I was wondering if most of the serious modders/early adopters are getting saturated..... Here's what got me thinking about it.

1) AGS system on Marketplace sat, and sat and sat, and finally sold for a bunch less than the asking price.

2) TCE Todd made an offer for brake kit installation at a Mini meet, and so far (I think) has no takers.

3) I posted an eRAM schematic, got no comments, no flames about electric supercharges just being hair dryers without the heaters, no comments at all.

4) Some of the more adventursom and socially challenged people aren't here anymore, really pushing the envelope in mods.

I guess they may still be active, we just don't see it here....

But anyway, have all us crazy modders spent most of what we're ever going to spend? Is the Mini moving more into a customer base that doesn't know what a wrench is?

Thoughs? Comments?

Matt

 

well, ive used one, and it was a joke. wasnt worth my effort to install.

 

Im not a crazy modder, but got everything I need for street...so don't really need anything more on my car.

 

Hi Matt,


I for one miss El-Diablo whatever. He was loud and obnoxious but I liked his "in your face" attitude. He gave the Mini community some *****. His atttitude was like overspray on the Mini in that it was a kick *** little car etc.

Speaking of mods......I'm about out. I am not doing a turbo, twin charge, twinscrew or NO2. If you look at my mods that leaves ported SC which we are discussing its benefits on a highly modded engine, and honed and ported intake and runnners. Nothing too sexy there. I could do an AGS if I was really convinced that it is that much better than the Alta but really I have most of the bolt ons.

At some point I will do a Quaife, lighter flywheel but i'm not burning to do it. I love the Sparco seats but my dog is very irreverent and her nails can scratch them and at $1300+ a copy........

I have noticed that the over the top crazies are either taking their medication regularly now or they have given up on the censorship that homogenizes us a little too much.....but that is a tough call and I don't envy the moderators and I appreciate what they are up against.

There also seems to be a Not Invented Here syndrom with regard to new innovations........

I do appreciate the active participation of Jeff from Alta, Ryan, Eric, Randy, Randy, Peter etc. I think that it is a big commitment from them to post and keep up but I think it helps them keep their customers from moving on to other hobbies......their active participation can not be overvalued. there are some vendors we never hear from....or rarely and only when it is about something new they are hawking.

My $.01 because if pushed I still have more

Bob aka SpiderX

 

Dr.,
I believe the answer is yes and no. Those early adopters are basically done as there have been no new mods for our MINI's in some time now. However, there's a whole buch of newbies who are just getting excited for the first time. It's all new to them. ie, a young kid I work with just discovered the Beatles Rubber Soul. He was in awe. These things, like this web site, cycle. You can sit back and watch a rerun here or go do something else. I doubt there will be to much new in the near future for those of us who have been here for a while. But I kinda like to watch the excitement of the newbies. Plus, those who have the experience can help.

 

A lot of truth in those words

 

4) Some of the more adventursom and socially challenged people aren't here anymore, really pushing the envelope in mods.

Because they have all been banned. They have come over to our websites, and completely hate this one because of all of the flamers who dont know a thing about what they are talking about. They speak their mind, and knowone seems to care on our sites. You all are really missing some exiting stuff not having them here, trust me.


FYI, i dont have a problem with NAM, they do. Just thought i would add what they think.

 

I would normally speculate that more money would actually be spent by the second generation owners - the people who come along after the "cute car" people sell to get another car with a warranty.

In this case though, there's a problem. The $/HP ratio for Mini modifications absolutely sucks. Part of it is due to engine design, and part because of the price points the vendors are setting. Add to that the noticable absense of any user-accessible tuning options and it saps the motivation of many would-be buyers. From a performance standpoint, I think the most potential will come from swapping the engine entirely.

I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth the money to try to extract more power. If I want to go faster I'll get on the motorcycle.

 

I thought for sure we would get a little more discussion here

 

I've been in the MINI scene just over a year. I can tell you the reason I'm not gonna do to much more then a pulley (going on later today @ a Webb Pulley Party) is because of warranty and $$. I don't want to push the envelope to much on mods in case on does cause a problem. I'm no expert mechanic so I have to relie on others to fix my mistakes.

