Who do you get your fluids from? I've been ordering mine from BR racing since they're the cheapest I can find on the net even with shipping included.

You never answered my question if this was your only vehicle.

 

Mobil1 0W-40 can be bought anywhere, just get it at Walmart.

Didn't think answering that 2nd question is really necessary for this build. lol

 

Is there a reason other than preference that you're using the 0W-40 and not the 5W-30 that's OEM?

 

0w-40 Mobil1 is the only locally available BMW LL01 spec oil for me.

 

Interesting. Is this possibly a regional thing? I too have been using 5W-30.

 

No, no reason, I just chose 1 brand that was compliant with what MINI says is fine and stick with it.

I find it funny you guys pick my brain over some of the tiniest things =P

I didn't do any chemical analysis or heat cycle testing or anything. Once I get comfortable with a brand, I stick with it for the most part, well, oil at least, can't say that about everything else that has been in and out of this MINI, lol.

So no progress today, just dropped off items to the shop. Still missing a few items, so just want to be sure I get most of the items in and then go ahead and take a "everything" shot. Minus the intercooler and oil cooler coming in next week.

 

People like to think they are making informed choices based on logic and/or research. Maybe even some testing at the track.... There are those who just buy whatever random **** they find online or what they are told to purchase by "the guy".

So when someone drops the amount of money on products you have, they assume you have a good reason.

 

Understandable. Well, as far as tracking goes, the oil holds up great and have had it tested through Blackstone Labs and it holds up quite well.

 

Don't sell yourself short. One of the guys that has the most brand exposer. Plus you've tried several different set-ups and styles. I can respect that. So I sit back, read, ask questions. Blah Blah Blah. I was just surprised about the oil viscosity. Obviously the question doesn't asked since you run 0W-40, but it isn't an issue running that weight of oil? 0W isn't too thin and 40 isn't too thick?


Like I said that question does need asked, as its obvious it works. You run it. I'm wondering how did you come about running this weight? Is it a regional thing? Or what people run at the track? Just curious really.

 

Low viscosity, better flow. At least that's what I believe I get with 0W-40.

Before I ran Eneos 5W-30 and it is really great oil, but damn is it expensive. Around 9-10 a bottle.

 

0W30, 5W30, 0W40 and 5W40 are all fine.

I mainly use my car for the track and use Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 5W-40 Ester Synthetic Engine Oil.

I believe the German challenge cars used 0W40.

 

That's the reason why I asked what I did. I put tens of thousands into a previous car and made the mistake of not lining up another daily driver. Before I knew it I was stuck without transportation with a car that needed a rebuilt head/block every 3 months. The faster it goes the more unreliable it becomes.

 

Well, a lot of progress today. Everything is in at this point.

Still waiting on the new intercooler and oil cooler to come in before we finish. Had we had everything, we could have easily done all this in a day.

 

My buddy at Strasse Sport did a great job and Battle Tuning did a lot of the photo taking and me helping at the same time. It was very smooth process, but several trips to the dealer were needed as various parts either were building cracks or were cracked by the time we got to it. Scary ****, but very very glad to have addressed everything at this point.

Big thank yous to all my sponsors in this build. WAGNER TUNING, SNEED'S SPEED SHOP, STOPTECH, and HYPERCO.

They have all been great to work with and speak to over the phone and I cannot say how happy I am to be part of their family.

I chose Wagner because of their German engineering background. Though new to the states, they have been building intercoolers for a long time and have been tuning many many years. Why did I go with Wagner? Unlike conventional intercoolers which are built by buying outsourced pieces and welding them together, I won't name names, Wagner does all the work in-house with 3D technology which allows them to understand how air flows in and out of their ports. This in turn allows them to address spots that hold stagnant air and reduces the efficiencies of their core. With Wagner, they've address this and that's why I believe in their core, and why I had to reach out to Wagner. You can find various flow videos on Wagner's and I was very impressed.

Their Competition Intercooler is $590, while their facelifted version is $550. VERY good prices. Screw all the groupbuy madness that's going on, this is amazing pricing on an amazing core. Differences between the facelifted and the Competition cores? Core design. Better flow in the Competition and I believe it is 3kg lighter. At 11lbs, it's light weight, and sturdy. With 3 points of connection to your vehicle, it'll always stay in place as well. In a stealthy black finish, it's very discrete. Quite lovely when it'll be on my Midnight Black MINI. Big thank you for Battle Tuning to arrange this for me. Once again, stepping up and taking care of all the ordering process for me.

Sneed Speed's oil cooler, what can I say? It's an amazing looking oil cooler that I know will keep my oil temp at bay when I hit the track. It has been on my radar for a long long time and knowing that I had a build soon, I wanted to reach out to Sneed and see if he wanted to be a part of this. Chris is an awesome guy, so I can't wait to get this installed!

