Just purchased a few things for the MCS.
Bought it from Moss Mini and I've got to say, their service is superb and wow... the shipping... the stuff got here in no time. E-mails were prompt and they didn't keep you waiting on the status of your order like some other places.
When i opened up the box, Moss Mini did a great job in packing the stuff to make sure there wouldn't be any shipping damage.
I'll definitely keep these guys in mind at my next purchase.

Anyway, here's what I got.


NM front strut bar
NM intake
NM discharge pipe
NM air charge pipe
NM turbo heat shield

Haha... I told myself that I wouldn't mod the Mini anymore, since it was the wife's car and I was a bit disappointed that she chose the automatic tranny. Needless to say, I couldn't resist. All this.. and I just bought new wheels and a double DIN for the MR2 last week. Need to get some new tires and coilovers for that car too. lol...

I've got to say, the quality on the NM stuff is top-notch!
The design is so clean it almost looks as if it were OEM.
And I like that they have some of their mods in blue since the car is laser blue.

Anyway, schedule's a bit hectic so I don't know if I can install some of this stuff this week, but I'll post pics when I do.

 

Awesome! NM does make high quality stuff.

 

Looks great, do you have any dimensions of that heat shield? I was curious to see where it would go and maybe make one for myself out of the scrap material at work. Don't worry I am not going to copy them and then mass produce at an undercut price (sounds too much like work).

Please take pics of the install too (most looks pretty straightforward, but if something is difficult make a note of it).

 

You will not be disappointed, good luck .

 

Well, looks like I had a bit of extra time at work yesterday, so I did the install for the intake, heat shield and strut bar.
Wasn't planning on it, so I didn't bring a camera.

NM has detailed color picture install instructions with every part. NICE!

I started with the intake.
Refer to NM's instructions since I don't have pics.
http://www.nm-eng.com/images/658856_ins.pdf
This install wasn't bad except for 2 parts.
When installing the filter part to the car, getting the nut and washer put on was very difficult since you gotta screw it on from the bottom side up. This is step #10. I must've dropped the nut or washer like 5 times. Thank goodness for magnets. I needed to use a stubby ratcheting wrench since my ratchet or regular sized wrench was not getting in there easily.
The other difficult part was step #16 (getting the valve cover breather into the silicone turbo inlet hose). It was difficult to get it out of the stock hose, but it's a nightmare getting it in. Tried everything... asking for others to help, silicone lubricant spray, wiggling it, etc... In the end, I was only able to get it in 3/4 of the way. If I had to do it again, I would recommend installing the breather before step #14. Maybe that might help, idk.
The intake install took me a good 90 minutes to do (would be SOOO much quicker if it weren't for those 2 parts).
What do I think about the finished product?
The filter element part is quite flimsy. The stock airbox was bolted on at 4 corners. This filter is bolted on at only 2 so the left side of the filter (the part that doesn't have the metal NM logo bracket) easily moves up and down. Would probably be more solid if the rubber grommets weren't there, but the instructions say to leave them in place.
Also, if you look at step #11... yea.... Needless to say, that tape came off before I even did the test drive. Bracket is just dangling now, so I need to find some stronger tape, I guess...
Other than that, everything looks good.

Strut bar took me 5 minutes to install. No problems whatsoever here! Fairly straightforward and simple. Fitment is excellent.

Heat shield took me another 5 minutes to install. Another simple install. Fitment is excellent.

