A little update...
So after driving the hell out of the car through the weekend it kept making more power. For the most part I was happy with the performance by the time yesterday afternoon came. It idles smooth, it makes power from low RPM to high pretty efficiently, of course in cooler weather it's no surprise it's substantially faster. I'd expect nothing more out of the car though.

Now, here's where it gets interesting...
My wife and I hop in the car to go down to dinner and a fireworks display yesterday. It was 31 degrees C out and suddenly the car started idling rough, making very little power and you could hear the car was sounding almost like it was "loaded up". At about 11pm we fired it up to head back home and it ran great again. Again this morning it ran great on my way over to the Mini dealership.

After a 30 min diagnostic check it showed no error codes, the car actually does make boost (how much I don't know without my gauge installed) and the supercharger is supposed to be fine. The gentleman that test drove it today was one of the original techs that dealt with the early year cars (pre 05). He test drove it twice and he says that in its current state it works as it should. I explained the issues and he told me he's only seen this once previous and the car's fuel pump was faulty. He claimed that usually they either work or they don't but in this case they replaced the pump and it resolved it completely.

Instead of throwing $600 at getting a new one installed I'm going to of course change the filter first as they're only about $80. I think I'm safe to assume IF it's been replaced before it was some time ago.

I'll do a little searching around here on the forum tonight for fuel pump/filter threads to see if folks have had similar issues but thought I'd update you guys with today's results.

I've yet to crawl around to check the belt tensioner as the long weekend got away from me but I suspect now that the problem is intermitent that we can eliminate it as a possibility.

 

Sorry for the broken pics, just noticed them when I logged in to update my thread... should be all fixed now.

I've made some more progress and will get it typed out tonight

 

An issue with the fuelling system would've been my first guess given your symptoms. Could be the pump, filter, or even an issue with injection.

I wouldn't bother with a boost gauge unless you really like the look of one. Just get a bluetooth obd2 adapter ($10-15) and the free Torque app for android that monitors boost and whole bunch of other things.

For what its worth, my 05 with similar mods makes about 16psi. Your 03 should be a little less than that.

 

After the past week or so I'd tend to agree on the fuel system, will explain more in a minute.

Well the autometer boost gauge and pod are already on the way. I like actual physical gauges to look at, a little old fashioned that way.
Temporarily, for the other diagnostics I went with the suggested OBD2 adapter as we're an Android family. astroBlackMetallic_Mini suggested this a few posts back so I thought it'd be worth a try... definitely the cheapest accessory I've bought for the car. Should arrive next week and I'll get it set up and share the results with you guys.

Thanks for your suggestions

 

So where I left off was a severe hesitation, the more I drove the more it developed what seemed to be a pattern. Like I mention earlier, I wasn't about to spend $300-$500 for a new fuel pump without doing the filter and checking pressure at the rail first.

So taking out the old filter, I wasn't surprised to see it filthy. It was solid black with debrit and goo... I have no idea how fuel made it through at all! Got that changed and the reservoir was syphoned out. After doing a new fuel filter and taking it for a quick test drive it ran slightly better, however it was still not right.

We decided to drive it for the day without doing anything else to see if it would smooth out. Later that day I put a few 100km on the car but the hesitation and stutter still existed.

Here's where it gets a little weird. I woke up out of a dead sleep the next morning thinking "plugs". Originally when I picked up the car from Mini and brought it home we pulled the plugs and the gaps were inconsistent. Seemed odd to me all of a sudden that they were as far off as they were. Maybe they were dropped and just tossed in on a Friday afternoon, maybe one was faulty, maybe as earlier suggested the supplied Brisk brand of plugs with my upgrade package were junk.

That morning I took Kahnfucious' advise and set out to find a set of NGK BKR7EQUP, not as easy as I thought but within 3hrs I tracked down a set.
Got them in and this little car lit right up... the difference in power and response was amazing!!! With a grin on my face I pulled away from the shop and in both first and second gear it worked like a champ. Of course not wanting to be a total idiot in traffic and around other humans I mellowed out and drove home.

In normal driving conditions, in the higher gears (3rd, 4th >>) and especially uphill the hesitation was still there, even in some cases seemed like it was surging between 3000- 4000rpm under moderate throttle. Of course the higher the gear the more apparant the issue was.

We ran a can of seafoam through the car a few weeks back and it showed some positive results. Again before throwing another $500 at our next best guess I grabbed another can. With a full tank of 94 octane I added the suggested 1/3 can and only to the fuel tank.

After 3, 100km drives last night things changed. A good buddy of mine had yet to see the car and I wanted to have a visit. We planned for a test drive and a little fun, yesterdays weather was clear and finally cool. After checking the car out I warned him, there's a bad hesitation bla, bla, bla...
We hop in the car and let it warm up, switched off the ASC and took off. 90+ km later with both of us switching seats, the car didn't miss a beat, no stutter, it had the power I feel it should make, it's never drove better.

Dropped him back off at he laughs and says "you neurotic idiot, there's nothing wrong with this car" Laughing, and grinning from ear to hear I headed for home.

