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My Other Project: 2006 R53 MINI Cooper S

When I was younger I wished away my late teens yearning to be 21 so my Insurance would be cheaper..... it just went up

Then the magic number was 30 so I had cars on limited mileage policy's, all it did was increase,

Lo and behold my 30's passed me by with all manner of motoring Exotica, most of which I never even took a picture of, but I saved all the Stubbs off the log book !!!!

As my 40's loomed on the horizon I'd eventually worked out that the holy grail of car Insurance renewals were just another means to relieve me of my hard earned cash,
My 50's are staring me in the face, I'm not sure if I'm having a mid life crisis.... I started off driving a mini at 17, the only mod I made on that car was a centre exit cherry bomb exhaust, oh and I wrapped the alternator in an empty sunblest bread poly bag ! Those who had an original mini know why !

:grin:

Any way, back on track, I've parked the MINI purchase obvious reasons, that and the fact that I refuse to pay crazy prizes, the chap selling said it'll be worth £40k in another 30 years and he might just keep it..... I drew breath but managed to stop myself telling him he won't be here to prosper from his windfall.

In retrospect I should have asked him how much his Insurance was :floor:
Just so I know when I'm 84 how lucky I'll be !

The car has done between 12 miles and less than 2K a year between MOT's
It seems a fair bit at just over 3k but how long will I have to wait for another in this condition ??
 
Hi Guys

Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. Im pleased its not a real issue, and I will have a look at the forums mentioned.

Berni
 
C4Silver said:
The car has done between 12 miles and less than 2K a year between MOT's
It seems a fair bit at just over 3k but how long will I have to wait for another in this condition ??

The only way that car's in good condition is if its been garaged it's whole life and it hasn't been driven in the rain. Otherwise, it'll be like any other underused car, rusty underneath and in need of a lot of new gaskets, seals and bushes. They made plenty of them, and they're easy enough to return to stock, so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to appreciate.
 
I'm not wanting it to appreciate, I'm going to de chrome it, change the wheels , intercooler, exhaust, filter, re map etc, keep it a few years and pass it on, I just wanted a good base car to start from without having to spend a grand before I start modding it,
 
C4Silver said:
My 50's are staring me in the face, I'm not sure if I'm having a mid life crisis.... I started off driving a mini at 17, the only mod I made on that car was a centre exit cherry bomb exhaust, oh and I wrapped the alternator in an empty sunblest bread poly bag ! Those who had an original mini know why !

Sound very much like me! I learnt to drive in my mums mini when I was 12, then my first car was a mini, 2nd car was a mini. In my college holidays I used to work for the local mini specialist and learnt all about them mechanically, which I put into good use on my own mini as i couldnt afford to take it to garages. I moved onto other cars in my 20`s but always wanted to get another classic mini.

I had zero interest in the "new" mini`s until the wife bought one last year. I took it for a drive and was amazed at how much like the classic mini`s they actually were to drive, especially the R53 with the supercharger whine.

Theres loads out there for sale, so I wouldnt rush into getting one if your not sure.
 
Thanks, I read somewhere once that every driver in the U.K. ? Had been touched by a mini at some point in their life, either owned or driven or even a passenger, a relative owned one or a friend.
The article went on to say that there's multiple cars that you have been in but can't ever remember but you always remember the mini !

I think it's safe to say I'm getting one, my Son is making sure of it ! He has countless copies of performance MINI and has had designs on one for the past 18 months, last year I went to a MINI to buy a Countryman JCW body kit in the light grey with JCW seats and the whole body kit. The sales guy was complete idiot and even bragged how he never gave any discount, so we went and bought a Tiguan instead.

It's safe to say my Son was gutted !

These bloody things are more confusing than 911's with all the designations and types, specs etc. My son has found a JCW R53 Factory 210 ? Which must have come from the factory in Sussex before BMW bought the name ?
Again it's a 1 owner, it's got a chrono pack ? Sat Nav in the centre where the speedo should be and two pods on the steering column and not one ?
What looks like a shift light ? It's got red brakes JCW ones, and it's numbered but quite low. It's 2003
It also has two VDO gauges in the centre console ?
I thought these early cars were 200 and then later 210 ? Also this should have an LSD right ?
The seller states it is a factory car NOT dealer fit ? But the factory fit didn't come till BMW bought the name and applied it at he production line and not in the dealers ? Arghhhhh confusing times.

It's safe to say that the JCW cars command the higher price, when you look at a pulley an intercooler, injectors, filter etc it's more cost effective to buy low price on a stock Cooper S Suoercharged and throw the mods at it as suggested above.

Manifold and exhaust, shocks and poly bushes ?

For a couple of grand it seems daft to not dabble in one, I'll keep you posted and hopefully pick up some good ideas from here ?
 
It seems like you've found an early fJCW but I don't recall when the switch from the dealer-fitted kit happened (there weren't that many). All MINIs were made at what MINI calls 'Plant Oxford', except the GP1s which were assembled by Bertone in Italy.

