Pilo Racing now has the first ever Replacement Vibration Damper for the Mini Cooper S. This is not like the other crank pulley replacements, that are a solid piece of aluminum that transfer all vibrations through, but a This Vibration Dampner is .30" oversized for the Mini Cooper S to increase boost to the supercharger. The new Damper wieghts only 4.56 lbs, where the stock pulley weights 7.1lbs. That is a 2.54 lb reduction in rotating mass, with out any loss in safety of the operation of your engine.

I will be using this thread to report to you the install procedure, as well as the performance gains with this pulley.

With this pulley, we do not recomend using Supercharger pulley reduction of larger then 19%, as the crank pulley will cause the belt to spin faster. This will give those on a track an advantage, because they can run the larger crank pulley, and a 15% pulley safer then just a 19% pulley because of a larger belt to supercharger contact area. Reducing slipage of the belt. I will have all the HP measurements for 19%, 15%, and 15% with the new Vibration Dampner in the upcoming weeks.

In the mean time, please let me know if you have questions pertaining to the great new item!





Price is not set at this time.

 

So what does that work out to in percentage?

 

First, Let me correct the size diffrence that was stated above, It is a .30, not a .35 as I originally stated.

The new Vibration Damper is an overall 5.76" vs. the Stock size of 5.46" This is a 5.5% increase in the size of the crank pulley, or it will turn the belt approx .95" more per turn of the crank.

In the end, I will be listing each combination not in percentages, but in Max Boost achievable.

 

very Nice

 

i've done a few calculations using these numbers:

stock crank: 5.46"
oversize crank: 5.76"
stock pulley: 2.59"
15% pulley: 2.2"
19% pulley: 2.1"

adding to a stock supercharger pulley set up is like a 5% reduction:
5.46(2.59)/5.76=2.46" so 2.46/2.59=0.95

adding this crank pulley to a 15% set up will make it the same a 19%:
5.76/2.2=2.62 and 5.46/2.1=2.60

adding to 19% set up:
5.76/2.1=2.74
2.74(7000rpm)=19180 superchrger rpm @ 7000rpm
and
5.46(2.1)/5.76=1.99 so 1.99/2.59=0.77, which is like a 23% reduction!

eek

 

you guys need to work on your spelling

 

Very nice math... Exactly the reason that we do not recomend the use of the 19% pulley when using our crank pulley upgrade.

 

I thought we all agreed that ratios were determined by pitch diameter, not pulley diameter?

Pilo,
Can you explain more about this "boost rating" ?

 

The boost rating will be the reading of boost from the SC at or just before redline. I think that this will be a bit easier for people to understand then figuring out the diffrent ratios of combined pulley changes.

 

Dan,

All I wanto to know is how hard is the install and when can I get one?

 

Install will require removal of the passengers side wheel ,and wheel well. You will need a couple specialized tools such as the idler tensioner too, and the Mini Cooper Crark removal tool ( I may have these to be borrowed for self install) You will need to remove the tension from the idler, and then remove the belt from the crank pulley. Ther with the Mini Cooper Crank Removal took, you will pull the stock pulley off. Then you can install the new pulley by tighthening the bolt on the end of the crank shaft. I will have a full write up, but those are the basic steps. I may have missed one or 2 things, but this is not an official how to.

 

Looks very interesting! Have you done any testing with the solid pulleys compared to this one?

 

I only plan to test this unit in comparison to diffrent setup's of Supercharger pulleys. There would be a bit more HP gained most likely on a solid pulley, but I do feel that having an effective vibration damper with a gain in HP is a better solution for most people then the little bit more they may gain with the solid pulley.

 

Why would a solid pulley make more power?

 

LET me say that this product is really interesting. I was checking out the Alta crank pulley previously, but am apprehensive about it. This product seems to address some of my concerns. However, I have some questions...

LIGHTER: How much approximate sprung weight does the savings equate to?

LARGER: What about chips (like the GIAC) tuned for specific pulley sizes (15%, 17%, 19%)? Will you start throwing error codes if you have a chip tuned for a 15% pulley since the larger crank pulley makes the SC pulley spin even faster?

LIMIT: Running this crank pulley would mean that even with a 15%, you would need bigger injectors to acheive the full potential of the set-up, right?

LIFE: The larger crank pulley has to compromise the longevity of the SC in some way. Have you looked into what that reduced life might be?

 

The solid (Non Vibration Damper Type) can weight less, so it would create more power. With out the vibration damper, I would not feel comfortable running a solid pulley. Also the reason I have chose not to test them.

 

Hope that this answers your questions.

Lighter. It's not really the same as putting lighter wheels for the analogy of sprung to unspung weight theory, but it has a similar effect as putting a 2.5 lb lighter flywheel on the car.

Larger. Having an ECU tuned for a diffrent pulley would not cause it to throw codes, but the HP gain could be more with a properly tuned pulley. I'd suggest if running a 15% pulley with the crank, to ask for a 19% MAP

Limit. It could benefit from larger injectors, but they are not needed.

Life. It has the same effect as a 19% pulley on the supercharger. But with less effect on the belt then the 19% pulley causes. This will lessen the chance of throwing a belt on the track. I have had a 15% pulley for about 10K miles, and a 19% for about 15K miles, both with out any noticable effect to the supercharger.

 

This is a really "round your elbow" way of thinking about it. Why not just ask how much HP the lighter crank pulley equates to. The answer is that it's not enough to be accurately, and repeatedly measured - given the error rate, and variables involved in dyno testing.

This is all simple... tune to the total boost level. How you accomplish that boost amount is irrelevent.

 

This is the reason that I am going to not use percentages, but boost levels as descriptions of setups.

 

To a lesser effect due to the larger diameter of the flywheel.

 

I think that's a good idea.

The downside to that is that so many people here are so used to speaking in percentages - and using "off-the-shelf" tuning solutions. By not listing a "percent" you'll be constantly fielding questions like the above.

 

Most say rotational weight is worth 3 to 4 times sprung weight. So from about 7.5 to 10 lbs.

You shouldn't get any error coulds since you can already put a 19% on with no problems.

Most likely really depends on how much boost you achieve with the 15% and the crank pulley.

This just changes the speed at which everything on the belt runs. Since the 15% and Crank should work about the same as the 19%. Then you would have problems similar to running just a 19% (not counting belt breakage since you wouldn't use a smaller belt). Since you rarely here of problems running 19% I doubt you would see many problems running a 15%CP.

 

Correct, The power that you will feel from this upgrade will be mostly from the increase supercharger speed.

 

What about the people that do not want additional boost (like me)?

Will there be a version with stock diameter in the future?

Alex

 

With the realized loss in weight, there would not be a great enough gain to make this upgrade effective. The reason that we went with the .30 Oversized is so that we can create HP Safer then with the 19% pulley.


Pricing Structure:
Retail pricing will be $409.00
If there is enough interest for a group buy of 7 or more, I can lower the price to $350.00