A very special little R53 MINI (now with Milltek)

[svensktoppen]

That sounds like a great trip! The car will do that no bother at all. Have fun

I can strongly recommend the overnight ferry to Holland. No checks of any kind other than ticket and passport. Don't know if it's the same on the French crossings. None of the current channel chaos to France either.

 

[_Stu_]

That sounds like a great trip! The car will do that no bother at all. Have fun

I can strongly recommend the overnight ferry to Holland. No checks of any kind other than ticket and passport. Don't know if it's the same on the French crossings. None of the current channel chaos to France either.

We have booked to go from Newcastle upon Tyne to Amsterdam overnight then will start our trip from there. Very glad I’m not doing Dover to Calais like the original plan was.

 

[_Stu_]

So much for not doing much this year. Got my hands on another aero grill with spot lamp bracket cut outs so decided to see how it would look with them fitted up. Really loving how it looks. Just need to get them wired up now.

Also ordered a tasty little extra which I’m waiting on arriving but that will be revealed at a later date.

 

[_Stu_]

Last year I fitted the aero front bumper and skirts but I didn’t get an aero rear bumper. I’ve always been on the fence with the aero rear bumper. Sometimes I think they look brilliant then others I think they are a little big for the car. Either way it was annoying me as the back end didn’t match with the rest of the car.

I found out that GP trims are available still and these sit lower and deeper than the originals but still keep that OEM subtle look which I like. Got them ordered up and they arrived last week but my car was away with @Wild Thing getting prepped for the big road trip.

Got the car back today after a full service, 2 wheel bearings and a new fuel filter and it is driving better than ever. Couldn’t wait to get it home to fit the trims.

This is how the back end looks now.

Think that’s all I’ll do with the exterior for now. It’s sitting almost exactly as I want it now.

 

[Lauren_E]

Looks great! The GP trims were one of my favourite mods I done. Subtle as you say but make such a difference

 

[Laundrymike]

Nice touch - car looks great and fancy a Clubman project myself

 

[_Stu_]

Nice touch - car looks great and fancy a Clubman project myself

Do it! I currently have a big old A6 as a workhorse and I’m looking in to buying a diesel clubby for nipping about in. Well specced ones seem to be holding their money very well though.

 

[Blackie]

Nice touch - car looks great and fancy a Clubman project myself

Are you still talking about this and not done it?? Hurry up ffs!!

 

[_Stu_]

Long post warning….

After many many months of planning, the big European road trip finally happened. The original plan was to attend the International Mini Meeting in Germany but it got cancelled at relatively short notice. The 6 of us decided we still wanted to go away and found a smaller Mini event in France on the same weekend. We also wanted to travel and explore some more places so it all worked out well in the end.

Our trip lasted 10 days and was mostly camping. We got the ferry to Cairnryan then another ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. From there we travelled down through Germany and cut across in to the Alsace region of France where we attended the Mini event. We then travelled to Switzerland and visited Kandersteg and Oeschinensee. On the way back home we stayed a night in Koblenz which was beautiful and then spent a couple of days in Amsterdam before returning home.

We all took our own cars which ranged from a 2002 R50 Cooper up to a 2014 F56 Cooper S and amazingly each one of them managed to cover around 1800 miles without any problems. I’ll admit I was really nervous about taking a 16 year old car that only gets driven on nice summer weekends on such a trip but thankfully it all went well. The unrestricted autobahn was also great craic for all of us.

It was a hell of a trip and I’m scared to check my bank balance but it was well worth it. It’s a holiday I’ll never ever forget.

 

[svensktoppen]

That's brilliant, you picked some nice spots there

 

[Todd]

Amazing. Those roads would have been great fun in the Mini!

 

[Wild Thing]

Holiday of a lifetime and the memories will still keep you buzzing when you are in the retirement home racing rolators down the corridors

 

[gav525]

That's a class trip you done there, doing Europe in my old GP is one of my favourite driving memories! Great wee cars when you get on some of them twisty mountain roads!

 

[_Stu_]

That's a class trip you done there, doing Europe in my old GP is one of my favourite driving memories! Great wee cars when you get on some of them twisty mountain roads!

Some of the roads we took through Switzerland and the roads in Alsace were perfect for it. Can’t get over how much better the roads are over there. Not a single pot hole on the whole journey.

Already thinking about doing something similar again in a couple of years.

