Sounds good. Yeah intercooler sounds like a must. As for intake, I agree. I've read through the dictionary of forums about the benefits of an aftermarket airbox on the n14 and n18, every single one lands back on the same answer that the best option is a high flow drop in filter. As for the power figure, I may have misread something in the past or mixed up a post tune figure, I think something in the 210-20's would be my goal on stock internals. I hear anything above 240 is ticking time bomb territory, especially if running endurance. With a solid high flow induction system, proper cooling, and a stage 2 tune, I should be in that range.

As for BBK, I can never justify dropping that much for a brand new kit of fronts. Would you recommend hunting down some used JCW calipers/rotors? Or should I go for a used aftermarket bbk? For the time being I think I'll have some dedicated TRACK pads (haha) and some drilled/slotted rotors to help keep em from combusting. Sounds like our brakes don't get much air.

 

skip the catless downpipe, exhaust, and CAI. Put the money into the suspension and tires instead, then tune.

You'll be fine with the stock calipers to start, but get real track pads like Eddie07S recommended and make sure to flush the brake fluid with something like Motul600. Also consider upgrading to stainless braided brake lines, though it's not absolutely necessary.

If you're thinking about brake cooling, check out my thread here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...or-r56lci.html

 

Thanks for the tips! I think I'll have to do braided lines for sure, easily worth the investment. As for skipping the dp, exhaust, and CAI... I already have a muffler and resonator delete. If I should keep the stock dp, I think I'll just have a fresh 3" straight pipe back from the cats made up for me. For the resonator and muffler removal, I had a shop hack out each and fill in the gap. I hate the thought of having mix and match piping, so a bigger/cleaner 3" pipe should be a good affordable alternative instead of having some oem piping and some jenky filler.

For intake, im for sure settling for stock with a drop in (due for a new filter anyways). I do have a DDM works street intake laying around, looks like I'll throw it up on the classifieds. Having an air filter sitting out in the open engine bay like that just makes no sense to me (totally bought it for the turbo noises )

Stock calipers seem pretty hefty to begin with. I was surprised when I first saw the r56, they seem too big lol. I'll be refreshing the rotors in a few hundred miles, so I might as well do brake lines at that point too.

 

The JCW brakes are good, but they come with some sort of sintered or ceramic pistons that have been known to break down with repeated hard use. Otherwise they come with a large pad and use about a 12.3" rotor. It is unlikely you will find them for less than as set of new Wilwoods. This guy carries some nice options:

http://www.tceperformanceproducts.co...07-13/kits-40/

You would want the Plus 1 kit he lists with the 12.2" rotor. The other option is the TCE Plus 3a kit (not the 3b) kit. This uses the biggest pad Wilwood makes. The BP10 and BP20 pads they come with are street pads. You will want a set of Poly B or Poly H pads for the track.

The stock brakes work well, with the right pads. However, they will tend to heat soak a bit in the caliper in longer sessions and get a little soft. It is very important to have really good brake fluid to keep this from being a problem.

DO NOT get drill rotors. They will crack and I have had the holes fill with brake dust which created "lumps" on the rotors. That was no fun. Slotted didn't do anything for me so I just use plan, flat rotors. Cheap, flat rotor work great with the race pads.

Buy a Scangage so you can read engine oil temp, water temp, voltage, boost, intake temp, etc.

 

you can get stainless pistons for the big jcw brakes, or the 135i brakes

 

I knew about the SS pistons for the JCW brakes, but I didn't bring those up because of their cost which I thought was about $500.

The 135i brakes (Gen III JCW brakes) are really nice and they seem to be working really well for the JCW race team. But any of the BMW products are really expensive, so for the money I would go with either the Plus 1 track kit (which I have) or the Plus 3a kit that TCE sells.

 

the piston kit is only a little over 100 $ last time I checked

I've not found a need yet, to go past hawk dtc-60 and stock sized calipers

 

I had heard of the GP2 calipers (really just the 135i calipers), however it seems tricky to convert to the r56 MCS hubs. Not sure if I'm right with that, but as for now, I should probably just stick with the beefy stock ones. Some sticky dedicated track pads and better fluid should do the trick for the time being.

I think some proper ventilation should be good as well. Might need to get creative with that in the future. I should be running Laguna, and its notorious for killing breaks, so a simple and reliable stock setup is preferred for the time being.

I am hoping to do a collaboration with a small Carbon Fiber company in Europe to help create some track oriented parts for r53s and 56's. I know the mini community is craving for a high quality and affordable carbon solution. So I'll be pressing for parts like fends, splitters, roofs, door cards and even carbon bracing.

Any other required parts I should be sure to put on the "to do" list?

Thanks for everything so far guys! This thread is killer

 

I would be happy with some ABS wide fenders so I can stick some 245's on

 

Noted! I believe they actually have some molds already made

 

Okay guys, question time...
On the topic of brakes and bbks, I stumbled upon the common s14 trend of using CTS-V Brembo 4 pots. They're silly cheap...

