Better cooling for your tuned Mini Cooper S
In search of better cooling for our forced-induction engines, engineers have strived to find the perfect solution. Bigger air-to-air intercoolers were great, but often resulted in a loss of boost. They also meant a huge inconvenience when trying to combine the larger intercooler with a small packaged engine: just like the MINI Cooper S.
Mini Cooper S has a weak OEM cooling system
The Mini Cooper S has a very small air-to-air TMIC (top mount intercooler) which gets all of its air from the scoop on the front of the bonnet. Tests have shown that air actually flows right over the top of the opening and over the bonnet, as opposed to going inside and reaching the TMIC. This is where different ‘ram’ scoops from various manufacturers come in handy, as they try to actually ‘catch’ a lot of this wasted air and direct it towards the intercooler.
Secondly, due to the size of the MINI and its packing requirement to have a very compact engine bay, the intercooler had to be placed on the top of the engine where temperature increases quickly. This means that any heat within the engine bay will rise to the intercooler. Also, the TMIC itself sits directly on top of the valve cover, fuel rail, injectors and intake manifold. This in itself could result in two problems: firstly, the TMIC is sat directly on top of the hot engine, and much of the heat will transfer directly to it. Secondly, due to all the ancillaries below the TMIC (as listed above), there is not sufficient air flow to decrease the absorbed heat.
All this results in the compressed air from the supercharger (which is already heated up under compression from the supercharger screws) not being cooled as much as it can be, and warmer air is reaching the engine. Engines function much, much better with cool air because it is denser and means that a greater mass of air can be sucked in to the engine within the same ‘space’ – allowing a more efficient and powerful combustion to be made.
So what can you do to improve your cooling system? ‘Just add water!’
Chargecoolers function by installing a water pump and a different type of core which, instead of relying on the flow of air, has water pumped around the outside of the core which cools the air passing through on the inside.
Key points of running the KMT Chargecooler and intercoolers:
- Water pump which functions at 23 litres per minute – ensuring the coolant fluid is at its coldest when it’s passing through the chargecooler.
- 0% pressure drop compare to OEM intercooler. We use a modified factory intercooler which will ensure your engine doesn’t drop any boost.
- Our system, unlike a few others, allows you to maintain the use of your air conditioning system!
- Consistent results even on racing tracks: the KAVS Motorsport Mini Cooper S maintained a 20°C difference compared to ambient temperatures.
These tests were performed when the car was fitted with our 17% and 20% reduced variants of our supercharger pulleys, which create substantially more heat than standard, in 37°C (and higher) temperatures. - Stock intercoolers can reach up to 100°C; the highest temperature our KAVS Motorsport Chargecooler has seen was a mere 65°C.
- Comparable systems on the market have been known to operate around 75°C with just an 11% pulley. Our results are based on much, much smaller pulleys which create a lot more heat.
- Water cooling is 4 times more efficient at cooling than air is.
- Imagine how quick water can cool something like a hot frying pan; a split second. Now imagine waving it around in the air until it was cold; significantly longer!
- Keeping your engine cool is vital in preserving the life of your engine. The KAVS Motorsport Chargecooler will help this.
So, don’t just think this is just for motorsport applications. In fact, if you often commute in urban areas with lots of traffic, the intercooler is barely doing its job when you’re moving at slow speeds as there is no fresh air being forced inside. The KAVS Motorsport Chargecooler will keep your temperatures constantly low whether stationary, crawling, or trying to hit that fastest lap time. However, if you are indeed trying to build yourself the ultimate on-track weapon, an efficient chargecooler is a vital component when building a complete engine package.
Order your chargecooler for the Mini Cooper S!
The KAVS Motorsport Chargecooler is perfect for tuning your Mini Cooper S and has plenty of appeal to many buyers. Why not order yours today?
The system comes as a complete package with everything you could possibly need to get the system up and running and replace that standard TMIC as soon as possible!!
Ordering: info@kavsmotorsport.com
