Hello all. I recently got this Mini, 2003 S, 85xxx, and it has a few problems. It had terrible crunching/marbles sound, and after reading online I deduced it was the supercharger. After letting it run a bit it also wanted to overheat, while the radiator was stone cold so I figured the waterpump was not turning. I tore it down and got the s/c off, and one side had oil still but the pto side had no oil drain out, just chunks of metal. So I need a supercharger. Looking online one of the better prices is for the JCW one. Is the only thing required to bolt this on to my Mini is the JCW s/c and the appropriate JCW belt tensioner/kit? No tune or injectors or anything else? I looked through the faqs and searched and could not find anything related, I may have been searching wrong though so if this is covered somewhere I apologize. I was also going to replace the water pump and thermostat/housing, anything else I should do while its apart?

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of MINI and my favorite the R53 ...

Lots of places to get parts New and Used ... Here is an optional place to look for used parts, I check almost daily for JCW parts ...

https://www.allmagautoparts.com/coll...ini-cooper/r53

Once you have it a part, you might as well replace/Inspect and service a lot of those parts while it is apart. 85K miles is just braking in.

Loads of Videos on YouTube on "How To" lots of threads here as well ... many with step by step photos. For the most part the MINIs are easy to work on and there are only a handful of Special Tools required when you get into some of the more tricky repair tasks.

Our good friends at ECS even have an in house JCW kit put together, the only thing you would have to do afterwards is stop by your local Indy shop or Dealer and have the ECM JCW code Flashed. (I was just looking on line to include a link, but could not find it) I'm positive they Have it... ECS... do you still have it?

Best of luck

Motor On!

 

Its nla, https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...11120395130KT/

Some of the key components went NLA so we can not offer the kit :(

 

Sad face indeed ...

Motor On!

 

The tensioner is no different; its the pulley and the belt that must match.

 

At this point, aftermarket parts are far superior to the OEM performance options, so overpaying for a JCW replica isn't really a smart decision. The exception being injectors and MAYBE the intake and exhaust if the design is particularly of interest. However I'd go DDM intake and Miltek for exhaust if it were my money (to replicate a similar setup).

 

The JCW superchargers were the same as the post face lift (4/05ish?) super chargers. The only difference is the pulley that's on the supercharger. Off hand I want to say that the JCW pulley is an 11% reduction from stock, there's also many 15% and 17% reduction pulleys out there. You will need a correspondingly shorter belt for smaller pulleys, as well as colder range spark plugs.

If it were me, I'd try to find either a low mileage used super charger, refresh the oil, put on my pulley of choice and hope for the best; or find a rebuilt supercharger, and put a pulley on it.

The JCW 380cc injectors are pretty worthwhile if you're going to run a bigger pulley, but there are many aftermarket options out there, and it might be good to go even bigger, but bigger will require a tune to run well. The JCW injectors are plug and play, but run better with a tune (Factory JCW, or custom)

Personally, I have a 17% pulley with an alta CAI, stock intercooler, tune, and injectors, it runs great, and I've had no problems for 45,000 miles. I know I could find some more power with bigger injectors and a tune, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

 

I appreciate all the responses!

What I think im going to do is get the jcw supercharger, just because its one of hte cheapest options I can find right now having a warranty and not being used, shorter belt and the colder plugs for it. Then just handful of tune-up maintence stuff (The car has not been driven regularly since '14.) Fluids, waterpump, hoses, thermostat/coolant reservoir (IT was overheating when I tried to drive it, because pto gears were stripped and not turning pump at all). Then drive it and see how it does, what else I may need. Im going to get a new tensioner/idler as well, I know the factory would work but the idler is bad/grindy and im sure the tensioner probably not far behind, I would feel better having new components for them.

Oh I did find a "new" oem replacement on alibaba for $600 lol. Common sense tells me will probably explode instantly, but has anyone ever tried them?
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...727808774.html

 

FWIW, best, safest, most rational path is to get the JCW supercharger and the other parts you mentioned.

It would be best to replace the crank sensor o-ring, an aluminum expansion tank, new coolant cap. I prefer the coolant reservoir that uses the factory cap. There is a version on eBay that uses a vent type cap and those tend to spray coolant everywhere when the pressure builds higher than 15 psi. I got the aluminum tank from Amazon, but Way Motor Works also has one too.

If you don't have the hose clamp pliers, get those too. Makes removing and fitting the clamps on the hoses a breeze.

 

There is a lot of built up grime/oil around the crank sensor so o-ring def on my list thanks for that. And I had a mkiv gti a few years ago so im used to these style clamps lol.