Hi NAM. About a year ago I posted this introduction for my dads '02 base Mini Cooper. My dad is a busy man with little time for car maintenance and detailing, so I posted that intro to get some advice for his car and it was ultimately his decisions that decided what got done. Yesterday I purchased my actual first car: a 2003 Mini Cooper S in liquid yellow.

A little background on the car:

- the carfax shows no accidents and 4 owners, although it was deduced that it's actually 1 owner, but he was a military guy who moved to different bases in different states a lot and had to get the car registered in the new state, resulting in the added owner.
- the radio is some aftermarket pioneer unit. It's rather ugly and I might just go back to stock.
- it had ~75,340 miles when I bought it yesterday -- fantastic for a car this age.
- it was bought for $6,665 before taxes.

Some issues:

- although the carfax says no accidents, the bumper is in poor shape. It has some black paint transfer from something above the exhaust tips and numerous scratches in the area. The bottom of it is also loose and rattles when you drive, though it's still secure enough that I'm sure it won't come off. This will be fixed at the dealer soon.
- the passenger side a pillar cover is cracked and was taped over.
- the driver seat belt tensioner is weak and stays slack if you don't help feed it back to itself after unbuckling.
- the passenger side mirror has two hairline cracks
- the wheels have a lot of baked on brake dust that I'm having serious difficulty getting off. I don't know how often the guy washed his car but the wheels are actually rough with baked on dust.
- I drove 6 other S's in my price range before finding this one and although the quickness is there, it is noticeably slower than one of the S's I drove. I suppose this could be due to the age of the supercharger? Would changing the supercharger's oil make a difference?
- the oil light stays on for about 15 seconds after starting the car even when it's warm.
- the hood emblem is pretty trashed.
- the trim piece above the front left wheel was loose and almost flew off while my aunt was test driving it 2 hours before we got to the dealer and they did a pretty bad job of gluing it back on. It's pretty secure but out of alignment.

Other than those minor things (and I tried to list everything I noticed), the car runs super smooth even at 80+ on the highway.

So now that I'm an owner of an S, I'm curious. What are some no-brainer mods you guys think every S should have? I'm thinking about a K&N intake for the boost to MPG. Since this is actually my car now I'm open to any suggestions or tips you guys have for new owners.

Pics soon!
Seth

 

Welcome again

Hands down the first mod for an R53 is a supercharger pulley as it is by far the best bang for the buck mod you can do.

We also carry the parts you need for all the smaller issues you noted.

 

I figured that might be one. What exactly does it mean to say the pulley is 15% or 16% etc.? Is there an estimate for the increase in power/boost?

 

Welcome back to NAM!

 

Congratulations, Seth! Looking forward to some pictures. As for the wheels, maybe look into getting them refinished and powder coated. That should give them a new look if you aren't wanting to buy a new set of wheels. Here is a good thread on NAM about going with a pulley differences. See if it may be useful to you. M7 makes a pretty good one here. We actually will be having a sale this week for M7 product. Otherwise, when I did my build I started from the ground up. Focused on suspension and then worked on the engine bay. Take a look at some good suspension upgrades here. A good coil over with a rear sway bar is a great set up. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

 

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

Pics as promised:

 

Very nice! The two look great next to each other. I like it without the stripe look, but any thoughts to add any?

 

I may do that, but not until I've addressed the minor mechanical and cosmetic problems it has. Fixes first, upgrades later

I also just had the car inspected and my guy did find a few leaking components. The expansion tank is slightly punctured and leaking, though not fast and that is a simple fix. The power steering pump is also leaking slowly and that's a more expensive job so I may just keep topping off the power steering fluid for now. And that's it! No major issues.

When I stepped out of the car after I got back I noticed that about 2 inches of my door sill had come unstuck and is sticking up, which now makes a loud click when the door gets closed. I guess some double-sided tape could fix that?

 

Yes, fixes first.

The expansion tank is very common and very simple to replace. The PS is another common occurrence and yes, a bit more expensive. Do you plan to DIY any of these? As for the door sill sticking up. I believe there are clips that hold it down. #4 being the sill and #8 being the clips, part # 51711496621. Maybe pull the sill off and inspect the condition of the clips. It may be that you just need to replace one of them.

