hi everyone, i just bought and 06 mini S and have been searching around for performance parts. i have a little more than a grand to spend and was wondering what mod should i make first? whether it be suspension, engine mod, or anything else. any help would be great.

josh

 

-15% pulley

 

Hello Josh and Welcome to NAM, what are your driving goals/events? I've found modding to mod without a clear reason is often a waste.

How many miles are on the MINI? That may also impact what and the order of mods.

 

My only recommendation is to have a really good idea of what you want out of your car overall, and have a thorough plan on how to get there. Otherwise you end up trying to do something that won't work with the last mod you did, and it turns into a vicious circle until your car is a complete cluster-eff. There are a lot of examples here So decide what you want to be modding for, then make a plan and people can help you get there.

 

You definetly can't go wrong with a pulley so start there. Then decide what you want the car to do better after that. We have a ton of options available and there is alot of information out there. Do some research on stuff, and find what will work for you.

WAY

 

Agree with that.......take it one step at a time and think about a rough plan before you start spending money. With that said though, it is hard to go wrong with a 15% SC pulley as step #1.

 

15% pulley....

But yeah, where do you want to go with the car?

And you can't go wrong with Way either...

 

Yo CatJ, neighbor over in watsonville.
+1 with reduced pulley
probably rear sway bar and non-runflats, too.

 

Performance-wise, the reduction pulley on the SC probably is the best performance mod. But if you do the mod yourself, it isn't an easy mod to do. You have to lift the engine way up to get enough access to put the puller on the pulley to get it off, requiring disconnecting and unbolting quite a bit of stuff. Not to mention, the purchase of special tools needed to do it. If you pay someone to do it for you, of course, the cost of the part is nothing compared to the labor cost to install it. Point being, the cost is not small when the installation factor is added to the equation. If you want an easier mod (that won't gain as much in performance) I would go with a cold air intake just to get you started (and hooked ).

 

my mini has 30,000 miles on it and i want to icrease the power just a bit, ut it is my daily driver and i don't want to affect the gas mileage. i don't see my self doing a lot of track days, but just want to make my daily drive even more fun than it already is.

 

I repeat the others' comments.

Add a 15% pulley and a Cold Air Intake. Then put in good plugs (Brisk 12S or better)

Then get a custom tune.

The mistake some people make is that they think that hp improvements are cumulative--25-30 for a pulley, 10-15 for an intake, 20 for a catback exhaust--should get you 65 hp--not so. The ECU is set up for the stock parts and the highest hp gain shaves a bit off each addition.

I just posted that I got an RMW tune and started with 193 hp with a 15% and CAI,; Jan from RMW got me to the upper 190s and flattened my torque curve to make me very happy.

Others poster with JCW packages were 10 hp below my initial level and 5-10 hp over my max after the tune.

I asked Jan what I could to Sparky w/o need for another tune. He told me a catback would have a little effect, new heads OR cam would not do much but a combo of them would require a new tune. (Jan or others correct me if I misunderstood.)

Read and be wise. 900 bucks for an exhaust may sound great but may not be the best "bang for your buck".

I have a PHD and know that the smartest people are the ones who do the real work in the trenches and work with their sense of TOUCH.

 

For the exhaust system, if you are going for maximum gain.....
1. In Sound: get an aftermarket cat back system
2. In performance: get an aftermarket header

 

respectfully, that probably ain't gonna happen. if you want to get more power, you have to burn more fuel.

that said, even if you do increase power, you may find it doesn't hurt your milage much. for example, i see 31-32mpg highway, 23-25 mpg city, on mine. better mileage if i can control my right foot and stop pressing so much on the fun lever.

alternately, you can find ways to cut the car's weight, so you can do more with the same amount of power the car puts out now. pull out the rear seats, front passenger seat, unnecessary interior trim and moldings (that would be most of it ... )

 

15% Pulley.

 

Performance upgrades like intake and exhaust increase efficiency, and so will also increase fuel economy given equal pedal applications. However, in practice it seems to be impossible not to apply significantly more pressure to the go pedal after enhancing intake and/or exhaust sound.