Well ive seen some build logs around on this forum and others and wanted to start my own. I have a 2003 Mini Cooper S that i bought about 4 months ago, with around 60xxx miles. I bought it bone stock with the usual wear and tear from 5 years on the roads. Myself and a friend of mine are doing all work ourselves so far and plan to keep it that way minus paint work. In the last 3 months i have lowered the car with H&K Springs which achieved about a one inch drop, one balled it, alta CAI, painted calipers, 4 hella lights, smoked tails, and side lights, debadged/ blacked out emblems, 10 percent tint, rear seat delete with false floor and small sub in the rear. I have some pics and will update as i continue on with the project. I am just looking for advice, input, feedback and criticism. Thanks guys onto some pics which are fairly poor as i can only work on it on weekends so a lot of it happens late at night.
tint

calipers



(wheels have been polished and sealed so that they dont get to such a bad state again)







antenna shortened


one ball exhaust note


after drop




Still need to get pics of the sub/falsefloor/rear seat delete and of the light bar set up. Immediate plans are pulley, short throw shifter and a tune.

 

Also plan to paint headlight rings, door handles and gas cap, as well as painting the interior rings black. Trying to decide on removing the white stripes and checkerboard top to complete the entire black look.

edit-
CAI Pic


Aero grille


Thanks for looking.

 

Looking Good, Now new rims.

 

yea im actually getting the stock ones powder coated black by a friend of mine. Id love to buy some new ones but i just dont have the money with out a job in school right now

 

Pretty cool! Pretty much how I started off on mine but the upgrades that I found best to do next were a new set of non-runflat tires, a new headunit and speakers to compliment the subs (makes it sound SO good), and definitely a smaller supercharger pulley! It sounds like youve already got a lot of the cosmetic stuff done which means its time to go faster.

 

yea so far ive done the cheap/free stuff with out having to drop too much money into it. The tires are too new to justify putting on new tires just yet, but with new wheels will definantly come non runflat tires.

 

Mercho, you're not to far from me...Cool! Have you joined MINICCI yet? We had a track day at New Castle, not sure if you were there or not. Keep up with the mods, it only has just begun

 

i have not minici.com? i wasnt there, didnt know about it. And im growing more and more aware that it has just begun, now we get into the big dollars.

 

www.minicci.org You missed out on a good time

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylej4/sets/72157608504580712/

 

the pic in ur sig is looking good skillet, you have a build log?

 

Thanks, and no, not really. I've got a list of mods that I've put on the forums over at MINICCI (http://minicci.proboards85.com/index...read=20&page=1). Nothing major, there are a lot nicer cars on here than what I have. I'm in the beginning stages, like you, only it has take me 3 years to get where I'm at now. My next major purchase (if Jan makes it) is the Eaton TVS supercharger kit for the 1.6L [Drool]

 

I didnt even know that that was in the making, any specs on it yet, sounds absolutely sick. I basically want to go with pure jan parts, head, cam, header, exhaust, all that jazz, but im interested in this supercharger kit.

 

It's on the drawing board. He's working on the 2L stoker version now. After that, he will most likely be working on the 1.6L version. Hopefully, it'll be soon. I think my supercharger is on it's way out....

 

I believe this is the 2L stroker version thread

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=150344

 

iv got 63000 miles so im sure mine is not in its best state

 

Interesting stuff, but not much to go on, wish there was more details, less specualtion

 

yeah, but they'll be here soon. I think it's up and running now though, and looks just a promising as the Rotrex kit!

LOL, 63,000 miles...you're car's still an infant. I'm pushing 113,000. WooHoo!

 

all that i can say is i cant wait for the numbers on that new supercharger.


and 113,000----------TOUCHE

 

I'm with ya there. Hahaha, yeah, well being a motoring enthusiast will do that to ya (or the car)

 

I certainly am envious of how much time you have for your car. I still have quite a few things I'd like to do that don't cost much money at all, but require time and effort. Both of which I cannot muster up. :(

Thankfully, tho, I purchased my '03 S with 8k miles.

 

yea have invested a lot of time in it, but 8k is like brand new, thats pretty sweet man. plus i like electric blue, black shows every little spec of dirt

 

Blacked out the chrome headlight rings


Painted the interior rings black, still 2 more to do.



Better pics of the smoked lights and rear seat delete

 

everything looks good. question. did you dremel the lower aero grill yourself?

 

yes i did. just took some time and patience

 

You can also use a drill with a smaller drill bit, u just have to be careful, just measure the clips on the grill and measure it out on your bumper, i left mine off for a couple weeks cuz i was dreading doing it, but once i started it took like 10- 15 mins easier than i thought