Test drive...
In the first 5 minutes of driving, the car would jerk a bit and seem almost like it's going to stall out. I'm just assuming that the computer is trying to learn and adapt to the new air flow coming in. I never had a problem with that after the 5min though.
It could be the placebo effect or it could be real, but I feel that the car has gotten faster, power-wise. Pickup seems quicker and the car seems more fun in sport mode. I removed the grill cover on the hood scoop and the heat shield is probably helping. There's one thing I did notice right away that I was not expecting. I can hear the blow-off valve now. WOOSH!!! When driving "normally" with the windows up and stereo on, you can't hear it though, which my wife likes. Put it on sport mode and whoa... It's very loud when you let off the gas at 6K rpm. But my wife thinks it's childish. lol. Another thing I noticed is that my mpg counter was going up, even though I kept driving it hard during the test drive. Lastly, this is what my wife likes the most, is the decrease in turbo lag. She always hated it when she would drive in a parking lot and the car jerks forward. I guess she can't control the pedal as well as I can. She says the car feels like a different car now, and she's pleased.
The front strut bar... idk. It "feels" like it handles better, but I really think this is the placebo effect, especially since I haven't autox the car since the car was stock. As for driving around comfort, the car doesn't feel any more harsh, so that's good. It does make the engine bay look gorgeous! haha.
As for the heat shield, it seems to be doing it's job well. Usually, the turbo heat would be instantly noticeable, but when I opened the hood after the test drive, it is MUCH cooler. It's probably helping the intake a lot.

So.. recap for those that don't want to read over the whole thing.

Intake:
- blow off valve noise can be heard
- increased mpg
- noticeable decrease in turbo lag
- "feels" quicker
- flimsy filter mounting
- double sided tape for bracket holding brake booster line and fresh air pipe not working well

Strut Bar:
- easy install and good fitment
- no noticeable increase in ride harshness
- not greatly noticeable in handling so far

Heat Shield:
- noticeable heat reduction around turbo area
- seems to be a nice compliment to the intake

 

Pictures to come later...
Also, the NM intercooler air charge and discharge pipes have yet to be installed.

I'll get the dimensions for the heat shield for you later.

 

OK... FINALLY!!! Had some time yesterday to finally do the install for the NM charge and discharge pipes.

The install instructions looked pretty easy, but it turned out to be a super pain in the butt. I expected this to be a 1-2 hr job for the whole thing... but it took me 4 hours. The NM stuff was great... the time consuming part was removing the stock parts. OMG... some of the stuff were super difficult to take off.

I'll post some more pics up, but refer to the NM install instructions for the review.


I'll start with the discharge pipe install.
http://www.nm-eng.com/images/488856_ins.pdf

Steps #1-4 were fairly straightforward. Ouch... I was working on a hot car.

Step #5 kicked my ***. In the picture, it looks easy, but just finding that T25 screw was difficult. You see that skinny curving tube (that goes to the coolant reservoir tank)? I found the T25 screw hiding behind it. Most likely, you will have to push that tube to the side to see it and get to that screw. Use a long screwdriver or something to release that tab near the T25 screw holding the skinny coolant tube. This will give you more space to work. The space is still super cramped though. It was very difficult to take that screw off too since my T25 socket was too long and it was kinda high up there. Burned myself a few times on this step too since my arm kept accidentally touching the HOT HOT HOT trans oil pan.

Step #6 was also a *****. You'd think loosening a clamp would be cake. I don't know how their clamp was way out there, but mine was all the way inside, so the bumper bottom was in the way and I couldn't get my socket on to loosen the clamp. Hell, I couldn't even get a flex driver in there, so I have no idea how they got a regular socket driver on the clamp. In the end, I just kinda forced my flathead screwdriver on there and loosened the clamp. The head got kind of stripped at the end, but what the hell... NM provided new clamps anyway. Still, the tube was on tight. I used a pry bar to kind of push out the tube off the intercooler.

From here on, the install was smooth sailing once the stock parts were off. Man... what a pain that was.
REMINDER: Don't forget to connect the coolant hose back to the proper routing before you start the install. I remembered after installing the NM discharge pipe. Saw that it was touching the NM pipe. Was a pain in the butt to put it on. In case someone reading this also forgets to clip it back on, here's a tip: clip it back on from the top of the car, not the bottom.

 

Notes for the air charge pipe install:
Refer to: http://www.nm-eng.com/images/488855_ins.pdf

I had the NM intake on already, so I just skipped on to step #5. If you buy the NM intake also, I recommend you doing the air charge pipe and the NM intake at the same time instead of separately, like I did.

