I have a 2005 Cooper S w/six speed tranny. The car runs super. I love it. But I am curious about adding a cold air intake. Will it "really" make a difference in performace that you can really feel? I don't drive fast, OK? But I do love the occasional stop light to stop light run, if you know what I mean. I like to see those guys faces in the corvettes and mustangs when this crazy little four banger car pulls away from them. Not in the long run of course, but it sure as heck makes me smile.
So, does anyone really recommend this addition. Should I just leave well enough alone? I want to do what the easiest modification is without tearing into the car in a major way.
And I don't know about exhaust either. I don't want a bumble bee cheap pocket rocket sound either like some of the young kids run these days.
Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

The cai doesn't really add any horsepower... at least not anything you will feel. What it does add is a much more noticeable whine from the supercharger if you have an s.

That said I have one on my car and if i were to do it again i would still buy it.

As far as an exhaust goes I like loud and aggressive so i went with a magnaflow. I definitely felt the change from that. You should check out the exhaust thread under the drivetrain section.

Best bang for the buck is a reduction pulley for the supercharger. They are cheap enough but require a little more work to do. I found it easy to install, but I have a lot of experience working on cars.

 

urbancynic is correct about the cai making more power. I installed a DDM and you really do hear the whine more.

I also installed a 17% pulley and that made the difference. As far as exhaust goes, I've had a Strat ordered for quite some time now (backordered for over a month)and am contemplating going to a different exhaust.

You really need to do a complete package to get the benefits af everything. Like urbancynic, I also have been wrenching for alot of years so the pulley was not a big deal. It will be the best bang for your buck though.

Good luck

 

I got everything as a package from outmotoring.com. he offers a kit that you can customize to get the intake and exhaust you want.

 

So, by installing a 17% pulley what does that exactly do? Does it make the supercharger spool up faster or it just runs faster by 17%? I'm not sure I understand the concept on superchargers. If it runs 17% faster all the time, is there a wear issue? Help!

 

I have the JCW CAI intake along with a 13% pulley (which I believe is also a JCW since the prior owner had it installed when he ordered the car from MINI). Very noticeable difference over my brother in law's 2003 MCS.

Other's can correct me, but my understanding is the percentage is the reduction in the pulley's size from stock. For example, mine would be considered 13% smaller than stock. This allows the SC to spin more quickly, forcing more air through the system resulting in increased power. I believe anything up to 17% is considered "safe" with the other components of the car from a reliability standpoint.

I believe it is recommended that if you install a reduction pulley you should also consider running colder spark plugs. I have not done that (yet) but would be curious what others think.

 

Super chargers run off a pulley connected to the engine, as opposed to a turbo that runs off a turbine in the exhaust. Other than that difference they are both more or less air compressors that compress air from the intake and inject it in to the cylinders creating bigger explosions and thus faster acceleration. A smaller pulley will spin the SC faster (think gearing on a 10 speed bicycle, smaller the gear, faster you can go) A 15% reduction seems to be the norm for people wanting a bit more power (15-20 hp i believe?). And while changing out the pulley its a good idea to service the SC itself to ensure a longer life span. Colder range sparks are usually ran with the smaller pulleys as the bigger explosions seems to like it better. A good way to check if you need colder sparks is to pull out an existing one and look at the electrode, normal wear is a brownish color, white means you are running rich, black means you are running lean (I could have those backwards, someone please correct me if I do). Intakes are very easy to install, and create easier airflow in to the SC. This creates a louder SC whine, but doesn't really add too much HP wise on forced induction engines as the induction unit dictates the amount of airflow into the cylinders. CAIs will do wonders on a naturally aspirated engine though. Some please correct me if any of this is wrong :P.

 

They are backwards. Black is rich, white is lean. Neither are ideal, but between the two I'd prefer rich because a really lean condition can cause some serious issues.

