Ill try to make this short and to the point. We just bought a 2006 cooper S. Original owner.118k miles. Only serviced at dealer with receipts. Bone stock. 6 speed. I have $4000 to spend. Daily driver to work about 4 miles. These are the things I want to do and give me ideas as well.
15% pulley with plugs..tensioner brace?
Lower just to look better. Dont want coilovers
Upgraded distick
Cold air intake
Definitely exhaust ( Im cheap)
One color car (red) will add silver stripes. Have any pictures for ideas?
Tinted windows ( free for me at local shop)
Rear wiper quit on way home
Clutch will need done in about a year. I will do single mass conversion. ( not included in this budget)
I think I want to black out most of the chrome and add headlights and tail lights. Ideas? With pics would be cool...
Any other thoughts? Im 50 but not old yet. I would also be interested in any of these parts if you have them for sale.
Also I am very mechanically inclined but what might I want to pay a local mini shop to do? Thinking maybe I dont want to do shocks and springs?? Not sure yet??

 

Oh and I was quoted $250 to check SC oil at local mini shop. Does this sound right?

 

Congrats on your R53 - great little car! The pulley, intake, and exhaust are the standard bolt-ons, and make a significant difference in the car. Don't forget the right belt, in addition to the colder spark plugs. I added lowering springs and adjustable rear lower control arms last Spring, which dropped the car approx. 1" and improved the look (and handling) without slamming it.

As for stripes, search the forums here for "show me your stripes", and you'll see a couple of different threads with tons of pics on the wide variety of stripes people have installed. A Google search will also return some results that'll give you some place to start.

 

Rear sway bar.
Koni Yellow or Bilstein shocks, but keep the stock springs.
Maybe Koni FSD if comfort rather than performance is a big priority (in this case
you must keep the stock springs).
SC 15% pulley.
What wheels/tires do you have now and do you need a dedicated winter set where you live?
A good stainless steel exhaust when the stock one has to go.

 

Is the green car the 1" drop? What size tires? Im buying 205/45/17 today with neuspeed rims. I will post later today the size and offset before I actually buy to see if anyone has had clearance issues with the size. What springs did you use? Part#? Stock strut/shocks? Im hoping to just buy new stock struts/shocks and be ok with 1" drop?

 

welcome, the RSB is definently a must have along with the pulley. I would also find a way to either cheapy modify the intake or get an intake for it, the derestricted intake on a supercharger is amazing. catbacks can be had cheap, but need to look around, some will drone.


RSB, 15 or 17% pulley, intake, some catback, then maintinence. you might need some Lower control arm bushings

 

Welcome to NAM and congrats on your R53. I love mine and grin every time I drive it.

We have a couple handy upgrade guides to help you decide which mods are the best, along with service & maintenance.

http://new.minimania.com/Mini_Cooper..._for_your_Mini

http://new.minimania.com/MINI_Routin..._I_and_II_2344

Plus, we have a section devoted just to the R53!

http://new.minimania.com/MINI_Cooper...nd_Accessories

Please feel free to ask any and all questions.

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Welcome
Sounds like you have a nice clean slate to start with.

I always recommend maint items first. Car like that likely has some leaks, and for sure control arm bushings if they haven't been replaced.
So I'd do some powerflex front control arm bushings first. Getting the front end back in alignment, and tightened up.

Then since the crank pulleys fail so often I would install an ATI crank pulley as it won't leave you stranded like the stock one falling off.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/super-...ulley-r53.html

Then move onto performance stuff. Doing our supercharger pulley kit is by far the best bang for the buck in engine performance
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-pulley-package.html

After that I would drive it and refocus you budget and goals on what you think of the car at that point as it will be very different than it is today.

Feel free to email me with any other questions you may have.

 

+1

 

I have been contemplating my plan over the last few days and im thinking the following...

The car is in pretty good shape but Im thinking I should focus first on the wear items that may have not been replaced yet. I contacted the original owner ( I think she was put out) but she agreed to have the dealer send me the FULL service history... (a major score in my mind).