This morning I'm heading over to my buddies shop to check on a few things and I hope when I fire it up it's a repeat performance of last evening.
Could this be a case of a bunch of unnoticed issues compounded through this past few month's modifications? Could I have saved all this worry by simply modifying one thing at a time and not moving forward until it worked properly after each addition?

Most importantly, will this morning's drive into the city be as possitive as yesterday's... I'll let you guys know in a few hours.

Thanks again so much for your participation, you guys combined are far more efficient than the Mini techs!

 

Just a quick follow up...
In 350km the car has only stuttered/hesitated a few times and cleaned up its act pretty quickly. Considering adding another 1/3 can of Seafoam in the next tank for a little preventative maintenance and hoping to work out any other gunk that might be in the system.

Promise the next post will have at least a few update pics and fun stuff.
Thanks for reading and especially thanks to those who helped me troubleshoot the issues and for having such great threads so I can expand on my Mini education!

 

Finally got the mirrors painted Racing White (sorta Pepper White)
I think I've figured out my color scheme... at least I think so.


Will stay BRG with Racing White Mirrors, Stripes and partial roof and red accents (winter mud flaps, badges, dash lights...).
After the upcoming "All British Whistler Run" I'll recreate the graphics for some rally decals in red (instead of the supplied flourescent orange).



Still working on the roof idea, we want it White but I have a vision of a worn, tone on tone union Jack on the roof. Something that's subtle and just catch catches your eye in the right light.

Shot a few pics this morning up Mt Seymor, testing out the new Torque App.
I can now confirm it makes just over 15lbs of boost, interested to hook up the new mechanical gauge to see how accurate the numbers are.

 

Not a real radical update but happy to replace the "bike reflector" style marker lights with these chrome Union Jack LED units. While I had them apart I repainted the mesh to darken them back up.



Trying something with the switches, want them to match once I get the two blank spots filled. (for lighting) I don't want to pay stupid money for Mini brand switches, if I use these red caps I can use some generic 2 way units. I think it'll look pretty neat.



My favorite shot, a guick drive down Indian Arm Rd.

 

I've been following this thread for a while and I'm glad you've gotten most everything sorted out. I'm definitely seafoaming mine and checking the fuel pump soon.

 

Hey thanks, it's a relief to get it sorted out so I can just enjoy the car for a while. It's well worth checking your filter, not nearly as much of a pain as it sounds. Good luck

 

So a little more progress...
Cleaned up all of my plastic after trimming off any sharp burs and scratches. Our local auto parts had Wipe New on sale so I thought I'd give it a shot. Tinted all of my side marker lights after replacing one cracked one. Also added some knock off Racing Dynamics center caps just for the winter until I order my new wheels and tires.

 

These arrived last week, 4 Hella 500FF driving lights and the VIP quad light mount.



Got them mounted up but have yet to be able to spend the time to dig into the wiring. Hoping to get at it next weekend. I love the look!

 

A little performance update.
The car has been working well except for the random hesitation and stutter. It's been slowly getting worse. I've been struggling to pinpoint the cause, it happens night or day, regardless of temperature, driving conditions, how i drive it. Some days it runs like a champ without any issue, some days it's bad.
My mechanic pals have been helping me troubleshoot and the other day I got a text that read "run down to the underground and swap out that coil pack". I hopped on here and got to reading about the MSD coil packs as I remember it being one of your suggestions also. There's some horror stories and a handful of successful ones, I'm going to rely on the bulk of your results.

I dug out the old MSD box that had the original coil pack, it was returned with the car when the Mini dealer did the swap (the last time it ran well) Of course the old coil has seen some miles so I removed all of the rust from the No.3 terminal, sprayed everything with dialectric grease and installed.

In the box with the old part were 4 rubber grommets, I discovered Mini had not bothered putting all of the parts back on. It was missing them between the valve cover and the coil pack.
Will this cause any known issues without the rubber isolaters?

After putting on the worn cap (and I mean worn) the hesitation was non existent for the entire day. Yesterday we put about 350km on the car and it only hesitated once and it was mild enough if I wasn't concentrating I may not have even noticed. New OEM coil pack on order today.
Could a faulty (or dropped) MSD Coil Pack cause these intermittent issues you think?

From the start I know our worn new toy started to suffer from a stack of small issues compunded... very exciting to think I'm finally through the other side.

 

So, after installing a new OEM coil pack the hesitations at a minimum. Little enough that I'm considering just accepting that this may just be a little temperental Mini issue that I need to get used to. I don't know if the packs can ground out or not but I was sure to install all of the rubber isolators unlike the dealership.
It makes power, it runs consistantly (after 200km so far) so I'm happy for now. May order one of the Screaming Demon Coil packs in the spring but not after reading through all of the threads and comments on here.

Now onto the fun stuff, hoping to wire these driving lights on the weekend and play with some tint options.

 

Not a fan of the lights on the front but your attention to detail is an inspiration.

 

Thanks for the comment, I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to some details. Excited to get at the fun stuff now that the mechanical stuff is ironed out.

