I noticed my picture was in this month's Gone Postal section.  Too bad my letter wasn't.  I think I recognized a few words in there that might have been in my letter, but sadly, any and all real information was left out.  

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The Postal letter:

"Case and point" (sic)

In your June issue, I noticed a response to a letter asking why you don't include any Minis.  Your dim-witted response was asking just for it: Minis can be cool, even if they aren't rear-wheel drive, and no, it's not expensive to tweak a nice 200hp from them.  Case and point: My '04 Mini Cooper S.  It's no M3 or 911, but it's quick--even after 65k miles and two major accidents, it still does 145mph on the freeway.  I've invested $1360 on a cold-air intake, plug wires, iridium lpugs, coil pack, fuel injectors, and a 16psi pulley upgrade, and a dyno tune and gained 40whp--bringing power to 205.7whp! Not bad compared to your cars, huh? And the tuner said my Mini had one of the strongest engines he'd seen!  Finally, to answer your smart-assed remarked to last month's Mini writer: I like girls.  Perhaps the pic of my car will help you understand.



Nate, Chardon, Ohio

Just our initial thoughs, Nick (sic), but maybe cruising at 145 mph on the freeway isn't the best way to ward off accidents.  Point taken though--your Mini does put down some impressive numbers, 40whp for $1360 invested?  That's way better than the additional 72whp we made on our Evo X for under $1300 in last month's Power Pages... wait, never mind.  Still considering the $18,000 you probably spent on the car, 205whp for $19,360 is a downright bargain, compared to the 300+whp Carter was able to put down in his $8000 240SX a couple months back, right?  No?  Damn! Well at least you can take comfort in knowning that all our Honda readers can only make about 250whp by swapping $2500 K20s into their $2000 Civics... hold on, that's more power than you're making for less... un, forget it. At least the Mini still looks cool, right?  Never mind.

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First, the REAL letter:

In your June (Hrmm.  It's April 5th) magazine, I noticed a responce to a letter asking why you don't include any Mini's.  Your answer was asking for it.  

I've been subscribed to your magazine for a while now, and have a ways to go.  Will I resubscribe?  Perhaps, as it's cheap compared to some of the other magazines, but I have to say out of the four magazines I recieve, this is last.  Import Tuner, Sports Compact Car, Modified, and Grassroots Motorsports, in that order from least to greatest.  When I started looking at Import Tuner, I was hoping to see real-life cars, with real-life price tags, and modifications feasable and affordable.  Face it.  I'd say a solid 80% or more of your readers will never be able to afford a NSX or a GTR before 60, if ever.  Most of the body kits and boost kits advertized and articled are well over 5k each, and although I manage to scrape close to 40K a year, when I started there was no way I'd be able to fund it without going bankrupt.

My reason for writing was to say that Mini's can be cool, even if 99.9% of them aren't RWD.  (Side note:  Fear that .1%.  Today's assignment--research Qvick Racing).  And no, it is NOT expensive to tweak to a nice 200+hp.  Case in point.

I own and drive a 2004 Mini Cooper S.  Not particularly my car of choice, but when I bought it I needed a cosigner, and whereas my dad wanted me to buy a RSX, I wanted a Porsche 944 Turbo.  So we compromised.  It's a pretty fun car.  No M3 or 911, but it has balls.  I have 65k miles, endured two major accidents--one being rear ended while stopped by some girl in a F-150 at 55mph--and it still does 140+.  Yes, that's right.  145 to be exact, in fifth gear, with another gear to go.  The only reason for stopping was that the snow tires (rated at 99mph) were starting to act a little strange on the freeway.  Eventually I plan on going for a 150mph run this summer on real tires.

I have about 1200 bucks worth of mods (not counting installation costs if not done myself), bringing a gain of around 40hp.  Not bad to consider most mods on your mod pages cost over 1200 bucks combined and usually no more than 20hp gain.

Note:  Prices may differ from my initial purchases. In some cases, such as the HotWires, the current cost is lower than I paid.

Mods include:

- Alta CAI (I like these filters.  I wonder why there aren't more foam filters out there--these definately do the job nicely, and independent testing usually rate them above K&N and other paper filters.  If you check UniFilter's website, they do have a few basic automotive filters, but most are for offroad and street bikes.  It'd be an interesting comparason in a future article.)

