Hi Everyone,

About a month ago, a friend of mine sold me his Mini. I am a college student with novice mechanical skill. This friend of mine claimed that the motor was blown in this Mini. Having some free time and since I offered him 200 bucks, I decided to take the challenge. I headed over with my brothers car trailer and picked it up that weekend (Pic from that day). Got it home and right away got it started. It definitely wasn't a motor, it actually turned out to be an alternator making a very bad noise (bearing). So I still ripped the front of the car off to check the components and replace the alternator. While being that far I pulled the S/C to change the oil. Other then the alternator, it needed a lot of other parts that are listed below. I just got everything finished this weekend and the Mini is going in for inspection this week. Sorry for the long story, glad to join the Mini life.

-- Poor College Kid





Picking up my $200 Mini





Price sheet

 

Welcome to NAM. Wow! $200 bucks is not bad at all and looks like you're pretty DIY capable. If needed, you can look for parts in our catalog here. If you need any help with these and future repairs be sure to check out our tech articles here. While you're in there for the strut mounts, look into getting strut tower reinforcement plates as they're known to mushroom. Good luck and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

 

You are more than a novice, nice job. Hopefully your friend isn't pissed off that they walked away from an almost working car.

 

Welcome to the world of MINI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoping your small investment pays off big time. Good luck.

 

Welcome to NAM!

 

Sweet Deal !

Better deal than I found, wouldn't want to be your friend though ! He must be pissed.

All is not lost with today's college kids. Sry inside joke.

Oh yeah welcome from another Mini noob ; )

Jeff

 

Car looks nice, Great job! $1300 total investment for a running 2002 is impressive.
Good to see a young kid who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
I asked my daughters boyfriend if he knew how to check his oil, after 10 minutes figuring out how to open the hood he proceeded to try and remove the radiator cap on a warm engine.

 

Welcome.

Take the OEM part number and click and paste it to the search box ( top right corner ) and sometimes there are less cost alternatives from genuine MINI

www.ecstuning.com

Or you can select the drop down.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2003-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/


With some time and some tools you an bring it back to life.