R53? What just happened???
 

So long story short, the hubs and I went to a car auction to find a 1st car for our daughter and he ended up bidding on and winning an '02 Mini Cooper S.

I've quickly come to the realization that these things are like crack.

I'm overwhelmed with trying to find information on part compatibility so figured I'd join a forum.

Cheers!

Welcome to NAM! You'll find everything you need to know in the Gen1 forums. Post some pics of your new ride.

Welcome to the forum and the MINI adventure. After owning other brands, I was shocked at the endless availability of parts for MINIs.As the prior response mentioned, look through the Gen1 forums for ideas. Most of the vendors that support the forum have a filter to help you limit your search to the parts that work with your specific MINI.

Speaking of crack, we need pictures of the new MINI.

This is the first place to come!
You will have to bring us up to speed and I would get results from an OBDII scan, if it is engine, or electrical problems.
What parts are you looking for and 02 to 06 S part often are interchangeable.

Thanks for the warm welcomes. Mechanically, it seems to be good (hope I didn't just jinx it). It is missing the lower front bumper and we were wanting to replace the headlights/tail lights. Hubs went to the local pick a part and came back with an '06 tail light. Appears it will fit but this one has a back up light in it as where the 02 doesn't. He hasn't pulled it to see about the plug just yet. So I'm not sure if this is one of the things that isn't compatible??

I went for a drive around town yesterday to pick up plates and came home minus a part. Front passenger wheel arch trim. So that was fun.

This is 'it'. No sex or name yet. Maybe it just needs to be a 'Pat'.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...fae168dbc4.jpg
Day 1

I'm enjoying reading the posts on the forum. Got wrapped up last night with the things you didn't know about your MINI. Kept running back out to the car with the flash light to try things. :)

So much to learn and so little time!
Keep us posted and ask questions on the gen 1 area and you will get great help!

Welcome, do you have another pic of the front end?

For reference: partsgeek.com carries quite a few parts for your MINI, and they're reasonable.

Congrats, we're happy to help when you need parts. It looks pretty good.

Welcome to the club, if you are replacing the headlights because they are cloudy they can be restored pretty easily in half an hour or so with a polishing kit.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...d07ec69eb8.jpg
Before
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...28f4418840.jpg
After

After polishing, do they stay nice for a really long time, or sort of revert back quickly?

My lasted about a year, then i had to do it again. Its does not go back to what it was but you can see the oxidation come back