Well, found out my pulley broke.
Seems pretty typical from all the posts.
Decided to replace with a PRW pulley.
Significantly less cost than OEM or other recommended aftermarket pulleys.
Needless to say even my wife notices the difference in smoothness of the car now. That's saying a lot since she pretty much just drives the car until it breaks down!
I would strongly suggest if your Mini has more than 100k on it and the pulley has never been changed just do it!!! While you're in there change out the belt pulley (the small one) and the belt if they haven't been changed in a while too.

 

We tell people this all the time as the aftermarket dampers are actually dampers and balance better than stock which is just a chunk of rubber. But if you noticed that with the PRW you would have really liked the ATI damper as they balance even better.
We always replace the crank seal, crank bolt, and belt when doing the job.

 

I've seen your other posts.
I wondered about the crank seal but my mechanic said just leave it alone since mine wasn't even weeping oil.
I've also heard the ATI is better but at the end of the day really didn't want to spend any more money on this car. LOL!

 

glad your a happy person with that pulley! many questions have been brought up about that product

 

The harmonic balancer is one of those items on the MINI that seem to be a "when it fails, not if it fails item." You can see a pretty beat up one at figure 6 here. Glad you got it all fixed up and you and your wife are enjoying the MINI once again.

 

When they took mine off it was in two pieces!
I'm thinking that this is almost a maintenance item at 100k. Maybe even less.

Next item I'm doing is the upper motor mount.
Mine failed in less than 10k.
Amazing!

 

It's a good thing you took care of it then! One of the most common parts to deteriorate on the MINI are the engine mounts. The rubber that is contained within the mounts becomes old and brittle, and doesn't perform a good job of isolating the drivetrain from the rest of the chassis. This eventually can cause a whole host of problems and cause wear to other critical components. 10k seems pretty quick for it to fail though. What type of engine mounts did you previously install? We have some pretty good info on the mounts here as well.

 

I use your DIY's often.
Really appreciate you guys putting them up.
I think I used Lemforder upper mount.

 

That's great! Glad they're helpful to you. Not sure where you bought the mount, but most places offer a warranty on parts. If it is a defective part that leads you to believe why it has failed in just 10k miles, I'd look into that warranty.

 

Just swapped mine at 68k as a preventative maintenance and can't believe how much smoother the engine idles and revs now.

Especially at higher RPMs you can really feel the difference.

 

Not to revive a dead thread, but I wanted to add that I have had my PRW pulley on my R53a for five years now and it's still going great. Installed after the stock one disintegrated on I-985 and left me stranded.

 

I have a PRW on my '03 and have been really happy with it over the past couple years. There's a definite improvement in NVH, even with my powerflex bushings in the mounts. Would buy again!

 

Thankfully the previous owner of my car had already installed a 2% overdrive WMW ATI pulley,
so I haven't had to worry with the issue.

I noticed that PRW offers a 8.7% underive:

https://store.prw-usa.com/2510901-bm...r-drive-black/

Could someone explain what the effects of overdrive/underive option do?

 

On The Crank Pulley:
Overdrive will turn everything else faster, which means more boost from the S/C.
Underdrive will turn everything else slower, which means less boost from the S/C.

Basically, the opposite effects of what you get from changing pulley sizes on any accessory, since the Crank Pulley drives the accessories.

 

Many thanks.

That's what I suspected but I wanted to verify.

 

Since this thread was revived not too long ago, figured I ask here.

Anyone have any experience with other the Hamburg-Technic Damper that ECS offers? Doesn’t say anything about being fluid filled like the PRW. It is a bit cheaper so I was wondering if it is comparable. I’m just looking for reliability. Is the PRW or ATi worth the premium?

 

1. I don't see it on the ECS web site.
2. A "non-liquid" (o-ring style) filled damper is a better all around choice. Mostly, because the silicone/viscous fluid in the liquid filled ones act differently when they are cold vs. when they are hot.

I've got an ATI on my engine.

Mike

 

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-hamburg-...237525135~ham/

 

if I’m in FL and it’s usually pretty hot. With some parts of the year being in the 50s, but mostly 70F and up, then how would you say the fluid in the ATi would act? Is the issue more when it’s very cold outside and the fluid acts more solid?

 

I put the HT dampener on in June. So far no issues. Be advised that it will slip right on. There is no need to heat in water etc. This worried me at first ,but it will be fine, just torque it to specs and you'll be good to go.

 

Wondering if it is worth upgrading R50 models to the fluid type?

 

It needs to press on. If it just slid on you need to get it replaced as it was machined wrong and we've seen this before. It will end up having an issue, and if it spins on the crank it will be a real expensive repair as the crank will be damaged.

 

Yikes. Sounds worrying about the HT Damper. Kinda leaning towards a PRW

The reason I considered the ATi was to get the 2% larger to give my JCW a little boost. But the price really starts to creep.

 

Good info. I have the PRW and was looking to swap out the supercharger pulley next. I was afraid of using a 17% due to the age of the car, but since the PRW is that much of an underdrive, then the 17% should be safe...

 

unless you bought the PRW underdrive pulley, which I kinda doubt, then the 17% supercharger pulley will act like it does on a stock damper.