Cooper's static compression ratio is too high to work well with the supercharger, so you'd be looking at new pistons, then there's the intercooler, camshafts, all the associated plumbing, sensors, wiring harnesses, probably a new ECU, and a lot of time/trouble getting it all to work.

Perhaps you could put an opened-up air intake and more-aggressive-sounding exhaust on her car. It probably wouldn't make it much faster, if at all, but psychoacoustically, it would "seem" faster, since she could hear more out of the engine/exhaust.

Or, since the MINI holds its resale value so well, she could trade it in for a new or used 'S'?

 

Folks frequently do a rear swaybar, maybe an intake or exhaust, but there are not great gain to be had easily. The Cooper S has lots of uprated engine internal...the SC won't work on a Cooper. The Midlands tranny isn't as strong as the Ss either...or so goes the story. That said, folks get some great driving from Coopers...surprisingly so. Seems suspension mods may help more than hp increases.

 

Right now I have an ECU (UNICHIP) Catback exaust and CAI It is better than before but still not close to an S

you could spend 4 - 5 thousand and get close to an S but thats the end of your overhead for upgrade or just trade in the current one tack on 4 - 5 k and have an S with plenty of performance upgrade overhead.

 

Most likely the cheapest power increase for her Cooper would be to sell it & upgrade to an S.
There are lost of ways to get more power out of an S.

 

One of our club guys has a cooper and loves it, it's really tossable and his exhaust sounds fantastic (wish I knew what it was...).

 

The standard Cooper Engine doesn't have the Forged internals, correct Pistons, Valves, or Oiling system, and several other internal things that the S has to handle the Boost. So for longevity I was stay away from Boosing that engine.

If you want to get a little pep and throttle responce start with an intake and exhaust then move on from there.

 

It'd be easier for you to trade down closer to her level with a regular 2.5 Impreza with no turbo than to try to get her regular Cooper closer to your STi. And we know *that* won't happen!

I grabbed my 2004 Cooper S with 41,000 miles on it for $16,900 back at the beginning of July. It's low on options, but was priced comparably to a regular Cooper that's decked out. I think you could probably trade up for an S for less difference than you might expect. It's at least worth shopping around for.

 

mini-madness.com has what I have seen to be the best upgrade for the Cooper. Their best package goes up 155HP, but costs 3 grand. Still not what you can get from an S but not bad.

 

If you want power, you're out of luck.

If you want sound, Borla exhaust and a cone style intake. Many people have said that combo is the best sounding MINI... period. Better than any solution for a Cooper S.

If you want to embarrass Cooper S owners at an autocross or track, tires and suspension mods (front camber plates, rear swaybar, springs, and shocks) will make a Cooper out-corner lots of cars.

 

You can squeeze 10 - 15 HP out of the cooper for around $1000 for a catback, ECU reflash, and an intake (I'm dyno'd at 125 at the wheels with these upgrades). IMO that takes the MC from the "peppy" range and into "quick".

The main advantage of the MC over the S is weight. So improvements to weight and handling will give you the most thrill. So wider tires, lighter rims, sway bar, etc. would be a great place to start.

 

The best way to make a Cooper faster: Spend the money on driving schools. The Cooper can be very quick if driven correctly. I have seen Coopers on the track outrun cars with a lot more HP.

 

QFT

improving driver skills is where it's at!