[C.E.F56.2014]

Hi everyone!

I am in the process of planning some upgrades to my 2014 Cooper S and I find myslef with a few questions I am struggling to find answeres for.

I´ve had my F56 S for over a year now, and its been lots and lots of fun - absolutely love driving it. At the same time, I feel like it has more potential, so I did some research and figured I would go for a tune and upgrade some of the most obvious components. I don´t want to do anything insane - my initial idea was 240-250 bhp and 360-380 NM since I don´t want to put too much strain on the stock clutch. The guys at Lohen gave me lots of great tips and suggested upgrading the air filter and getting an intercooler to make sure the airflow and temperatues are not a problem.

So it all seemed straighforward, until I looked into ECU tuning in my country (Czech republic) and found out that legally I can only have a 20% bhp gains to make sure I don´t have any troubles with either police, insurance or technical exams. That would give me 227 bhp and about 350 NM. I know those numbers aren´t that much lower to what I had in mind, but still it gave me a number of things to wonder about...

1) How noticable is 192 > 227 bhp and 280 > 350 NM going to be?
2) Does it still make sense to upgrade the intercooler for the 20% gains?
3) is the upgraded air filter, forge intercooler combined with a milltek non-resonated exhaust going to add any extra power?

I would really appreciate any related thoughts and comments

Greetings from Prague!

 

[Dragonfly]

1) How noticable is 192 > 227 bhp and 280 > 350 NM going to be?

20% power increase is noticeable, not earth-shattering, but noticeable.

Those are almost exactly JCW numbers, so your MCS will go like a JCW.

2) Does it still make sense to upgrade the intercooler for the 20% gains?

Absolutely yes, unless you don't mind the power dropping off as temperatures (intake and ambient) rise.

3) is the upgraded air filter, forge intercooler combined with a milltek non-resonated exhaust going to add any extra power?

The stock intake flows well, very little power to be gained (Eventuri claim a few hp but their testing methodology is far from scientific) but lots of extra turbo noise.

Forge intercooler is an excellent upgrade. Keeps intake temperatures low so ECU pulls less timing and engine consistently makes more power than it can with stock cooler.
Lower intake temperatures result in a cooler running engine
Most people don't bother because the number on the dyno printout won't be significantly different at this stage of tuning.
Makes a huge difference to the drivability though, even moreso on hot summer days.

Exhaust. Non res systems are LOUD, although that is subjective and somewhat dependant on the age and gender of the listener.

Performance exhausts generally flow better but those rewards are often only felt in the upper rev range.
A good exhaust will sound cool all over the rev range though 😎

In general, intake and exhaust upgrades will improve throttle response to a degree.

I would really appreciate any related thoughts and comments

Brakes. At least upgrade the pads to a fast-road compound, drilled disks will help too.
The general consensus is the MCS has barely adequate brakes for its stock power, so upgrades here are recommend if you want to stop as well as you go 😉

Oil. It makes little sense to significantly increase the power output of your engine and then put in whatever dino oil Mini currently shill.

Greetings from Prague!


View attachment 70126

Birthplace of some of the world's finest beer!

Welcome to you and your nice MCS 🙂

 

[C.E.F56.2014]

@ Dragonfly

Cheers and many thanks for the reply!

Absolutely right about the non res exhaust, I forgot to mention that that is the one thing I already have installed - milltek system - and love the sound... occasionally feel sorry for the neighbors when I leave for work at 6am It works in a strange way tho - it was fitted by the first owner, and I don´t know what he wanted to achieve - the car is a manual, and has no driving mode selector - in "normal" mode, the are no pops and bangs... however when I turn of the ESC, the rev matching turns off and it starts to pop and bang.... took me a few months to figure it out, but that was one happy day when I found out

Oil is something I hadn´t even considered yet. Will definitely look into that!

As for stock brakes, absolutely true - noticed it isn´t exaclty overwhelming, especially during a one day track course a couple of months ago.... Recently bought an upgrade for the rear to be installed next week, since the rear needs replacing now, and gonna upgrade the front with the other upgrades. Did a lot of research and decided to go for Tarox F2000 OEM replace discs (same size as stock) and Tarox pads, hopefully that will do the job and the discs look great. Would have loved to get the big brake kit from Tarox (love their aesthetic, the larger dics and calipers and all) but the price tag :/ Maybe one day....

One other power unrelated item I want to upgrade is suspention - planning to get the ST X suspention. It was recommended to me by Lohen for great handling on country roads, which is my primary destination

And finally, thanks for the info about the intercooler - I see I was sort of underestimating its value

J.

 

[Dragonfly]

The Tarox setup will be a marked improvement, you'll be able to go harder for longer - which is, after all, what some fun parts of life are all about 👍

The ST-X is great value, I have the JCW Pro coilovers which are the same thing, in stainless steel.
Firm ride, zero body roll. Great for street and suits the character of the car a lot better than the stock setup.



Another nice thing about the 'cooler is other Minis with flash tunes can't keep up for long