I picked up a 2006 MCS JCW Competition Edition with a blown engine back in the summer of 2017.

The CE's were an affordable JCW package that was offered in Canada only at the end of the R53 run. The only real difference between that and a factory assembled JCW R53, was a tiny numbered sticker on the tach, in this case, #13 of 64. We sometimes call it the Canadian GP, but only because it was the last of the best - not because of performance.

Lucky 13 was a factory screw up - shown as a line item on the VIN lookup with: "382 Roof And Mirror Caps In White". The CE's were only to be built in Chili/White, Hyper Blue/Black and Astro/Astro colour combinations (though there may be a Chili/Black out there as well).

Seeing as it was a TARDIS livery, and Jodie Whittaker (as the 13th Doctor) was announced the same weekend as when I purchased the car... the name "Jodie" was a natural fit for us.

However much I'd like to call it a restoration, it's really a rebuild project. As we've discovered with how it was repaired previously - quite a big rebuild project.

We're calling it "Project Jodie"

A bunch of "Bruce's" and I started into it over the Christmas holiday and we ran into plenty of discoveries and problems, which I will share with you in this thread, on our FaceBook page and in my videos.

We all thought 4 days would have been enough to do the job. Book time on an engine swap is around 24 hours (if memory serves) and we were on pace to get it done in 20 hours... if it wasn't for our discoveries and parts we didn't have in stock to replace.

I want to point out that it would have been impossible to do this project without the massive help and hard work from the team of Bruce's and I'm grateful for every drop of blood, sweat and every pulled muscle they've given to the project. With luck, they'll weigh in for some colour commentary along the thread.

 

Take a look at Day 1 Recap video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbquRdLtJVY

 

Nice video, I'm looking forward to the others.

How do you confirm that it's a CE? is it noted in the VIN as well?

 

There’s a tiny little POS sticker at the bottom of the tach (attached photo of my buddies #29 that I had available). That combined with the build date, power-fold mirrors, and colour combination is about the only way to identify the Competition Edition.

It is not noted in the VIN as far as I have seen so far.

 

Any mods to the engine you are putting back in?

 

No mods, removing everything possible and returning it to OE.

I have Olivia for the mods I wish to do

 

Wait, powerfold mirrors were available on R53? Learn something new everyday.. Was this only for Canada? Is that easy to retrofit? Very nice Cooper, let me know if you ever want to sell her

 

Yeah, you gotta post a picture and details on the power fold mirrors - that's cool.

 

I didn't even know they were on there until a buddy notified me after playing with them.

On the BMW sheet images above, it shows them on the list, but I don't know how common they were in North America. I know that Euro's had the ability to get them.

 

Will do, but I won't be at the hanger until next month.

 

Following. I have CE 62/64.

 

Very cool!
#29 and I are thinking of getting some roof decals made similar in style to GP1's. Where about's do you live? [edit: I see the Ottawa area, very cool]

 

Day 2 video update:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_pwt3OCPuo

 

Preview of the hell that overwhelmed day 3. Tune in for the next episode.

This was the bottom bolt for the tensioner on the timing chain cover.

Unfortunately the abrasive cleaning media was not cleaned out of the holes by the engine builder, and we didn't think to chase the holes out. The grit grabbed the bolt and with hand tightening, snapped. While the pressure from the shaft was removed, the grit maintained the hold on the threads. To make matters worse, a hardened torx head was added during the extraction process, further making it near impossible to extract or drill.

It unfortunately happened at "Bruce"s hand, but would have happened to any of us (as it turned out on day 5 again)

 

Project Jodie Day 3 update:

 

Project Jodie's Day 4...

We don't have no forced "reality TV" deadlines here... how long will it take to get it done?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGFS-UVw9ds