Someone please tell me we can make these fit our hub/rotors...!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-07-Cadi...3D172180345080

 

Here is my take on those. Unless someone has a kit to adapt those, I would expect there are a number of issues that would have to be addressed to install those on a MINI.

First you would have to determine the piston area and see if it is compatible with what a MINI has in its system. Those have rubber boots that will be toast using those on the track. The pistons might be aluminum or carbon steel, both of which have high heat transfer unlike stainless steel, which would lead to a more likely problem of boiling. You will have to match rotor diameter and offset to the hub and caliper, which may mean custom rotor hats. They were used with 15" rotor, not sure how you fit those in. Then there is the weight. And there is the issue of bolting them to the MINI steering knuckle.

I think they are silly cheap until you add in all that you need to do to fit them on.

I am going to sound like a broken record here. The TCE 13" Wilwood setup is crazy big for a MINI (I used to run with a guy who had them on his MINI), they are made for the track and they are bolt on. Not overly expensive. The 135i brakes would be an easier fit. They are basically bolt on along with having to change the master cylinder (I believe. Feel free to correct me here)

 

Ok, I'll chalk that one up to bad memory.

I also know people who really like the dtc-60 pads. I use the Hawk blues on the rears. They seem to match well with the Wilwood Poly H pads I run on front and would probably do well with the DTC-60s.

One issue I have run into was when I fully removed the dust shields from the front brakes. That is the MINI brake ducts blow so much air on the inside of the rotor which cooled it a lot more than the outside of the rotor. This resulted in major fatigue cracking of the outside part of the rotor. I had to put the dust shields back on to keep that from happening. I did trim the shields on the radially inboard edge to allow some of that extra air to get to the rotor vanes.

 

Thanks for the input! I did some general calculations for fitment and it seemed quite close to a JCW - GP2 hybrid. Honestly, with a little fiddling prior to installation, they would make a decent upgrade from stock. My pedal feel sucks as of now, and I need to replace my front pads and rotors so I am definitely considering this route.

I did place a word into a few well known mini shops in the US as well as a CTS-V specific swap kit company to see if any of them would be interested in making a adapting kit for our cars. I can only imagine how amazing they would look sitting behind a set of Enkei Rpf's....

I would only assume that theres a sea of aftermarket parts to help these calipers cope with heat and long durations of activity. You have both Cadillac power nuts and JDM 240 guys, would only assume that both are making a mixing pot of aftermarket goodies to help solve these issues.

 

I'm so glad I have you guys... Haha. Noting all of this. Have you seen the sneed speed brake ducting? Havent looked into it much, curious if its worth trying.

 

Is the Sneed duct the one with a scoop on the bottom side of the control arm? If it is, it looked interesting. With my car being my DD I worry about clearance and didn't consider it. If clearance is not a big issue for you, they seem like they would be a reasonable quick fix.

With the CTSV brakes, I would still wonder about fitting in that 15" rotor and the added weight. 18" wheels maybe? Wheel weight (I included the rotors in with wheel weight) really kills these cars and slows them down. This is why I have gone to the 15" wheels and 11.75" rotors. I have seen some threads where people have put 911 brakes on their MINIs. They did look great. Let us know what you find out about Caddy brakes.

 

Supposedly the Nissan guys are running 350z 12.75" rotors, probably should've added that info earlier lol. So it can be on a much more fitting rotor. 15" would be madness on our little minis haha.

As for the sneedspeed ducting, heres a quick link.. http://www.sneed4speed.com/mini-coop...-brackets-r56/

I'm currently running 17's with low profiles and I feel like I'm in a monster truck. Then again, my wheels are garbage... Definitely going to pick up something more lightweight. Tempted by some Apex Arc8's....

 

what the hell those ctsv brembo's are so cheap, just over 100 $ per side it's just not fair, the pads are cheap too

someone needs to make a bracket for these things

 

Like seriously right! I'll keep you all posted on what these companies say. I might as well email a few more this evening because we need this to happen. If anyone reading this is a fabrication guru and would like to figure this out with me, please PM asap haha.

 

they are pretty big, no way they would fit under my 15" wheels lol

 

I think 17 would be a comfortable fit, 16 would be on the snug side. Just think of it as a JCW or GP2 rotor/caliper set up.

 

I will put up with a lot so I can run my 15" wheels they really make a big difference on the track & autocross

 

Yeah I dont blame you, I miss my 15s. Theres gotta be a good 16 or 17" setup out there. Just gotta experiment to find it.

 

What he said.

RE71Rs are about $50 cheaper a tire for 15" vs 17". A $200 savings. I am faster with 205-50x15 than I was with my 225-45x17 Toyo R888 Rcomps. The R888s are $110 more expensive; more than double the cost. I lowered the car an inch. Have better gearing. I would like to say I have a higher top end, but that might have been a healthy tail wind.

 

Hahaha. Honestly I think its odd for a mini to be running anything higher than a 16". These cars always ran on small wheels, hence why they're so amazing!

Correct me if I am wrong, but is there any way to have a super negative offset setup and run these 12" rotors on a smaller wheel?