[aquaanox]

im thinking of getting the minimania 15% pulley, air intake, and ECU upgrade done. should cost under a grand at my local dealer. Has anyone done any of these mods on the mcsa yet ? Would love to hear your experience with this.

~thanks

(this project was done as of 5.4.05)

[Frogeye58]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaanox

im thinking of getting the minimania 15% pulley, air intake, and ECU upgrade done. should cost under a grand at my local dealer. Has anyone done any of these mods on the mcsa yet ? Would love to hear your experience with this.

~thanks

I bet a lot of us MCSA owners are wondering the same thing.

Will the dealer honor the warranty with the MINI MANIA kit as long as it is dealer installed? Now that is the question I want answered.

[AprilWhine]

I'm waiting for the JCW.

[Kenmini]

Yup .. same here .. my Dealership said I can kiss my warrenty goodbye if I put a Pulley or an intake in it ... thats because they had a HUGE HASLE with another customer that had a Pulley installed and had some problem with the engine afterwards ... and it turned out that they were at war with the customer in terms of warrenty issues ... so .. No MODs for me till my Warrenty is over ... that won't be too long !

[aquaanox]

all minimania parts are covered under FULL FACTORY warranty / do NOT void factory warranty as long as the dealer does the installation I have met with their service department in person and confirmed this.

The JCW conversion only helps after around 4500 rpm while the minimania staged upgrades are supposed to give higher torque and HP through the rev curve. The service department tech (the mini foreman) confirmed this as well.

[Wondaboy]

I had the a load of modifications last week, including the pulley. Basically I had the GTT 230 package, without the exhaust bypass, but with the 61mm throttle body. The car is very quick, with power available lower down than I had expected. I'll do a full review shortly. The summary is, the car can be a little frantic with the DSC off, but with it on its great. If I were doing it again, I would not have done it all in one, as I am unable to comment of the benefits of each component. As to the good sense in doing such a mod to a brand new car, only time will tell. Being a cabriolet, I may shake the car to bits. My advise would be to run the car for at least a month, in case there are any little bugs that need fixing, then go for the upgrade. That said, I absolutely love the car now.

Piers

[aquaanox]

thanks wondaboy -

So, has someone done just the basic 15% pulley or cold air intake upgrade ? vs a complete tuning package. I have the mania cold air intake on order (actually i ordered it 3 weeks ago and its been out of stock). Hopefully it'll come in this week.

~

[GBMINI]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaanox

all minimania parts are covered under FULL FACTORY warranty / do NOT void factory warranty as long as the dealer does the installation I have met with their service department in person and confirmed this.

The JCW conversion only helps after around 4500 rpm while the minimania staged upgrades are supposed to give higher torque and HP through the rev curve. The service department tech (the mini foreman) confirmed this as well.

Any non-JCW aftermarket parts are categorically NOT covered by the FACTORY warranty. Perhaps the specific dealership is prepared to offer their own "warranty" on the parts they sold you - but this is not a factory warranty, worth zero at any other dealership, and likely worth little if something big & bad did happen to your car. I can't see a dealership replacing an engine for you.
NOTE: I am not claiming that MINI Mania parts are likely to damage an engine - but if something bad did happen, aftermarket parts may be used to void the factory warranty, and you are left with hoping your friendly dealership will cover the costs themselves.

As for the JCW claim "only helps after 4500 rpm" - that is absolute nonsense.
In fact it is just the opposite - the great thing about the JCW is how much additional torque is available at lower RPMs; see my weblog entry which compares a JCW with an aftermarket MINI.
If your dealership service people make such totally wrong claims, I would be uncomfortable trusting their warranty claims too ...

[beekman]

I'm still waiting for the JCW kit to come out, just to at least confirm that the transmission can handle more power. I'm also interested to see if they offer revised programing for the transmission. Probably at that point I'll decide whether to modify or not, what route to go etc.

If you do put the pulley on, be sure and report back how it works out!

[Mini Mook]

One of the reasons for the delay in introducing the JCW package for the MCSa is to determine if the automatic transmission can reliably handle the additional torque and horsepower. While nobody I've spoken to has any doubts it can (based on the track record of the Aisin transmission), it's unlikely dealers will go out on a limb and honor the factory warranty for non-approved upgrades until the package is formally announced.... suppposedly later this month according to JCW.

[TheOfficeMaven]

Quote: Originally Posted by GBMINI

As for the JCW claim "only helps after 4500 rpm" - that is absolute nonsense. In fact it is just the opposite - the great thing about the JCW is how much additional torque is available at lower RPMs...

I can vouch for this... I have owned an 05 MCS with the JCW 210 kit installed on it and I've also owned an 05 MCS with 19% pulley/GIAC/JCW Injectors installed on it. Thus, I can tell you first hand that the amount of low-end power (i.e. below 4,500 RPM) is absolutely amazing on the JCW MINI. The JCW MINI is quite a bit more powerful on the low end (and a LOT smoother) than my 19% pullied car. In an all out race, I'm positive that my 19% pullied car would take the JCW, but in real world (everyday) driving, I found that the JCW kit was a nicer ride. The low end torque and smoothness of the JCW car is awesome and something I don't think that the aftermarket parts will ever be able to achieve.

