I have the new issue of EVO magazine, which has an article on the JCW Cooper S. One of the interesting things that they noted, was that the reason that it took so long to release was that they were really testing the reliability of the kit. One item that was noticed early on was the excessive heat buildup created by the 15% reduction pulley and combined with warmer weather caused engine failures, and that more had to be done to cool the engine (i.e. the addition of a ported head). My question on this, is how does this affect those who have just done a 15% pulley mod? While we may not have seen any problems now because most people have only put on 10,000-15,000 miles with the mod,and mostly in the cooler temperatures of this winter, could engine problems creep up in the future. The reason I am asking this is that I am sure the engine testing that went into the JCW mod is probably far greater than most if not not all the tuners out there. It sounded like they performed a 75,000 mile stress test as well as tore apart the engines to examine wear and tear. Has Hartge or Helix or anyone done this kind of testing on the pulley mod? I am really curious about this one. I know that before BMW would warranty this kit that they would test these mods like crazy. I get the feeling that a lot of the other tuners out there, throw it on the car run it for 15,000 miles and if they don't see anything and the car is running great than they release the product. I am not sure if any of them tear apart the engine to check from excessive wear and/or stress, or run the cars at extreme heat with extreme conditions, or run in the engines for extended periods of time (i.e. >50,000 miles and more like 100,000 miles). Can anyone provide insight into the testing that is performed by the other tuners? Is a mod to the head needed to safely do the pulley upgrade?

Another item I read a while ago in one of the magazines, was that the chip in the Cooper S was programmed to back off some in WOT. That the chip was not taking full advantage of the power of the Cooper, and I had heard it was due to emissions and fuel economy. Has anyone heard this before? Are the chip tuners fixing this issue if it does exist?

 

I know that Hartge backs up their product with a 50k mile warranty so I assume their product is OK. I don't know about Helix, though, but Hartge has been working with BMW for years and I personally trust their products. One of my friends from high school has a Hartge 3 series with a 5 liter V8 dropped in it and he's never had a problem. That may be apples to oranges, though.