Price: 279.99 (http://www.altaminiperformance.com/products/show/40/Intake-System-Classi c-6-spd)

- Nology Hot Wires (As I had most of the modifications installed at once, I cannot prove any HP gain with these.  I simply researched a bit, found these to have some high reviews, and purchased them to go with the iridium plugs and the coil pack, as all are recommended with a smaller pulley.)

Price: 159.99 (http://www.nyxracing.com/nology-hotwires-spark-plug-wires-mini-cooper-p- 4883.html)

- NGK Iridium IX plugs (Slightly cooler spark, recommended when raising the boost via pulley swap)

Price: 59.00 (http://www.mini-madness.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=71)

- MSD Ignition Coil Pack (Higher spark output)

Price: 86.95 (http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-cooper/msd_mini_cooper_ignition_coil.htm l)

- JCW 380cc Injectors (Recommended over the factory injectors when exceeding 200hp)

Price: 295.00 (http://www.helix13.com/mini/products/engine-intake)

- M7 16% pulley (The beef of the upgrades.  The standard pulleys out there are 15%, 17%, and 19%.  Now, the M45 blower  runs around 14000rpm at the factory 6750rpm revlimiter.  Although I personally have no proof, after looking around and reading up on some reports on the 19% pulley--and sometimes dangerous results--I decided to stick with the 16%.  Really not much of a difference between the 15 and 17, but it was the same price, and I like the quality of the build.  Interestingly enough, this upgrade was one of the cheapest, yet has the highest HP result.  Went from the factory 10.5psi to 16psi)

Price: 129.00 (http://www.fastmini.net/m7supu.html)

- Dyno tune (My last mod, and the most recent.  Main purpose was to lower the F/A ratio, as it seems to run a little rich on WOT.  The other purpose was to raise the RPM limit from 6750 to somewhere between 7000 and 7500, whichever would be recommended for safe daily driving.  That ended up being 7250rpm redline, which, believe me, makes the difference.  Due to the steady climb of the supercharged engine, the extra 500rpm allows better use of the 6-speed gear ratio. The tuner mentioned that I was lucky--I had one of the strongest Mini engines he'd seen for so few bolt-ons.)

Price: 350.00

That's it for the engine mods.  Not to bad, for a total of 1359.93.  I paid less, as I found new JCW injectors on ebay for considerably lower than that, and the pulleys were initially 115, etc.  

Installation is recommended for the injectors, pulley, and have them do the wires and plugs while doing the injectors.  The pulley installation requires unbolting the engine, lifting, and then torquing it forwards slightly to allow access to the pulley.  Special tools required, and unless experienced, at least an extra pair of hands is definately helpful.  For the plugs, injectors, and wires, removal of the intercooler is required.  Not a huge project, but be sure to check the intercooler seals, as a slight mistake can cause leaks... which are never good.

The factory HP is claimed at 165hp, which I take to be crank hp.  That means, around 140-145WHP.  My final dyno run: 205.7WHP, 176.03ft/lb.  At a rough 12% parasitic hp loss, that'd make the crank hp roughly 230hp, making the final gain 60+hp. With the raised RPM limit, the gear ratio climbs:  1st peaks out at 50mph, 2nd at 76mph, 3rd at 103mph, 4th 125mph, and I have yet to redline 5th or 6th. My current top speed is 145mph even. Not bad for under 1500 bucks worth of bolt-ons, no?




To compare, your last Power Pages (Infinity G37), which had a final gain of 22.1hp with a total price of 2248.56.

And to answer your smart-assed remark to the Mini writer:  No, I like girls.  If that isn't enough to reassure you, then perhaps this'll help.  Here's a picture of my current project.



Project: Seven GTR.

If you guys ever end up around Cleveland, let me know.

Nate
Chardon, Ohio

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Dear Export Tuner (See?  I can edit just as well as you guys)

The positive first: under the new editor, I have seen more real-life articles, such as the fact-or-fiction article, or questions with Eric Hsu.  A positive sign towards a better magazine.

