I've had my '08 clubman s for over a year now, it's my daily and I love her. I'm wanting to do some cheaper upgrades (under $250 a piece). I'm looking at new headers but what else do you guys recommend?

 

I think it all depend on what you are looking for in the car. For $250 you have a couple different options. Lowering Springs, New shocks, Catless Downpipe, Brake Pads, Sway Bar, Cold Air Intake, Blow off Valve. Maybe even tint i think it is the most overlooked thing on a car it can make such a difference. You can have lots options. Overall i would say start will preventable maintenance. I have an 09 jcw clubman and if i could go back to when i bought it i would of made sure everything else is solid first.

 

A lot of MINI owners go right for suspension mods, I haven't. I've tracked my car once and my stock suspended MINI goes around corners faster than I can drive, so for me, suspension mods would be a waste of money.

The stock cold air intake is very well engineered, it is already a cold air intake, where most aftermarket intakes, though they say they are cold air intakes, they are not.
Even the ones that are true cold air intakes do not add any horsepower, only noise.

The stock brake pads are also very good, though they are dust makers. I changed my brake pads to low dust pads when my oem ones wore out.

The blow off valve (diverter valve) is also well engineered from the factory, an aftermarket blow off valve, again, just adds noise but not horsepower.

A catless downpipe won't do you any good without also tuning your Engine Control Unit to take advantage of the more free flowing exhaust.

Things I have done to my Clubman are as follows; I wrapped the hot side of the turbocharger with insulation (lagging) to lower underhood temperatures and to improve turbocharger efficiency. I added oil pressure and water temperature gages so I know what's going on with the engine. I also added an oversized intercooler, a catless downpipe, tuned the ECU and installed an Oil Catch Can to keep oil out of the intercooler. I also blocked off the passenger side PCV hose that goes to the throttle body to prevent carbon build up on the exhaust valves.

Things to do, if you have an automatic transmission, change the transmission fluid if you have 50,000 miles or more on your odometer. Change your oil every 5,000 miles, use an OEM filter as they cost about the same as aftermarket oil filters and are much better.

 

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He could do a carbon cleaning that could be an important step to more horsepower.

 

What preventative maintenance do you recommend? I'm having a carbon cleaning done tomorrow, but what else should I look out for? I've already had to replace the thermostat and the coolant reservoir to name a couple.

 

We have an 08 Clubman S that is our shop car and have done many mods to it. So with that budget I would first off do the Powerflex lower engine bushing as it is cheap and really noticeable.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/powerf...unt-large.html

Then I would do our noise maker delete as it eliminates the noise maker and can help with throttle response as you loose the noise maker bleeding boost. Plus it's another simple install
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-no...5-r56-r57.html

After that save up as other mods will end up costing more and be worth saving for such as short shifter, intercooler, and so on.

 

Oil Catch-Can for the PCV system. You get a lot of buildup on the intake valves if you don't have one as oil travels through the intake and deposits on them, getting instantly baked on. As it's a DI engine, no fuel ever washes the valves. I've heard that blocking off the passenger side PCV is bad and causes high crank case pressures when under low power (idle/traffic). Haven't tested myself, but I think it's there for a reason. I can say that so far, I haven't noticed any oil residue on the high-power side (driver side) pcv hose, so the catch can would go on the passenger side.

 

I blocked off the passenger side PCV and put an Oil Catch Can on the PCV line to the turbo seven years ago and have had no problems at all. If blocking off the left hand PCV causes increased crankcase pressure, it means you have a stuck check valve in the PCV to the turbocharger.

 

I like keeping a car as stock as possible and only use factory parts on it. My best mod has been getting rid of the run flat tires and going up 1 size to 215/45-17's. I also have the OEM MINI JCW Engine tuning kit and it is an expensive upgrade, but I like it because it is factory.

 

Cravenspeed Koala intake runner spacer. Strong low end torque.


Pretty much any of the Cold Air Intakes. Or even just a drop in filter.


TSW under body brace. I also have an Evo X and now my Clubman turns in sharper than a modded AWD rally car.


Pretty much all of the turbo related hoses.


oil catch can


front strut bar


rear sway bar and links


Way at WayMotorWorks or Jerry at NM Engineering can really help you out.

 

Things I've done to mine. Inlet port cleaning with carb cleaner, BSH catch can with passenger side PCV blocked off (N18 valve cover plugs X2, one for valve cover and one for throttlebody), Alta drop in air filter, Alta turbo inlet pipe and Alta intercooler hot side tube. Also, had to do injectors and HPFP due to failure and did Auto trans fluid oil chahge with Redline oil and water pump with thermostat housing and pipe. Currently at 72k. At about 90k will be doing timing goodies.