Thanks for the heads up about the carbon. The interior of my R53 looks great already so I will hold out on that for a while. Not on Facebook. Would probably make things a bit easier if I was.

I saw the Wipac lights (they do look really good and are not too expensive too) as others on here had recommended them but as I was hoping to go OEM MINI with any additions to the car I pulled the pin on a set of r56 LED lights and R53 brackets. I've also got an r53 switch for the driving lights plus the extension cable for the switch on it's way too. Once they arrive I'll work out what else I'll need to mount (I am sure I'll need additional parts from the R56 mounting kit) and wire them correctly.

The handbrake handle in mine is chrome and black, not sure if it is leather. I was hoping to find one like this:

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/132004556629

It's so it matches the JCW gear **** already in the car. I also want to track down a JCW gear **** for my sons 2004 r53 as the extra length will make it easier for him to change gears (he has an issue with his hands).

Just got off the phone to our mechanic about my sons r53. The gear shift cable where it meets the gearbox has come away and BMW / MINI do not have any cables in stock in Australia. He's going to put it back together with cable ties until I can get one from overseas or I can grab hold of an R56 one. I think I will just get a R56 one with a whole new selector as I watched a video from modmini where he showed how it will fit and it doesn't have the design flaws of the r53 one.

The mechanic suggested I start my own business selling Mini parts in Perth as he always comes across people having to wait for parts from overseas for them. Perth is a really isolated city and getting parts is a waiting game. Even ones sent from Sydney or Melbourne take over a week to get here.

In future years it will be sites like this that will be invaluable for those wanting to keep these cars on the road. Hopefully BMW Heritage will start reproducing some MINI parts as they did with BMW 2002's.

 

I do know a guy over in Greece that has both the 1st Gen handbrake handle as well as a 1st Gen. gearknob. But the gear ***** over here aren't that hard to find. At the moment I know at least 5 for sale.

Well if it's that hard to get parts it might be an business idea to turn an spare room into a warehouse for 1st Gen MINI parts.

 

Again I added some JCW bits to the car, it's almost complete JCW spec.
The original JCW Shift and E-brake boot



Also bought a original JCW Carbon wing and a Leather/Alcantara Steeringwheel but i'm not sure if i'll fit it since I have a custom steering wheel.


The only parts missing are:
- John Cooper Works Suspension, found some just need to pick them up.
- John Cooper Works Illuminated door sills, also real hard to find

 

Those are super rare parts. We have the GP1 car cover, none in Germany or USA (except us). We were the last to get them.

They work with the GP wing and some other wings.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...r/82110421606/

 

@ECSTuning Wow really nice!
I "only" have these covers with my car:

The red outdoor one with old style logo


And the green indoor one with also the old style logo

 

Yep those are rare i remember them and they are nla now. I had the green one personally and sold it.

 

So next step in finding and fitting every possible JCW Accessory.
I finally found a set of illuminated JCW doorsill strips!



Also went on a trip with some other MINI's, unfortunately the roads were muddy and so was the MINI after the trip.
But somehow I like the looks and imo it's what's the MINI made for, enjoy driving it!

 

TOTALLY AWESOME!

One of the most rare and hard-to-find JCW bits there is, congrats on getting a set of them.

And thanks for sharing the pix too...

...also,
I will never do a rear wiper delete because I think it is a much needed thing to have!

 

Super rare, i wanted the sills for my R52 and R58 JCW illuminated versions. All nla.

 

Totally agree! Still don't understand why the GP haven't got one from factory, if seen a GP at the same trip well.... even with the GP wing the rear window was at least as dirty as mine.

 

Unfortunately almost all of the JCW parts are NLA at the moment.. even the small thinks like the tiny Aero skirt grills...

 

yep, we have some aftermarket stuff coming in. Hopefully we will have more options soon. They will not have the JCW logo but will have options, like this one.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...ody-fuel_door/ fuel doors

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...ni/c-interior/ steering wheels

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...parking_brake/ we have the carbon fiber ones but no JCW logo because BMW/MINI group will not let companies of our size sell those. Its copywrite/logo infringement. We work with MINI closely and we like to keep it that way.

 

Since you work closely with MINI can I contact you in some way with a really specific question about a JCW part?

 

They will only bring back certain things and its hard to get them to approve items with very low vehicles in operation. I can bring it up to them but it does take some time. PM me for what parts and i can send it to them. They will determine if its worth it or not.

