After being overjoyed that the new R56 MINI had a front mount intercooler we quickly discovered it's shortcomings.

The R56 MINI's small intercooler suffers because it is located below the front lip of the bumper therby restricting roughly 50% of the frontal airflow. It also suffers significant airflow loss over the sides and bottom of the intercooler as well. Being who we are we knew there was a simple solution to maximize the R56 MINI's intercooler efficency. We first created an air diverter for the MINI's intercooler that grabs 50% more air from the lower grills airspace and directs it into the intercooler. Next we added sides plates to our diverter to capture the escaping airflow from the sides. After this we focused on the bottom of the intercooler. Using a high density foam insert we are able to stop airflow loss at the base of the intercooler. These modifications solved all of our air loss problems and made for a drastic reduction in intercooler temps but we decided to go even further by adding dual spray heads to the intercooler air diverter. By using the rear wiper pump the intercooler gets a nice spray of fluid allowing the evaporative effects to really have a significant effect on recovery rate when things really heat up.

For 2007+ R56 MINI Cooper S Hardtop and the 2008+ R55 MINI Cooper S CLUBMAN.