OK, this 05 mcs is super fun to drive, which is great but I think it is not stock. Even the salesman told us of all the minis he has sold, this is the fastest. So I start reading and looking at stuff and it appears to have some visible mods which makes me wonder which little mods can be done that aren't as easily visible?

What I found so far (and I have little idea what gains they provide)
Alta v2.0 super charger pulley
Mintek exhaust

What else should I look for that a normal mini lover would do? The first two owners loved this car because it is almost perfect. It came through south Carolina and then went to Miami. From there, it came to south Texas and we are keeping it here. We found this because all the paperwork is still in the car from the window sticker to the resale paperwork to the trade in to us. No info on mods though so I am wondering is there a chip a person can put in the ecu, like a bimmer? How do you check for LSD on a front wheel drive? Will the suspension have a name stamped on it or do I just have to measure height at a given point, like on a wrangler?

Tell me what to look for because the car climbs to 120mph in a heart neat and stops on a dime. It accelerates around other vehicles on the highway like they are crawling so I think there could some other stuff going on.

I am ordering the valve body another person mentioned in another thread because this exhibits the symptoms for needing replacement. I will drop it to a shop an e36 m3 buddy trusts because I need this car 100% for thanksgiving as we plan to drive it to camp lejuene north Carolina to visit family for the holiday and I won't have time to do the work myself before then.

 

You can look at the color of the injector connectors (the plastic) Blue for the 380s JCW, Yellow for the stock 330s, and spmewhere I saw a set of the massive 550s and I think they were Black... but this is just what I've seen.

Look for the tall tell JCW decals under the hood intercooler/valve cover/air filter box

Check the crank pully, you might have an aftermarket pully there as well like a 2% larger.

The LSD... hmmm I guess you can lift the front end and rotate a tire and see if both sided turn in the same direction.


Just some ideas...

Sounds like you have a great car, post some PHOTOS

Motor on!

 

I forgot to put it also has a k&n cold air kit. Or a similar looking cold air intake. Its got the filter and the box that separates it from the engine bay heat

 

Its a sleeper, looks totally stock

 

Got the exhaust wrong, milltek exhaust. I will have to see if the full exhaust or just the cat back tomorrow.

Man, this car is just like Christmas. Everyday I find some other secret present from the previous owners.

 

Post a picture of the engine.

 

Will do, tomorrow morning.

 

OK, air filter box, pulley, exhaust, exhaust manifold, fuel injector are all in those shots

 

Stock header and injectors. Aftermarket intake of some sort, pulley,and catback. Those hoses on your passenger side near the strut tower kinda look like they might lead to a catch can of sorts, but its hard to say from that picture.

 

Thanks. So I have an idea of where the car is starting at, now.

 

You can look up to see if it has a stock LSD on the BMW VIN decoder. The word is Sperrdifferenzial. Failing that find a nice piece of empty road and do a burnout. Make two black lines and you have an LSD (or "two wheel turn" as a friend of mine says)

 

Got it. Check is the same as a rear wheel drive, ha ha ha

 

Ya, that's what I did. Mine looks bone stock, even the exhaust tips.

The thing you will not be able to see is whether or not the ECU has been tuned. Tuning is worth about 10hp, and is recommended with the s/c pulley upgrade. Hopefully, it has been tuned; maybe it has if it runs that good. looks like you have a 185 - 200 hp car, depending on what dyno you are standing next to.

Great looking car. how many miles are on it?

 

It feels fast, that's for sure. A blip of the pedal and its gone.

It's got 85k miles on it



I would much rather have a sleeper. The look on people's faces is so much better

 

Looks like you have the most common mods; S/C pulley, cat back exhaust, and cold air intake. I would suspect no ECU tune due to stock injectors but I could be wrong.
It is hard to tell from the photos if the car has been lowered (aftermarket springs). Aftermarket springs are usually some other color than black.
Another common suspension mod is a larger and adjustable rear sway bar. If it is adjustable you will see two or three holes where the end of the bar connects to the end links (which connect to the strut).

 

Are you talking about the supercharger Bypass Valve (BPV)? If so, you might want to think about getting an aftermarket BPV that has a stronger spring, such as the Detroit Tuned BPV:
http://www.detroittuned.com/detroit-tuned-bypass-valve/

 

Just be aware the DT bypass valve will suck a little more gas and might not drive quite as smooth. Some like it, some don't, I didn't.

 

Add a pair of strut tower plates or even a full strut tower brace. Plates will protect against tower mushrooming. Look into the rear sway bar too. Best handling upgrade you can make.

 

i ordered a transmission valve body because of hte shift issues. from reading, mine is acting like that needs replacing.

i have also read about the strut tower plates and brace. thats a same issue on the bmws i used to autocross so it was one of the first things i looked for when i got this and then started researching if it was an issue.

the rear sway bar looks like a stock one and the springs all look black so i think the suspension is all stock. thats easily remedied though, ha ha ha. the thing is, i had my daily driver e30 so track modified that it was not comfortable to drive anymore. it was so low i had to avoid man holes. it rode great but the height was horrible so this one might get a minor height adjustment but probably will only get front and rear strut tower bars, control arm bushings, and sway bars.