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Drivetrain The Always Up-to-Date Thread on Tuning 2011+ (N18) MINIs

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  #1426  
Old 06-24-2013, 11:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Terry @ BMS
Impressive! So what happened with Cobb and the platform? Is there a cutoff date where you can no longer use their system?
I believe the cutoff support from Cobb would be sometime next month or July. If Cobb users need support, they would clearly have to pay out of pocket for any support that's left from Cobb and any Cobb Pro Tuner can still get a custom tune if they need it.

Most of their maps today are still very capable units and while I had it, I really didn't need any further support while on stg3 and the only thing weird about the Cobb was that idle was always bouncing around 800-1100rpm at a stop.
 
  #1427  
Old 06-24-2013, 12:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Terry @ BMS
Impressive! So what happened with Cobb and the platform? Is there a cutoff date where you can no longer use their system?
Cobb priced their AP for the Mini at ~$900. And when sales were too low to warrant future production they kill it all together. Seems like they were a little greedy to me.

AP for a Focus ST $450
AP for a Mini $895

They charged what they could and people, (stupidly imho) paid it. The price was atrocious considering their AP for the GTR was the same price. Give me a break.
 
  #1428  
Old 06-24-2013, 03:15 PM
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Originally Posted by DneprDave
The Cobb Access Port reprograms the ECU through the OBD2 port. It only works on N14 engines, they tried to get it to work on N18 engines but changes to the N18 ECU made that difficult or impossible to do.

Dave
Yes we're an authorized Cobb "pro tuner" and use it in conjunction with our piggyback systems for applications that warrant the need for a supporting flash. Like N54 engines with larger than factory turbos. Cobb supporting the N14 and not the N18 does make some sense given changes on BMWs end. It's ashame they left the N18 platform but as long as you have your pro tuner tools available then it should be fine. Did they release the user adjustable ATP stuff so you guys can tweak your own maps?
 
  #1429  
Old 06-24-2013, 03:20 PM
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Hey guys,

Bit of good news. Had a chance to hit the dyno this morning and early testing is very promising. The car did ~180whp stock and ~210whp tuned. I tried a couple approaches and one gave more torque while the other gave more power, so I'm going to see if I can blend the approaches together in the lab. I think gains will wind up being in the 30whp & 40wtq range.

Attached is a copy of a stock run and two alpha tuned runs. The car is 100% bone stock with 1000 miles on the ODO, manual trans, using ~93 octane fuel. I noticed a little miss on a couple of the tuned runs at higher boost levels. Perhaps the plug gapping is a bit too loose. Will check in to that as well.

Up next I'll get the car back in the hands of its owner for a week or two of solid road testing and then will borrow it back to continue software development. Also need to get our vendor status resubscribed.
 
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  #1430  
Old 06-24-2013, 03:31 PM
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Would you like a GPII'S to work on, less than 2500 miles bone stock
 
  #1431  
Old 06-24-2013, 03:34 PM
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Originally Posted by borderwave2
Cobb priced their AP for the Mini at ~$900. And when sales were too low to warrant future production they kill it all together. Seems like they were a little greedy to me.

AP for a Focus ST $450
AP for a Mini $895

They charged what they could and people, (stupidly imho) paid it. The price was atrocious considering their AP for the GTR was the same price. Give me a break.
Their BMW tuner is also priced at $895. They are a for profit company and I presume like most companies they take their development costs and amortize those over the projected unit sales and product life, add in some profit, and then use the result to set their pricing structure. So I would not fault them for that. But I am surprised they are leaving the platform. I'll have to ping my contacts over there for any addl info on that.

Anyway our pricing is generally in the 300-500 range depending on the Stage/complexity. Hopefully we can keep things closer to the lower end of that range but it depends on a couple variables I don't know yet.
 

Last edited by Terry @ BMS; 06-24-2013 at 03:53 PM. Reason: typo
  #1432  
Old 06-24-2013, 03:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Terry @ BMS
Yes we're an authorized Cobb "pro tuner" and use it in conjunction with our piggyback systems for applications that warrant the need for a supporting flash. Like N54 engines with larger than factory turbos. Cobb supporting the N14 and not the N18 does make some sense given changes on BMWs end. It's ashame they left the N18 platform but as long as you have your pro tuner tools available then it should be fine. Did they release the user adjustable ATP stuff so you guys can tweak your own maps?
No they did not release that information. Cobb never really had a huge presence here. It was primarily Alta that did most of the answering for the AP and that was something thay never came to fruition.
 
  #1433  
Old 06-24-2013, 04:51 PM
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Terry how will this work for those of us that already have current tunes on our ECUs? Those of us that might want additional power or those of us that have auto tranny's.
 
  #1434  
Old 06-24-2013, 04:54 PM
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Originally Posted by terry @ bms
hey guys,

bit of good news. Had a chance to hit the dyno this morning and early testing is very promising. The car did ~180whp stock and ~210whp tuned. I tried a couple approaches and one gave more torque while the other gave more power, so i'm going to see if i can blend the approaches together in the lab. I think gains will wind up being in the 30whp & 40wtq range.

Attached is a copy of a stock run and two alpha tuned runs. The car is 100% bone stock with 1000 miles on the odo, manual trans, using ~93 octane fuel. I noticed a little miss on a couple of the tuned runs at higher boost levels. Perhaps the plug gapping is a bit too loose. Will check in to that as well.

