I want to know about the 270 whp.

give us a mod list pleaseee!

 

Yah I just posted a thread on this.

And for a MINI to reach 270whp the car has to be turboed, Twincharged or a ton of Nitrous

 

Any chance of a mod list? 270 HP is crazy awesome!

 

FWIW there's a guy in the Metroplex MINI club here in Dallas who's been dyno'd at 238 wheel horsepower without a turbo or nitrous. Assuming 88% drivetrain efficiency that's right at 270 horsepower at the crank. His mods include a CHR head, honed intake and SC runners, Shrick cam, JCW injectors, 15% pulley, lightened flywheel, Alta intake, Mini Madness header with a free flow cat, JCW exhaust w/o the resonator, watercooled intercooler and an ECU upgrade (can't remember whose). I think since that dyno he's replaced the 15% pulley with a 17% unit.

I'd really like to see how the automatic transmission holds up to that kind of HP on an ongoing basis.

 

There may be a mistake - your quote referenced a 270 whp number and you are referencing a 270 crank hp number. 270 whp generally requires something (twin-charge, nitrous or magic dust) beyond the standard mods.

That (longevity) is real question. An a/t can handle large torque output for short durations. It is the day-in-day-out application of the high torque environment that causes problems. If the transmission fluid does not get completely replaced when it starts to break down, there will be problems.

 

caminifan said exactly what I was gonna say. WHP and life of the tranny. With a Manual you can replace fried clutches and help it last a bit longer. With an auto we can just change the fluid right?

 

The fluid change is a very important preventive maintenance item. The key thing is to completely replace the fluid (as opposed to drain and refill). A drain and refill leaves the old fluid that was in the torque converter and transmission body still in place to contaminate the new fluid that was put in as part of the drain and refill. In addition, for really high torque applications (drag racers with inline engine/transmisison layouts), the transmisison can be "enhanced" (combination of torque converter and transmission clutch friction packs and the like are improved). Even up to ~300 ft lbs, finding a way to replace the transmission fluid on a 15,000 mile interval would see vastly improved transmission lifetime (150,000 to 200,000 miles), depending on driving style.

 

Actually the person I quoted simply said "270 hp" - he did not specify if it was at the crank or the wheel.

 

Sounds like there can be some pretty significant gains with our a/t as long as we properly maintain and keep in mind the limitations of what an a/t can do. I dyno'ed my completely stock 05 MCSa and got 153 hp at 6500 rpms and 142 ft/lbs at 4300 rpms. I imagine that most of us won't be drag racing where those extremely high torque numbers come into play so moderate gains in power should still be do-able as long as necessary measures are taken to ensure tranny life. This way with a few mods, its daily driver ability still will be good.

 

I have the Alta Intake on my MCS automatic. Installed a few weeks ago and LOVE IT! The only thing is the throttle body whistle. It took me a bit of time to get used to hearing that sound. The hose is tough to put on and you need someone with little hands (I helped there) to get the tube connected to the hose. It also helped a bit with the gas mileage. Once I slowed down. mwahahaha!
Love the sounds it makes.

 

We have installed alot of intakes and pullies on MCSa's with great success.

Recently we had a special customer's car join the WMW fleet. We are doing several performance mods to her AT car to test the reliability and HP gain to make sure future AT customers will be satisfied.

 

Sounds great!

I've visited your site a few times, and have been wondering about the Milltek cat-back. I've heard sound/video clips of it, but they were mostly at wide open throttle. Superb sound at full open, but I've wondered about the coasting/cruising sound being too loud. Any thoughts?

 

I LOVE the Milltek on my MCSa! Great sound at WOT, and a nice conservative growl at cruising -- little to no droning. Acceleration at less than WOT gives a nice growl as well.

 

Thanks for the info! A friend and I have been discussing the Milltek for a little bit, and that was the main thing that was worrying us. Some have said that the Alta intake makes more noise than the Milltek at cruising speeds. Thanks again for shedding some light on how awesome the Milltek is!

One other little question, is your Milltek the full system i.e. headers/cat-back or just the cat-back. Thanks again!

 

Right now, it's just the cat-back, but I'll hopefully have the Milltek header around X-mas of this year. As for the intake sound with the Alta, not sure, but I have a MINI-Madness CAI that has a similar design to the Alta, and the sound of the two is harmony to my ears!

 

wow - just discovered this thread - nice!

am thinking about adding an upgraded head to my car now that everything else is done. i suspect its really the only thing that keeps it from the full jcw works spec. anyone have any experience with replacing the head on an mcsa? i can only imagine how awesome it must be with the pulley/cai/exhaust...

cheers - drew

 

Yeah, I'm going to have a head done for my MCSa. Got the new (stock) head this week and am trying to decide whether to put in larger valves or not as part of the work. Will very likely do a header and/or a cam at the same time (budget considerations may keep me from doing both).

I don't know of anyone with an automatic S who's had headwork done but I'd love to hear from anyone who has!

 

yes. i too would love ot hear from anyone who's replaced the head on an mcsa with a more performance minded piece....

 

Head naw...not in my future unless someone says they want to pay/sponsor/jcw kit comes available.

But a head should have a similar effect on a car regardless of the tranny.

 

Getting Out Of Topic Guys!!!

 

OT...You should like to revive up old thread eh?

 

Well, there are a few other things keeping your car from an equivalent JCW spec - besides the head, you would need the 380cc injectors and the DME re-program. But you are indeed close to a JCW spec.

 

I still wanna hear about that 270 HP

 

X2 I've heard 240 HP is about the max the tranny can handle in the VAG cars.

 

Could you elaborate on where/how you have heard? If you have a torque specification document from Aisin-Warner on the transmission's design torque limit, that would be great.