[valent]

Hi everyone!

I'm new arround here (actually it's a lie, I've been a regular MINI2 visitor these last months )... Just ordered my Mini this morning ( "S" ) and I was wondering if anyone has yet test driven an engine modified or 2nd Gen Mini Cooper S? I haven't seen any "serious" upgrades yet here (I'm in Switzerland, so Germany and Italy are near). Hartge doesn't have anything listed, nor does Hamann and so on...

By "serious" I don't mean 250+ BHP I mean a good 195+ by a SERIOUS engine tuner, like the above mentionned or equal.

I would be very interested in reading your impressions if you've driven any tuned "S"!!!

I'll transform my baby in a "Lambomini", race seats, coilover suspension, light wheels, rollover cage, jettison the back seats (weight saving). So the only thing I need is some more "power"

Hope to hear from you guys soon, any suggestions are welcome!

Have a nice day/evening!

[FergusM]

Well from what I hear the engine is pretty close to the max that it will take...maybe 10%... so you might be very disappointed.

Though some reports is that the stock engines produce more than the 175 quoted, dig around the forums and you'll read all about it.

[valent]

Hi Fergus!

Thanx for the reply!

Regarding the 175+ figures on non-modded, it's only because the test bench software wasn't calibrated properly or not properly configured. The Cooper S has "good" 175 HP, but not more (and that is at crank, not wheel).

I think 4 years ago they said the same about the compressed "S" engine, that it was close to max... but hey, the JCW and the GP came... so I'm pretty confident that we will see easy 200+ HP kits soon. The question is: when?

I'll try to keep in touch with Hartge and Hamann regularly and will post if I have any news.

Have a nice evening!

[Ryephile]

My R56 MCS made 170 whp and 202wlb-ft at the wheels, stock. I have the MAF, MAP, IAT, and timing datalogging and BSFC and VE calculations to corroborate the dyno measurements, so it checks out, none of this "not properly configured" crap. For reference, my stock R53 MCS made 157 whp and 142 wlb-ft on the same chassis dyno using the same operator, also using 4th gear, using the same SAE atmospheric correction factor.

When an ECU product does come out, the gains will be by smoothing out the boost curve, and bumping up the boost a bit to perhaps 16psig. I have a feeling most tuners will be afraid to push the GDI-T setup too hard with that 10.5:1 static CR looming, as well as the new kind of ignition and AFR targets that are very different than with port injection engines.

Cheers,
Ryan

[MINIMANIAUK]

In a couple of weeks there should be something available for the 07 car , not quite sure what "serious engine tuner" is -well marketed perhaps? you would be surprised at the source of very famous tuning companies products -they quite commonly farm out work to very small development specialists , most of which no one has ever heard of ,.very few companies have the depth of knowledge in all aspects of a car or indeed the test facilities or staff .Just occasionally the big race teams despite mega buck budgets lose to the guy who built his own car in his shed, with his main sponsor being the local grocers!!

I posted some time ago that the new engine does not lend itself to huge power outputs for a variety of reasons ,but there will be some improvements at a reasonable cost and maintain reliability.I am sure this will please the 07 owners.

[L8Apex]

Vishnu Tuning has announced that they're working on a PROcede flash for the R56. They haven't announced any specific numbers, but PROcede flashes for other cars are 40+ bhp. They're kits are a bit pricey, but I'm excited about it!!

[dunphyj]

vishnu tuning, i can confirm that one big time! (hey, i'm new here, but i just ordered my Mini Cooper S yesterday so i'm off the hook about all this, i'm actually keeping my car stock for a while just because i wanna do that for a lil breakin period and wait for vishnu). anyhoo, Vishnu's Beta version (which should be coming out within the next month) is going to be fantastic! they were able to adapt the PROCede from the 335i to the Mini's system with no real problems at all and have been able to start tuning very recently. i'm pretty sure they're also getting a turboback exhaust in their beta version, which on such a small turbocharged car will make quite the difference. but (don't quote me on this one) i'll venture a guess as to Vishnu's system will be able to net you about a 50-60 whp gain. the reason i say that is because of how Mini's system is set up and how vishnu just knows how to tune :P i have a friend that got s simple ecu upgrade and catback from them on his WRX 07 and we both felt rediculous differences in how it drives and even fuel ecomony on city and highway driving. so maybe suddenly we have a more powerful mini with the fuel economy of something like 31/39 instead of 29/36

btw, there's a Millitek turboback exhaust for the mini (or maybe it's just a catback, i'm not quite sure) that gives a decent amount of power. whether it sounds good or not i don't know (my computer didn't load the video ) anyway, i hope that helped even if it was just a little bit...

