After market tuning for R56

[Rakey]

Come on the R56 has been out a week now, where are the tuning kits?

No seriously, who do users think will be first to offer R56 owners something?

Tuners, what are you up to? Give us a little hint or taster, we know product takes time to develop but people need to start decided if they buy an R56 and tune it, or wait for a JCW.

Have any of our tuners got an R56 yet? If not when will you be getting one?

Just how tuneable is the new engine?

So many questions to be answered, come on there must be some info that people want to share with us

[Prowse]

I think you're going to be disappointed...

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-medi...w-shocker.html

...It looks like the new engine is more difficult to tune than the supercharged unit and the JCW engines may only be available as a factory option.

[Rakey]

hmmmm, not good news, but we know that the current tuners such as GTT, Lohen etc.. all work with various cars I'm sure they'll find some ways to boost it a little a bit to start with.

Would be good to know if there are air boxes or exhausts in development to get us up an running on mods

[Haggi]

well i know roland has one on order but since the engine has been out for a bit abeit on a pug i would still expect there to be a few induction kits and related parts in the pipe line from piper and K&N and once milteck / janspeed get to work on the zorst as dur to how popular stuff like that was on the old model it wont be long

[Rakey]

Quote: Originally Posted by JWF (original)

well i know roland has one on order but since the engine has been out for a bit abeit on a pug i would still expect there to be a few induction kits and related parts in the pipe line from piper and K&N and once milteck / janspeed get to work on the zorst as dur to how popular stuff like that was on the old model it wont be long

I'm kind of pinning my hopes on Roland if I decide to get just a MCS, having seen his work on the current car I have to say I'm impressed, and his reputation speaks loads from his customers.

Good to know he has one on order

[Haggi]

i would imagine roland has something specail planned mighht take him a while as imo thats a good thing as the man i soo methodical in his approach but not having much knowlage of the engine myself i dont know what he will alter as the crank pullys and such that we all changed oon the old model dont come into it

[MINIMANIAUK]

The development of tuning for theR56 is going to be slower , there are only a limited number of people willing to alter a brand new car,with worries over warranty,most likely cosmetic and convenience items will first appear,air intakes are unlikely to have any effect on performance,a new designed engine will have addressed a lot of any likely induction issues,the exhaust improvement will be dependant on the turbo and its installation,the inbuilt boost limits,compressor map,rpm limits,size,injector duty cycles,ecu,fuel pump capacity, vvti limits, cooling system capacity,ignition system,and a whole host of other things any of them that are a weak link and there goes any cheap/easy upgrade.
To over design and produce parts that have headroom for performance increases is rare in modern cars ,the more headroom the more production cost,the less the accountants like the idea, manufacturers are obsessed with cost per unit and reducing production costs especially in a high volume car, fuel efficiency/emissions/recyling are the modern watchwords and in the near future more pressure will be applied to car manufacturers,the new engine has to be future proofed and this will be a major design criteria not the tuning ability.
At the same time the old engine is in its infancy for tuning development,and having been shoehorned into the engine bay left room for improvement easily,and cheaply,as course
as it is ,it is a tuners delight,being both strong and "old" in design. in some respects newer is not always better-
There will be some gains as a JCW version is to be done,but that may well be the limit without large costs

[Haggi]

hmmm i did suspect as much form what others have told me would it be more resnoable to expect perhaps a better cooler system, possibly head work, and cam and pistion upgrades to handle a better boost, or even a bigger turbo or twin charge kit ?

[Jaffa Racer]

I'm quietly confident in Roland providing the goods

if he can do this with a Renault 5 GTTUNING you have to have a fiver on him

[rec]

Superchips are working on a BlueFin solution. I asked them via email and they said something was in the pipeline

[Haggi]

dont expect too much as imo chipping esp an s is a bit of waste of 300 quid wait till mth bring out the software

[MINIMANIAUK]

The engine is very hi tech,and efficient,but for tuning a nightmare,-composite structure cams,with shrink fit cam rings,variable lift,sodium valves, we are talking serious money to alter any of that, light weight is the design criteria,the crank has special bearing shells with small journals that aint gonna help,light weight ,good balance yes-,high power/torque not on small journals. even the throttle body now redundant,
OH and just to make things even more fun! the cooper S runs 10.5 to1 compression ratio despite being turbocharged,just what turbo are you expecing to fit? so now what ? run the existing one harder? its already running an astounding 220000 rpm,simple decat? I dont think so. Superchips? just what do you expect them to remap,fuelling?,ignition ?they gotta be real careful there 10.5-1 plus vvti, even the intercooler is new tech and the shared system is going to mean one costly intercooler upgrade. No disrespect to Roland and his accomplished tuning but this is no renault 5, Bmw themselves will find difficulty and probably have to change many components to upgrade for a works edition,which they can do in the factory on assembly ie pistons,but its certainly a challenge for atermarket tuning to do much at any reasonable price. perhaps an engine swap for the supercharged unit one day the classic mini will have the supercharged unit fitted in place of the commonly used vtec unit ,now wont that be a turnround !!

[Haggi]

hmm i see what you mean sounds like a real mine feild of an engine mmmm i do love my tritec lump and dont think i will be parting with it esp after reading the above as my main thing with cars is having a good fiddle under the bonnet

makes sense now why the works models maybe completely seperate models (could they even have a differant egine ?)

[Haggi]

tis why i see them doing more styling parts this time arround as mini/bmw have made it harder for tuners and mikey to fiddle with its inner workings hence why i porbs now wont be getting one

[popey]

Could we not just add a manual bleed valve????

Did this on my 20VT Fiat Coupe, worked very well. AND cheap as chips.