The JCW Cooper Kit Components

Sections: DIY | JCW | R50 (Coupe) May 3rd, 2004 16 Comments

Since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in what exactly is included here's a list of the entire range of components that's included within the newly released Cooper kit:

Cylinder Head, Air Filter, Cover Injection Tube, side & rear Emblem, and the Sport Exhaust. All the other components listed are just standard stock items that replace what comes off the car.

The quoted time for installation is 5 hours. Add that to the $2650 sticker price and you have around $3100 depending on your dealers hourly rate. As stated earlier the Cooper's horsepower jumps from 115hp to 126hp while peak power comes on earlier and is more readily available. The torque goes up 4lbft to 114 and it's peak is actually 4750rpm rather than the standard cars 4500rpm level. You can see the full chart here.

Interestingly the JCW sport exhaust is indeed the same sport exhaust that MINI has sold for the MC for the past 2 years. Not sure why MINI never advertised this before as I'm sure it would have sold better had they let that slip.

When I asked a MINI higher up about US availability I was told this is being released in very limited numbers and is already on back-order.

Written By: MF Staff

http://omor.com/mini/ dc

What sort of emissions or fuel consumption testing would be needed for such an engine mod to be 'approved' ?

Is the 'install on car after importing the car' some sort of dodge around re-certifying the JCW as a distinct powertrain ?
snid

There's an ECU reprogramming too, right? While that's not really a “new part”, it is a fairly big part of the package, as I understand it.

I'm actually thinking about this for my Cooper.
ANTSMINI

Hmm, funny when I posted on NAM that this was coming to the US, everyone called me liar.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabriel Bridger

That's the list of components as seen on the official MINI bulletin.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabriel Bridger

DC: I believe it's for the same reasons that the JCW kit for the MCS is a dealer installed item. The factory just isn't set up to incorporate those type of changes. Remember the engines come delivered to the factory completely assembled and crated. To do this type of work at the factory would involve tearing engines down and installing these new parts. I'm sure it could be done but the percentage of MINI's that come with either package isn't great enough to justify the retooling expense I would assume.
http://www.northamericanmotoring.com David Bunting

Ants,

I remember that post specifically.

We went back to MINIUSA with that direct question and were told in no uncertain terms at the time that they were not bringing the Cooper version of the JCW kit to the U.S. Basically the reasoning went that the market for people willing to pay $3000 for 11 hp in a Cooper is very small, especially considering that most people intersted in more power would spend the $3000 to get the COOPER S and start at 163 HP (vs 126 HP JCW).

Someone at MINIUSA must have had a change of heart, because I see nothing in the original reasoning that doesn't still apply (actually now, it's going to be 126 hp vs. 170 hp)

Dave
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabriel Bridger

BTW I should have a short review by the end of the week. It'll be interesting to compare the kit to my Cooper which has both an aftermarket exhaust and a cold air intake.
dgszweda1

That is exactly what MiniUSA said about the JCW Cooper. They thought no one was willing to pay that sort of money for the horsepower.

I still don't think it will sell. Will someone buy it? Sure, there are people out there I am sure who would pay $8,000 for this kit if it was offered at that price. Probably not many, but someone would. The price is $310 for a horsepower. Put the AmD chip, Mini exhaust and an intake and you would have about the same power. I have not seen any positive review for the JCW Cooper. I would hardly doubt anyone would really feel a big difference in the 11hp.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabriel Bridger

Part of me thinks there's no point in being negative about the MC JCW due to it's low power numbers vs price. I mean it's pretty obvious it's way down on power in terms of money spent and I don't think anyone will disagree with it. If you want max HP for the least amount of money you probably would be getting something else anyway. One thing to remember – this kit is not really for mass consumption and it's not really meant to be a big money maker either.

On the other hand I wonder if real issue is JCW hurting it's credibility to MINI owners like yourself who would like to something with a more comparable price with a more respectable output. Is this all JCW can give us? This is afterall the MINI factory tuner – the only one in the US atleast.
http://users.adelphia.net/~rocketboy/index.html Rocketboy

My theory is that the offical MINI JCW kits are intended to be on the 'safe' side of modifications. That MINI specifically does not want JCW to push the engine too hard, in order to ensure that there's no problems down the road. It's like the whole how much power can the CVT handle conterversy. It can probally handle more hp than the JCW Cooper kit puts out, but at the cost of added wear and tear down the road.
dgszweda1

I agree not to continue arguing over the power to dollar ratio. But this is the only thing the JCW is selling. A power increase! They haven't mentioned other benefits. It would have been cool if they added some other “cool” features such as carbon fiber dash, maybe a suspension or brake component. I like the MC even though I have an MCS. I think it would be great if JCW had accentuated some of the other benefits of the MC such as braking and suspension, I think they would sell a ton.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabriel Bridger

Yeah that would have been ideal. Of course when this kit first came out in the rest of the world there wasn't an MCS.
Josh

Has anyone tried the Mini Mania Stage 1 Cooper package? It comes with a new cold air intake, Borla street exhaust, 1″ lowering springs, and a thicker rear anti-roll bar. For $1375, it seems like a great deal especially since it adresses both airflow and suspension issues.
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Mark

What mods have people out there done to their coopers (not Cooper S owners)? I’ve driven a few Coopers with the basic intake/exhaust setups, and to be honest with you I prefer the drive in them over my stock cooper S. They’re not as fast, but theres more to driving than speed. They make great noises without being obnoxious.
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