 

Yeah, I plan on doing anything I can myself. Looks like the far rear clip is broken, I'll need to replace that.

 

We have a great coolant expansion tank DIY article here that may be helpful to you. The Behr tank is pretty inexpensive too, but we have that one along with other options here if needed.

When it comes time, as the PS pump is a pretty expensive part, we have a great power steering pump DIY article here.

Otherwise, that clip should be pretty simple and an easy fix so that you no longer get that clicking noise and your sill doesn't get messed up. If you need any help with anything in the future please don't hesitate to ask! Good luck and enjoy your new MINI.

 

Thanks for the links! I'll check them out when it's time.

I'll be keeping this thread updated with whatever is done to the car. It'll be more of a progressive log for me to review, but maye that will be useful to someone else as well.

 

You're welcome.

 

Some updates:

Had the manual transmission fluid and expansion tank replaced today. We also discovered that my cylinder 3 has got some rust on the connection point behind the cylinder head cover (not sure what it's called), so the car will probably begin misfiring soon. Even worse, my driver side window stopped working last night. Up or down on the window button only produces a click from the circuit relay behind the glove box. The window motor alone is like $550 and that's not including labor or the regulator, which I've heard you should also replace with the motor.

In slightly better news, though now that we've discovered these problems I see the money could have been better spent, I bought new OEM taillights, hood badge, passenger side A pillar cover, and rubber floor mats since the car lacks floor mats entirely. They'll be arriving tomorrow and I'll post some pics when they're installed.

I guess the awesome deal we thought we got was indeed too good to be true. Even though the carfax doesn't show it, there's no way this car has not been in an accident. Besides the scratches and paint transfer on the bumper, I've noticed that the texture of the liquid yellow paint on the body seems much thicker than my dad's Mini or the roof. There's overspray on some trim panels and runs over the little lip below the grill. And I think that window motor is working against the window as it seems to be slightly out of alignment.

I still love driving this car but it seems like I'm going to be shelling out a lot more money than I thought to get it in shape again.

 

Welcome back! What part of NC are you in?

 

Thanks, I'm from Winston-Salem.

 

Very nice! We are just in Mooresville.
Also if you ever get the chance look up Carolina MINI Group if you have a facebook. Most of the group is Charlotte and Winston area.

 

If you're inclined to fix the window sometime soon, we have a window motor here, which is only $132 and the regulator is about $148 here. Believe if you order both they meet our free shipping requirements. Here is a DIY for the replacement.

 

Wow, awesome! Thanks a bunch! My mechanic looked the part up and estimated $550 but they don't know about you guys.

 

Nice looking pair... (said the Bishop to the showgirl...)

Motor on!

 

By the way Pelican I pulled up my door sill a bit more and it just looks like it's held down by adhesive completely. I don't see any clips.

 

Glad I could help.

Strange! If that's the case, then I'd suggest just picking up a 3M adhesive tape and applying a new piece.

 

I grabbed some 3M "extreme" adhesive (the 20lb variant) from Home Depot and it's doing okay, though it still pokes back up slowly. I'm not ready to shell out $60 for another door sill so me having to press it back down every once in awhile will just have to do for now.

 

The list prices for the driver side window motor and regulator are $142.63 and $218.28. You can find dealers selling these parts on eBay for below that with free shipping.

Google the part numbers 67626955875 and 51337039451 to find the lowest prices.

My mechanic quoted me 2.5 hours to replace both, so don't buy cheap replacement parts.

 

Do you guys think it's important to replace the regulator as well as the motor? To expand on what I already said, the window actually took a nap on me when I started the car a few days ago. Wouldn't go down after several pushes of the button, but on the fifth or so time it went down as normal and came back up a few minutes later. I had no problems the last few days until last night, when it quit completely. Pressing the button makes a clicking sound behind the glovebox, which I assume is the circuit relay trying to send current to the motor, so I guess the circuit is good up to that point.