The negative: I always figured from the letters in Gone Postal, that your main reader base was perhaps 15 or 16, but seeing how you happily butchered my letter to make yourself sound good, I wonder how many other intellectuals write decent letters for you to chop up into a few sophomoric sound bites, so you can try to come up with some pathetic sort of defense for whatever they disagreed with.

If there were to ever be a next time, try using my actual words, not your personal interpretation.  As for the Mini, with a minimum of 40+ hp gain--most stock Mini's dyno around 140whp, which would make more towards 60-65hp gain--that makes it good Power Pages material.  So your manual boost controller for the Evo X helped you gain 72whp--How much did that Evo X cost again?  I never said the Mini was better than other cars--just that your immature bashing had no ground to stand on.  Carter's 240SX is a great car, and I look forward to seeing more hp.

If you want to say 1360 for 40+hp gain is expensive, then why don't we do some actual research (gasp!) and see what we find in previous Power Pages.  Here's what I find in the first few issues I could find lying around.

January 2008--$1448.10 bought 15.0hp to bring a total of 137.0whp on a stock 240SX.

February 2008--For a staggering $5,489.54, you managed to gain 21.0hp gain on a Honda S2000 to reach 219.0 whp.  Why bother with the S2k if you could have a 250whp Civic for less than that, right?

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black--brave words coming from someone that thinks the Scion xB is cool.

Show me that $2500 250whp K20.  That's just a bolt-on, right?  I'm sure it can be done by anyone in half an hour...  Apparently you forgot the cost of labor, conversion kits, and the troubleshooting required to get everything to run.  Also, apparently you have a problem with numbers...  Your May 2008 Power Pages showed the K20 at 172 whp and 121 ft-lb torque, and $1696 later, the best you could show was a 12.3hp increase.  Oops.  I guess you might want to tack a little more money on that $2500.

So go climb in your 250whp K20 Civic, with the cut springs and unpainted Ebay body kit.  Stop by McDonald's and super-size your double Big Mac meal.  Plant your ass in front of your Xbox 360 and race a few laps, so you can argue about the merit of your virtual S15 with the six-year-old that just kicked your ass.  If you want to talk technical, hey, I'm more than interested.  But don't bash a car that sees plenty of podium time, or is rather susceptible to significant power gains with simple, affordable bolt-ons--even if you don't like it.

Go on--your Xbox buddies are waiting for you.  

ok dude  you have a great point.  the only reason they might have to mod that is that it is a little long.  but really mini coopers are awesome, especially with the 200 horses and the natural handling.  that project look beastly to btw  

Wow thanks for assuming ALL civic drivers have riced out body kits and cut springs.  I drive a K20Z3 powered Si and i'd be more than willing to drive the wheels off of your car at the track or autoX.  Its unfortunate that the editors at Import Tuner are dicks and fabricate the readers letters but read up on the K20 motors before you talk *** on them.  It's also a direct swap into a civic EK hatchback.  Mounts and axles are only required if you want to go all out.  Granted there are a lot of ricers out there in older civics with their shitty SOHC D series motors, but that crowd is rapidly fading away.  

No, no... I was not saying all Civic drivers have rice.  I like most Civic generations, the CRX, and have had 4 Integras in the family.  The K20 is a good motor, my point was that they were talking rediculous numbers.  

I have a B18A1 waiting to be rebuilt; I am currently rebuilding the BP05 used as the donor engine for my Seven.  Boring out .040, big valve conversion, 8.8:1 pistons.  I have a Super 16G waiting...  I'm excited about building the turbo manifold.  It's going to be a front- top-mounted turbo due to lack of room in the engine bay, but the longer (equal length, of course) primaries will help with the power, in spite of the slight delay that will come with them.

Here's the best use of the K20 I've seen yet:



http://forums.finalgear.com/general-automotive/dick-bears-mcbearen-a-mclaren-m8b-replica-19391/

I've talked to that guy... All I can say is that if I could learn maybe 1/10th of what he knows, I'd be set for life. In case you didn't check that link... that's made entirely of hand-shaped aluminum.  That takes some serious talent.

If I could figure a good way of bolting up a RWD tranny to a B or K series, I would have used that as my donor, over the Mazda 1.8.  The only benefit of the BP05 over the B-series is that the BP is a closed-deck design.  I don't know about the K20 as much, but if it is anything like the B-series, it's an open deck, requiring sleeving when boring over much.