The best thing for the Gen 1 MINI is for us to find suppliers to make items that are the same without the JCW which is what we have done on things already.

 

So I was searching for the Original JCW suspension parts in order to lower the MINI a bit and finally have a full jcw specced car.
But it's impossible to get the right springs...
That when I decided to buy the Eibach Pro Kit spring, it lowered the MINI 30mm which is perfect in my opinion.


Also in the Summer 2022 edition of MINI Magazine (minimag.co.uk) you'll find my MINI and the story about it on page 106 to 109!

 

Looks great!

Also congrats on the mag story.

But,
your link is wonky and directs to a marketing service company???

I tried finding the Minimal Magazine but came up empty.

Is it a print magazine?

Is it perhaps Performance Mini?



If so,
then I'll be seeing your R53 feature on those pages soon enough because I'm a subscriber and get it in the mail.

 

That old mini united zandvoort mirror cap is super rare, i remeber when those went nla and i remember all the MINI united till they killed the show.

http://www.motoringfile.com/2012/03/...hats-iggy-pop/





https://libraryofmotoring.info/2010/...7-mirror-caps/

 

It MINI Magazine, Summer 2022 edition. The links should have been minimag.co.uk

Found one in Germany last year, had to have it since i'm from the Netherlands originally

 

So.. now that almost every JCW part is fitted. I felt the need for some more power...
Ordered some parts which got delivered in the last weeks, now it's up to me to fit all of them.
What i've got:
- Schrick by Krumm camshaft
- Kavs 16% pulley
- Bosch 550cc injectors
- TPE Chargepipe
- GP intercooler
- M7 82c thermostat with alloy housing
- Baffled sump plates

After that i'll book it in for a custom tune on the dyno and i'm hoping to see around 250hp



oh yea and the wheels you see in the picture... I managed to find a original set of AC Schnitzer wheels!

 

So over the last couple of weeks i've fitted some of the parts from the earlier post.
First of all I fitted the Schrick by Krumm camshaft, GP intercooler and 82c thermostat and since i have the X4datalog software specific for the R53 i've made some logs before and after to compare them.
Did som WOT runs in 3rd gear and some regular driving. The biggest differences i've seen are the following ones:
Boost went from 14.7psi to 13.6psi, I expected a drop in boost due to the bigger volume of the intercooler and of course the camshaft. So I "lost" 1.1psi on boost.
Coolant temperature was in all the before logs between 91 and 95 (195 to 203 fahrenheit) now it's just 83c (181f) and when i push it hard it went to 84 (183f)
Which due to the oil cooler on our MINI's also results in a lower oil temperature before the thermostat i was always around 100c (212f) and when i pushed it, it went to 115c (239f) now i'm at 95 (203f) when pushing 100 (212f).

Now the intake temperature i wanted to get the best comparison between stock en GP intercooler so i did 6 runs within 20 minutes, 3 with stock and 3 with GP. It was 23c (73.4f) outside temperature.
The stock intercooler couldn't get the IAT under 32c (89.6f) and at WOT it rose to 60c (140f) after fitting the GP intercooler the IAT was at 27c (80.6f) and rose to 52c (125.6f) at highest.
So over all a drop of 5 to 8c in IAT (41 to 46.6f)

The camshaft is a really nice one, much more power in low and mid range, the higher revs too but it feels less because of how powerful it is at the mid range revs. Really pleased with the results!

Also the GP intercooler looks so nice under the hood


After fitting those parts I could give it a good test as i attended the Nostalgic Hot Hatch Run, a drive trough the Eifel (Germany) with a visit to the Nurburgring! We drove with around 15 MINI's (R50, R53, R56, R59 and F56).


And last week I fitted an Scorpion exhaust manifold. It's a 4-2-1 version with decaf pipe but a sports cat is on it's way.

 

Good stuff!

GP i/c looks brand new, did the trick on IAT too.

Such nice all the way around.

Lohen valve cover bolts are cool too.

Love the Scorpion header.

 

Well I ordered it new at the dealer so it is haha

Yea at first i wanted a set of original ones but at $190 a set I found the Lohen ones a better replacement.

 

We have it here for ~74 but in know your overseas.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assemble...1121487179kt1/


They need done on my R52. really rusty