It's worth checking the VIN to get the full original specification, as the LSD was I think still an option (only £100 but you'd be surprised at how many people didn't tick that box...). The VDO gauges and shift lights are aftermarket. If you're not minded to modify much, then a JCW might be worth it, especially if loaded with carbon fibre and other JCW branded stuff. There is a chance that this car has been "returned to stock" (or demodified), so it's worth a good poke around underneath and in the engine bay. And look out for rust on the bootlid, and excessive stone chips.

You'd still need to allow for normal and preventative maintenance, and stuff like the FWRBs, shocks, etc. might need replacing.

A JCW would work well with a new manifold to improve the breathing (it should already have the JCW catback) and – if you like corners – then a decent set of coilovers, with new adjustable rear control arms and adjustable drop links all round is essential for a good set up. Plus of course non runflats and lightweight rims. Then all you'll need is decent pads, fresh fluid... ah well, you know how it is.
 
All the ones which have sat nav have the 2 pods on the steering wheel - one for the rev counter and the other for speedo. When I got mine, one "must have" for me was to not have that and have just the central speedo.

The 2 VDO`s in front of the gear stick were options, they command good money 2nd hand alone.

JCW bits like the hand brake, gear stick, carbon dash, steering wheel all fetch silly money now so factor that in to the cost over a non JCW. If its got the JCW bucket seats, them alone are £1500.

The early JCW kits were dealer fitted and you should get a certificate to confirm this, it might be the owner is confused saying it was factory, or it maybe a very early one being as its 2003.

With tuning, most UK tuning companies say the stock exhaust manifold is very good and even go as far as to keep the cat as the supercharger likes the back pressure. I think it was 1320 mini who did lots of testing on this. What some people do is to get rid of the pre-cat by fitting a janspeed manifold but ditch the decat and add the original mini cat to get the best results, but in the main you are better off spending money elsewhere initially.
 
My wife has a 2006 R53 Cooper S with a dealer-fitted JCW kit. The car is great fun to drive, and she refuses to let me modify it.
But if I was allowed, the two things that would top my list are:
1) new coilovers; the ones on there are rock hard and spoil the ride. The car is not tracked and never will be, and I find it too harsh. My 993 is much nicer.
2) better brakes; I imagine they are the normal R53 S brakes, and I would upgrade them to R56 S ones.

Oh, and fixing the oil leak would be nice, but that's another story.
 
Counter Of Beans said:
My wife has a 2006 R53 Cooper S with a dealer-fitted JCW kit. The car is great fun to drive, and she refuses to let me modify it.
But if I was allowed, the two things that would top my list are:
1) new coilovers; the ones on there are rock hard and spoil the ride. The car is not tracked and never will be, and I find it too harsh. My 993 is much nicer.
2) better brakes; I imagine they are the normal R53 S brakes, and I would upgrade them to R56 S ones.

Oh, and fixing the oil leak would be nice, but that's another story.

Well, you could try non run flats, or smaller/lighter rims. Both help the ride and handling. And a decent aftermarket brake pad such as a Mintex M1144 would help you stop (if you're not tracking it). SWMBO wouldn't notice new pads or new rubber would she?
 
Yes MaxA you're right about the wheels - already has non-runflats on it.
I fancy some 16 inch ones, perhaps Oz Alleggerita's which should reduce the weight a bit. Need to wait until the tyres need replacing though.
Good shout on the ads, cheers.
 
Handing wise, mine came with dunlop runflats on it and the handling was shocking. I replaced the suspension with AP coilovers, poly bushed the whole front end and corrected one of the strut towers which was mushroomed. The handling was transformed! And that was with still running the dunlop run flats! I was convinced that they were the issue, but with the new suspension they were great! Of course, once they were worn out I replaced them with some non runflat michelins and the ride was better, but not as big of a difference as sorting the suspension out made.
 
Yeah, the plan would be to fit 16" wheels with new coilovers at the same time, and hope that Mrs COB doesn't notice.
I don't want to lower the car, because we are cursed with a plague of speed bumps around here.
Now, do the AP coilovers lower the ride height, Brer Rabbit? And are they nice and compliant?
 
Counter Of Beans said:
Yeah, the plan would be to fit 16" wheels with new coilovers at the same time, and hope that Mrs COB doesn't notice.
I don't want to lower the car, because we are cursed with a plague of speed bumps around here.
Now, do the AP coilovers lower the ride height, Brer Rabbit? And are they nice and compliant?

The AP coil overs can be as high or low as you want. My daily commute is very bumpy B-Roads and when I get to work theres lots of speed ramps, so whilst mine is lowered a bit, ive kept it looking sensible & practical. I did remove the very lower lip off the front bumper which you dont notice, but that did give me a bit more clearance.

Im pretty pleased with the ride. I was expect it to be a bone shaker as the AP`s are a bit sportier than stock & I polybushed the whole front end. Im also running solid top mounts up front. But, the ride is actually pretty good.

TBH I only went for the coil overs as they were cheaper (at the time) than going for stock shocks and they gave me just a bit more adjust ability if required. You could probably go for some uprated struts instead if you see any at a decent price.
 
:thumb: Monsieur Rabbit.
 

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