Here is a build log of my project car so far.  I am taking Lincoln Electric's Motorsport Welding class in the end of July to improve my aluminum TIG welding skills.  After that, hopefully the bodywork on the Seven GTR will move a little faster.

http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2641

Nate
SteyrTMP  

Wow that sounds like a nice build.  The B series motors are not nearly as strong as the K series, but they are much easier to work on, and there are no barriers when it comes to engine management software.  The K series are essentially a more software based version of the B series.  However all of the MAF's and drive by wire throttle makes it a nightmare when looking into altering fuel timing, and cam angles.  The only other problem with the K series is that it does not yield much bang for your buck with bolt on modifications.  However, even when very little power is not gained from a modification, you can still feel the drivability difference at the track.  For instance short ram intakes only gain about 7whp on the motor, but the difference in throttle response is enough to shave off some significant time when exiting a corner.  

Sounds like a good recipie for a mid-engine locost-type car.  Like the McBearen, but with easier bodywork.  There are a few kits out there (search La Bala) that could utilize it.

I am going to be using MegaSquirt for fuel management, so I won't have the MAF problem anymore (What a pain!)

Lower torque is fine for a Locost--I am only aiming at 220whp after the Super16... with a total weight of 1300lbs or less.  With a car that light, high-revving/lower torque engines do well--there's an entire following using bike engines.  I know the bike cars are quick.  I don't have any specs on the BEC's, but Keith Tanner (he wrote a book on the Miata based Lotus Seven) can pull a 0-60 of 4.5 sec with a N/A 1.6 liter Miata engine, and another guy, Mark Rivera, was pulling 4.0.  I aim at staying below $7000 total cost, and am doing well so far.

If you search on the LocostUSA forums, there's a guy by the name of JR--he has a SR20DET-based build.  Very fast; he's using 395's in the back, if I remember correctly, along with launch control software.  

Wow.  those sound like some bad ass machines.  395 wides with launch control is insane.  i'm lucky if i'll be able to eventually run 235/45's on my car without rubbing lol  

My bad... he's "only" using 335's in the back, 295's in the front.  He's also using Race Logic traction control hardware/software.

In comparison, I'm only using 15x8's in the front and 15x10's in the back, with 205/50R15's in the front and 225/50R15's stretched on the back.  Yeah, they are different sized, but that was the only option for those tires.  They are BFGoodrich g-Force Sport, as at the time they were the cheapest option, and I was not sure if they would do the job.  

Eventually, I will be switching over to Hoosier DOT Street tires, with some resemblence of tread, with 225/45R15 front and 275/35R15 in the rear, respectively.

You might be able to get 235's on your car... what size rim, and what's the offset?  If you have some play with the offset, you might make it, you may be able to if you remove the splash shields (not good for an all-season car, obviously), or you can simply roll the fenders and/or cut them out and get flared fenders.

Just remember, width doesn't mean everything.  I think you'll find a stock engine with 235's is going to be too much.  I have 195/45/16's, 205/40/17's and 215/35/19's, for the Mini, and I have to say I like the 16's the most.  The 19's have a lot of grip, and I never lose traction, but in spite of the fact that I light up constantly weither I want to or not with the 16's, being lighter and having less road contact, I can get better times with them over the 19's.  Also, with road construction and rough roads where I live, the 19's have taken such a beating over the last two years, they are unbearable to drive with.  

I'd say some light-weight 17's would probably do you best, maybe 225's.  

I'm hoping to pick up a set of wheels by the end of the summer as i'm still running my heavy 17x7 stockers.  I don't have a very large budget so i'm probably going to pick up a set of Rota's.  They're under $700 for a set of 17x8's and autoX guys swear by them.  I've also looked into XXR (formerly sportmax) but they're on the heavy side.  The only lightweight wheels I found by them were only made in 17x7's which i'm not down for.  

Without your bolt pattern and offset, I would think the first wheels I'd look at would be the Rays Gram Lights, SSR's entire lineup, or perhaps Kosei K-1's.  All of those should be in the same price range as the Rotas...  

^The only rays I've seen online go for about 2 g's a set