Up next i'll get the car back in the hands of its owner for a week or two of solid road testing and then will borrow it back to continue software development. Also need to get our vendor status resubscribed.
+1
 
  #1435  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:00 PM
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Originally Posted by wzabrouski
Terry how will this work for those of us that already have current tunes on our ECUs? Those of us that might want additional power or those of us that have auto tranny's.
The basic setup will be user adjustable. So in theory you could use it to instead just add say 1psi over your existing tune. Would want to see one locally for some more in depth logging ahead of time first though. Typically if you've got a good custom OBDII tune they've already cranked things as high as they can for the octane/conditions. And if you have a bad OBDII tune you should just remove it and run the stock one.
 
  #1436  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:02 PM
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I think the tune is conservative based upon the known surging issues with the auto tranny's when they are bumped too much. Hopefully Rob will chime in as I know he had a really aggressive tune with his auto.
 
  #1437  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:09 PM
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There has to be someone by you with an auto that would love to be a test mule. I can always send you some data logs of my current tune if it would help in any way with the development.
 
  #1438  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:14 PM
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Originally Posted by wzabrouski
There has to be someone by you with an auto that would love to be a test mule. I can always send you some data logs of my current tune if it would help in any way with the development.
Yes at some point I'll track down a local automatic N18 for testing and see where it takes us.
 
  #1439  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:17 PM
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I'd be happy to offer my Coupe up if you need I drive 100+ miles a day back and forth to work!

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring
 
  #1440  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Terry @ BMS
Yes at some point I'll track down a local automatic N18 for testing and see where it takes us.
if i'm not mistaken, you guys are up in simi valley? irvine is not quite "local", but certainly drivable. i have an N18 auto with an upgraded (alta) fmic. the car is otherwise stock. if there's a coffee shop or library nearby where i can study for the day, i'd seriously consider being the test mule.
 
  #1441  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:28 PM
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Glad I held out on a tune, liking what I'm seeing....and from a very reputable company.

Bolt-ons only/stock ECU, N18 6spd if ya need one right here.
 
  #1442  
Old 06-24-2013, 05:37 PM
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I'm very interested in this even though i have a n14. I would buy a flash tuning tool for 500 immediately if it gave gains and was relaible. I wonder if alta was charging something from the flash tool to get the price up too 900 since it seems to be out of cobbs pricing structure. My mini is begging for just a little more power!
 

Last edited by bdrecksage; 06-24-2013 at 05:47 PM.
  #1443  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:07 PM
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@TerryBMS, 210 hp may be as far as you want to go for Cooper S applications. The clutches are pretty crappy. Their longevity is not impressive at stock power levels. I think most of us would prefer a modest 20-30hp increase that doesn't adversely affect clutch life too much.

JCW cars have a beefier clutch so the tuning ceiling is a little higher.

Thank you for taking a renewed interest in our cars!
 
  #1444  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:11 PM
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Originally Posted by jomama
if i'm not mistaken, you guys are up in simi valley? irvine is not quite "local", but certainly drivable. i have an N18 auto with an upgraded (alta) fmic. the car is otherwise stock. if there's a coffee shop or library nearby where i can study for the day, i'd seriously consider being the test mule.
That would work out nicely. I'll drop you a note when we get further along and are ready for an automatic logging session.
 
  #1445  
Old 06-24-2013, 06:13 PM
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Originally Posted by bdrecksage
I'm very interested in this even though i have a n14. I would buy a flash tuning tool for 500 immediately if it gave gains and was relaible. I wonder if alta was charging something from the flash tool to get the price up too 900 since it seems to be out of cobbs pricing structure. My mini is begging for just a little more power!

BMS does not have a flash tuner. It is a piggyback style tune with ACTUAL quoted power gains unlike other piggyback tunes aka unichip. Read up and familiarize yourself with their style of tune
 
  #1446  
Old 06-24-2013, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Terry @ BMS
That would work out nicely. I'll drop you a note when we get further along and are ready for an automatic logging session.
sounds good! feel free to email me anytime - sfmoy29@gmail.
 
  #1447  
Old 06-24-2013, 08:38 PM
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Well hell, everyone is jumping in to the helping bandwagon... makes me feel left out living half way across America. I guess I am just going to have to send you the money when you are ready to produce one for the mid/12's.
 
  #1448  
Old 06-24-2013, 08:52 PM
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Originally Posted by pyrrhusmj
Well hell, everyone is jumping in to the helping bandwagon... makes me feel left out living half way across America. I guess I am just going to have to send you the money when you are ready to produce one for the mid/12's.
Considering we live only a few blocks from one another we are both useless. But I am also willing to send money!
 
  #1449  
Old 06-24-2013, 09:30 PM
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Originally Posted by pyrrhusmj
Well hell, everyone is jumping in to the helping bandwagon... makes me feel left out living half way across America. I guess I am just going to have to send you the money when you are ready to produce one for the mid/12's.
just trying to "give back" to the community by making myself useful!
 
  #1450  
Old 06-24-2013, 10:31 PM
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@Terry

A few premature requests.

1. Sport Button, or On-Board tune Activation/Map Switching.
2. Decrease shift-time for Auto.
3. Rear-wheel bias tune for ALL4.

aaron
 


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