Then there is the $ issue. Many parts for the MINI cost alot. I know if I drove a civic the parts would be super cheap. Simple supply and demand for that.

But I think after the pulley I am goign to go for more looks. I might pick up a second set of lightweight rims and tires. Then maybe do a stereo.

The MINI is a great car and it doesn't take to much to change it to make it unique.

 

what are therse forums you talk of
anyway you think this site is sensored try Mini2 its really bad

getting back on topic I think that most of the high performance mods are way beyond my reach besides I dont want to spend 6/7 k on a 250hp mini when I can get close to 200 for small money, to get that extra bit it seems that the price gets crazy for such small gains,
every thing after pulley, Remap, intake, gets really expensive so you see most people stop there and concentrate on looks and maybe some suspenssion work,
actually how many people have bought the Twincharge kit or the twinscrew even things like AGS, JCW, and most other mods are expensive for what gains you get,
me personally im pretty happy with what money ive spent on my car about 500 euro on performance mods, next I would like to concentrate on window tints and some new wheels and maybe in the future the high performance mods will have dropped in price and I might considir them then, but I find that the most enjoyment is when you spend 100-200 euro on something like a pulley or MTH, or a reasonably priced intake and you feel the difference in the car and you know that you have gained some horses for a small investment.

 

Which websites are you talking about?

 

Cooperspeed.com and MetroplexMINI.org

 

It seems like it was the new frontier for a while and everyone learned about what everything was capable of doing.

Personally I have some more mods to do, I just need better financial backing.

I guess I just keep coming back for the sly humor!

 

I started with MTH, Hot Air Intake, redone Bypass valve, Ryphix II and one-ball exhaust (~$300 for the lot...) and felt the difference before I ever did the pully (held off due to install costs).

I agree that the $/function in aftermarket parts pretty much sucks. The guy who bought the new Mustang convertable was quoting some prices for mods for his car, I'd say about a factor of 2 lower. And tools for self tuning are available......

The way I've tried to fight that is by looking for good stuff used. I got my rear sway, Ledas, SC to port, BBK and some S pedals (mine is early enough I had the rubber pedal covers, and the clutch was coming off every now and then.....) all by trolling for used stuff. I'm bummed I missed the OBX headers.....

But it is sad that the aftermarket is so expensive. There are exceptions, like the B3BBK and TCE brake systems....

You can find some other stuff, like the M7 ish catch can on eBay for $40.

But the head and cam, OUCH! For my mustang, I got Al GT40x heads, totally built up, for under a grand! Shoot, 300-350 hp is under $4500, even if you don't have a motor to start with!

Another thing I think may be happening, is that all the low hanging fruit have been picked. Getting more out other than simple bolt ons takes more dev. It's interresting that many more options exist in Japan and Europe. I saw an electric water pump conversion (over $1300 dollars out of England) and an ajustable bypass valve out of Japan. Wonder why we don't have those offered here?

I've been thinking of the electric water pump. Should be good for ~10 hp or so. A 55 gph pump out of Summit Racing is under $250. Some hose and a controller, and throw that pump off the back of the SC! But this is certainly more complicated than a Hot Air Intake.

But it sure feels like the pace of discovery has slowed considerably......

Let's hope the newbies can't figure out the search function, then they may go out and discover some new stuff, instead of just following in the path of others (like I did!)

Matt

 

Matt and the others,

I too feel that some of the excitement of the early MINI modifications days has waned. Yes, new people will help "cycle" the interest and excitement. However, for those new people, so much of the accumulated data and experiences of others is available in the archives. So, we won't be seeing the same excited postings as in the past.

A lot of the low hanging fruit has already been picked: rear roll bars, SC pulleys, air intakes, camber plates, appearance mods etc. One can only do so much on this level. I think most of those products were vendor driven.

