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I'm a new Mini owner as well as a new member here. My wife owned an automatic back when we were dating and I always thought how fun it would be to have one that's stick. So years later, married now and a time came to look for a beater - I picked this 2008 black sidewalk edition with those nice brown seats. 84k miles, but extremely clean. Love it! Proud owner of now 3rd British motor car - we have a Range Rover as daily, a Rolls-Royce for the weekend and now this as a second car/beater.
Anyways, I'm wondering what kind of basic mods I can do to get the most fun out of this little thing. I think I definitely want a nice exhaust that isn't too intrusive when cruising on the highway, but has a good sound to it.
Thanks ahead of time!
Last edited by miniartem; Feb 27, 2017 at 08:12 AM.
Reason: Grammar
welcome! and a beautiful car. At or near the top of your list should be a rear sway bar. Neutralizes a lot of the understeer for not a lot of dollars. I also love my JCW steering wheel which I love, and I also have a resin TVM weighted shift **** that doesn't hold heat or cold. Highly recommend them both
At those miles suggest you verify the condition of: crank sensor o-ring, water pump, thermostat/housing, belt, belt tensioner and crank pulley. How is the AC operating and what is the condition the black vinyl trim where the top meets the back tailgate? Last suggest you oil/lube all the vert top swivel points and sunroof tracks as well as use a silicone based lube on the rubber weather strips. Once you know you don't need to do a bunch of maintenance, a 15% pulley is a very good low price mod that will bring even more smiles to your face.
Last but not least, enjoy the last of the Gen1 Minis. One very sharp car.
welcome! and a beautiful car. At or near the top of your list should be a rear sway bar. Neutralizes a lot of the understeer for not a lot of dollars. I also love my JCW steering wheel which I love, and I also have a resin TVM weighted shift **** that doesn't hold heat or cold. Highly recommend them both
Thank you! I'll definitely look into the sway bar. Honestly I don't like modyfying anything visually, trying to keep it as original as possible while only making hidden mode that will either improve performance or reliability. But that's just me haha
At those miles suggest you verify the condition of: crank sensor o-ring, water pump, thermostat/housing, belt, belt tensioner and crank pulley. How is the AC operating and what is the condition the black vinyl trim where the top meets the back tailgate? Last suggest you oil/lube all the vert top swivel points and sunroof tracks as well as use a silicone based lube on the rubber weather strips. Once you know you don't need to do a bunch of maintenance, a 15% pulley is a very good low price mod that will bring even more smiles to your face.
Last but not least, enjoy the last of the Gen1 Minis. One very sharp car.
Hey thanks a lot for all that! The A/C blows cold, but we're at 40's here in New England. The black vinyl trim isn't the best as you can see. Will get on with the suggested. Can you recommend a good pulley?
If you can turn a wrench NAM is a wealth of knowledge. If you spend time researching and reading, pretty sure you can find something on everything to do with your car. Engine, electrical, detailing, fasteners, modifications, tires and on and on.
Below is a thread link on the rotted vinyl. You can spend $400 or $40, you decide. On the pulleys do some research on line here. I went with a 15% on my R53, there is a 17% as well. It is all how you drive. Lots of good vendors here that sell parts but also help you in diagnosing problems and some even have tutorials on how to do the work. For wrench turners, ModMini on Youtube has numerous vids on DIY for the Gen1 car.
Wow nice sidewalk and it even has NAV, one of my favorite convertibles of the R52 series. I bet that was close to 40K when new. Looks like they hit most of the main points above.
Congrats and let me know if you need anything else.
I purchased my first Mini (2005 MCS Cabrio R52) last October with 77K miles on the odometer. While it is in quite nice condition, my research, primarily on NAM, indicates that the supercharger should be serviced at around 80K miles. Not an inexpensive service if you have a shop perform the task, but within the scope of your average DIYer. I'm about halfway through the project myself. Got the S/C off okay and taking the time to do some other minor things whilst detailing the engine compartment. BTW, you found what has to be one of the nicest R52s possible. I looked for months for a similar one before deciding to go with the nice R52 I did buy.
Jim
There are many options for upgrades as those supercharged cars are now pretty cookie cutter for the mods and we know what does and doesn't work. Check out our performance package as it will have the exhaust you want with an intake an pulley to really up the power.
If you can turn a wrench NAM is a wealth of knowledge. If you spend time researching and reading, pretty sure you can find something on everything to do with your car. Engine, electrical, detailing, fasteners, modifications, tires and on and on.
Below is a thread link on the rotted vinyl. You can spend $400 or $40, you decide. On the pulleys do some research on line here. I went with a 15% on my R53, there is a 17% as well. It is all how you drive. Lots of good vendors here that sell parts but also help you in diagnosing problems and some even have tutorials on how to do the work. For wrench turners, ModMini on Youtube has numerous vids on DIY for the Gen1 car.
Wow nice sidewalk and it even has NAV, one of my favorite convertibles of the R52 series. I bet that was close to 40K when new. Looks like they hit most of the main points above.
Congrats and let me know if you need anything else.
I purchased my first Mini (2005 MCS Cabrio R52) last October with 77K miles on the odometer. While it is in quite nice condition, my research, primarily on NAM, indicates that the supercharger should be serviced at around 80K miles. Not an inexpensive service if you have a shop perform the task, but within the scope of your average DIYer. I'm about halfway through the project myself. Got the S/C off okay and taking the time to do some other minor things whilst detailing the engine compartment. BTW, you found what has to be one of the nicest R52s possible. I looked for months for a similar one before deciding to go with the nice R52 I did buy.
Jim
Will look into getting the supercharger serviced, thank you for that! Runs pretty solid from what I can tell.
There are many options for upgrades as those supercharged cars are now pretty cookie cutter for the mods and we know what does and doesn't work. Check out our performance package as it will have the exhaust you want with an intake an pulley to really up the power.
I've been eyeing your performance package, but you guys don't accept Amex :/ That's a bummer as I live off of points
Last edited by miniartem; Mar 2, 2017 at 09:49 AM.
Reason: grammer
One thing that I'm a believer in that hasn't been mentioned is a set of strut tower plates as a preventative measure for strut tower mushrooming. Personally, I prefer just the tower plates vs. a strut tower / plate combo since the bar blocks access to the engine bay. Here's a link to the plates I have, but I know other companies also make them at a variety of price points. In my opinion, they are cheap insurance especially if the roads in your area aren' the smoothest.
Also, a rear wind deflector greatly increases the time that top down motoring is "comfortable". I think that both the gen 1 and gen 2 wind deflectors will fit your car.
