cbryant82 Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 Anyone on here running a custom tune? There have been so many posts over time on NAM and MiniMania that I honestly have no idea where to start. With the Intake, Exhaust Mod, and Pulley, I was hoping to find a tune that would make everything a bit more efficient, but I just don't know where to look. Any advice? [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]2003 MINI Cooper S Indi Blue, 16% WMW Pulley, One Ball Mod, DDM Works Intake, Helix Short Throw Adapter, Rear Seat Delete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 I'm running a custom tune and a few more mods. . .what would you like to know? Looking for the process how to get it done? Who can do it? Where to get the best tune? Other parts you should get in the upgrade path for best performance? Jan at RMW and Way at WMW (and a few others) both offer custom tunes and if you want to go the custom route you should keep an eye out. Rumor has it, the mini is a relatively difficult vehicle to tune because of the "learning" ecu. . .it tries to work it's way around the changes you've made. I know PTuning offers tuning services but I don't know what their familiarity is with tuning the mini but I have really thrilled with everything they've done to my car. I'm running an RMW tune. I know there's at least one other running an RMW and another running a WMW but I'll let them chime in. I have a love hate relationship with Jan and RMW. He will get you ironed out but it may take a while and the more complicated your setup is the longer it will take. He's also a cantankerous pain in the boot. But his tunes are really good and once he gets it right, it's awesome. There used to be a number of "tunes in a can" like the Alta Accessport among others. These are more generic tunes that will make things better but not tweak things perfectly for the eccentricities of your car. I had been running an Accessport on my old subaru and it did an absolutely amazing job on there and probably took 5-10 minutes to do the tune upload. On the other hand subarus are incredibly receptive to tunes so it worked really well. I haven't heard how happy people are with those on the mini. All said and done, since you have a pretty basic and standard set of mods. A tune in a can may be the best bang for the buck. And once you add some more mods, you can remove the tuning unit and get some if not all of your investment back out of it (I actually bought my accessport used on ebay and sold it for what I paid for it after using it for a year.) Once you do a head and cam, absolutely get that custom tune and it won't even feel like the same car. Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minime331 Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I'm running a custom tune and a few more mods. . . A FEW mods!! haha that's funny right there :rofl::rofl: STella- 14' Focus ST Roush CAI, Cobb access port stage1 tune, custom Ptuning 3" exhuast, Levels FMIC, Turbosmart BOV, rally armor mud flaps, more to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbryant82 Posted October 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Thanks for the info diablo. I guess my question is more along the lines of who should I talk to, to even get the process started. Ideally right now, the tune in a can option is probably going to work best like you suggested. But the problem is that I don't know which options work well, or don't work at all. I would have loved to go the accessport route, because I've had luck with them on a subaru before. Sucks that they were never put out there for the R53. If Jan at RMW is the guy to talk to then I'll do that, or maybe I can reach out to the folks at Ptuning and see what they think about it. Either way thanks for all the great advice! [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]2003 MINI Cooper S Indi Blue, 16% WMW Pulley, One Ball Mod, DDM Works Intake, Helix Short Throw Adapter, Rear Seat Delete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGGRRR (Ali) Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I have a canned WMW tune, it seemed to smooth the car out nicely. It wasn't an extreme change. Way likes to keep his tunes on the safe side and not push the car into possible issues. I had mine done at the Dragon I know Craig had some other canned tune but I forgot what it was. Tigger 2006 the cabrio and Riversong the 2014 Countryman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmcveay Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) Apples and Oranges - Tuning on 1st and 2nd Gen's is a different game. For whatever my .02 is worth though. I had an RMW custom tune on my R56 (non-JCW) with an aftermarket exhaust, CAI and FMIC and it did pretty good. I don't recall the dyno specs but I know it was nearly 220HP and torque. On my R55 (JCW), I've got a canned tune using the access port, the same FMIC (Forge) and DOS intake. Between baseline and the Stage 1 tune on the dyno, I saw almost 10% increase in HP (increased to about 225hp) and nearly double the increase in torque (over 240 lbs ft). Since the 2012's have the torque steer software, the increase in power isn't nearly as sketchy as it was in Archie. Edited October 23, 2013 by cmcveay 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon "Homer" 2012 MB/CR JCW R55 "Merlin" Sold 2009 LB/LB R56 "Archie" Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 The folks at PTuning won't have nice things to say about Jan after the mess of an install he left me with (he provides excellent parts/kits but the installers he uses are suspect at best), he's also got an unorthodox tuning method that had PTuning raising their eyebrows while we were watching Jan doing a remote tune touchup. A remote tune is going to be a bit more expensive because you'll have the remote tuning computer you'll have to purchase as well. Jan's prices on these are $350 for tuning fees on an R53/$500 for R56 and his remote tuning ECU flash kit/computer $315 for R53/$369 for R56 and the dyno fees at whatever shop you hook up. Though if I remember correctly, he can just do a canned tune with the above parts. If you're willing to wait, he does tuning parties from time to time around and can get you ironed out in person. (Seems like a couple years back he did one at MVP.) There's usually a good discount on the dyno time (and I believe a bit of a discount on his tuning time as well) when he does that. That being said, if we got enough people interested we could probably get one of the big mini tuners (Jan, Way or someone else) to fly out for a tuning party. Jan does do tunes for gen 1 and gen 2 minis and I'm sure Way does as well. Though being the end of the season I suspect most folks would prefer to wait for next spring/early summer to line something like this up. Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmcveay Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Dan at Mach V has hosted RMW tuning event a couple of times so if there's interest, I'd envourage someone to work with him. In the past, Dan discounted the dyno time and he also managed the schedule and did all of the coordination with Jan to come out for this. I won't advocate for one tuner over the other, it would be up to the group that's getting it done but I wanted to make sure you knew about previous events that worked out really well. For the 2nd Gen folks though, the newer engine/ECU hasn't been directly "cracked open" yet but if you look at one od the MTTB threads, you'll see that another vendor of ours has offerd up discount coupons for an alternate tuning device. 2014 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon "Homer" 2012 MB/CR JCW R55 "Merlin" Sold 2009 LB/LB R56 "Archie" Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) Just heard back from Jan. He'll do a tuning party with a minimum of 6 people (I'd be willing to take one slot and would love to get him out here in person to do some touchup on my tune.) He can tune any Gen 1, 07-12 JCW and 07-10 MCS. He can't tune any of the newer cars with the N18 engine without cutting open the ECU (I didn't ask details on this) as the ECU is double encrypted. He needs ~1 hour of dyno time per vehicle plus whatever time it takes to load/unload the vehicle from the dyno. You won't need to buy a flash module unless you want to be able to do remote tunes with him later. Those can be purchased from his web site. His pricing per car is his advertised rate from revolutionmini.com Edited October 23, 2013 by elpollodiablo Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGGRRR (Ali) Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Just heard back from Jan. He'll do a tuning party with a minimum of 6 people (I'd be willing to take one slot and would love to get him out here in person to do some touchup on my tune.) He can tune any Gen 1, 07-12 JCW and 07-10 MCS. He can't tune any of the newer cars with the N18 engine without cutting open the ECU (I didn't ask details on this) as the ECU is double encrypted. He needs ~1 hour of dyno time per vehicle plus whatever time it takes to load/unload the vehicle from the dyno. His pricing per car is his advertised rate from revolutionmini.com Would you set this up with Dan at Mach V? Tigger 2006 the cabrio and Riversong the 2014 Countryman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Craig says the Mach V setup worked well from last time and I know from previous conversations with Jan, he liked working with Mach V so I figured if there were enough interest, that would be the way to go. Orrr are you asking if I'd be willing to get ahold of Mach V and get the ball rolling on a tuning party? (Yes, I'd be happy to.) Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGGRRR (Ali) Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Craig says the Mach V setup worked well from last time and I know from previous conversations with Jan, he liked working with Mach V so I figured if there were enough interest, that would be the way to go. Orrr are you asking if I'd be willing to get ahold of Mach V and get the ball rolling on a tuning party? (Yes, I'd be happy to.) Well from what I see you started the ball rolling Yay!! I was mostly interjecting to help flesh out the details in case people were wondering about logistics. You're doing great!!! Tigger 2006 the cabrio and Riversong the 2014 Countryman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbryant82 Posted October 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Wow, who'd a thought the question would turn into this Lol? I'll have to check out Jan's rate off the site, but I think I'd be down for a dyno tune [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]2003 MINI Cooper S Indi Blue, 16% WMW Pulley, One Ball Mod, DDM Works Intake, Helix Short Throw Adapter, Rear Seat Delete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGGRRR (Ali) Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Beau One more suggestion, you should probably start a new thread in the Event planners and feelers to gauge interest. Then when you feel comfortable that you have enough interest start up the event. If you need help just ask Tigger 2006 the cabrio and Riversong the 2014 Countryman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 I've gotten ahold of Jan at RMW and Dan at MachV and they're both on board. I've started a thread on a tuning party feeler, as soon as we have 6 people interested we can start the ball rolling on getting a weekend picked out. http://dcmetrominis.org/forum/topic/2940-feeler-rmw-tuning-party/ Cheers! Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickyr53 Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Cant access the link but i'd be down for a tune depending on when it is. Injectors and different cam are on order. :top: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGGRRR (Ali) Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Cant access the link but i'd be down for a tune depending on when it is. Injectors and different cam are on order. :top: The event planners and feelers thread can only be seen by full members. Once Beau has it in the events then it will be visible to everyone. Tigger 2006 the cabrio and Riversong the 2014 Countryman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elpollodiablo Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 rickyr, I added you to the list. There's now 3 people confirmed on the list! Alice Cooper - Hyper Blue R53 with a few light mods ???? - Montego Blue 335xi with even lighter mods [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
