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I recently Bought a R55 Clubman S and this is my first MINI. I absolutely love these cars. how they handle and perform. the size and quirkiness over all. the only thing I do not like is the lack of Water temp readings out of the dashboard without going through the complex "hidden" menus on the RPM Cluster. So i am looking into hooking up some after market gauges such as water Temp and Boost. Now the Boost gauge is straight forward. Get the Alta adapter plug it in and install, but the temp gauges I have a couple of routes I could take. One route being I hook up a Radiator hose coolant temp sender adapter. (id rather not.) OR Piggy back it off the Temperature sender off the thermostat housing.
How do you set yours up? Will there be any codes thrown if I used the Stock temperature sender?
Side topic: What is this "Stage 1 Tune" that may lower engine temps? I read it on another thread here.
I dont think you would actually use the stock sending unit. You would just taje a read from the computer and display it on an actual guage.
I've done inline rad hose temperature sensor installs before and really like them. I have two on my 64 Cadillac that I installed electric fans and fuel injection on. This also gives you a cross reference to the factory temp since these things have a known habit of failing and overheating an engine.
You are correct that a boost gauge can go off of a boost tap where the MAP sensor goes. It’s a pretty easy set up, just a matter of finding a gauge you like. Temp can be done a couple of ways, boost as well.
an inexpensive route is to get an OBD2 dongle and use either torque or dash command depending on your phone type. With these you can monitor a number of PID’s in your car. I use dash command for almost everything, but there is a tiny bit of lag so I mounted a boost gauge, and I use dash command for monitoring water temp, intake air temp, timing advance, and several other parameters. It works pretty well paired with a gauge for vac/boost. Well for me anyway, everyone is different.
There are also other options too, a lot of folks seem to use the Scangauge 2. If I understand it correctly, it can monitor just about everything, but will only display 4 PID’s at a time.
The P3 Gauge looks awesome! But was out of my budget, lol.
The great thing about most of the options now is that you do not have to tap into lines and hoses, since most of the options that are not just a traditional gauge get their info directly from the ECU from the OBD2 port. Like I said, I would do it all with dash command except that I can’t deal with any lag with the boost....it bugs me, lol. I like to see the instant response there. But that’s just my personal thing.
There are definitely options to look into, and I’m sure you will get several more opinions on it as well. Sometimes it’s nice to look at a few other peoples set-ups to decide what you like or need to have, lol.
As for your other question, what you are referring to is usually called an tune or ECU remap or something like that. It’s exactly what it sounds like, your computer is remapped for better performance and more power and torque. The the different stages are basically different performance levels, and each stage has a certain amount of prerequisite mods for that stage. Stage 1 is for an otherwise stock car. I do not believe that your temp gets lowered until stage 2, which needs, at a minimum a hi-flow or catless downpipe and an upgraded intercooler at the very least.
I am not the expert on tuning... but I can tell you who to talk to. You will see his name all over on here, and for good reason. At this point, I don’t care what anyone else says, I only trust one guy to tinker with my ECU.
Send a PM to Mariokart. He is a tuner for a really great tune. Obviously I’m a happy customer to go shilling for him so shamelessly, lol. But he is the guy! He can answer any questions you have about it and hook you up with the high quality parts you need for making it fast. Seriously, I’m not paid for this, lol.
Anyways, welcome to the forum and to the Mini culture! We love our cars and we love pictures of yours too! Post a couple so we can drool!
If you want to see what my gauge setup sort of looks like I’ll post a pick of my boost gauge. The dash command.....the best I can do is maybe a screencap of one of my gauge sets (you can customize the gauges and which ones you want to see.
Mine is not the fanciest or nicest looking but it’s accurate an I like it, that’s what counts for me. But I’m kinda old and well....Grumpy ha ha.
Ok.... well I guess you only get the pics for now For some reason dash command just keeps force closing.....hmmm
Ill have to get back to you on that one.
hopefully something I said was a little bit helpful. I’m glad to help out when I can.
Talk to Mario about any tune or go fast options you are looking for. (Seriously, don’t take my word alone, do a search for him on here and you find a stunning amount of happy customers.
Enjoy your new ride!
Yeah Mariokart's name popped up in the post i was reading about the tune. i have thought about going the dongle route myself. I'm just the type to want instant on and not have to fiddle with the apps before everyday driving. i could just get a double gauge pod off the tac from Out Motoring and install a couple of gauges if I really wanted the rest of the PIDs for spirited driving if i were to tackle the tail of the dragon here in TN. I'll consult the torque app. i have heard many great things about it. one guy dedicated an old smartphone to his dashboard with it.
Okay lil update, I bought a couple of Alta gauge pods to fit 60mm gauges in. I'm going with a temp gauge and a Boost gauge. I have not bought the gauges themselves but i was planning to go with glow shift. as they have that classic BMW amber back lighting like the stock gauges do and I can daisy chain the two together.
Now the plan is to buy them and but I am having some static on what size water temp sender adapter to buy that will fit the radiator hose I need to tap into. I'll throw the link down here with my options.
here is that link for the sender adapter = they seem a bit more affordable than craven speed and Alta. https://www.glowshiftdirect.com/wate...r-attachments/
They only offer up sizes for the newer MINIs (2015 - 2018) so I i am kinda stuck "building" my own set up.
Also is there a cheaper alternative for the boost tap?
Last edited by LeBlue; Apr 23, 2019 at 06:30 PM.
Reason: added more content
This has been awhile since i touched this subject. i finally gotten around to mesing with my Clubman again. i wanted to ask if you know the inner diameter and good location to to put a coolant adapter in place for my water temp gauge project
This has been awhile since i touched this subject. i finally gotten around to mesing with my Clubman again. i wanted to ask if you know the inner diameter and good location to to put a coolant adapter in place for my water temp gauge project
Cravenspeed speed has one as well, https://www.cravenspeed.com/water-te...r55-2008-2010/ Personal I use a ScanGauge and have it set for intake, water, and oil temps and boost. I had a coolant leak like 1 month into ownership, which led me to the ScanGauge and I have been really happy with it for over a year now.
This has been awhile since i touched this subject. i finally gotten around to mesing with my Clubman again. i wanted to ask if you know the inner diameter and good location to to put a coolant adapter in place for my water temp gauge project
In addition to the various types of adapters listed by fellow NAM users, the location upper radiator hose? Splice into the upper radiator hose, driver's side (see picture). Windshield washer tank and coolant overflow tank help with orientation. I believe similar instructions about the location are included with (or listed online for) the CravenSpeed unit.
Last edited by keduMINI; May 20, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
Reason: left out words