 

[_Stu_]

Another year and another CCMC weekend. I absolutely love these weekends and it really is the highlight of the year for the Mini scene. After Covid killed off the last two years they came back and smashed it with the best weekend yet. 214 minis for the run on the Saturday night and 488 minis at the main Sunday show.

I decided this was a good opportunity to give Seth a good thorough deep clean inside and out. I haven’t had the wheels off to do inside the arches in almost two years now and I’ve covered a lot more miles than normal this year. Shock absorbers and some suspension arms have a little surface rust but nothing unexpected for 120k miles. Thankfully no signs of rust on the shell though. I’m not too concerned as at some point all this will want replaced during my ownership anyway.

September sees the last of the shows and runs so I’ll more than likely put it in to winter storage at the end of September.

Some pics of the cleaning and the weekend events.

Cheers

 

[Carson]

Car looked great on Sunday mate! Super clean.

 

[_Stu_]

And just like that, winter is over and we are back on the road again. Normally I bring Seth back out in March but this year I had a wedding to attend in Scotland and a busy month in work so I knew I’d not get a chance to even take it out a run.

After 6 months of being tucked away all I had to do was top up the tyre pressures, connect the battery and put a tank of fresh Super Unleaded in and everything is running happy again. First trip was down to cars and coffee at Dundalk and also took a little run up the north coast at the weekend. Forgot how much I love driving this little thing. I use my old diesel A6 for work and it’s great craic driving something fun and petrol again. Think my nephew was equally pleased to see Seth again too.

Next job on the list is to replace the springs. The rears have a couple of corrosion areas starting to bubble through so I’ve a full new set here just waiting to be fitted. Also have a pair of Lemforder top mounts to go in as the old ones are looking a little tired.

 

[svensktoppen]

Lovely

When storing the car, I think it's better to keep a full tank in it. The fuel won't "go off", at least not in just a few months over winter. What might happen is condensation forming in the tank, for example. Keeping a full tank while the car is sitting just reduces that.

 

[_Stu_]

Not being content with already having 3 cars to run and maintain I decided on a whim to buy Seth a friend. It came up for sale with no price, I enquired, and within a few minutes a decision was made to drive to Newry and rescue this.

It’s an 05 Cooper with 133k miles, pan roof, full aero kit, half leather sports seats, a 3 spoke steering wheel and a set of dished calibre alloys. She does want a little TLC to bring her back to her best.

First job was a deep clean and switch the alloys for my set of bullets that I have. This alone made the car look much more OEM and improved ride and handling greatly.

That’s really all I’ve managed to do so far. It’s taxed, insured, MOTd, ready just to jump in to and drive. There are other jobs on the list but I’ll get them done when I get some free time. First job will be a full service and headlamp restoration. I have new side indicator surrounds to replace the tacky and tarnished chrome ones. It’ll never be a show piece but will do nicely for nipping about in.

 

[ossy2004]

Massive improvement already. Great Stu, enjoy buddy

 

[svensktoppen]

It's amazing what a difference a little love can make. Perfect daily runabout that

 

[markmeus]

The wheels have made a huge difference to it. I should really get a thread up on here about my own and a new profile pic

 

[Todd]

Amazing the difference a good clean and a set of wheels make!

 

[_Stu_]

Back to focusing on Seth again. Last year when doing a thorough underside clean I noticed a couple of crusty springs at the back. They passed MOT fine this year but I wasn’t happy knowing they were there. My Birthday came around and a large red Eibach box arrived at my door. These were fitted to the car and all went smoothly.

In terms of ride quality they’re pretty much identical to OEM. If anyone has driven an R53 on 18s with run flats they will know it’s hard to make the suspension on them any more hard, crashy and unforgiving than they already are.

Loving the look of the car now. Not too low but the arch gap has closed up nicely. Going a bit slower over speed bumps but that’s the only drawback. I can now say that externally I’ll not be changing anything else. It’s sitting precisely how I always wanted.

I also went on a 850 mile road trip covering part of the Wild Atlantic Way with several other MINI owners. Some incredible roads and scenery. Would 100% recommend it to anyone.

 

[_Stu_]

Summer has managed to not really happen this year. Between rubbish weather, the black R50 and now the V6 Vectra (starting to think I’ve got a problem here) poor Seth hasn’t been out as much as I’d have wanted. We are now just around the corner from CCMC weekend so I got my finger out and got the interior cleaned and also fitted my brand new sun visor as the old one didn’t stay up properly.

Tomorrow will be a good exterior clean and tidy up a couple of last minute bits and pieces. Can’t wait for the weekend.