The new frontier, so to speak, is the next level of improvements driven by consumers who want to pursue a higher level of refinement in MINI performance; modifications which take more skill to implement, are costlier, and result in less dramatic, but still significant improvements in MINI performance. The potential products that I'm thinking of have been aired in part in the ALTA thread and bits and pieces in other threads: modifications to suspension and steering geometry to optimize roll centers and steer characteristics, oil coolers, water injection, overdrive crank pulleys, strengthening mods to the rear suspension system, low compliance suspension links, performance data on the M-7 hood scoop, tension pulley and idler pulley reliability mods and other similar ideas.

Yes, the modification map for MINI is maturing, but there are significant opportunities to push the performance envelope. We should talk about these ideas as Matt is in this thread and Jeff has on the ALTA thread, and lobby vendors who might be capable and interested. I do think that we, the consumers, need to drive some of these inovations.

Regards,
John Petrich in Seattle

 

some of my early enthusiasm is finaly going to pop...after a two year wait! One way to bypass the build of boredom.


1. Endyn has my short block almost ready; that is with his new .020 over Rollerwave pistons, precision re-bore and hone, Crower rods and assembly. (I already have his head) To this I will add a remote oil filter (getting it away from the header heat and shittey access) and thermostat controlled oil cooler. I'm going to go back to a 15% pulley.

2. Ross-tech is about to release its Beta of the fabled BIM-Com diagnostic software. I've seen it and it's far out.

3. it is a pain to get my rig into my shop (6th floor; I have to fork lift the car onto the loading dock and dolly it in), but when I do for the engine swap, I will make the most of it.

 

Come on over to TeamMightyMiniz.com... he is there... and he is still the same...

 

Andy, the self-proclaimed king of vaporware haters, is now pushing his own vapor?

 

Matt, having spoken to quite a few folks, and like myself, many have achieved the performance they desired, or are very close to it. Some have throttled-back on their initital power quest having seen or experienced reliability issues. And I know quite a few see more power to be had, but they don't want to jeopardize drive-ability and the characteristics that make the MINI so special. Already mentioned as deterrents are the price for mods, and warranty concerns...

We have a very small FWD car, with a small displacement engine, and this combo doesn't lend itself well to receiving and putting-down gobs of power. That has not been my goal, so that's perfectly fine with me. For others, I think they now see that this is not be best foundation to make a street light burner...

My goal of having a 10:1 weight to bhp ratio is squarely in site, and I will get it by hook or crook if need be

 

I'm not sure what you mean, ryephile. I didn't see Andy pushing anything and the fact that he is releasing the beta condenses any vapor. grind your axe elswhere, as it is apparant you are predisposed against Andy.

 

Like many, I've been following BIM-Com development, and I never got the impression that Andy was setting false expectations with a delivery date or unduly promoting it...

I just did a search on BIM-Com, and including this thread, I got 17 discussions where it was mentioned. Not one of those has BIM-Com in the title, or as the central topic of discussion. In one, Andy has this language, in response to a question:

I'm using prototype BiM-COM software to log time, individual wheel speeds, and upstream and downstream air pressure.:

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/BiM-COM/

Once the software is ready for prime time, we'll be advertising here, as well as signing on distributors. :smile: Here's a log I did a while ago showing individual wheel speeds...
===============

Andy has butted heads with more than a few, and I have respectfully taken exception with his approach at times, but I don't feel he has been pushing BIM-Com in a way that "vapor" comes to mind...

 

Nope, but that "comming soon" item on the web site has been chafing my patience button for a long long time! I can't wait to get it, uh, oh, uh, I guess I have to, cause I'm not one of the special people who get to use it yet! The screen shots are even better, and really make me feel like a kid in a candy store, without a nickle!

But we'll get there (I hope I still have vision and a licence then!)

Hay, JLM, sounds like you have some serious wrenching coming up. Should be fun!!!!!


Matt

 

I hear ya Matt. I pretty much based my opinion upon what I see here on NAM, and not by any language on their website. Indeed, a prolonged "coming soon" can be frustrating... It would be nice to be in the Beta group, but I'm guessing that they have plenty already...

jlm's rig will be the eptitome or refinement! Going back to 15% also... John, are you reverting back because you wish to go with a slightly larger crank pulley?

 

I would also like to know....please