 

Thanks

 

It's like this IMO, when you use a smaller pulley, you are pushing more air through the motor. now, you need to get rid of all that extra air, so you really should get an exhaust that will allow the air out. Right? Make sense? CAI will allow more air in that the superchager will now need, and the exhaust will let it out better. One really needs at leat all 3 to make it all flow together. A "tune" will allow everything to be more calibrated to accept and make the most use of your new power.

Do it once...Do it right!!

 

Well said.

 

Not saying you're wrong, but that's all assuming that the stock intake and stock exhaust are only capable of handling the stock pulley, which I really doubt is true. I think with any of these upgrades, you'll notice more positive than negative.

However, if you're looking to justify buying a new part, as I am, that reasoning sounds flawless to me.

 

Super chargers run off a pulley connected to the engine, as opposed to a turbo that runs off a turbine in the exhaust.

 

If your on a budget (like me!) just do a one ball mod. OEM exhaust is 2.5" pipe which is what most aftermarket exhaust are. Getting rid of the passanger side muffler will open up your exhaust. Mine cost me $15.00 bucks for the 90 degree elbow (2.5") with flared ends and about 3 hours at a friends house with a welder. I seen people go to muffler shops and pay around $50.00. just google one ball mod and you will see a few video's on install and sound.

I also purchased a 2.5" cone filter on Ebay for $14.00 shipped. I had a scrap piece of 2.5" pipe about 3" long that I used as a coupling from my stock intake pipe to the new cone filter. I removed the top part of the OEM intake box.

Intake = $14.00
Exhaust = $15.00
Misc. parts maybe $5-$10 bucks

I do get more of the supercharger whine as well with just the cone filter. I cant see there being much HP gain doing either intake or exhaust i feel spending about $35.00 on my car was worth every penny!

I can send pics if you want to see.

 

I've read about the one ball exhaust. Doesn't really appeal to me, but that's just my opion. Now, as far as the $14.00 cone filter goes, I'm not going to support that method simply because you are now introducing warm (or hot) air to the engine. This is NOT what a supercharged or naturally aspirated engine wants. All motors like cool, fresh air. The CAI that you see advertised from aftermarket companies all have a way of sealing underhood air OUT.

Do it once...Do it right!!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ir-intake.html

Just my opinion. But, feel free to read through the link. Also feel free to post vendor data with heat temps. from there CAI (filter and shield). I understand that cold air is better. I doubt there is that much difference in what i have to a heat shield minus a few hundred bucks to an aftermarket CAI. Only difference is if you went with an aftermarket intake tube (bigger than OEM 2.5").

 

Let me weigh in....And by all means I am no expert (but i play one on tv ;-p )

I did a lot of research to see what would be the biggest bang for the buck on upgrades. I went into this trying to reduce or eliminate the hesitation that I had below 3K rpm....with that said my motives may have been different than yours.

I looked at 3 options:

1I though about a CAI (a real one*) bcs of the ease of installation. But at $250 avg market price with a max gain of ~8whp @ 6K rpm, it did not seem justifiable.

*Note: A real CAI such as the Craven Speed or the DDM Works or even ALTA, are really COLD air intakes, while others such as K&N are hot air intakes HAI. a CAI will give you more power but tipically at the top end of the rage.

2 Sprint booster - Again an option that would get rid of the hesitation, but a t a cost of $300 and no performance gain it did not make sense.

3 15% pulley - I looked at the cost of doing this and saw that with a 15-20 WHP gain (about 17-22 gain @ the crank) would give me the best improvement $ for $. I called ALTA, Way Motor Works, Out Motoring, and spoke to a tunner in the north east and all confirmed that the best value for the first upgrade was the pulley. I paid about $190 for the pulley, belt, tensioner, and cold spark plugs. I did my own install. I will say the install is not easy. You need some specialized tools and jacks, and you will need to buy the puller and belt tensioner (About $150 I have mine for sale on the market).

Overall for under $200 my car is screaming fast. A very noticeable increase in power (I'm not talking placebo effect here).

If I had to make the decision again, I would again opt for the pulley. Now that being said if you could get a CAI .... it's the perfect moment to install bcs you will have to remove the original one out anyway.

I hope this helps.