Hello all. I have been on here for a few years. I have had 5 (6?) R53s now and an R56 and have been a MINI fan for a long time. I just bought an R53 locally for dirt cheap that needs some love but has massive potential. Let me introduce you to what I bought for $2450

2006 R53 with 125,000 miles with 6 Speed
Electric Blue with white roof and black leather interior
Has Xenon projectors/ Harman Kardon/ Auto Climate/ Auto Headlights/ Rain Sensing Wipers/ Heated Leather seats/ Sunroof/ 16 inch wheels/Driving lights/ Fog Lights

Things that were replaced in the last 3 years:
Timing chain guides and tensioner
Belt and belt tensioner
Front strut mounts and bump stops
Upper Motor Mount
Power steering pump and fan
Fuel injector seals
Valve cover gasket
Radiator (mishimoto)
Crankshaft pulley
Oil pump
Water temp sensor
Supercharger inlet seal
Throttle body seal
Front crankshaft seal
Brake fluid
Disc brakes all around
Brake pads all around
Valeo single mass clutch

Modifications:
Valeo clutch kit
TSW springs all around
RMW 250/400 street cam
Kings borne plug wires
NGK iridium IX plugs , one step colder
WMW 15% pulley
Alta 2% crank pulley
Alta belt tensioner
Alta intercooler diverter and couplers
Custom exhaust (2.5” mild steel, a 36” magnaflow glass pack muffler, a 12” vibrant performance bottle style resonator and a 4 inch oval tip)
Oil Catch Can
Custom CAI intake
Super Pro gearbox bushing
Powerflex lower mount
Powerflex control arm bushings
Super Pro steering rack bushing
WMW shift lug bushing
Racing Dynamics upper strut brace


This thing has had tons of mods but still looks pretty close to stock from the outside and interior. Just how I like it! The guy let me know the supercharger and water pump is dying and from the sounds it makes that is my first project to do! He has done everything to it that I would have done and more.... I am looking at spending a few weekends cleaning this up and putting it back together. There are a lot of interior items I am missing due to him half stripping the inside for a track type car. I will need your help to locate some of them!

The good news:
The car is clean inside and out. No wrecks. No Smokers. No Rust.
No leaks
No CEL
Tons of wear items already replaced
A/C works great
Car shifts smoothly

The bad news:
Torn strut mount
Dead supercharger/WP
Exhaust is loud as F&$K!!!
Missing lots of interior trim and pieces I need
Tons of plasti-dip on the outside trim and spray painted chrome I am sad about
Smoked tail lights look bad. Rear wiper delete sucks. Missing antenna.

for $2450. I am THRILLED!!!! I think with some money (Not a TON) I can make this car right as rain with a couple weekends of work.

Here are three pictures. I will be posting the bits I need to buy from you all soon! The exhaust it amazing but going up for sale as soon as I find a stock exhaust. (Hell, I'll give it to someone free for some interior things I need)

Let me know your thoughts as I bring this thing back to glory and finish the project the PO had started but ran out of cash and patience for.

 

What a great price for a car with a lot of good mods ( too bad about the bad ones lol)

Was kind of looking for a project in my area but people are crazy. 06 base with 175k miles needing a clutch for $4500 is a good example

 

Nice project find. If you need help, be sure to check out our tech articles here. Since the antenna is missing, maybe look into the stubby antenna. It gives it a nice clean look. If needed you can buy new taillights here. Lots of trim pieces, etc. available as well or if you're wanting to source used parts maybe search www.car-part.com. Strut mounts here are fairly cheap and easy to replace as well. Otherwise, that list is pretty good for what you paid. Looks like you should get it to where you're wanting it with ease. If you have any questions or need any help, let me know!

 

The hardest bit I am having trouble with finding right now is the piece that connects the rear two seatbacks to the car. He has all of them taken out right now but gave me all 3 parts. Two seatbacks and one seat bottom but I don't have the mechanism that sits in the middle between the seatbacks nor do I have the screw for it. That's all I think I need to re-install the rear seats if I recall. Also, he ripped off the shift boot and shift boot ring so everything is exposed... so now I don't know how to get a stock one with the boot back on or where to even buy one.

 

Looks like the fender liners on the front are missing...
I would get them...keeps heavy rain, roadspray, etc out of the engine area...dirt, water, salt on wires and electronics are a bad combo..
I would look at a junkyard...might be VERY cheap if you go to a pull it yourself type of place.

I read that TONS of parts were swapped off...Hopefully they were done right with quality parts...

 

I plan on getting the fender liners. The car won't be driven until the SC/WP are replaced quite a few weeks off when I have time. I also hope that the parts and labor were quality. Everything I have seen so far have been brands I would pick myself so I will be hoping he did a good job replacing them himself.

 

Is this the part you're speaking of?





If so it's part #4 52201511389 screw on diagram is 52207056516.

 

Yes that is it! I need both the latch and the screw marked #8 on the diagram.

