So back in September I was given this for my 21st birthday. A 2002 R53 Cooper S JCW with all certificates and paperwork, even the original invoice for the JCW conversion (Converted to JCW in 2004 at dealers). It is going to be a long term project to tinker at when time and funds allow. It really needs quite a bit of TLC to the bodywork but it runs and drives lovely so that's a good start. Being a 2002 car, it is the first year of the R53 production so they have created a register in order to give you your build number. Mine is number 5435.
Anyway here it is when I got it
The very first thing changed was the 2 spoke steering wheel for a 3 spoke steering wheel
Also the rear tail lights were very faded, not overly noticeable in photos but the lenses were very cloudy, so swapped them over for a new set
Old vs new:
Now that I'm off for a week, I have time to get few jobs completed one of which was retrofitting the factory Harman Kardon system as I miss it from my other R53. Every forum I had read suggested it was impossible to do, but thought I would challenge myself and give it a go.
We had a R53 in for breaking with the HK system so I stripped the entire loom apart an isolated the HK wiring, bit messy but got there in the end
Over the past few evenings @Wild Thing and I started tearing apart my car in order to lay the new loom and replace the old speaker wires and pins with the HK one.
Wiring along the passenger side and into the fuse box and passenger door
Into the centre console for the ISO block and round the driver footwell and driver door
And along the driver side to the rear quarter panel to the new HK amp
That is as far as I have got, have had the battery connected again to ensure everything is working as it should, before building up again. Will tidy up the wiring tomorrow now that everything is connected
While the carpet is out I have a genuine black one sitting aside to replace the blue one, also a set of full black leather seats to replace the blue ones. They will go in tomorrow hopefully
Anyway here it is when I got it
The very first thing changed was the 2 spoke steering wheel for a 3 spoke steering wheel
Also the rear tail lights were very faded, not overly noticeable in photos but the lenses were very cloudy, so swapped them over for a new set
Old vs new:
Now that I'm off for a week, I have time to get few jobs completed one of which was retrofitting the factory Harman Kardon system as I miss it from my other R53. Every forum I had read suggested it was impossible to do, but thought I would challenge myself and give it a go.
We had a R53 in for breaking with the HK system so I stripped the entire loom apart an isolated the HK wiring, bit messy but got there in the end
Over the past few evenings @Wild Thing and I started tearing apart my car in order to lay the new loom and replace the old speaker wires and pins with the HK one.
Wiring along the passenger side and into the fuse box and passenger door
Into the centre console for the ISO block and round the driver footwell and driver door
And along the driver side to the rear quarter panel to the new HK amp
That is as far as I have got, have had the battery connected again to ensure everything is working as it should, before building up again. Will tidy up the wiring tomorrow now that everything is connected
While the carpet is out I have a genuine black one sitting aside to replace the blue one, also a set of full black leather seats to replace the blue ones. They will go in tomorrow hopefully
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