[aquaanox]

well i got the 15% reduction pulley today (did not come with a belt) .. and the promini intake (the mini mania one is out of stock everywhere) from one of the local mini dealers. Getting both installed tomorrow am at 7:30. ALL local MINI dealers in the Washington DC area say the same thing - "if we install a mini mania part, it does not void factory warranty and is covered for 4 yrs/50k miles regardless, just like the JCW kits they install". yes, i think this warranty thing might be specific to the dealers in our area. If you call mini mania, they do have special contracts in place with some select dealerships.

i also called mini-madness, mini-mania, and http://glenelgservicenter.com - they have already done several pulley upgrades on an MCSA without any issues.. so hopefully things will work out tomorrow.

[Mini Mook]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaanox

"if we install a mini mania part, it does not void factory warranty and is covered for 4 yrs/50k miles regardless, just like the JCW kits they install".

Awesome! Just one suggestion - GET IT IN WRITING. That will cover you in the event there are personnel changes in service, etc. It will also serve to encourage third party warranty companies to support aftermarket upgrades.

[aquaanox]

its done .

ECU remap, 15% pulley and BMP cold air intake. Drove it for about a 100 miles this afternoon, the car feels rock solid and smooth, sounds great, and pulls a lot! harder in each gear.. I shift sooner now, and the car will pull in both 5th and 6th. Huge improvement over stock and its very noticeable.

After reading several threads I was especially looking for -

1) the infamous yo yo effects,
2) Drove it in D, SD and manual
3) Tried to feel for any strange noises (well the fist time i revved it to 6k, i was a bit shaken up since i wasnt expecting the supercharger whine to be that loud)
4) Make sure the idling rpm had not changed. The car does not go upto 5 mph in D without giving it some gas.
5) No odd vibrations in the engine compartment.

Contrary to info in some threads and from shops like madness etc.. the foreman strongly suggested not to use the stock belt. We used Napa 060535 which is the right size for the Ultrik 15% pulley.

I could have done the pulley upgrade myself, but decided to get it done at the dealer for the warranty concerns and for the ECU remap (true or not true only time will tell, im just happy that atleast a certified MINI mechanic worked on the car, vs a regular tuning shop which would definately void the warranty - both MiniMania's and Mini's - ive got the receipts and hopefully there wont be any problems) . Again, i read several threads that the ECU remap is not required for a 15% pulley and intake, and yet again the guys there strongly suggested that i get it done. (and they decided not to charge me for it - their usual price is around $300)..

The increased sound from the supercharger can be heard as soon as you step on the gas. While i was there i test drove a JCW on the lot.. to be very honest these upgrades cost me a fraction of the works kit and the car just as smooth as the JCW for what i can tell. I really felt it pulled harder in 1st and 2nd than the JCW equipped mini. Granted i dont have the JCW brakes, the carbon fibre interior and what not, but do i really need more power than this ?

I used to race in tibet when i bit younger (and when i lived in that area... The mini is not my only car, we have a s600, e320, c230k, xk8, a 05 deville DHS in the family, and ive formerly owned a 04 330i stick, and shelby cobra etc.. and several other cars, some of which i raced. So i hope to be able to tell the difference in smoothness between a JCW and a mini with a 15% pulley. so please dont bash up on these somewhat cheaper AF mods, they are supposed to work pretty well for most of us that dont have the funds to shell out for a full works kit which in my mind is not noticeably better. I would defanately not recommend going crazy with AF mods, but the pulley and intake is pretty standard stuff.

Anyways, dont mean to sound arrogant, and i hope this review helps. I didnt take to well to several comments posted earlier. At the end of the day, its just an opinion and everyone's got many

cheers!

[Tom B]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaanox

I used to race in tibet when i bit younger (and when i lived in that area... The mini is not my only car, we have a s600, e320, c230k, xk8, a 05 deville DHS in the family, and ive formerly owned a 04 330i stick, and shelby cobra etc.. and several other cars, some of which i raced. So i hope to be able to tell the difference in smoothness between a JCW and a mini with a 15% pulley. so please dont bash up on these somewhat cheaper AF mods, they are supposed to work pretty well for most of us that dont have the funds to shell out for a full works kit which in my mind is not noticeably better. I would defanately not recommend going crazy with AF mods, but the pulley and intake is pretty standard stuff.

Anyways, dont mean to sound arrogant, and i hope this review helps. I didnt take to well to several comments posted earlier. At the end of the day, its just an opinion and everyone's got many

cheers!

You used to race in Tibet?


Tom

[aquaanox]

yup.. the himalayas in tibet (the name of the mountains... where mt. everest is ) Very popular place for rally's in the that part of the world.

~

[beekman]

Sounds great!

Is there any difference in the way the transmission behaves since your modifications?

[aquaanox]

Quote: Originally Posted by beekman

Sounds great!

Is there any difference in the way the transmission behaves since your modifications?

not really, the upshift and downshift behavior has not changed which is what i was hoping for. The only difference is a very noticeable increase in pull in every gear.

[Wondaboy]

Nice write up,

Thanks

Piers

[Tom B]

Quote: Originally Posted by aquaanox

yup.. the himalayas in tibet (the name of the mountains... where mt. everest is ) Very popular place for rally's in the that part of the world.

~

LOL. I was thinking "Why would anyone build a race track in such a remote location?" But rallying.....that makes sense. I'm such a dunce at times.


Tom