 

You're quick! haha I edited the post with the screw number too slowly. It is 52207056516.

 

Do you still have parts to trade?

Mark

 

If you want to get rid of the tails let me know.

 

willing to bet you 5 dollars on paypal you have rust.

lift up the weather seal on the body side of the car in the footwell and report back

every r53 (and r56...) i have ever seen / worked on / helped on has rust here.

 

Just to update:

Took me a month to restore the car back to stock and driving 100%. Cost me about $1200 in parts and a lottttt of my free time. Completely worth it.

Had to redo..so..much.. of the wiring harness, inside and out. That sucked.
The stripped interior took ages to piece back together. It all is back together and looks 100% stock now. I spent over $90 in just SCREWS/FASTENERS/CLIPS for the interior!!!! Now it looks right inside.

I undid so many of his mods and had to redo the stock stuff back to the right way. Those of you who black out your beltline/badges and tail lamps and headlight rings and chrome trim all freaking suck. It took so long to get that crap off and enough chemicals to kill 10 men. If you do it, used plastidip! NOT SPRAYPAINT.

The car did have rust under the doors and everywhere usually on R53s else. I brought it into MINI who promptly agreed to fix it all for free and gave me an F56 loaner I've enjoyed.

The exhaust is still loud as hell but it's grown on me. All the warning lights are now off. Cleaned the P/S fan off and installed a grille over it to keep junk out. Flushed the coolant system and fixed the torn strut tower mount by replacing it.

I replaced tons of fuses, relays... put new horns on... fenderliners, all the usual stuff like spark plugs, coils/wires, filters, covers, belt, new oil and filter,
I replaced the SC with a used one and a new waterpump and seals. Worked like a charm! No more noise and lots of boost! $750 later.

Still needs to have stripes back on and a proper detail outside. Then it's set to go. Best purchase ever for how dirt cheap it was and how little I had to put in to get it back right as rain again for another lifetime of motoring. A 126K fully functioning,now very clean and now maintained R53 that is fully optioned minus nav. $3700 total spent including car+tax+parts. Cannot beat that.

Now I only wish there was an easy way to change the whole white roof and white rear spoiler to be black. Then it would be perfect.

 

I have to add, the valeo single mass flywheel is just freakin butter to use. I have a 2nd R53 with the stock dual mass oem setup and it's just not fun when I compare the two. Absolutely worth it.

 

Mini fixed your rust for free? No way. Do you frequent the dealer? Where do I sign up?

 

Great job with your project! If you're wanting to paint the roof and spoiler yourself, a couple of members have done exterior body parts with rattle cans. Check out this NAM thread here with some useful information if you feel that you want to tackle this job.

 

Sorry, I couldn't decipher the exact location where you are suggesting that rust may be. I'd like to check mine...

Are you talking about the area under the carpet in the passenger foot-well?

 

Open the door (driver or pass) look at the top of the door "jam" where the big thick black "weatherstrip" goes around the whole jam to seal it, against the door. Peel it up on the bottom. (Don't worry - its easy to put back on)

There will be rust there. I'd bet.

 

Check for rust ;

Door sill :

http://motoringfile.com/files/doorsillrust.pdf


Taillights & hatch grip & under the door on the seam.


https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tailights.html

Warrenty

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-warranty.html

 

Thanks for the post - I own an 04 that is labeled as an 05. (So I got upgraded supercharger and no seat mat in passenger seat, win!)

Think theyd cover my door jam rust?

 

qolor, check with your dealer. I think the rust warranty is for all '05+ MINI's. Sounds like you have an '05 that was produced in '04. They changed production of the '05's in January so that's why some warranty's and recalls might not apply to your car.

Most model year cars for all manufacturers are produced over a "fiscal year" and not a calendar year. Calling your car an '04 labeled as an '05 can cause confusion, although the dealer should just be running your VIN to verify, you might get the motoring advisor who just hears "'04" and says your not covered.

 

Welcome rust warranty jumped to 12 year unlimited miles on 7/2004+ production. Check the month and year on your door jam.

 

patsum, you can have the roof and spoiler wrapped in black vinyl, or plasti-dipped if you don't want to with regular painting. Also, where are you located? I'm thinking of selling my stock exhaust from an '05 removed Sept, 2014 at 38.5K miles.

 

 

Hello There...I am wondering if you got your issue resolved, seems that I am having a very similar issue as yours. I bought the car and actually replaced the valve body from REMAX at 99k miles. worked great. Now the car has 127k and small jerking issues on 2nd and 3rd gear, however, drives perfect when cold and the jerking does't happen all the times. it's 2006 Cooper S Convertible R52 with excellent condition and everything on it works, the top is in excellent condition. I even replaced seats with leather ones. I am thinking of changing the transmission fluid and reset the adaptation hoping this will fix it....open for any suggestions or recommendations to do and possibly fix the issue without breaking the wallet....Thank you