Manic won't charge you for the tune again. The Manic dealer may charge a labor fee but that varies from dealer to dealer. The broadband connection won't happen because it could allow someone to access all the "cracking" Manic spent so long to uncover.

Manic does update the ECU to the latest factory level before loading their tunes. That action will prevent your ECU from being updated by the dealer unless there is a newer version. The factory tool will only update is there an update needed. With the N18 slowly being phased out the updates will be slowing down from the factory and eventually stop.

 

Thank you for all the answers.... with the new dealers the closest one is now 6 hrs away. A lil more friendly... now its finding time since they arent open at all on weekends.

 

Getting my Manic Tune from MarioKart!!! Just in time for Willow Springs. Woohoo!

 

let us know the results! I'm selling my jb and trying to get the money together to have Mario do mine too!

 

You will be one HAPPY guy.... I got my manic tune done from Mario 3 weeks ago and well.....I LOVE IT only on map b and my car in so firkin fast. still have map C hahaha .

 

Super excited. Switching over from Vivid Racing's VR Tune. Have the utmost confidence in Mario after meeting him. Will report back with footage from the track.

Just got word we are able to save the previous tune. What a bonus! One may ask why? Well, perhaps sometime soon I can try both tunes on a dyno and share the empirical data...

 

Ah man wish I'd known that. It woulda been nice to see the difference on a dyno. I can say my butt dyno is saying the change is hugely positive and the car just feels better to drive all the way around.

 

if someone would care to explain this....

why does the stock tune need to be downloaded/read first, wouldn't all mini's have the same stock ecu map?

maybe I misunderstood my local manic dealer, but he said I'd have to bring my car twice for the tune.

 

It is my understanding the first trip to find out what version ECU you have. Then the dealer contacts Manic (UK time) for correct maps... second trip due to time difference. Someone please correct me if I am wrong and/or please elaborate.

 

I would think that there wouldn't be more then a couple different ECU's if that many.. May be more of a get a reading off your ECU with the different mods you've made and they send that over and they ( UK person ) sends a map file to use. US person is just a middle man not really doing the tune if this is the case.

 

This is correct. Although some dealers are able to get the map the same day you bring the vehicle in. Check with the dealer.

You would be surprised how many flashes there are. Between different models, vehicle configurations, etc. There are a bunch.

 

There is several different ECU IDs and software packages. I think that is were the encryption part comes in, that made it so hard to get to the point where they could flash through the OBD port for the N18.

The read just gets the info about the ECU and the current software level. You can do a boot read if you have a current tune (mentioned above) and you want to download it and save it for a switched position.

We dealers are just a middle man or dealer. Nick at Manic does all the tuning we just load in the maps that are made by him based on the information we provide.

Turn around time is affected by time zone difference. Nick is very good at working with the US dealers and typically responds until 8-9pm his time and sometimes later.

I know this thread is getting extremely long so we might update our smaller one with FAQ's.

 

Is there a way to get "in time" with him to be able to actually do a Dyno tune, to get a more personalized tune for said car? Granted if it is a stock car there is not as much use for that, but for the guy that has done the typical, or more then typical CAI, downtubes, cat-back and or a header, plus an intercooler upgrade it would be worth it to him probably to not get a "canned" tune as some call it..

 

I've asked this same question in the past. And what I now understand is that all the R&D has been put into these "Canned" tunes by Manic, giving us the best performance gains without risking an Epic fail. My MINI runs smooth and has tons of power from my stage II plus. Map B is perfect, and Map C is basically for "***** & giggles"... If you wanted to add more power it would come from adjusting fuel trims to lean out a bit in order to yield more power. But unless you are racing or tracking your MINI, the gains do not out weigh the risk.

My next step is JCW turbo, Me mechanical Diff, Motor mounts, and stiffer RSB. That should give me just the right amount of power and the ability to put it down at the wheels😁

 

The dyno part of it would not be ideal as a dyno is not actual real world situation. Nick typically wants real world feed back when it comes to the cars. The only cars that would required custom updated tunes so far have been cars with custom head work and it was to make the idle quality better. The tunes these days are all target based and the vehicle themselves adapt to the maps.

Example would be a tune is set for 22psi of boost. The car will attempt to hold 22psi when told to. At the same time the car is attempting to maintain the timing curve that has been programmed while using the knock sensors to find the perfect spot. All while the fueling table is using the oxygen sensor to maintain the AFR that is programmed.

That is a simplified version of what is going on and the magic is setting tables that work together safely. These cars are very closed loop and will work within the set forth by Nick.

 

I'm not knocking yours/their system for tuning just know that on the 1st Gen cars that by putting cars on the dyno you get a better picture of what is happening or not happening as the case may be. There is actually a pretty big varience on delivered stock HP from the factory. I saw first hand at 2 Tuning Days MINIs come in with over a 25 HP difference on stock cars.. We used to joke about it being a Monday Build ( hungover employees ) or a Friday Build ( in a hurry to get off work ) type of thing.. Granted I haven't read all 37 pages of this thread but it would be nice to see some customers Dyno sheets to kinda see where everyone started from vs where they ended up.. Not really the peak numbers but the in between curve of it all. Had my "Just-a" tuned years ago from RMW and I knew I wasn't going to gain a bunch of power 7 HP & Ft lb. but had areas within the curve that I gained 15 Ft lbs, which was a nice jump in a Just-a....

