I've decided to write a quick review on my Janspeed and Milltek manifold/exhaust set up. I had the Milltek exhaust fitted back in January and have loved the sound it makes. Yesterday I added the Janspeed manifold to make things even more magical.
The main reason for buying the manifold were for the increased noise gains to be had from it. Performance was of course desired, but that wasnt essential - noise was the main reason
So, I took my car down to a local Preston garage yesterday and spent a good few hours getting the old manifold off (this was the hardest bit!) and then putting the new one on. Reconnected all the bolts, lambda sensors etc and then decided to start her up...
Upon starting the car, the rev-up period was considerably louder and then the revs dropped to a deep but pleasing burble which reverborated beautifully around the metal garage. The sound was deep and crisp, much deeper than with just the Milltek exhaust. Revving upto 2k there was a loud rasp followed by a series of quite loud pops. Then things got scary, taking her upto 5k revs quickly was actually painful to the ears. The whole garage shook and the mechanic literally looked shocked
as did I !!!
The drive home was very pleasant indeed, despite it being -1.5 celcius outside, I drove home with the windows open, giving the throttle a kick at every opportunity I got. It is REALLY loud and such a 'tuned' engine noise - nothing boy racery about it - the noise is certainly nothing like I have heard before and definately nothing like the max power brigade!
As the exhaust warmed up, the pops turned into much louder bangs and every time I took my foot off the throttle it popped and snarled behind me, finally resting at a lovely deep burble at idle.
Noise in the car has increased under full throttle certainly, the noise is considerably deeper but not at all boomy. During normal driving, the exhaust note is no different than it was with just the Milltek exhaust (not much louder than stock exhaust) but it is reassuringly deeper, you know you're driving something with some serious power under the bonnet but in a subtle way.
Today, being the 2nd day I have had it I still absolutely love it and am just looking forward to my next drive! However, an annoying rattle has developed at low revs (idle - 2k) which can be heard when stopped at traffic lights. Upon taking it back to the mechanic he has discovered that it is just simply the heatshield under the car (which we had to take off yesterday to fit it) is rubbing on the new (much wider) pipes causing the vibration. He told me to bring it back tomorrow and he will cut the little piece of heat shield away that is causing the rattle - hopefully problem solved.
Anyway, I spent a few minutes tonight making a video of my car. Sorry for the extremely poor quality but its the first time I have used the video camera and for some reason the software made me reduce the quality or I seemed to get terrible frame rates and the video was very jumpy?? Anyone good at IT able to comment why??
Anyway, sorry for the long post - there was just quite a lot to say about it!
Cheers
Nick
YouTube - Milltek Exhaust and Janspeed Manifold on my Mini Cooper S YouTube - Milltek Exhaust and Janspeed Manifold Fly By 
