As some of you know, I have a build thread circulating, but I wanted to take a moment to reach out and let members know of a new system that hasn't seen the light of day until I became the first member forum, or no forum, to get this system installed. iPE Innotech. The Taiwanese company is synonymous to exotics. Their systems have been on Lambos, Ferraris, McLarens, and now a MINI.

I was intrigued with the system because of its valvetronic capabilities and also the simple fact that no one has ever heard it in person, not even any sound clips anywhere! I try to be different and think outside the box and I'm not afraid to spend on quality parts, so when I spoke to iPE, the conversation led me to Lance and Vince @ GT Auto Concepts. These guys are great. They are also known as DuelL AG North America and having seen their DuelL AG MINI in person, I was impressed with DuelL's quality and the shops interest in the Asian market for Euro cars.

Drove up to SF from LA on Wednesday morning at around 2:30am and came home the same night at midnight. It was a long tiring day/drive, but The guys there took care of me, they were equally impressed with the quality of the system and the intoxicating sound that it bellows in it's On and Off modes.

The system comes with 2 remotes. Each remote has an ON, OFF, and AUTO mode. While in On mode, the system is brutal. It sounds amazing! I had Akrapovic before, and this just blows it out of the waters. It's not obnoxious which was something I was afraid of since I've never seen or heard the system, but when it was first tired up and rev'd, I knew I hit the jackpot, this was IT. The system to beat.

In OFF mode, the system is subtle, your wife/gf/significant other will love you, she will compliement the smart choice of having it off for her while you're driving her around town, but the MINI she's gone, ON it goes and you're wailing along in the city with everyone looking at you. It's so smooth that you want to rev the crap out of it and with the bit of low end torque lost, what you gain up top from the catless downpipe, is a dream.

In AUTO mode, Vince set the system to activate from OFF to ON at 4000 RPM. So when it reaches 4K, it immediately opens the valves and the deep note from the system can be heard. It's such a smooth transition and you'll notice the visceral sound different and power immediately.

Easily one of the most expensive systems out there. It will make you turn 180 quickly, but it will reward you if you don't. Keep in mind, like any downpipe for the R5x generation, a O2 sensor CEL will come up. It happened to me 150miles into the drive back down to LA. An easy fix to this would be either running an AP if you have the tune, or getting the BMS CAN Tool which can deactivate the light.

I'm the first in the US with this system, and I hope I'm not the last. If you guys need a reference before you speak to Lance or Vince at GT Auto Concept just let me know and I can have them contact you.















Cold Start:

OFF, ON, AUTO:

 

Interesting. Can you explain the relationship of the electronic device in the pictures to the exhaust?

I am not familiar with this company. The pipes look nice but I don't see how the device interfaces into them. Or does it? How does an electronic box turn the sound on or off?

 

The electronic box acts just like an Aquamist meth kit. It requires tapping into the ECU and running the cable back into the vehicle where I have the box hidden under my carpet on the passenger side. A bit of wiring also runs from the back of the system where the valve opens and closes. For those that have tackled the Aquamist install, it's straight forward and the diagram for the install is easy. GT Auto Concepts documented the install and I didn't have to do it, but there's absolutely no doubt that I could have done it myself. Because I'm the only person with an iPE for the MINI platform, iPE Taiwan needed the footage. So iPE will make a proper video when they finished the editing.

 

Damn, I regret moving to DTLA....there goes a huge chunk of the mod budget hahahaha

 

lol. what you saved on the aquamist kit you could have put into saving for this!

You coming out to the gathering happening over at Super AutoToyz on Sunday?

 

Awesome! I have seen exhausts similar to this on Corvettes and it's so nice when you can stay quiet, but then really open it up when you want to. On a side note, have you/are you going to sell the Akrapovic?

 

I wish, birthday party in the IE that day. Not looking forward to the triple digit temps!

Stripes are getting pretty bad with the heat =(

 

The one that was literally going to get shipped the very next day I had I immediately routed back for a return. Best decision this time around
Ugh yes. Stay in the AC!!

 

Very cool! The sound of it in ON mode really reminds me of a Quicksilver system without a catted DP. Maybe the fact that Innotech and Quicksilver are both rooted in exotics explains that aggressive gurgle. I'll be moving to LA in about 5-6 months, so I can't wait to meet some of you West Coast Mini freaks!

 

Koo koo. You'll have to check out my buddy's shop LTMW when you do come out to LA. I stopped by the shop earlier and while making the left turn in I gunned it and pulled up to a parking spot. I saw a couple of the guys walking out to see what pulled up and they were all smiling. When I got up to my buddy Ivan he was like "Damn that **** sounds soooo good." My buddy with a Clubman was like "You lucky bastard." lol

 

iPE on WOT. This really belongs here.

 

Where was the microphone (inside the car, in another car) located. Sounds really good.

Mike

 

GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition and have a Zoom H1 mounted right next to it. Sync the picture with sound by clapping my hands together when I roll and put the 2 together in my editing software.

