R53 Mini Cooper S JCW

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Lauren_E

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Saw this wee 2005 R53 Cooper S earlier this week so @Wild Thing and I went to look at it tonight. Instantly loved it and had it on the trailer heading for home. It needs some work done, but will come up well. New project for when I'm off in a couple of weeks
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Mickylad

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Looks well @Laureeno101, I can see it's not your first one either!

Had a wee R53 Cooper S and still maintain it was the most fun wee car I've had to drive before!
 

Wild Thing

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Sorry for the lack of updates but its been a little hectic in the garage
Engine finally out
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Silly spotlights removed. Think a new aero grill required
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The build up

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Kicking myself I did not get some pics of engineering work after it was done.
With a melted piston the bore on pot one was destroyed so engine was totally rebuilt from bottom end up which included

  • Crank checked and polished
  • New shell bearings
  • New crank bearings
  • New liner for cylinder 1
  • New piston
  • New piston rings x 4
  • Block surfaced
  • Head skimmed and pressure tested
  • Valves topped and seated
  • New valve stem oil seals
  • Compete bottom and top end gasket set, seals and O rings
  • New timing chain and tensioner
  • New LUK clutch kit


And £1500 later ohh boy still not finished
 
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Minikid

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Like this little car , but brings back to many bad memories - Fair do's for getting stuck in at the deep end
 

Lauren_E

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Lauren_E
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On detailed inspection of camshaft before rebuild, we noticed one of lobes of the camshaft was slightly marked. It really would have been rude not to address this issue, so new arrival in the post today! Newman phase 2 fast road cam

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Wild Thing

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Have basically set a benchmark of 210-240 bhp, the mods so far will be Alta 17% supercharger pully, Alta CAI kit, Newman cam, cool plugs JCW exhaust system and a remap, we are open to options on injectors, either 380cc or 550cc. Dont want to raise rev limits, more interested in very strong mid range to red line
 
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Deezer-D

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The Alta intake sits exposed in the engine bay and there's a lot of heat under the bonnet of these cars. Much better off with the enclosed cold air intake
 

Minikid

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Vote for the Orannje Stealth box from me - had it on mine and whine was great
 

Wild Thing

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Sorry guys for the lack of updates but it has been hectic in the garage and Laurens R53 has just been slotted in to the works schedule as and when we have time to work at it. We ended up on 380cc injectors to avoid a remap from get go. Rebuilding an engine is an expensive option but you know what you have at the end of the day
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We deffo have a very sharp little R53 on our hands, on a quick half mile shakedown and limiting engine rpm to 4K it genuinely pulls like a train compareable to a standard subaru wrx, so to say Lauren is well pleased is an understatement. Jobs still to do, finish bleeding new clutch, check all levels, fit bumper, remap after runnning in period and source aux lead for the iphone haha
 

Deezer-D

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Buy the £50 Alpine HU in halfords as per the thread in here. Did you go with the Alta intake? I bought my R53 with one fitted a binned it in favour of the Orranje Stealth. 380 injectors should be spot on without a remap
 

Wild Thing

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Has the HK fitted as standard with a nokia hands free that works a treat, Lauren has a great flip out kenwood so a hk enabler for the kenwood might be a better option. The alta? well its to early to say, not much whine out off the teflon bladed supercharger compared to the prefacelift chargers. 380cc densos seem to be working well and only getting a slight overrun
 

Daz500

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I've got one of these to rebuild myself - did you go for forged pistons or any arp bolts etc? I can't decide but from what I have read, forgies aren't needed which is surprising for such a little engine with the boost turned up due to the over drive pulley.
 

Wild Thing

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I've got one of these to rebuild myself - did you go for forged pistons or any arp bolts etc? I can't decide but from what I have read, forgies aren't needed which is surprising for such a little engine with the boost turned up due to the over drive pulley.

Keep it simple unless you plan to go 250 plus gee gees. Biggest problem is getting a good map to suit your mods thats why we went conservative on the injectors. Seen a lot of issues with bad maps on these engines
 

HWW

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Fiesta, Mini
I used to be in Mini's in a big way but you'll find once you go over 230bhp the harder it will be to get the power down and use it cornering. A 230bhp Cooper S can put in faster lap times than a 270bhp on some circuits.

The more you tune the more wear you'll put on the engine, I've found out over the years. My 1380 Rover Mini could do with an engine and it hasn't even got 4k road miles on it. So later this week some parts are going to standard so hopefully it last till I've got the money to re build it with new pistons and the latest Swifttune road cam.
 

Lauren_E

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Lauren_E
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Front end looks so much better now that it has been resprayed to remove stone chips and a new aero grill fitted.
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Also fitted an AUX input so I can play music from my phone through the H/K system without the need for a HK enabler
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Replaced the standard Cooper S gearknob and handbrake for the JCW carbon fibre upgrade parts
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So finally after a busy and expensive summer, I finally have my car almost finished. Just to drop it into PMG to get detailed. I have to say I absolutely love the car and so far hasn't been too hard on the fuel.
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Lauren_E

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Lauren_E
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Haven't the engine run in yet so not to sure until we get it mapped. Aiming for between 220-240bhp
 
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