jaybo
RMS Regular
Hi all,
Been a long time since I posted in here but after coming back from living abroad for a few years I decided to buy myself another project car. I had been toying with the idea of a MINI a few years back but was not on the look out this time round, however this wee car fell into my lap. It's a 2005 R53 and had relatively low mileage for it's age (sub 90k). After a bit of research on the car I found out that it had been categorized more than once and almost didn't buy it, but after a bit of convincing myself that if it turned out to be a bundle I would just turn it into a track car and keep it rather than try to sell it on.
I decided from the off that as this was going to be my daily road car and not the project I had in mind, I was going to keep it standard but we all know how that goes and the slippery slope started when I decided to replace the chrome grill upper and lower which had a crappy wrap job on it for a black sports style jobbie.
Next thing I changed was the factory IC which had seen better days for a 2nd hand hobo I picked up locally and replaced the enclosed CAI which had also seen better days. I also upgraded the HT leads and fitted new cooler spark plugs at the same time.
I had been on the lookout for I new set of wheels in white and by chance had it, I came across a set of Rotiform BLQs in 17x8 ET30 which would give the car a bit more stance and fill the arches better.
Next up it was lowering the car. I had pretty much committed to modifying the car further at this point but had told myself it was going to be a budget build so coilovers or bags were out of the question. I picked up a set of Tien 30mm springs from the same fella I bought the IC off, these springs had seen practically no use (under 50 miles) and looked like they had just came out of the box.
At this point I was happy enough to let the car sit as was for a bit and instead sort a few jobs that I discovered needed doing after purchase, the main one being that the supercharger was on its way out and had been ran with little or no oil in it. It would have been coming up to the infamous 100k service but mine was too bad to save so picked up a low mileage one of a car with only 36k on it, and likewise the PSP was starting to go so replaced that too. Sods law being what it is, when it was in to get these replaced there was a crack discovered in the alternator housing so that also needed replaced. At this point I was considering throwing the towel in on the wee car and breaking it for parts, however I convinced myself that now that these ticket items were replaced the worst would be behind me so cracked on with getting the repairs made.
I'd always liked the idea of a big wing on MINIs like the challenge cars but decided to go with something more street orientated and ordered a Chromiumtech wang
Little details were continued to be addressed and added such as the "S" on the grill and the removal of as much of the chrome from the inside of the car as possible.... for now the car was done it was time to just drive the thing.........
That was until before long I got the itch again. R53s are renowned for running hot and heat soak issues and decided that I was gonna add some bonnet vents to help with this. After searching for what must have been a month a friend sent me a link to these mustang vents so ordered a set up and set about painting and cutting them in
By now the car was starting to look more aggressive so I thought it was time to make it sound a bit more too and proceeded to de-cat. The car already had a milltek cat back non resonated exhaust on it so I picked up a 2nd hand manifold and had both cats removed, sleeved and welded back up again (Before & After) (I have since put the cat back in as it was too bloody loud)
I'd met a member on here (Ryan) on on of the burger runs who has a bagged R53 and had a massive wing on it which I thought to myself I need that in my life so got one ordered and painted it in the shed and fitted though I couldn't bring myself to removing the other one and ran with both for a short time before picking myself up an R50 small lip to replace the first wing (which was the right decision lol)
That's it, I'm finished I foolishly told myself :-P
That was until I paid a visit to the Nurburgring and drove a few laps... I'd wanted to replace the standard S seats for buckets for a long time and this had spurred me on to take a more full on approach with the car so ordered a cage and picked up some Cobra Clubman bucket seats, got them fitted and added some led lighting to the rear of the car. I also ordered a genuine GP2 rear seat delete and fitted that along with a fire extinguisher for that track look and started trying to source some harness'
Continued.....
Been a long time since I posted in here but after coming back from living abroad for a few years I decided to buy myself another project car. I had been toying with the idea of a MINI a few years back but was not on the look out this time round, however this wee car fell into my lap. It's a 2005 R53 and had relatively low mileage for it's age (sub 90k). After a bit of research on the car I found out that it had been categorized more than once and almost didn't buy it, but after a bit of convincing myself that if it turned out to be a bundle I would just turn it into a track car and keep it rather than try to sell it on.
I decided from the off that as this was going to be my daily road car and not the project I had in mind, I was going to keep it standard but we all know how that goes and the slippery slope started when I decided to replace the chrome grill upper and lower which had a crappy wrap job on it for a black sports style jobbie.
Next thing I changed was the factory IC which had seen better days for a 2nd hand hobo I picked up locally and replaced the enclosed CAI which had also seen better days. I also upgraded the HT leads and fitted new cooler spark plugs at the same time.
I had been on the lookout for I new set of wheels in white and by chance had it, I came across a set of Rotiform BLQs in 17x8 ET30 which would give the car a bit more stance and fill the arches better.
Next up it was lowering the car. I had pretty much committed to modifying the car further at this point but had told myself it was going to be a budget build so coilovers or bags were out of the question. I picked up a set of Tien 30mm springs from the same fella I bought the IC off, these springs had seen practically no use (under 50 miles) and looked like they had just came out of the box.
At this point I was happy enough to let the car sit as was for a bit and instead sort a few jobs that I discovered needed doing after purchase, the main one being that the supercharger was on its way out and had been ran with little or no oil in it. It would have been coming up to the infamous 100k service but mine was too bad to save so picked up a low mileage one of a car with only 36k on it, and likewise the PSP was starting to go so replaced that too. Sods law being what it is, when it was in to get these replaced there was a crack discovered in the alternator housing so that also needed replaced. At this point I was considering throwing the towel in on the wee car and breaking it for parts, however I convinced myself that now that these ticket items were replaced the worst would be behind me so cracked on with getting the repairs made.
I'd always liked the idea of a big wing on MINIs like the challenge cars but decided to go with something more street orientated and ordered a Chromiumtech wang
Little details were continued to be addressed and added such as the "S" on the grill and the removal of as much of the chrome from the inside of the car as possible.... for now the car was done it was time to just drive the thing.........
That was until before long I got the itch again. R53s are renowned for running hot and heat soak issues and decided that I was gonna add some bonnet vents to help with this. After searching for what must have been a month a friend sent me a link to these mustang vents so ordered a set up and set about painting and cutting them in
By now the car was starting to look more aggressive so I thought it was time to make it sound a bit more too and proceeded to de-cat. The car already had a milltek cat back non resonated exhaust on it so I picked up a 2nd hand manifold and had both cats removed, sleeved and welded back up again (Before & After) (I have since put the cat back in as it was too bloody loud)
I'd met a member on here (Ryan) on on of the burger runs who has a bagged R53 and had a massive wing on it which I thought to myself I need that in my life so got one ordered and painted it in the shed and fitted though I couldn't bring myself to removing the other one and ran with both for a short time before picking myself up an R50 small lip to replace the first wing (which was the right decision lol)
That's it, I'm finished I foolishly told myself :-P
That was until I paid a visit to the Nurburgring and drove a few laps... I'd wanted to replace the standard S seats for buckets for a long time and this had spurred me on to take a more full on approach with the car so ordered a cage and picked up some Cobra Clubman bucket seats, got them fitted and added some led lighting to the rear of the car. I also ordered a genuine GP2 rear seat delete and fitted that along with a fire extinguisher for that track look and started trying to source some harness'
Continued.....
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