Here I had this great response all typed up and it got wiped...

So, that being said - good job - no worries about the pics - interested to hear how the temps turn out.

I think that takes care of the 4 paragraphs I wrote...

 

Would be interesting to see your guys' results over a long driving period. For the most part, my IAT hover at ambient or 2 degrees above ambient when sitting at the stop light or driving at a relatively constant speed. With hard accelerations, the IAT quickly spike to 9 degrees above ambient, then quickly tumble back down to the "baseline" IAT (i.e., ambient).

However, over the course of a long drive (say 30 minutes) the "baseline" IAT begins to creep up as high as 7 degrees above ambient Thus, the hard acceleration spikes take the IATs 10-12 degrees above ambient, and instead of tumbling back down to ambient, they level off at 7-9 degrees above ambient.

Bottom line is that, over a longer drive, the R56 FMIC begins to heat soak and the disparity between IAT and ambient begins to grow. Based on these initial results, I'd say the R60 FMIC is much more efficient!

 

Ahh, I see what you're getting at there.

The first day I spent a solid 90 minutes thrashing it for tune logging and yesterday I was driving for 50 minutes straight. Same results with both.

Will be driving 120 miles one-way in a few days, and will certainly log the results!

 

Interesting. I think I'll need to order a ScanGauge II so that you and I can be using the same tool. I doubt the UltraGauge vs. ScanGauge will make a big difference, but it would be nice to eliminate a variable.

 

Absolutely. I'll PM you with a suggestion on that.

 

Got the PM. Thanks, bud. You're an asset to the community.

BTW, did you ever post up a shot with the car all buttoned up? I'd love to see a shot of your handiwork through the grille. Sorry if I missed it.

 

I appreciate that! Here's a fun one - haven't gotten the top grill done yet.

 

Here are the videos - as promised - showing temps and (lack of) heatsoak over 90 minutes.

And, keep in mind that this is a hot Stage 2+ tune for 1.3bar, DP, etc.

 

I'll be interested to see what I get here in Austin in August when it's 105 degrees. Good stuff, thanks Sean!

 

I'm suprised to see the degree of modification required to fit the Forge FMIC on the R60S. But to be precise, I'm in Asia so I can't speak for sure if the front construction of our cars are similar.

My Forge FMIC (specifically stated for R60S) slaps straight into the space allocated for the factory IC. The main difference between the Forge FMIC and factory IC is the surface area and depth of the core. For my car, the Forge FMIC had a good space of at least 5-8mm away from the radiator. The only cutting involved was the foam absorbers at the top and bottom of the reinforcement frame in order to accomodate the mounting points of the Forge FMIC. and oh yes, drilling three holes through the front reinforcement frame (two at the top and one in the middle of the bottom bar) so a bolt and nut can be used to hold the FMIC in place. That's about it.

 

Exactly - the non-US cars had the foam inserts and higher crash bumper.

The Forge IC was actually designed for your car, while the US models differed quite a bit!

 

Wow. Thats a bummer. I had to cut the foam inserts as well but the crash bumper just doesn't look that different to me. I may be wrong (as proven over many times). Appreciate your technical input. Makes this section of the forum so much more fun to read.

 

Thanks, I appreciate that!

The bumper is the same, just higher. And you guys have the foam while we don't.

Waiting to see if the 2013 JCW has the higher bumper and foam. Crossed fingers.

 

Just an update guys on the Forge intercooler for the R60.

I had been informed late last year from an employee at Forge that they were planning to re-design the intercooler to fit U.S. models. I was told to check back in the first part of 2013. I called Forge today and was told they have lost touch with the guy they were working with to re-design the intercooler and do not have an estimate when they will have one on the market. I was told to check back intermittently.

Good news for TyrolSport (and possibly Helix), I suppose.

 

Great information, very helpful. Forgive me if this is redundant, but the Alta FMIC will also fit the r60, however a customer service rep informed me that "there would need to be some minimal cutting of some nonessential plastic" in order to fit properly. I take it this is the same type of "trimming" you had to do? Are the TyrolSport and Helix a perfect fit, or is there trimming involved there as well?

Sorry if I missed that somewhere....I've been through a couple hundred "mod" threads for both a r60 CMS ECU tune and FMIC info.....and it's kind of making my head spin!

 

Every well-known intercooler (Forge, Helix, Alta, TyrolSport) that fits an R56/57/58/59 will fit an R60. The Forge required the slightest bit of trimming; very minor. I get the impression the Alta trimming is a bit more involved. Not sure what all needs to be done with the Helix.

But "fit" and "efficacy" are two different things. While every intercooler will "fit," I am skeptical whether it will be as effective on the R60 as the other MINIs. I say this because the bumper designs are very different and more of the intercooler's face is blocked by the R60's bumper, at least on the Forge and Helix units. (I haven't seen an Alta on an R60 to say one way or the other, but I would bet it would be similar to the Helix and Forge units.) I worry that having less frontal area exposed to the air will reduce the effectiveness of the intercooler.

The TyrolSport intercooler has at least as much frontal air exposure on the R60 as on the other MINIs, if not more so. This is big reason why, IMO, the TyrolSport intercooler is the best option for those of us with R60s, at least until someone designs a dedicated R60 intercooler. Hope this helps.

 

No trimming required on the Helix. I installed one a few weeks ago.

I agree with Hujan that the Tyrolsport is probably the best choice right now, but it's also the most expensive by a significant margin.

 

Thanks Hujan and chunk.....that helps lessen the confusion. Being a new member I'm trying to do my due diligence and "search" as many threads as possible.....somtimes it's pretty overwhelming.

 

It is, indeed, more expensive. But at $975 (with group buy) it is only $75 more than the Forge R60 intercooler was when I bought it from WMW.

 

Do you have a link for the Helix? I can't seem to find anyone offering it specifically for the r60. Very possible I simply just missed it....like I said I've looked at waaaay too many sites over the last few days.

 

Whoops ......sorry, I found it. The "search" button was a good way to start

 

You can see a few pics from my Helix FMIC install here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tion-pics.html

I ordered as part of their spring group buy. They'll probably do a summer or fall group buy, so you can save a few bucks if you're patient. The group buy price ended up being $579 (and free shipping!) instead of the regular price of $749.

 

That was a great write up....excellent job. I'm sorry I missed the group buy, but as you said they will probably have another shortly.

I have no where near your knowledge on this sort of DIY, so I will probably have to bring it into a shop, although I see a lot of guys doing it themselves.

I would also swap out the "hot side" pipe as well. Thanks for your help.

 

I installed the Forge R56 model on my R60 this weekend. Between the instructions on the Forge website and Chrunck's write up and pics it was a pretty easy install. Just minor trimming with the Forge model as Hujan said. Took about 3 hours but I already had the hot side pipe done.

Thanks Chrunck and Hujan

 

great post!!
that's exactly what im worrying!!
thank you so much!!