Mini Cooper S One-Ball Exhaust upgrade

Project Mini Cooper S

By Francis Cebedo

So I can hardly hear the exhaust on this car. That needs to change. I find out my exhaust of choice, the Borla Sport is $900 plus installation. That’s not good!Then I find out there’s mod floating around enthusiasts and it’s called the one-ball exhaust mod. The Mini Cooper S has two muffler balls that work in series. The modification is to cut off the first ball, the resonator and just go direct to the muffler. It makes it louder, saves weight and increases power.

Here’s my compilation of the info from NAM.

oneball-mod.jpg

videos:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5029450707546421618


So I go ahead and do the mod since this seems like the smartest mod on the planet. Also I have a good friend Sean who owns Sunnyoaks Muffler who can do a great job on this at a great price.

I am not disappointed. The mod is perfect. It sounds great, just a bit louder than before, more power and 20 lbs less weight. WOW

Here’s a video I took. It sounds a little bit deeper when the car is moving and the engine is under load. Notice that engine gurgles a lot. That is actually normal. It caters to the enthusiast audience and gives the car a more sporty/retro exhaust note. This was made more pronounced in 2005 and 2006 Cooper S cars.

The sound is not perfect of course. The sound is a bit raspy and tinny. This is the natural sound of the Mini Cooper S and the One-Ball mod just amplified it. It’s not the throaty, snarling exhaust note of high-end exhausts. But, for $50 and all that lost weight, this mod is an A+.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5486473258910379659

img_2444.jpg

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Wordpress Comments:

  • Scot, Looks great!!! says:

    I have an 05 S that the muffler is rusting out(drivers side). Trying to figure out what to do without replacing the whole system. Any thoughts?? The whole system is $700-$1000,way to much! Thanks for any ideas. Scot

  • Matt says:

    I’d love to hear this with a decat pipe

  • AVT says:

    This is the mod I was looking for. Not only is the original “dual” exhaust design stoopid, it’s very expensive to replace. In my case, the “odd ball” happened to rot out (new england weather) which is common. Since most of the airflow naturally exits the ball to remain, the other one does not get as hot and has a tendency to rot from the inside out and fail. All the other components are in great condition. You just saved me a bundle as I’m looking to sell my mini, thanks for posting this!

  • chris says:

    I guess i’m no going to ask a question here since none of the other questions were answered.

    O2 sensors are before and after the cat and are not associated with mufflers or resonators. Should not affect electronics or 02 sensor. I would like to see a Y-pipe used and the resonater replaced for a dual out setup with smaller dual mufflers.

  • Malllo says:

    It would be awesome to have some sort of remote activated butterfly valves and some actuators. that way i could choose one ball or 2 whilst on the go. cant be too difficult…

  • roylutton says:

    where did u get this amazing mod from? can only find it on 2 websites for 179.99 is there anywhere i can find this cheaper?

  • Azrin says:

    Hmmmm…m just worried that it’ll affect the electronics or the O2 sensor…if everythings good, mite go for it

  • francois says:

    No side effects at all. It has been excellent and the volume is just right.

    I rev the engine more I think :)

    fc

  • Azrin says:

    Any side effects to this mod? I mean, fuel consumption wise or any others?

  • I want to do this to my mini, very good mod

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