"ello all!

I'm from the UK. I used to drive fast old school Ford's (RS2000 mkII) but I did have an old Mini which when reliable was always good for *****'n giggles.

I'm older now and I live in the US. I've been through a couple of Xterra's and now I have a Suzi Grand Vitara. My son is going to trade school and is trying to get his license. My ex takes him in the morning and I pick him up in the afternoon, It's a 60 mi round trip and the GV isn't very good on petrol. I'm going to give him the GV so he has a decent safe motor to go to school in, It's a 2012 with 89k on it so it's in good nick.

I found a 2005 r53 in chili red with 82k on it. I'm all over the dealer to buy it. I miss driving a manual motor and I'd like to have some fun. I'll probably be asking lots of questions as to what I can do with the motor. I'd like to bump it up to 200bhp but without breaking the bank. If it's not possible, I'll just have fun with my go kart.

 

Hello, mate. You've come to the perfect forum for Mini advice. It's not difficult or expensive to get an S to 200hp -- just involves a bit of work. Hopefully, you know your way around a spanner because it gets expensive having someone else do the work (BMW rates). Good luck.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Cheers for the welcome. Yes I can spin a spanner but all the electronics wig me out. It's not like the good old days where I could jack up my rs2000 and do a service. The other thing is my eyesight isn't what it used to be. I'm blind as a bat at anything close up.

I can't imagine there's much spanner space under a mini bonnet. I'll have to see what I can do and look around where I live to see if anyone is mini savvy. The nearest dealer is at least an hours drive. I really don't want to use a dealer either.

 

Many thanks mate!