 

We like seeing the curves too.. check out Manic Motorsports USA on Facebook. We are slowly adding more dyno sheets but there is a few good before and afters on the GP2 test cars. With the switchable maps it was real easy to back to back pulls.

Dyno's are good for testing if you have an issue but they typically simulate ideal conditions. We did dyno testing on the GP2 test cars but also track tested them on 100 degree track days so make sure they performed in real world situations too.

I've watched a few cars get "dyno" tuned in the MINI world and don't really see were the custom part was in many cases. Custom tuned in 3 pulls ...

I've also see tuning that took 10 updates with a large amount of data logging at various speeds/loads and driving situations.

Ultimately it does come back to dyno numbers to prove a products worth. I find it funny there is so many posted peak numbers without sheets personally. I actually have a few customers that keep laminated copies in the trunk of their cars.

 

So, if I am looking to get a tune, just the plain jane stage 1 tune, and I am going to drive 150 miles each way, I have to do this twice or stay over night or mail my ecu to them (can't be w/o a car for a week)? Or is there a way to line this up to get it done in a day (I know, depends on the Dealer)? I thought this was going to be easy.

 

300 miles round trip? Thats nothing! Go for the Gusto and tune your MCS. You'll love drive
home!

 

I agree, something they are going to have to work on in order to get more business. Not everyone is willing to take out their ECU themselves and mail it off and hope to get it back in a week. If they pay someone an hour labor to take it out and then another to put it back in at a shop that is going to get pricey.. At some point the UK folks are going to have to turn the tuning abilities over to the dealers in the US. Granted that will knock a few of them out as not all of them have the knowledge to handle that but will make the ones do more money... or set up a tuning day even if it is really night time with the time difference and have the UK guru sitting by his laptop and emailing back and forth with the US dealer.. Knock out 10-15 cars in one night. Drive in pay the man hour later drive out..

 

From what I've heard, the only reason you would not be able to get tuned on the spot, is if the dealer does not have your software version on file. There has been a few updated ECUs out there that would have to get Manic directly involved. Bi
Best case scenario, if you are lucky, it should be just drive on in, plug up to your OBDII, and wait the 45min-1.5 hours for the flash to complete. Worse case scenario is get there 1st thing in the morning so if need to contact overseas for update, you may get a response by end of day😬

 

If your traveling from a good distance that isn't a good option to "possibly" wait all day to hear back from the Guru.. Sure if you live down the street it's no big deal..

 

Agreed. A custom tune is two to three pulls with data logging and a wideband to establish a baseline. Then tuning followed by a couple of pulls. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary to tweak. One off tuning takes time, money and is typically not necessary for most cars. It's when you get into the realm of custom compression, cams, hybrid turbos, cylinder head porting, high flow valves, meth injection etc.. then it makes more sense. Even then I'm sure that with as many cars as Nick has tuned, he has amassed a pretty large database of possible mods and tune alterations that apply.

I have to say though that most important thing before a tune is making sure you have a healthy engine to start with. Perform a compression check, get new plugs, run some fuel system cleaner thru it, make sure you have no boost leaks and get a decoke if its been over 25k miles since the last one. Your car will thank you for it.

 

Every dealer is different but we have a good line of communication with Nick. We have had "waiters" before and we typically schedule with him in advance so everyone is on the same page.

Best case scenario if he has your exact version that he already built in his file or are stage 1 , you would be out done within 2 hours.

If he needs to build the file add an hour if you are stage 1 or 2.

Worst case if you have a unknown and previously unlocked ECU id you need to do a boot read then mail him the data. Typically in that case it is an overnight deal. That is very rare at this point in the game but possible.

If you are stage 3 or higher it will take longer as your first file is a more of a baseline "let me know how the car idles and runs" (if cammed or ported good idle is very hard to do) he typically wants tons of feed back and logs to get an idea how it does then might send you an updated file. If you are stage 3 or high you would expect it to take a while longer and should be used to waiting at this point since the car has undergone some serious modifications.

Nick is working constantly on building his library of files which every dealer might have at some point but for now we have had pretty good luck with the communications and getting things done as fast as possible.

Tuning parties have been discussed and at 1.5 hours a car with files in hand it would be extremely limiting. We have been in contact with a few of our customers in Pacific Northwest area and have considered doing a handful of cars out there using a contact to get all the ecu ids in advance so we can just fly out with every ones files and start loading.

 

Thanks for the info. That's all I'm trying to do is get that info out there.. I don't have a car for you to tune, but have plenty of local club members that do.. Does it really take an hour or more to flash the computer of the Gen II cars? 1st Gens were done in a few minutes. Granted that was with the tuner sitting right there beside the dyno making changes on his laptop and then plugging in to the OBD II to reflash.. Not sure if that makes a difference or not?