Step #6 - Simple, but the instructions got it slightly incorrect here. Tools required say you need a Phillips screwdriver... that's just half correct. Like in the picture, you NEED a Phillips stubby screwdriver. There's no way a normal length screwdriver will fit because I tried.

Step #7 was a bit annoying. Another seemingly simple procedure turned out to be a hassle. Instructions say you need a 7mm wrench, which is true... but I only had a 7mm 0 degree offset wrench and that will keep hitting the firewall and you can barely get the wrench around the nut. Make sure you have a 7mm 15 degree offset wrench handy because it'll save you a LOT of time and aggravation.

Step #8 was also something that'll drive you nuts. 20 minutes... I spent 20 minutes trying to get that sucker off. There's just no way I can squeeze it by hand, especially because I can barely get my hands around it (firewall is really close behind it). I used a big flathead screwdriver and pushed the part (where the ducting connects to the firewall) HARD while forcing it downwards. Got the two front tabs to kind of come down. Then I just yanked the sucker down to get it off.

Step #9 would be easier if you had no strut bar. I managed to get it off without removing the bar though.

Step #10 was the hardest part of this install. Loosening the clamp was easy this time. The hard part was getting the hose disconnected. I loosened the clamp, but apparently, there's some metal part that's stuck to (I think it's originally a part of the hose because it won't come off) the hose that keeps getting in the way of pulling the hose off. That metal part kept hitting the body of the car. Eventually, I was able to force the hose off. The part of the car that the metal stuff was hitting underneath that black bracing thing in the picture, so you won't see any visible scratches/damage.

Step #11 was helped A LOT by having a long flex driver handy. If you don't know what a flex driver is, it's something like this:
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog
Plus, these things will help you tighten hose clamps without over-tightening.
Managed to pull off this hose much easier with the help of a long flathead screwdriver.

And once again, the install was easy afterwards.

 

Gonna be doing these later this year - Thanks for the useful notes!

 

Love that strut bar. Going to ordering that soon or at least the plates.. Richmond roads are terrible for pot holes etc...

 

DO you have a OCC? If so does the strut bar clear it? I have bSH oCC

 

Yes. I have a BSH one too. I guess it depends on where you mount it. I had no problem with mine though.

 

Hi gmhl10...

Great choices!! NM Engineering makes excellent products for our MINIs. Install instructions are very good too.

Not trying to steal your thread but here is a pic of the engine bay of my Laser Blue JCW. I installed the same NM items you did. This is what my car looked like at the time.



I wound up swapping out the NM intake for the DoS intake about 6 months later.

I have an BSH OCC on the left side of the engine bay. No issues with the fitment of the strut tower brace.

 

Hell at the rate you are going might as well buy the whole catalog. J/K looks good. I like NM stuf that is why I have a bunch of their stuff too.

 

+1

 

Did you get your C.A.R.B. sticker with your intake? I need to get mine before going to Cali.

 

NM Engineering does have really nice stuff. I have a few of their items on my 2009 MCS.

NM Engineering Stainless Steel Cat-Back exhaust
NM Engineering Titanium Turbo Heatshield
NM Engineering Engine Torque Arm Mount Insert
NM Engineering Adjustable 22mm Rear Sway Bar
NM Engineering Adjustable Rear Sway bar links
NM Engineering Carbon Fiber front lip
NM Engineering Carbon Fiber scuttles

 

No, I don't mind at all. Hell, the more pics and personal experiences out there, the better!

Yea, unfortunately, my Mini modding days are over since times have been tough for mod money and my wife gets irritated when I mess with her car.
I did get powerslot rotors, stoptech braided lines and hawk pads though... since the car needed brakes anyway. Found out the hard way that MCS needs a special tool to get the rear caliper piston pushed in... Luckily for me, one of my colleagues used to be a Mini tech and lent me his special tool.