Hello, i recently got an 05 R53 and the car seems slower than expected and i cannot hear the supercharger when accelerating, a bit on low RPMs but guessing the horrible exhaust noise drowns it out in higher RPMs.

The previous owner cut the rear mufflers and the exhaust job is pretty bad since it has a 180 degree bend in it.

I will be doing the exhaust properly in the next few days but wondering if that could be the reason of power loss or it might be something with the engine?
The car also has a rough idle.

I cleaned the throttle body, checked all the hoses and vacuums and everything seems good.

Here is a log i did with the Torque Pro app in 3rd gear, can someone check if the parameters seem ok or is there something wrong?

Also pic of the awful exhaust job.

 

Is your coolant temp high too?

Check your harmonic balancer. They tend to fall apart.

 

As for the exhaust, I picked up a Miltek cat-back system from Way Motor Works. Fit like a glove.

 

Coolant temp is good, 1st speed in the fan doesnt work and is aired so when the 1st speed is supposed to come on it instantly goes to full speed while i wait for the resistor to arrive.
And for the harmonic balacer it looks good not moving when i look at it but will definitely get it check out by a mechanic.

 

Waiting on a TurboWorks back box to arrive and getting a custom one done with a decat and headers in the future!

 

Mileage? Compression/leak-down test? Have you checked for any code/s it may have thrown? If you don't have a reader, most auto parts stores will run a check for you at n/c.

 

170,000km (105,000mi) Compression is ideal on all 4cyl (dont remember exact figures) leak down test is yet to be done since i dont have a smoke machine but every hose seal and vacuum hase been checked and all seem good.
I have a basic OBD2 that was used for these logs and also have INPA, full scan with INPA multiple times and no codes appeared, only code was something for mixture too ritch when i got it but that was cleared and never came back afterwards.

 

That exhaust is insane

 

Did you get the exhaust system changed? If so, did it help your problem? It's definitely going to diminish performance and is the most obvious problem.

 

Have you checked for proper belt size and/or tensioner slippage?

 

+1
Also as noted above @mkov608 -
From my experience:
If you are still running the stock (rubber core) crank pulley; While it may appear to be intact, the rubber core may have torn and started to separate - thus flexing while spinning but not enough to spin the SC pulley in concert.= diminished boost.
Just my experience/thought as well.

 

If the car smells like burning rubber bands when you turn it off, there is a good chance the harmonic balancer is dying. I had one go bad, the car did all sorts of weird stuff. Also, remember the water pump runs on the back of the supercharger. You loose boost and cooling….

 

THD: What service work has been done to the car since you've owned it? If you have not performed the S/C removal and oil change, I would also be looking at that.
As for the harmonic balancer, I replaced them on both my R53's. I went with 0% on one and a 2% solid pulley on the other. No issues whatsoever. Both cars have over 150k.

You mentioned that you would have you mechanic check things out for you? If you do not work on your own car, I hope you have some cash saved up. Not trying to be a downer or dissuade you but this is an old car and they ALL need something regardless of how they've been cared for. If you want to have an idea of what things cost, I encourage you to take a look at my build thread or the one OutlandishnessDue recently posted. The $$ figures have been included. Bear in mind these figures are with us doing our own work and would be significantly more if sent to a mechanic.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ome-ideas.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...r53-build.html

If you have questions or need help just post up. There's lots of knowledgeable people here that are happy to assist a fellow enthusiast.

 

I've owned it for around 2 months doing an oil and filter change this week, I've cleaned the injectors and throttle body, replaced a few hoses and that's about it.
Last owner said the SC service was done around 1000km ago although i will be doing it again just in case, the SC isn't noisy at all and seems to sound ok no rough sounds like I've heard on other MINIs with bad SCs.
As for the harmonic balancer will probably be looking at that 2% one since i plan on pushing the engine to its limits with power while still retaining some daily driver reliability.
I do work on my own cars quite a lot as a hobby, I know what im doing for the most part, worked at a BMW Dealer for 3 Years as an intern and worked on a bunch of MINIs although only a few R53s and mostly just regular services. My buddy is a mechanic and knows thing better than me so I bring everything to him just in case to give me his opinion. That's also why i get almost all the parts without tax and everything ends up much cheaper.

 

Ok so just cut the exhaust off because i had some free time,
the exhaust was definitely a choke point and the car pulls a lot better, (still sounds like ****)
not certain its 100% good now, still can't hear the SC over the exhaust noise but the thing is really quick now.
Judging off the acceleration videos i found on Youtube that seems to be it but i feel like it need just a tad more power,
so i will order an intake and a pulley soon, also waiting on the mufflers to arrive and will take the car to get remapped.

Thanks everyone for the Help and suggestions i will definitely have everything you guys said checked over to make this thing work properly and be able to handle a lot more power in the future.

Still have a choppy idle but i think that might be the sparkplugs witch will be changed in a few days when the service is done.

 

Draw a line across the face of the harmonic damper with a crayon or paint marker, go for a drive, and recheck the line to see if it's slipping on itself.