Kind of like when I was a kid and stepped on a rake that I had left out with the tines pointing up and got hit in the head by the handle of the rake.... The immediate experience hurt like hell, but I made sure not to leave rakes lying about (and also watched where I walked).

For what it is worth (and not wanting in any way to beat a dead horse), MiniMeg06, if you were to try to re-use a stock JCW pulley, given the requirement to precisely locate the position of the shrink fit pulley on the s/c shaft (and the potential negative consequences of being ever so slightly off), the general consensus is that the lowest frustration route is to go with one of the aftermarket reduction pulleys. Randy Webb (who arguably has the most experience doing pulley swaps of the NAM community) tends to prefer the Alta reduction pulley. If you do desire to re-use the stock JCW pulley, make sure that it is completely true - absolutely no run-out or deflection from being pulled.

Best of luck to you on your decision regarding the pulley.

 

Just a small point, but he no longer sells the Alta reduction pulley...I believe his new favorite is the M7 piece, seeing as how it's the only one I saw last time I visited!

 

go for the Apexi, its a piggyback fuel computer, get everything tuned pacifically to your car and it can be done right then and there, don't have to wait a few days for the people to send you your flash, update, or whatever.

 

you can't do timing, DSC mods, or red-line changes. Every solution out there has some compramise....

Matt

 

I'm almost positive that the apexi is out of Minimeg's price range.

 

I want the mod that is *pacifically* for my car. What does it do -- calm me down when I feel all sporty? When I want to get on it, it chimes in with a "now, Phil, think about it...why not take it a little slower, eh?"
Then again, I'll accept no compramise (!)
oh, well, we all know what we mean, I guess.
phil

 

The pacifically mod is connected to the stereo system.....sounds of soft gentle breezes as the small breakers kiss the sun warmed white sandy beaches............

 

so why are you sweating on JCW pulley? There is a ton of different options out there? Maybe i am missing a point.

 

refers to drving on the west coast!

Matt

 

Oh how I miss the days of driving "pacifically". Been way too long

 

I just had a JCW kit put on my 03. I was one of the first people to get a UniChip for a MCS and had problems with it at first. The UniChip came off when the JCW went on but I'm going to get a FREE reflash from Webb Motorsports, THAT's FREE!! It has two fuel maps built in and though expensive, I at least have something I can take off and sell for more than what a GIAC or MTH tuner would cost. I would not recommend the JCW software if you're looking for maximum performance. A friend, with pretty much the same setup as I have, found the Evotech software was WAY better than the JCW software.

 

There are some people who know what they are talking about and there are those who just er.....ah....know...sort of

I am not an engineer but I have spent a bunch of money on a lot of diffferent mods,...... some I have removed and some I have kept.....and this is my opinion...... If you only do the basic mods that are well known to the tuners get MTH, GIAC et. al. If you get more adventurous and your list of mods looks like mine and others like me go tuneable Unichip et al.... if your car is heavily modded the MTH and GIAC without a custom tune to your car while it is running is just at best an educated guess..... I have been in MTH cars that run great but the list of mods by comparison is short..... GIAC last year would not do a custom tune but does have a good "boiler plate".... Unichip is a piggyback but until a tuneable flash shows up that can/will be custom tuned on the street or dyno that is what I will use.

Good Luck

and by the way jlm is a very knowledgeable guy who recently sold his Mini...... I have always found his advice useful.....and truthful...

 

When you say that their mod list is short, does that mean 1st stage (pulley, intake, exhaust)? How far down the mod path do you reckon MTH would be good for? And wouldn't an apexi be better when your car is deep in the mod list?

 

Apex'i gets sticky, because you have to cut the MAP sensor wire, splice and feed its signal into the apex'i, let it corrupt the signal, and then send it back [through another splice] into the ECU. If any one of these contacts fails, your ecu will possibly be running with no idea how much air it is getting...it will guess, and the results could be painful. The ideal solution is not the apex'i. It's just a bandaid, albeit a useable one. For true user-tuneability, the solutions are not yet available. IMO.