Mini Clubman Tuning

"Tuning guide to the greatest Mini Clubman modifications."

Offering a little more space than the Mini One, the Clubman improves much and even spawned a commercial Clubvan version.

The extra doors and size add a little weight but it still feels quite nippy and agile and with the right mods you can really transform the clubman.

The Clubman is a good car modification project to carry out. If you do your research then you can create an awesome Clubman but don't be fooled there are lots of performance kits out there that will simply not suit it read our unbiased guides first.

Tuning tips and articles

Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Handling modifications are at the top of your mod list for the Clubman.

Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you Clubman dramatically benefitting your drive.

We suggest that you fit motorsport suspension and lower the car by 30mm - 39 mm. Larger drops require arch work - especially on models already equipped with uprated suspension.

Top end power should be your overall aim on the Clubman with a nice fat peak torque band.

Clubman make good sleepers if you debadge them and fit the most powerful engine upgrades and handling upgrades you can !

The best power gains come from larger engine sizes. The more you start with the bigger the return on investment so engine swaps are good value mods for small engined cars.

Engine tuning mods.

Typically these performance kits are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you get going.

  • 1.6L I4 (One/Cooper)
  • 1.6L Petrol turbocharged i4 (Cooper S)
  • 1.6 L Peugeot DV6 diesel i4 (Cooper D and One D)

Second generation

  • 1.5L B38 I3 turbo (petrol; Cooper)
  • 1.5L B37 I3 turbodiesel (Cooper D)
  • 2.0L B48 I4 turbocharged (Cooper S, JCW)
  • 2.0L B47 I4 turbodiesel (Cooper SD)

Getting the correct grade of uprated upgrade kits for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 motor sport parts just don't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.

Best Engine Mods for your car

  1. Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings,  aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
  2. Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
  3. Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
  4. Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
  5. Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.

Typical stage 1 mods often include: Alloy wheels, Suspension upgrade (drop 30mm - 39 mm.), Panel air filter, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Lighter flywheel, Sports exhaust.

Typical stage 2 mods often include: fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injector, Fast road cam, Power/Sport clutch.

Typical stage 3 mods often include: Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Competition cam.

Your goal when modding the engine should be a nice flat torque curve. You don't want all the torque to be at the top end of the rev range unless you are creating a motor sport car.

The whole point of our articles is to give a brief overview of customizing upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is where you can ask for more detailed advice and tips on your customized car project, the best modified kits and all aspects of modding cars.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a single uprated parts goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine.

It improves the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a performance chip. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a competition cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.

Don't forget to ramp up the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.

Using higher octane fuel is another option if you find you are suffering from detonation or premature ignition on your Mini project after fitting other modifications. To get sufficient fuel you may need to improve the injectors on your engine.

If you are increasing your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust.  Contrary to popular belief there is generally a small power gain achieved by fitting an induction kit, they only help and are recommended after you increase the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

Derestricting the air feed into the engine is a primary goal of performance tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not really increase power and actually rob you of power.

Sports exhausts can help equal out the flow of air through the engine. But if your exhaust is too big, ie: it's over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose much of your flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Head work including a polish and port and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. In nearly all cases of Clubman tuning your clutch will start to fail and this should be improved - read our tips on clutches for more information. The best mods we would do for your Clubman are remaps, sports camshafts and induction improvements.

Remaps offer phenomenal power gains on all turbo charged cars. On NA (naturally aspirated) engines the benefits are doubtful. However a chipped ECU on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will help unleash the potential if you have done a lot of mods.

We've also come across some owners playing with twin charging applications and making some very high power hikes.

Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NA (naturally aspirated) engine will give large power gains. Superchargers are often easier to add than turbos. With a turbo the boost curve is related exponentially to the engine speed making it more challenging to map.

It is easier to map a supercharger because the boost is directly proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. Adding forced induction will generally require a lower compression ratio or water injection.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and better brake cooling. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tires) for your car, a good track legal slick tire can really enhance your cars handling. It is worth noting that although they can look cool on the Clubman big alloys will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.

Because of this endeavour to keep the overall rolling diameter of the wheel the standard factory sizes. In all cases without going over 18 inches and we prefer the feel of 17's on the Clubman.

If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss Clubman options in more detail with our Clubman owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Mini tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love hearing about our website visitors projects, especially the mods done and which work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these articles which are kept updated and constantly revised.

If you've enjoyed this page we would be very grateful if you could share a link to it on your favourite forums or on your social media profiles, it helps us keep going.

Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...

PLEASE HELP: I NEED YOUR DONATIONS TO COVER THE COSTS OF RUNNING THIS SITE AND KEEP IT RUNNING. I do not charge you to access this website and it saves most TorqueCars readers $100's each year - but we are NON PROFIT and not even covering our costs. To keep us running PLEASE Donate here

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Feedback - What do You Think?

Please use our forums if you wish to ask a tuning question, and please note we do not sell parts or services, we are just an online magazine.

Help us improve, leave a suggestion or tip

Your Constructive comments on this article, I really want to improve this article with your help and suggestions.


Please watch this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.



Member Benefits

Join our forum today and benefit from over 300,000 posts on tuning styling and friendly car banter.

You will also have full access to the modifed car gallery, project car updates and exclusive member only areas.

(All car owners of all ages and from all countries are welcome).


BMW 335i - 2021 COTY

We gave the BMW 335i our coveted car of the year award, read more about this awesome car and see why 335i Tuning Guide

Tips for N54 Tuning

Tips for N55 Tuning
Tips for B58 Tuning

Popular articles

Tuning diesels
ECU remapping
Double Clutch
Induction Kits
Customize a car
Chip Tuning
Modified Car insurance
Track day insurance cover
Remap Diesels
MPG calculator
DPF cleaning
Tuning Stages


Twin Scroll Turbos

Twin scroll turbos
Read more...

Automotive Engines

Automotive engines
Read more...

Matt Paint

How to get a matt or silk paint finish.
Read more...

Cool Car Photographs

Cool car photographs
Read more...

Drifting Techniques

Beginners Drifting tips.
Read more...

2004 Car News

Car News highlights from 2004
Read more...

MPG Calculator

MPG calculator UK miles per Gallon – calculate MPG
Read more...