Guide to the John Cooper works tuning kits for the R52 and R53 generation of Mini Cooper S

John Cooper Works (JCW) is a British car marque now owned by BMW and used on its Mini vehicles. Founded in 2001 by Michael Cooper, son of John Cooper, a racing car maker and tuner responsible for the original Mini Cooper. For the R53 generation of the Mini Cooper John Cooper Garages developed a BMW/Mini Supported Performance upgrade kit for the cars.

This guide is to determine on an R52 (cabriolet) or R53 (Hardtop) whether a car is a John Cooper works equipped car.

First it is important to note that the JCW kit started life as an UPGRADE KIT available at your local BMW/Mini dealership or at John Cooper Garages (UK only), it started out with what they call the 200 Horsepower kit or JCW 200 kit, which was developed for release in 2002 and was mainly installed on Prefacelift cars (2002-2004).

The JCW 200 Tuning kit Included:

Upgraded Cylinder head- The difference from a cooper S cylinder head being slightly enlargened on the exhaust ports.

11% Reduction supercharger pulley – Spins the supercharger faster for more boost

1-step colder spark plugs

A JCW cat-back exhaust system with decorative JCW tips

Replacement supercharger – Teflon coated core

Remapped ECU

Decorative Badges

Individually serial Numbered rocker cover plate

Later they developed the John Cooper works 210 Horsepower Kit or JCW 210 kit, which while able to be fitted to Prefacelift cars was mainly fitted to Facelift cars (late 2004-2006+). In later years in some countries a car was also able to be purchased from the factory as a JCW 210, these werent available in some countries and the upgrade kit was the only method of getting a JCW equipped R53. Factory JCW 210 equipped cars were sold from 2005 in countries where available but the dealer fitted kits were still available for fitment on older cars as well as if you purchased a new Cooper S and wanted to upgrade it.

The JCW 210 Tuning Kit included:

Upgraded Cylinder head- The difference from a cooper S cylinder head being slightly enlargened on the exhaust ports.

11% Reduction supercharger pulley – Spins the supercharger faster for more boost

1-step colder spark plugs

Uprated Injectors (380cc compared to original 330cc)

A JCW cat-back exhaust system with decorative JCW tips

Replacement supercharger – Teflon coated core

Remapped ECU (Different tune to JCW 200 to support the larger injectors)

Updated Air intake with Pod style air filter

Decorative Badges

Individually serial Numbered rocker cover plate

Now how do I tell whether the car I’m looking is a genuine John Cooper works Tuning kit?

The key thing to remember is that any cooper S can have any of the options that were offered from BMWs line of John Cooper works optional extras, even the exhaust and intake could be purchased as a package from BMW under the classification of a Sound Kit.

There are however a few key spots to look to determine if the car you are looking at is a real John Cooper works or whether its “Dressed Up” to look like one.

The first thing to ask the owner is Does it have the John Cooper works certificate- This is an A5 piece of card that was given to the owner with the VIN of the car put on it with the kit serial and generally popped away safely in the cars service book. While the owner looks for this, have a walk-around of the car, look for the JCW badges on the front grill and rear hatch lid (Some may have had them removed) and have a look at the exhaust tips, do they have JCW engraved in them? (Also may have been swapped for an aftermarket system)

If the car has these it is a great start- Many believe this is a way to determine it, but what if the any of these gets lost or damaged over years of ownership with many owners?

The next thing to check is the engine bay first key things you are looking for is a logo on the rocker cover with the individual JCW kit serial number.

A JCW 200 kit will look like the following:

A JCW 210 Kit will look like the following:

The extra checks

Once in the engine bay without having to measure pulley sizes or pull the ecu out, the best thing to do is to have a look to the left of the left hand side intercooler horn at the cylinder head – cars equipped with the JCW tuning kit will ordinarily have a red Stamp just there as shown in the image (Some factory fitted JCWs have been found not to have this red stamp)- Also ensure to check with the red dot that the cylinder head has an RA serial number , this will be either just above the larger number, or just above where the head mates to the block in the same area (Picture 1)

Other things to check is if the car is equipped with a JCW 210 kit you will easily be able to see a John Cooper works labelled airbox, and with a torch if you peak underneath the intercooler from the left hand side, you should be able to just see the injectors, a JCW 210 should have Blue Injectors whereas a JCW 200 or a standard Cooper S will have white or beige injectors. (Picture 2)

Image 3 shows the JCW injectors without the intercooler covering them.

Image 4 shows looking for the red dot on a car (In this case was a cooper S head, not a JCW)

Image 5 shows the difference between the exhaust ports on a head off a cooper S compared to a JCW head.

Some cars have had it the red Dot come off over its life so if you are still doubting whether it is equipped with a JCW tuning kit, both the JCW 200 and JCW 210 kit had a sticker on the ECU after tuning.

Remove power from the battery and let it sit for a few minutes and carefully remove the ecu out of the housing on the side of the air intake extremely carefully, you should see a sticker like this: (Image to the left) (Note not all cars had this, but still a good indicator)

If the sticker is there, you can be almost certain it is a John Cooper Works, the last check to ensure you have a full numbers matched car, is comare the Vin number on the ECU (Blacked out above for owner) with the Vin of the car, if it matches you have a numbers-matching JCW.

Summary:

Does your car tick all the boxes?

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All images used on this site for educational and informational purposes only- All details amassed from several years of personal learning and confirmation from others within enthusiast clubs, and through research through sites such as Wikipedia and sales brochures and part catalogues from BMW and Realoem.

I must thank fellow club members of the Facebook group R53 Owners club and the John Cooper works Tuning Kit Register for assisting by providing some of the images seen above, other images are of my own personal car (Not an official JCW but has a lot of optional JCW parts)

All details listed above are accurate to the best of my knowledge and has been reviewed by peers in the community before publishing.

If you believe a mistake has been made, please send an email through via the contact us page.