It seems to me that the point is being lost to the "its so hard to do" crowd

No one is debating the fact that this is difficult, but I think that it can be learned, see the companies that make the software that is being used (ie DimSport etc) will take the time to teach you how to do it if you want to pay them the 3k$.

Now I agree that them teaching you will still need to experiment, test and tune to perfection. And at the end of the day if you find a skilled tuner and have some mods that are outside of the normal bolt on's you would be wise to just pay the tuner.

More of what I proposing is just learning to make minor mods or BETTER YET learn to put "canned" tunes on our cars. Now I know what you are going to say, canned tunes are dangerous yada yada.

Think about this for a second - The JCW tune is a Canned Tune, the GP Tune is a canned Tune. If we learned how to take that data file and apply our own VIN / ECU information just like the dealer does (or for that matter some so called TUNERS) how would that be so bad and dangerous?

Look the JCW "Tune" is nothing more than some basic bolt ons:

CAI
Head (with minor porting to exhaust ports)
Bigger Injectors
Pulley (only 11%)
Exhaust
Plugs
and a CD with a tune!

They dont even have a header, so you see some of the basic canned tunes out there could be used by most of us, as the above JCW mods are what most of us do.

Am I going to pay for a tune, YES! Why? I am going to have Water/Meth Injection and I want TWO tunes one for w the W/M and one w/o the W/M, I have the DimSport/RMW programing box and I can switch the tunes at will.

 

Im not talking about taking some 15yo kid and dropping him or her in the garage with some tools so they can wreck their cars. I do not think anyone else is saying that either. But to some of us, "This is NOT Our first Rodeo". Understand?

 

Whatever dude... Just buy the thing, and get on with it if its so easy.

 

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it. From what I have learned from this tread...the majority (not all) of the people saying "don't do it, you will blow your engine" have never tried tuning a motor, and all they know about it is what they read off of the net. It's nice to know that some guys have actually been there, done that.

OK.....So you are saying that unlike most/all other cars...the MINI doesn't use a single A/F (VE) chart for fuel, and a single timing chart? Why would it need more than one of each? If you cover all of the area from no load, to full load...and the max range of RPM from idle to WOT...what else is there?

For example, I've done a little work with the Megasquirt software before. It's got a single A/F ratio chart you set up...and a single timing chart (see below). How is the software that you use to tune a MINI (Bytetronik) different from this?

Just looking for as much info as possible. Are there only just a few guys on this site that have ever used Bytetronik tuning software?

 

Yeah not MegaSquirt...
Off the top of my head:
Main fuel map, second fuel map (high octane), VE fuel table, fueling compensation table, fuel compensation map... Pretty much the same for timing... All needs to be set to run together or it doesn't work properly.

Really nothing that cant be learned, but like I said, with the minimal help you will receive, you are more than likely to have an engine failure before you get it right.

I was one of the first with ByteTroniK, one of the first to loose a motor learning it. Even though I know exactly where I went wrong with it before, ByteTroniK will never be used by me again. I will leave the tuning on the standalone to a real professional.

 

Im not saying dont purchase this, or its hard to use. The software is great for tuning a mini. Its just that the mini ecu is very different from any other that I have seen. I have used the megasquirt on a two stoke racebike that had been converted to FI, and it worked great. The mini is like a three legged stool in the fact that each table relies on others to perform its job.

Attached is a list of some of the adjustments in the software and what the MAIN FUEL MAP looks like. If there were a version of the software that worked like megasquirt it would be just like any other tuning software. I like the fact that its not.

Im not 100% sure, but I think DG took his cooper to a very knowledgeable tuner, but had never done a mini. Im sure if you search around you will find his story.

Mynes service is very good and the FA will give you more control than you will need. Im not building my car into a racecar, I am just doing some bolt on stuff.

 

I'm surprised you left the hole in the center of the map Hillis, getting that evened out makes things a little smoother for the daily drive...

 

lol, so much has changed since this map. I could feel the hole.

 

Wow, it definitely looks more complicated than it needs to be. Too bad there isn't any more software options out there.....

It's learnable, but they sure make it more complicated than it ever needs to be. What software are the "pros" using? Are they all using Bytetronik? There has to be something more user friendly out there.....

As far as the Bytetronik....do they at least give you a detailed manual telling what all of the different maps and functions do.....or are you on your own? I guess they have their tech forums...too bad you can't even access them unless you pay for their product.

 

There's only one guy that I know of with a proven "track record" that I could ever trust!

 

IQ I'm no pro, but I don't think it's the software. The mini/bmw ecu is complicated and they built the software around the ecu. BMW is the complicated part.
This software will tell you more about the car than you know. First thing I did was adjust my idle and the traction control sensitivity.

 

Exactly, the complications are from BMW, not from Bytetronik, all the software does is give you access to what's in the ECU.

 

ftfy.

 

what?

 

So I'm guessing that the MINI uses a different ECU and setup than a BWM ECU like what's in the M3? I know there are all kinds of guys out there tuning M3's, and lots of people with really great software setups that let you do tuning on them.

I'm assuming the "MINI" ECU is nothing like a real "BMW" ECU as for as the coding goes?

 

This is going to be interesting.

 

Thank you……

 

LOL…. But this is good because this is what we should be doing rather then what has been going on. I tried to find out the differences between the regular BMW ECU and the R53 ECU but no body seemed to know.

 

the MINI ecu is nothing like any other ecu I have ever worked with. Most ecu tuning you are the master and the ecu is the slave, the MINI ecu you have to work together in partnership where the ecu has creative liberties on what you tell it you want.

 

Thats the problem with people that dont know MINI tuning your MINI. Most tuners I know will say yes we can tune it no problem, and then when they see how things work, their ego is to big to say its a little more complex than what I normally tune. Very few people KNOW MINI.

With each generation of mini that comes out they get more complicated. The R53 is the easiest ecu to tune.

 

Thanks for the information. This was very helpful. So for those that go this route, to stay or before going to a standalone, are they going to have to continually pay for a retune being from what Ive read… the R53 ECU is just going to learn around what ever tune the FA tuner gives it?

 

LOL…. But this is good because this is what we should be doing rather then what has been going on. I tried to find out the differences between the regular BMW ECU and the R53 ECU but no body seemed to know.

Who ever wants to take that step and try to tune their own car without the proper training, more power to them. But when it goes BOOM, I wanna see pics. I left mine to the professional and went with a standalone. I have complete access to tune it but I won't dare. I love my MINI

 

I spent several years tuning Diffusion Reactors. Its a lot more technical then tuning the ECU from a MINI.
It comes down to this, some people can do learn and do this and others can not. And for those willing to take the steps to learn they will also have to be willing to take what ever comes with it. Both the Failures and Success. You break your car then you only have yourself to blame. And it has been my experience that several "Experienced" people within a community will give warnings before someone goes out and tries something on their own no matter what they are doing to their vehicle. Look at those using the BMW tools. INPA, NCSexpert etc…. I remember hearing the dooms dayers telling them it was just to dangerous and only a trained BMW professional should be doing it.

 

I know I've asked this question several times...and haven't really got much info, but maybe that's because there aren't any other options...but I'll ask it again.

Besides Bytetronic.....what other software is available to get into the OEM MINI ecu? Or is that the only company on the planet that has software that can handle that task?

 

They are not the only software out there. The person I use has different software. He paid the $10k or whatever for it. You can find other software out there but it costs money.