Stoptech, I had their original Big Brake Kit and absolutely love the look of them, and the sheer stopping power is amazing at the track, even with their Street Performance Pads. Reached out to them and they wanted to sponsor me! Ordered their Trophy Kit and it was done in 2 days? It normally takes 2-3 weeks for a wholesaler to get these and sold to a shop on request, but Stoptech knocked it outta the park by getting them to me so quickly. Quite lovely and amazing people over at Stoptech. The anodized finish is beautiful and I feel the 4lbs saved (2lbs per corner) difference when turning.

Hyperco. Communication has been very nice and smooth. I requested a bit higher spring rate to test out how well they can ride with my Ohlins and they came through. We'll see how well their compliance is when they're installed next week!

 

So here we go, intercooler off! I've done it so many times that it took no more than 30mins to take off the front bumper and uninstall. 15mins later, sold to local guy.



O2 unplugged and v-clamp removed. Heatshield and stock downpipe removal..



Ivan @ Strasse Sport doing his thing...







That was the wrap on day 1. We went ahead and removed a few more things such as various connections and the oil filter and heat exchanger to change out the gaskets.

 

Day 2....

Everything off.





Here are photos of the amazing work done on the E45HP, which is actually a B45HP (billet), 3rd gen exhaust manifold, and my iPE downpipe performed by JM Turbo Cooper. Arric is knowledgeable and great to talk to and will work with him again!











The turbo came with it's own, NEW, diverter valve, but we went ahead and broke it down, to add the GFB DV+ T9352 (for N14 only) and torqued it back on. Also billet aluminum and the sturdy spring inside I image will definitely be giving me amazing throttle response.




Pile of replacement nuts, bolts, gaskets, brisk plugs, and new turbo oil line feed from Detroit Tuned.




With the oil filter off, we began to clean it off because of all the other oil changes performed with oil always causing a spill/mess down there. All gaskets have been replaced. Now just awaiting the Sneed Speed Oil Cooler to replace the stock heat exchange.




Ivan. Shop owner of Strasse Sport. Very knowledgeable. Also a track junkie who got me into racing in the first place. Everyone I send to him say he's a great guy to chat about cars and anything in general.



Go big or go home: Stoptech Trophy Sport.




Compared to the regular Stoptech Big Brake Kit, you can see that the engineers did everything they could to save weight, including, drilling out whatever extra material was not necessary, yet still be more stiff and rigid that their regular BBK. Amazing...




Ohlins R&T. Will get the Hyperco Coilover Springs on this coming week.



Assembly of the turbo to manifold.







When we removed the Aux Water Pump, we saw a crack in our unit. We weren't going to take any chances so it was obvious that a trip to the dealer was necessary.



New shiny unit. It comes with the entire bracket.



With the replacement picked up, we bolted the manifold to the body and behold...in all it's beauty...







Service mode? HAH! Not needed.






Admiring the BBK?



Just a bit of stretching lol



New valve cover was swapped for another valve cover and spark plugs added. And when all is said and done....




Detroit Tuned Oil Feed Line. Great line. The best line I can recommend. Much easier to channel through and down the block and just line up to it's port. And up top, it looks nowhere near as close to the valve cover as the original did, much better fit and finish.








Terry's (BMS) 700hp 135i Single Turbo sitting in the background

 

I thought that you might have gone for the new Wagner FMIC I have mine sitting in a box above my office, should be ready for testing in April.

 

April!!! I'm testing it next week! Did you go with the Competition model as well George? I figure you'd like my post on the Wagner core.

 

Looking good!

Did you get your Wagner FMIC through Battle? I may have to go with that as well. Doesn't look like that Helix group buy will happen early enough for me.

 

Thing of beauty this is

 

Yup they sent me a competition core to independently test in the UK. I did the initial tests for the pre-facelift model last year that they sent me.

Car is waiting for a gripper LSD and helix clutch kit to be fitted, thats why it will be April before it will be fully ready :(

 

Yeah Wagner has a US HQ in Fresno, CA and they don't have it in stock so Battle had to get i ordered and drop shipped to me from Germany. Should be here Monday.

Thank you!

 

Ah....very nice. Which LSD are you going with? How will the helix clutch kit compare to stock? I haven't decided what route to go with on the clutch. LSD, I'll likely go with the Quaife later this year.

 

I'm leaning with 67Morris here. Its been a long time to wait, and the itch get stronger everyday.

Looking at the site, it the competition FMIC is for facelifted models. Would there actually be fitment issues for pre facelift? Or is it more for those with facelifted models that cannot fit the other design?

 

The differences between a facelifted model compared to the "pre" is core thickness. So a '07 can fit a competition or facelifted version and only thing would need addressing is trimming a bit of the grill.

All mounting points are the same, so that will not vary.

Also, don't think you're settling on this core, it's a well crafted in-house design that has gone through plenty of R&D for it's design.