Hi Countryfolk!

For those of you who are not in the Countryman Lounge on Facebook here's a little update on my 2012 Manual R60 S ALL4, Kowalski.

Most of you probably know I've been modding this thing since day one and we've designed a lot of the Countryman parts off of my baby. This past week we bit the bullet and sprung for the JMTC 47mm Dominator Turbo with a Manic Stage 3 tune.

It took about 9 hours to do the install (my friends Doc and Richie Burgess in NC did the work). The parts that we installed on that day were a Forge Atmospheric Blow Off Valve, a VIP catless downpipe (we previously had an Akrapovic on the car), the 47mm JMTC fully ported and polished turbo, and all of the new gaskets etc. Most of the bolts holding the turbo in were a pain to get out as the car has 70k extremely rough miles on it. It's surprising how well the stock 37mm turbo has held up due to being tuned way past what it should have been its whole life. I assume it doesn't hurt that I always let the car warm up before getting into boost and cool down after driving hard before shutting off as well as oil changes every 4-5k miles.

Then it was time for the test drive after everything was bolted up... First thing I noticed was the sound difference... exhaust sounded a tiny bit louder but definitely throatier (not to say it wasn't already ridiculous before), but you actually hear the turbo spool through the exhaust like on a big diesel in a truck. Then once you get into boost the thing just digs and pulls like nobodys business. They say my car has a little over 300hp at the crank and I have no reason to doubt that. We did a pull today with a moderately tuned 335i and it was nearly dead even.

We are going to do some data logging and tweak the ECU a bit as there is a case where it misfires in the highest setting of the tune when the outside air temp is below 30 degrees F or so. Aside from that no issues to speak of. Not too much lag at all and the blow off sounds are immense.

Here's my first impressions video:

Also... Yes... The car will drift on power now. Will get a video in the dry soon. here's a video of it drifting in the rain:

Happy motoring!
Kyle

 

Great review Kyle. Couple questions; was there any particular reason to run the atmospheric BOV? And is this the spacer, or the complete system eliminating the stock DV? Lastly, you said you were running Manic stage III, how did you manage to drive around with that tune prior to the turbo upgrade?

Once again, great review and great sounding CMS. Wish my wife would let me modify hers, LOL...

Laters...

 

What's your max boost ? Running meth? Always interested in who's running what. Can't wait to see some Dyno numbers 👌

 

Roxspin72:

The reason I went with the Forge full kit atmospheric valve was mainly for noise... The turbo comes with a factory BOV (probably with an upgraded spring) and should work just fine recalculating the air... It just won't make that amazing dump sound!

I drove on my stage 3 tune with the stock turbo for about 4k miles (some of that was race track and drag strip miles as well)... Nothing blew up! Which is nice

EuroTechsAZ,
Hey guys! Running just under 30psi max boost and no meth. Thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to run it at this point though. The dyno will come once we get the re-tune and probably an oil cooler on this rig!

Kyle

 

Congrats Kyle,
I would love to own a JCW CM with the 47Dom. That's crazy you are close to 2Bars and on a stock block. Get some meth and dyno's, we would all love to see some numbers. Any codes or hesitations from the BOV?
Looking forward to more videos

mQuebed Manic Tuning Dealer

 

Mario beat me to it. I thought the N18s threw a code when running an atmospheric BOV. However, I'm going to see how my DOS Intake sounds with a larger Turbo first 😁 But I would be nervous as hell to run any higher than 23psi. All my BMW buddies think I'm nuts to be hitting 22.5 on Map C😮

 

Can't wait to get this on a dyno... Nope no issues running atmospheric BOVs on N18s at least what I've seen... My friend has one on his PAW tuned R60 automatic with no issues and I have one on the big boy Kowalski.

I always like to push things to test them out so 30psi sounds good to me for now... Once we get upgraded pistons / rods / cams in it then maybe we'll even go more! We'll have to see though.

Kyle

 

Nice mods Kyle it is a plus for all of us to have someone like you to push the limits of our Countryman. Your video at VIR was great but I noticed your video at VIR didn't show you passing that exceedingly fast smart car on the track. That guy was quick and I saw him passing a bunch of Minis. :D


edit Tried to post pictures but couldn't. Mick

 

Maybe a dumb question.. BUT how is the clutch holding up to the extra stress? Are/we're you still running the factory clutch? I'm fairly new to modding manual cars and I currently have a '12 countryman all4 and wondering what I might run into as I make changes over time.

 

There are some nice stories about this "build" on some other forum
Very informative Strongly suggest reading. Just search for the topic title on google

 

The OP runs a Facebook site for Countryman owners if you are interested.

 

Looking forward to see the number on the dyno

 

I think you won't. I believe he busted his engine pretty soon after these posts in these two Mini forums.. Then went on for crowd funding etc.. Unless I'm mistaken that was the end of the story.

 

Ouch, Didn't see it was a post from 2014.