[dunphyj]

i've also heard stuff around the forum that the mini's engine is basically already tuned to the max cuz of the turbo and all... seriously, i doubt that. i mean just thinking about it. you basically have a similar set up as an Evo IX... and that car is "charged to within an inch of it's life" yet somehow, for it being soo damn close to going overboard, people can still up the boost and keep stock internals up to 27psi. now i'm not sure how much boost the mini's turbo puts out, but considering that the new engine has 4 valves/cyl., a better variable valve timing system, direct injection (something i'm sure will make huge differences in tuning... look at Audi/VW's 2.0T FSI and Mazda's 2.3 DISI engine...), not to mention that the turbo on the mini is a twin scroll turbo which will give you the response of a god (also helps cuz the engine has such small displacement to begin with ) but seriously, if you want just simple mods to net more power, i'd say just wait for the JCW kit to come out... i'm sure that'll be something worth while. especially since exhausts on a turbocharged car and intakes make a considerable difference over a supercharged car (minus maybe Jackson Racing's new Rotrex Supercharger that has a turbo's compressor but is obviously still a supercharger. that thing is reliable as can be. and minimal power loss too.) anyhoo, just wait a lil bit, i'd say get used to your mini some more (this is coming from a guy who's tuned cars ever since i could drive them... ) because maybe for your driving needs a power upgrade isnt what u need.. but instead just a new set of wheels and tires are it (with a spare considering the mini doesn't normally have one... but Mini mania sells them for 240 bucks...) or maybe a brake upgrade, i know stoptech has an upgrade already.

[burack]

Welcome dunphyj! Nice write-up. I saw that i actually needed more grip, not more power in my MCS. After reading your posts, i realized that i want to go for better suspension, better brakes and tower bars etc.

[dunphyj]

my kinda tuner well done! if i may suggest (i'm just about to look this up and contact mini myself about if it would work as well) maybe, if the old suspension systems will work (as in aftermarket stuff for the last gen Mini, not the uber old one) then i'd suggest the H&R coilover systems. i have a few friends at Mini of the Main Line, and they have those setups with no complaints about overly rocky rides. as for what's currently out there for the R56 Mini... well in all honesty i'm a lil tongue tied about it cuz i only found one turboback exhaust, one H&R coilover (didn't even specify what one it was on the site...) and a 3 way adjustable rear sway bar on Mini Mania.com

BTW... if you're going to upgrade your tires and wheels and don't want to get runflats for the now tires.... i suggest the Spare wheel that minimania has... i'll give you a link in case u need it...
u can actually just find it at minimania.com
hope that helps you some. i'll post back here when i hear back from mini about whether the old suspension would match up with the new ones... something tells me they might not... just because of the new engine and rear control arms..... then again the control arms are from the Mini JCW GP so who knows, maybe they are interchangable!

one last thing.... perhaps waiting for the JCW stuff would come in handy, they ususally make a really good sounding exhaust and suspensions stuff for the mini....(obviously... it's the inhouse tuner )

[vangrafhorst]

Well, since about a month I do have 214 BHP and 312 NM in the MCS. It has been tuned in The Hague by Beektuning. The car respond much better to the trottle than before, it is BIG fun again

[scone]

Hi Vangrafhorst,
were those numbers acheived with just a remap or are there other mods to the car.
Is it your car in the picture on the Beek autoracing website, if so its very nice.

[Ritchie Quicksilver]

Just wish to inform current and future R56 drivers that chip tuning is already available at MTH - Who else? MTH have had the possibility for about 2 months now. Performance so far has been at 210 - 215 BHP.

