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Just picked up a 2006 Cooper S, Hyper Electric Blue with black interior. The car has around 190,000 miles on it. The motor seems strong, but it needs a bunch of maintenance work to bring her back to her prime. I've already installed rear brakes and have front brakes, camshaft position sensor, and a few other maintenance items on order.
I'm hoping the camshaft position sensor addresses the associated trouble code and solves its cold start problem (takes a while to turn over). I'll be borrowing a friend's scan tool to identify which of the ABS sensors needs to be changed to address the ABS, DSC, and TPS lights. Thanks for all of the great articles on these two issues; they've been really helpful!
I could use some additional advice on the right spark plug, wires, and coil setup. Given the high miles, I don't think the pulley is a good idea, so I was planning to go with a good set of iridiums, 8mm wires, and the "Value Priced" Coil pack from Mini Mania. I don't see any reason to spend top dollar on an OEM replacement but wasn't sure if there was real value going with an MSD coil if I'm pulleying the car. In addition to this, I'd love some general guidance on brands to look for or stay away from for maintenance parts. Prices seem to vary widely depending on the manufacturer!
Lastly, I've listed a few parts below that I'm looking for if anyone happens to have them available:
Passenger side black leather panther (the armrest)
Welcome! Go easy on the performance mods, Hyper Blue is already the fastest color.
I'm new to Minis, have had mine a little over a year. Best advice I can give is to do a lot of reading on this site. Be discerning; you'll discover that some of us are knowledgeable, useful, opinionated people, and others are uninformed, annoying, opinionated people. The challenge is figuring out who is who.
The vendors that are sponsors here are good resources as well. They'll all share their informed opinions, and are generally good to ask questions of, via PM, email or phone.
As to your questions--my general impression is that the stock ignition in these cars is more than up to the task for most applications, so unless you're seeing an issue that leads you to believe that your coil is defective, you're probably OK with using it, or a stock replacement. Same with plugs and wires--you can spend more for impressive, high tech stuff, but it's mostly marketing buzz.
Pulley wakes this car up in an amazing way. A good intake seems to have a discernable difference too. I haven't done exhaust yet, so I can't comment on performance enhancement there.
Suspension mods are worth the expense, as are some chassis stiffening, IMHO. Stock brakes get the job done on the street, but if you're going to be doing any track work, you'll find their limits.
HI and welcome to the NAM family, 06minirube!
Congrats on acquiring an 06 R53. They are a fine example of gen 1 Mini Coopers.
They will last a long time with proper maintenance.
As age has crept up on it, It will need some parts adding bits to make it "Right and Tight" again. You will find much good information in the gen 1 area here.
I'll show you mine, if you show me yours!
This is my favorite and daily driver (not hopped up) So much fun and very well built. It is an 06 MCS JCW This makes a huge difference in drivability and dynamite with the 6 sp manual trans! so, so much fun! The street go-kart!
The MSD isn't worth it as it fits like crap and you're just paying extra for the red.
Don't need expensive wires either as they don't make extra power.
For the exh hangers we offer them, but most people replace the stock exh with a Milltek as it is lighter and makes more power.
Question for all: I picked up a LiquiMoly oil change kit from FCP and am questioning the use of the Engine Flush. Has anyone else used this before? If so, what were your experiences? Also, I noticed most people used 5W30 and the FCP kit was 5W40. Thoughts
Thank you!
Last edited by 06minirube; Apr 19, 2020 at 08:12 PM.