The lights, I know they're not for everyone but I'm heading towards a rally look and their function when I'm messing around at night. I have the All British Whistler Run that we're taking part in on the 20th so I'm dying to complete my wiring and details so it looks decent for the event. I know it's no show car and I'll do my best not to park it in the show when we arrive but it's all just for fun in the end. Don't think I'll get all of the stuff I wanted to do complete but there's always next weekend right?

Will post progress pics as I get my crap together!

 

Great thread ! Im also a new MCS Driver and noticed this same intermittent hesitation after one day of spirited driving . Similar to you the car also makes a weird idle only sometimes after sitting awhile . i will start with the basic troubleshooting maintenance items ( plugs + seafoam ) but im a little nervous about the DIY of the fuel filter . i have done a fuel pump before and needed to insert my arm into the gas tank to get to it (audi)huge PITA. i also did a ECU Reset and swear the car runs WORSE now.

 

Hey thanks
I think with some reading you'll find the weird idle is a common issue. From what I've read and experienced so far, a quick blip of the throttle is the fix.

The hesitation would be a different issue to start looking at. When I started with this car I read through the "Your ULTIMATE R53 Newbie, DIY, and Performance Guide" which helped tons.

The fuel filter wasn't as bad as you'd think. The trickiest part was replacing the seals without any damage. Once the passenger seat was out getting to it is pretty fast. Made sure I opened the hatch doors and roof and worked outside, barely any fumes at all.

I've tried not to reset the ECU when there's an issue. From what I've learned with some guidance is that the ECU is compensating for any problems, when reset it has to get back to the point where it was compensating for the issue. There's far more knowledgable folks on here than me to take advise from but if it's running worse after a reset and the problem is worse it may be far easier to diagnose.

Congrats on the new toy and stick with it... when they work they work amazing!!!

 

Madness Motorworks Strut tower reinforcements to fix the "mushrooming" Mini



On the lift now at my pal Brians... he works while I read up on BC's vehicle lighting laws.



With a little tugging and a few taps with the rubber mallet the strut towers are nothing to worry about. Measures even on both sides now.

 

So after reading up on BC's lighting regulations...



I'm just squeaking between the lines.
Decided to tint the two center driving lights yellow and run them off of the Lowbeams, two outer driving lights will stay clear and run off of the high beams. Both with on/off switches.

Also read up on headlights, my yellow tint is out but... Daytime running lights/low beams I can run yellow H7 bulbs and I'll run clear for the highs.

A few nights back I spent some time down in the underground adjusting the headlights. They were aimed so poorley that without streetlights it wasn't really safe at speed.

I always remember dad doing this at night on the outside of the garage door every time he brought something new home (once every 3 weeks). Something that takes all of 5min and a screwdriver, it's something silly to put off. While I was just at the shop, they have the neat gizmos to align headlights. We threw it on for a test and they were bang on... the things you soak in as a wee lad do stick!

Was trying to decide whether or not the tint would live on the inside or outside using PS. Going with this first and if I decide later I may tint the other two.

 

New LED toggles (behind the shifter), one for the driving lights, the other for fog lights (in this case they're just driving lights with tint). Still have to cut the labels out of vinyl tonight.



Driving lights, all four. Need to get the new yellow low beams in and get rid of the orange bulbs in the lower marker lights.





Some nice guy left cones up on cypress!



Testing the driving lights, Cypress Mtn. (all four)



Testing the driving lights, Cypress Mtn. (center two)



This is an idea of the intensity... I'm standing just in front of the large dip in the next photo



They put out a good amount of light, maybe more importantly for me, they show all of the definition in the surface ahead. No more surprises from the road at least!



Testing the driving lights, Cypress Mtn. (all four)

 

i love my driving lights, i just need to reaim mine and make them a touch mroe rigid, im down in the lower grill =)

 

I have to spend a little time with mine and aim them better too. I wish I could have gone lower with mine but BC license plate laws demand a front plate. I ddn't want to use the tow hook plate mount at this point as I kinda wanted things symetrical. It took alot of deciding which mount and lights to use as an alternative.
The VIP mount I used is quite solid... only noticed a little flicker after a fairly substantial bump.

 

Hi, How are you enjoying the Madness Cold Air Kit?

 

My Saturday went down like this...

My pal Chris suggested I check both MAP sensors for goo and debrit. Still trying to track down the random hesitation in the car.
The lower MAP was clean and dry, gave it a clean anyway. The upper one was a mess. So far it runs way smoother but will give it a few days to make sure the car's not just in the good part of this nasty cycle. While I was under the hood I wanted to check and clean out the intercooler and replace the old boots.

Lower MAP sensor was pretty clean



Upper MAP was a mess






The OCD in me had me straightening and opening all of the fins again. I think all these years of "the worst place to set all of your tools" has taken its toll. Pretty tidy inside so I just cleaned it up with Brillo pads and a rubber wheel on the Dremel





Thought I'd post up a copy with the location arrows in case you guys don't know where they are... a cheap maintenance item considering the proper MAF spray cleaner was only $8.
Car's run hesitation free for 3 days now