I wasnt aware of the crank pulley issue so I will research it.. suspension bushings seam resonable to address. As soon as I get the service history that will tell me alot.. I'll hold off doing anything until then. My major concern is the supercharger lubrication, the original owner was not aware if had been serviced or even checked. She said she just knows she wrote more than a few multi thousand dollar checks. I am an engine machinist/builder and have the ability to tear this thing apart but holy snickies thats alot of crap to get to the SC. I was told by a mini cooper shop that it was $250 to check the SC oil. I was a little preoccupied while on the phone and im slightly deaf so its possible I misunderstood the guy. If it can be checked for $250 I guess for the piece of mind it would be worth it to know if I would need to pull the supercharger...

So I asked myself what do I need from the car? I think reliability is first and then the other stuff, i.e. looks and speed... so for now im forgetting lowering, SC pulley, and a few others. Im getting rid of the run flats and putting on the 17x7 wheels with an et40. Im going to put on new nankang ns20 tires 205/45/17.. I know!!! Tbey are cheap tires but we have them on our twin turbo ford flex and they are great!!.......on a mini??? I think theyll be ok for awhile.

Im really kind of on hold until I get the records, but what else besides crank pulley is a know problem? Oh the dipstick i have to get!!! HAHA my wife just said she has a dipstick.... (I think she meant me?)

Thanks for the input guys OR gals.. Ill update soon

 

Crank pulley like you said. Then just look at the normal oil leak areas if they haven't already been done by the dealership, which seems unlikely since people who actually pay the dealership to rob them tend to do anything they recommend so it should've been done by now but I'll list the common ones at around 100k off the top of my head. Crank sensor O-ring, oil pan gasket, oil filter housing gasket, oil cooler gaskets(They're circular like O-rings but are gaskets if I remember correctly), then of course the valve cover gasket but that one is pretty obvious.

Then there's the power steering system that usually starts leaking out of the reservoir cap and the rubber hoses running down to the pump. This usually isn't covered in the pump recall but I think some have been lucky enough to have it included.

Coolant overflow tank is usually leaking at this point at the seam in the middle of the tank.

Like Way mentioned above the control arm bushings are probably shot. My driver side bushing was completely torn so basically the arm was just floating around in the hole, with the passenger side close behind. This was at 70k miles. Wouldn't hurt to look at the inner and outer ball joints on the arm and see if the rubber boots are cracked or completely torn. Replacing all of these with refreshed bushings will tighten the front end up a ton, especially if you go with poly control arm bushings.

As far as the super charger goes I think it's a great project for you to do since it makes you put the car in to front end service mode. The reason I say this is because you have to do this for a lot of jobs on these cars. It seems like a lot but once you do it a few times it's really easy. If someone goes through the hassle of doing it, whether it's you or a mechanic, it seems a bit of a waste of time to not just go ahead and replace the oil. It's only a few dollars for the oil and it gives you peace of mind. This is also a good time to go ahead and do the pulley even though I know you don't want to do that first. It's just such a big bang for your buck improvement I have to throw it in there.

Sorry for the long winded response but I was trying to think of all of the things I've done, which I'm sure I've forgotten something. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.I went ahead and ordered my wheels and tires. Just got done installing a single din deck with back up camera. Although I still have to figure out where Im gonna drill a hole in the hatch lid.

Im gonna run the car over this week and have it put up on the lift at the shop that will do the 4 wheel alignment after I get my tires on. I figure I could take a look at the undercarriage and maybe do anything that might be needed at the same time I get the tires and alignment done. Hopefully not too much.

I havent recieved the service history from the dealer so I guess ill have to call them again on Tuesday.

 

Replaces one of the license plate lights, so you don't have to drill or cut anything.

For Mini cooper R50 R52 R53 - Rear View Camera / Back Up Parking Camera + Power Relay Protection / HD CCD Night Vision https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018XZ4VOY..._W-cFybHJ2YCHT

 

Got it all soldered in today.. works great. I just mounted it on the bottom of the trunk trim.

 

In addition to our upgrade recommendation guides we have a handy service and maintenance guide to help make sure you get everything up to standard and running spot on. Always good to have a firm foundation before doing too much modifying. Any questions, please ask!

http://new.minimania.com/MINI_Routin..._I_and_II_2344

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.