R56 Factory John Cooper Works

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Got the exhaust unwrapped this morning and with the help of @Wild Thing we got the old exhaust off and Scorpion on
Old JCW exhaust off
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Scorpion set out for assembly
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And fitted
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Sound clip from this morning
 
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quattro Rick

RMS Regular
Messages
5,217
Drives
quattro / M796
Got the exhaust unwrapped this morning and with the help of @Wild Thing we got the old exhaust off and Scorpion on
Old JCW exhaust off
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Scorpion set out for assembly
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And fitted
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Sound clip from this morning


@Jonny @quattro Rick benchmark set for the burger runners, ya all need flame grillers now lol


F*#king awesome 😍 I've been informed by a friend that I drove past a farmer he knows a while back and he was quoted as saying this ridiculously loud red thing drove down the Belfast road spitting flames

Not sure if it does it or not mind you but it'll not be on a burger run till summer time possibly 🙈
 

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Just a little update this time. With all the additional parts fitted, it needed mapped to scale everything in. Got it back as a totally different car, really gets up and goes now
Grabbed a black powdercoated Forge header tank to replace my weeping OEM one
Old
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New
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As I literally had nothing else to do with the car, I decided I would strip the interior out again and give the carpet a deep clean as I'd never done it from getting the car. To be honest I never thought it was bad but how wrong was I :joy:
Nice and clean again after the wet vac
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While the seats were out they were steam cleaned and leather conditioned. Love the matt look when they are clean. Summer chequered JCW mats fitted also
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Herbert Austin

RMS Regular
Messages
359
Location
Dromore, co Down
Drives
Clubman/s
Looks superb as always Lauren :cool:

Forge header tank looks a decent piece of kit
carpets cleaned by a wet vac is a tidy job
Totally agree with you about the seats nothing better than the matt finish and smelling fresh of leather
 

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Looks superb as always Lauren :cool:

Forge header tank looks a decent piece of kit
carpets cleaned by a wet vac is a tidy job
Totally agree with you about the seats nothing better than the matt finish and smelling fresh of leather

Thanks Andy
Forge tank is a quality bit of kit alright but in all honesty I wouldn't be spending the £ they usually sell for. Was able to get this one from Forge cheap as it was a previously cancelled order so at greatly reduced price :cool:
 

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Haven't updated this in almost a year 😱
As previously mentioned before, I got the car remapped again. The main reason for getting it mapped again was I wanted to get rid of the terrible custom map from a certain English company. When I was going down the line of another map, I wanted to make sure I got every bit I could out of it and still be reliable (well as reliable as an N14 can be), hence the reason for the intercooler, exhaust etc. Anyway, long story short, a rattle on startup had began to form the very odd time and upon investigation the chain had stretched after only replacing it about 8k miles ago :mad: Live and learn I suppose.
So onwards and upwards, before I had the new reliable map on, another full genuine BMW timing chain kit was replaced again as well as a new rocker cover gasket
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New gates belt and replacement belt tensioner
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And fresh oil and genuine fiilter
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After that it was sent down to Murray Motorsport for them to do the business. As always top job, came back a new car and most importantly was running sweet and no ear deafening pops/bangs/explosions that likely done the damage to the chain and turbo in the first place. On the dyno it made 260bhp so was happy enough with that for it still being on the JCW turbo

Had notions on and off to sell it but every time I get in and drive it I remember why I love it. So now it was time to start ticking off the bits on the list again.
JCW badge had lost the red as they all do eventually so another genuine one was ordered and fitted
Old
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New
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Much better :cool:
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Next I managed to find a genuine JCW Carbon dash with the hidden storage compartment, I had been looking for one for ages (as they are NLA) to tie in with all the other carbon bits
Old piano black dash
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Carbon one fitted
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Over the Easter holidays it got a decontamination, polish, wax, headlights buffed and all black plastics treated with Gtechniq C4
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That brings us up to yesterday. I took a run up to the GTINI EuroTreffen show with some of the R&F Mini Owners Group members. Such a chilled atmosphere and great location made for a fantastic day out.

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Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
So as usual this was put away for winter, not much happened due to other projects but I did fit a new high pressure fuel pump as the old one was starting to fail
With the good weather I thought now was a good time to bring it out of hibernation
So off I set yesterday to get a fresh tank of 99 ron from @arnbeckett and today I got stuck into giving it a good clean and get it summer time ready
Full wash works using @Big Pimp Anachem range then a wax and arches done with C4. Still have the interior to do but that can be another day 😅

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Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Not a great deal has happened to the JCW this year.
I managed to grab a set of genuine black xenons for peanuts off ebay. The joey mod ones done the job and looked the part but I wanted the genuine OEM ones
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Next was the mirror caps. Mine were starting to show their age and since you can no longer get them from Mini, I brought mine down to Denver and he refurbished them for me. Come out good as new
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Then finally MOT. MOT ran out around about June, but as I haven’t been driving the car, nor had time to lol I wasn’t rushed. Got a cancellation today so very quick clean later and she passed with flying colours. A massive 1900 miles done in the last 18 months 😂
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Simon998

RMS Regular
Messages
11,590
Drives
Cayman S
Fantastic job. It looks great beside the gray r53 too. I prefer the interior and finish of the R56 but put off by the horror stories of the n14 engine, that said, it's probably as reliable as the r53's are getting now that they all seem to be around 100k+ miles
 

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Fantastic job. It looks great beside the gray r53 too. I prefer the interior and finish of the R56 but put off by the horror stories of the n14 engine, that said, it's probably as reliable as the r53's are getting now that they all seem to be around 100k+ miles
Thanks. My grey R53 is away now though 😔
R56 is certainly a nice place to be and much better as a daily, although they do have their issues (both N14 and N18).
The R53 is pretty bulletproof in relation to engine/gearbox. It’s rust that is their downfall. I would definitely wait for a facelift one though (late 2004-06) Much better finished as well as teflon supercharger. Provided it has been looked after I would not worry about 100k+ miles
Low mileage R53s are fetching big money and will only continue to rise
 

Simon998

RMS Regular
Messages
11,590
Drives
Cayman S
I've been reading the 05/06 ones have the better Getrag gearbox with LSD too. I'm going to head over to england for one once my house sale finalizes on the 30th. I think it has to be the same colour as yours though, it's the best colour combo for them imo.
 

Lauren_E

RMS Regular
OP
Lauren_E
Messages
446
Location
Tandragee
Drives
MINI JCW
Looks great Lauren, and was good to see it in the flesh the other day too!!
Thanks Scott. Can only apologise for the state of it the other day as it hadn’t moved or been washed in about 2 months 😅
Was great seeing it’s twin again lol good to see it’s in good hands
 
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