[m1n130]

Howdy All,

I am expecting the arrival of my JCW Kit for my Cooper S around mid October. A quick question about it, is the JCW head already port matched and polished, out of the box or is this a small chore still to be done ? Further, has anyone gone to the effort of balancing their engine yet ? If so, has this made any noticable difference to the engine, and what sort of measurable power has it provided ? Thanks for your help.

Rob

[minitech]

save your money!!!dont get the works! you can pay a speed shop the same amount and get more power. i have install 3 works and they all were junk! the porting was half ass and the the polishing........there is no polishing. look at the torque curve of the works and stock. they moved the rpm up to 7200 on the works. of corse you will see a difrence at a higher rpm than stock(6700). you dont get an air filter and the exhaust is junk also. what iam saying is the works is JUNK!!!!!!!!! it is a rip off

[Brain]

Concur on the above. I researched 4 different tuners and Works before I had my car tuned. For the same price as Works I got new wheels/tires, air intake, and coil-overs on top of the engine and exhaust work. Plus I am fairly confident mine will outperform the JCW.

The only saving grace of the JCW is the warentee.

Brain

[ABG]

Quote: Originally Posted by minitech

save your money!!!dont get the works! you can pay a speed shop the same amount and get more power. i have install 3 works and they all were junk! the porting was half ass and the the polishing........there is no polishing. look at the torque curve of the works and stock. they moved the rpm up to 7200 on the works. of corse you will see a difrence at a higher rpm than stock(6700). you dont get an air filter and the exhaust is junk also. what iam saying is the works is JUNK!!!!!!!!! it is a rip off

So reading between the lines you don't think it's worth it then?

[Hobbe]

I like my "junk" very much. The best "junk" I´ve ever tried

[Brain]

If you really value the backing of BMW guarantee then it is the best performance you can get without voiding the coverage.

If that does not matter to you, you can certainly get more performance for the dollar than JCW.

Brain

[scpaul]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hobbe

I like my "junk" very much. The best "junk" I´ve ever tried

the distributor of one famous aftermarket product told me, JCW is gooooood. They also have new head available for mod, but they compare to JCW's side by side, it's quite a piece of work.
THe head suppled by JCW is total new mold, not to use existing stock head to port or polish.
To criticise in term of draging is easier than to enjoy real technical excellence, isn't it? The whole idea of JCW is good balance in every aspect.

[bigbaddaboom]

Here we go again....

[stryder]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigbaddaboom

Here we go again....

Not If I have anything to do with it.

Stay on topic and offer constructive critisism, all he asked was if it was ported and polished, not if it was a good deal for the money, there's plenty of discussions on JCW vs other options elsewhere.

[minimc]

As others have said its ported and polished. The quality of the job is obviously up for discussion & interpretation.

Thank you for asking the question about balancing (blueprinting?). I don't personally know of anyone who's done it, but there was a thread on MCO about some guy with turbo modded 300hp MCS. The install was fabulous - very clean. The owner claimed to have done a lot of internal work to the engine including balancing.

Hopefully someone else will chime in about blue-printing and balancing.

Cheers!

Quote: Originally Posted by scpaul

...
THe head suppled by JCW is total new mold, not to use existing stock head to port or polish...

This must be a new development... everything I've read to date claims it's a stock head that is flowed/polished. If this were (as you say) a totally new piece from JCW... well then, the value would jump.

To pipe-dream a bit
JCW ought to truly differentiate themselves by making their own head, cams & valve train + management system. Give us direct port injection & variable valve timing.
This would distinguish JCW (from every other tuner) and seat them squarely atop O' the heap. Costs would be - but fuel milage & performance would be

Sorry for straying from topic.

[m1n130]

Thanks all, Didn't mean to add fuel to the already warm fire I have actually contacted JCW directly about this as well and they have confirmed that the head is ported and polished. I will be waiting for it to turn up though, and have a good look at it before deciding whether or not to get it re-done. Reading between the lines a mass produced 'kit' may still suffer from the same age old issues of mass production and thus still need a little refinement. As for the balancing, I have arranged with my dealer to strip the rest of the engine at JCW Kit installation time and allow me to get the bits professionally balanced. Interestingly enough, BMW have stated that even after the balance, the engine warranty is not effected, so long as any fault is not caused by the workmanship associated with the balancing. I suspect that this is new ground in Australia. As soon as the job is done I will re-post with pictures Thanks again for your advice and help