Hello everyone, Names Ryan I live in NE Indiana and currently drive a base model 09 Impreza. I previously owned a 1966 mustang Coupe in which my father and i fully restored the engine ourselves and a 2005 Mazda Rx8.

As the title says im new to Mini's and have grown sick of my automatic, grocery getting, slow as a snail impreza. I'm looking at an 05-06 MCS and planning on upgrading the Head, Pulleys, CAI, Exhaust and possibly a Sprintex SC.

While im new to Mini world, im not new to being a gear head... simply an old school gear head for a 25 year old... im not up with the new engines haha! So any advice i could get specifically with the Sprintex would be greatly appreciated.. I've heard its basically a plug and play but ive been hard pressed to find real reviews on them.

I would love to rip the engine out and do a full rebuild + SC but my wife would have my... ya... you guys know how that goes... so staying under 5K is my plan since ill be spending about 12-13K on the car itself as I've found an 05 MCS all black with a white roof @ 35k Miles 1 owner at a local dealer who is well respected but id still like to gather more info before i just jump in.

My time table for new ownership is 3-6 months at the max. I'd like to get a hold of one late Feb. so that i can get it on the lift at home and get to work on it so its 100% ready for spring. I plan on it being a DD with a good amount of HP to go out and have fun... possibly turning it into a weekend show car when the opportunity presents itself. 95% of the miles i drive are highway miles so i dont drive a lot of stop and start hard miles on the engine.

Thanks for any and all advice on my future purchase, i appreciate any and all criticism as well!

 

Welcome to NAM, Ryan. 05's and 06's are two of the best years for MINIs, IMO and many others'.

You have any photos of that '66 Mustang you restored ? Would love to see it.

 

I'll see if i can dig up some pics on it, bought it back in... 04-05 i believe spent the better part of 4 years all during highschool working and saving up to restore the engine and transmission.

I replaced the original 289 with i "believe" was a 1973 302 (mexican block) best one ever made supposedly for making a monster 302! It was then bored .40 over and stroked out with an Eagle crank set the head was sent off to the machine shop to match the Rev limit with the Comp-Cam we placed in it that had a ridiculous amount of lift on it... it was a pretty radical Cam lol.... I never got it dynoed cause well it was just a fun car for an 18 year old kid to build with his dad and drive around.... It would indeed pull the front end up off the ground, not a lot.. but enough to scare the crap out of you.

It had 4.11 rear end which was posied and spooled with 15-50 BFG's on the back so should could rip it and grip it! Ill try my best to find some pictures of the Primer Gray beast that she was!

Back on topic though.... I have a buddy who is a Mini nut and recommended an 05-06 and just throw a RMW head on it with a 15% reduc. pulley and I would be set basically... but the supercharger is my main "build around" item i really would like to get and play with.