Unfortunately the tools required are quite expensive, and generally only tuners/dealers will be making such an investment. So unfortunately tuning the new R56 will most certainly not be a do-it-yoursef job - Unless at some point someone is able to offer a generic plug-in solution.

Nevertheless one can be glad at least that there is already the possibility of adding some punch to the new R56 MCS.

Ciao for now!
RQ

[vangrafhorst]

Quote: Originally Posted by scone (original)

Hi Vangrafhorst,
were those numbers acheived with just a remap or are there other mods to the car.
Is it your car in the picture on the Beek autoracing website, if so its very nice.

Those numbers were acheived only by remapping of the software. I was told that there would be no reason for me to change any hardware anymore, IF I wanted more power, because more power wouldn't be wise, looking at teh specs of the engine and its parts.
No, the car on the website isn't mine, that's a GP r53.

[scone]

is this your car?Beek Autoracing

[CC07ERS]

After rading about the JCW kit looks like BMW have locked the ECU with code car pacific , make ecu upgrades a no no

[dunphyj]

ya know if you look into alta performance stuff you'd notice that a lot of the upgrades are simple bolt-ons that don't require any ecu reflashing or tuning. i'm gonna venture on a limb by saying this but i think that the new ECU for the R56 is a lot like the Subaru ECU because it seems to be a very smart one and adapts to various driving situations that the driver enduces, or even "learns" what the driver's style is. i say this because in driving the minis ( i'm still waiting for MY mini to be MADE!!!! the damn thing was ordered back in May 26th and according to the owner's lounge it's still "on order"... WTF) anyway, i would drive with my friend duran one after the other and could literally feel the car adjusting to my style of driving and my throttle inputs differently than when i first got into the driver seat after duran.

now not to be a skeptical guy but i remember back in the day that the maker of the 335i didn't want anyone to "tune" the twin turbo set up of the engine because it was already "perfect" and i'm sure that BMW has a similar approach to the R56. however, if Vishnu has tought us anything it's that even a "perfect engine" can be improved upon and without actually tapping into the ECU's actual job (thank you vishnu for your piggyback systems) however, one thing i'm curious to see is how Alta performance's turbo upgrade, fmic and all their little toys will work with a completely stock ecu. things like that tickle my fancy a lot. now i haven't heard back from them on this issue yet but i'm hoping to soon because honestly i wanna know. and the R56 is such a great car to begin with, all one can do is make it better than the GTI (after all.. that seems to be its' main competition in magazine comparisons... that and the Mazdaspeed3 but come on... people who chose those cars over a mini aren't looking at the whole picture... a mini is the most customizable car on the planet and completely dominates the segment in that aspect. ok time to get back on topic.

now call me crazy, but i think that when it comes to the cooper S R56, the best power gains are to be had by 3 basic things that don't involve the ECU... 1) turbo-back exhaust to help the turbo breath and free up back pressure, 2) intake freeing up and 3) making more air go to the FMIC.
so yeah... thats' all in my personal opinion... obviously no one has to take that seriously...

[Avantone]

I still don't understand why so few (if any) of the bolt on performance mods that have come to market, don't have any supporting data on performance improvement.

I know there's the issues on dynos and correction factors etc. but why not a simple " +10 BHP at the wheels" (with the usual disclaimers), or 50-70 etc

It should be more scientific than "feels" and "seems" and "should".

Avantone

[FergusM]

Quote: Originally Posted by Avantone (original)

I still don't understand why so few (if any) of the bolt on performance mods that have come to market, don't have any supporting data on performance improvement.

I know there's the issues on dynos and correction factors etc. but why not a simple " +10 BHP at the wheels" (with the usual disclaimers), or 50-70 etc

It should be more scientific than "feels" and "seems" and "should".

Avantone

Roland's GTT stealth CAT change quoted 50-70 times in 4th gear and the associated improvements.

[dunphyj]

here ya go... Alta Cat-back exhaust garrantees +10whp and +10lb-ft gain without any other mods or changes to the ECU

Alta Mini Performance - R56 Catback Exhaust