 

I'll be doing the same thing when I'm at the track. Cam will mount inside and outside and microphone will have a "dead cat" to muffle all the wind noise that will be coming in from the window being down. Hope to catch some good audio out of all that.

 

My best friend had an opportunity to test drive my MINI which is currently tuned by DNA Tuning and was left impressed. Also he was able to ring out my exhaust to redline and said if he had money lying around iPE would be on his MINI right now. Absolutely amazed by how well it sounded and couldn't not and did not want to stop driving my MINI around town.

 

I've had my iPE exhaust for a couple weeks now. It is awesome. So much burble and pop but only when I want it to! I love that, with the press of a button, I can have a stock sound when I am driving somewhere with my boss or through my neighborhood early in the morning or late at night. No drone on either setting. This exhaust is simply awesome.

My intake drowned out my stock JCW exhaust, but now the exhaust note is back and better than ever. I only got the downpipe back (catback) portion of the exhaust as NM Eng should be releasing a 200 CEL 50 State CARB approved sport cat catted downpipe in the near future.

Only a few complaints.
- One of the bolts for the middle clamp did not have enough thread to tighten down the clamp, had to go get my own bolt and nut (not a big deal, but for this much money, I should not have to run to home depot..).
- My bigger complaint is that the exhaust has been slipping out of the middle clamp causing the exhaust to stick out the back 3-4 inches.
- The exhaust does expand quite a bit after getting hot and it has melted my diffuser (stock JCW aero kit). Luckily there was a member selling a used MBM diffuser, so I have a backup for when I want to sell the car.
- The exhaust also always starts in off (quite) mode. So I have to turn it on every time I get in the car, I wish there was a memory function.
- I was also not able to figure out the Auto function because my throttle is different than the one in the insturctions (LCI vs non LCI). I could figure this out if I had a volt meter though.

The install is a bit tricky because the instructions are TERRIBLE. Luckily I had installed a boost gauge previously so I knew how to run the cable from the inside of the car through the firewall (you need to remove the windshield wipers and the plastic underneath them to access the port to run the wires through).

Catback exhaust


One of the bolts with not enough thread to close the clamp all the way.


The burning :(



Exhaust Tips Cool...


Exhaust Tips Hot and maybe after some slippage.. you can see the bumper melting and some bumper plastic on the ground..


Another shot of them cool or with a little heat in it..


And just a shot of the whole car for the hell of it :D

 

How much is the exhaust system? I looked on their website and there is no pricing.

 

Maybe you need a bit of adjustment of the hangars? I don't have any issues of melting the rear diffuser. I will say though that the mid pipe does slip a bit at times, but haven't had an issue lately.

It's over $2k

 

I think the melting occurred more because of the slippage. When the exhaust slips back it pushes on the hangers and the hangers can only move so far back (horizontally) before they start to lift the exhaust up (vertically). And when the exhaust gets lifted up, it hits the bumper and caused the melting.

Before the slippage


After the slippage - you can see the head shield is bending at the hangers from the exhaust


Another things I just noticed yesterday - boost, on my stock JCW motor, is limited to about 10psi in "off" (quiet) mode and holds at 18ish psi in "on" (loud) mode.

I was able to get the system without the downpipe for just under 2k

 

Yeah, I rarely run it in OFF mode anyways. It's very restrictive. The only time it's OFF, is if the wife says her head hurts from the noise, which is can vary from point to point, so some days it doesn't bother her and others it can. So the short trips she doesn't like it, but overall, 90% of the time it's ON.

 

Seems to me that the way the valve works on this system is as a partializer and not like a switch from quiet pipe rout to loud one.
This is probably the cause of the reduced performance in quiet mode.

The Frequency Intelligent system uses two different routes, but the quiet one has a smaller, more indirect pipe so it's probably restrictive too.


The problem is that in quiet mode the gas exits onl from the left tip.

The best way would be a bigger silencer where the quiet route is well silenced, so a long drilled pipe inside the muffler, but not restrictive (proper diameter, Ø57mm+) and the direct route a solid pipe.
A cross pipe must be added at the end so there is some crossflow and the gas exits from both tips all the time.

 

Sorry to bump up this thread, but does anyone have the install instructions for this exhaust? Mine didn't come with instructions and iPE hasn't replied back yet.


EDIT: Nvm, iPE sent me the instructions. All is well!

 

Send me a pm with your email and I'll send it to you. I have it on my system somewhere.

 

Need some help with the wiring. I have no idea where the TPS connector is. The instructions are terrible


^I need to find that.

And also where do i route one of the wires through the firewall?
This whole installation is giving me a headache. Help please!

 

You need to remove the pedal. That is a photo of the connection on the inside/back of the pedal.

To get through the firewall you need to follow instructions on routing wires for a boost/temp guage. There are two places, one by the battery and one on the drivers side. It requires you remove the wiper blades and cowling covering the area.

This thread has a couple photos https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ary-power.html

here is a good thread - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3540666