Used to have an '06 Cooper S Checkmate back in '08 - '12. We've missed that car ever since! Recently I've been so surprised about the low selling prices of R53s and I've kept my eye on the local classifieds for the past couple of years. Some weeks I look every day, other weeks I forget or just look once. Yesterday my heart almost bounced out of my chest - I almost NEVER see R53s show up with the Aero kit and when I do they have massive miles on them. This one was listed for $6,500Canadian (4,600USD) with only 130,000km (78,000miles) so I decided to jump on it! Within 12 hours we had a deal. I bought the car for $5,150 ($3,700USD) and I've been giggling ever since. I know - the wheels are awful... I'll work on getting them replaced with something OEM. but right now I'm grinning from ear to ear and can't believe I just bought an R53 JCW Aero for beer money. What a world we live in! This car is for my wife and I can't wait to see her driving down the road with a big smile on her face.

Tomorrow I'll pick the car up and bring it home. I'll give it. a good clean and report back on what it needs! I know I'd like to do rotors/pads right away as the hubs are all rusted - Who is everyone buying parts from these days? Is there a guru supporting enthusiasts in North America that I should be purchasing from? (many years ago I bought from out motoring)

I tend to go a bit overboard at bringing cars back to their former glory but I'm hoping that there's such a good base to work with here, it'll just be a bit of routine maintenance and tracking down some difficult to find parts.


I LOVE the Aero kit. I HATE the wheels!

Dirty engine bay! I can't wait to clean it.

 

Wow. Great deal. Strut brace and everything. Needs an engine mount though... sell it

 

Even better I see it has the jcw tuning kit, you should tun the vin and see what all it has and go from there...

 

Nice!!

I see the JCW brakes up front and being an ‘06 it should have a limited slip dif too.

 

great idea. I didn’t know that was a thing. With the power of google I found one of those goofy sites that lets me look it up as you recommended. It’s a Pepper white with a pepper white roof with body coloured mirrors and cloth seats - as I found it. It has a JCW kit. It doesn’t specifically say it has an LSD but neither does it mention the brakes - presumably because they are in the kit. Once I’ve given it a good inspection I’ll go drive it hard around a corner and find out 😊 it was manufactured in 10/05.

 

I’ll be even happier if it does!

 

I think you’re kidding but please confirm you can’t see anything to suggest it needs a mount 🙃 done right away. Ill probably do all bushings/mounts but do you see something out of the ordinary?

 

well...12 hours in to ownership and I haven’t even brought the Mini home yet. I hate those silly wheels on the car so I skimmed the local classifieds on whadaya know! There’s a set of R112 Challenge wheels, advertised as “Mini Rims with tires”. The seller wanted $1,500CAD for them and I paid $1,000 (approx 750USD) They’d been on the market for a few weeks. They were very very dirty and had some scuffs and chips on them. I spent a couple of hours and treated them to some smelly wheel cleaner, followed by a light sanding in the rough areas followed by a light rinse and dry. They’ve come up really nice. I’d say they are a 9.5/10 but from 3 feet away they’re a 10. They come wrapped in Bridgestone Potenzzas that are 2 years old but have only driven 2000km. I’m really impressed that I found these so quickly and practically on my own door step here in Calgary, AB. If I could have picked any wheel it’d would have been these or R98s.

 

The big hydraulic fluid stain on the passenger frame rail suggests a bad mount, unless it was never cleaned after replacement. The mounts always fail and leave a big mess. Mine failed at 17,000 miles and the second was still good at 37K when I installed an aftermarket performance mount. If you decide to clean anything that's pepper white under the hood, or in the hatch jamb, be careful what you use. The paint in these areas wasn't clear coated and usually wipes off down to the primer along with whatever you are cleaning.

I don't think the brakes are listed separately in the VIN decoder build sheet, but the LSD should be listed as option 2TA. Factory built 1st gen JCW's came with the brakes and LSD. The aero kit is not a JCW item, but there is a JCW roof spoiler available, and and also a rare aero kit roof spoiler.

Also available were JCW springs and struts/shocks, but that was a dealer installed kit.

 

fantasfic info. Thanks. Sounds like I should not use the stock mounts to replace (if I need they need replacing) which ones are recommended for spirited street driving? - this isn’t a daily.

 

I went with a Vibra-Technics road version for the passenger side mount. Some added NVH, but not bad. They also have a lower dogbone and manual transmission mount. Not cheap, but I'm really happy with the passenger side mount. For the other mounts I have Powerflex urethane inserts that need installing.

 

As previously noted the stain is the give away. And yes I was kidding about selling it. Just jealous.

 

Great save! The JCW is lucky to land in your garage, probably the best outcome for you and the car.

Replace the coolant tank with an aluminum one that uses the factory cap and then just take your time and go through the car and find out what it needs. Since you've owned one before, you will know soon enough.

Nice Z3 clown shoe too.

 

Wow, nice score and love the M Coupe. That's a hell of a deal if it's as nice as it looks.

 

thanks! What’s the logic in replacing the coolant tank with an aluminum one. Also, which do you use and recommend? Cheers!!

 

The R53 coolant tanks have a bad habit of splitting at the seam.

 

Here is my take after going with stiff Pass side mount and taking it off.

Go with Lemforder (OE) on all the mounts...

Use the inserts on the lower and the trans mount and keep the Passenger side mount stock.

You wont have undue movement under acceleration and NVH will be kept to a minimum.

Here was my order from OutMotoring... ECS and WMW have similar deals.










.

 

outstanding post sir! I owe you a beer. As I do a few other comments here. Have to say - I’m super impressed that after all these years, Mini NAM is an awesome community!

 

Brought the car home today. Drove like a champ on the 2 hour cruise. It’s got a very period aftermarket stereo which makes me laugh - I’ll post pictures. It’s actually kind of cool. It really is in fantastic overall shape. No rust, no dents, couple of scuffs that I can deal with myself.
I went out the garage to give her a once over this afternoon and ended up peeling off the rock guard paint protection which was original and had yellowed over the years. Thankfully it’s done a fine a great job of protecting the front end from chips. It was a real pain in the *** to get off and left tons of adhesive behind. I stripped it all away and gave the hood and bumper a clay bar to get them nice and smooth, finishing off with a light polish. It’s turned out quite nice.
Tomorrow I’ll wash the engine bay, take off the crappy wheels and clean each wheel well thoroughly before putting the R112s on.

 

Nice find, congratulations! Will look great with the R112 wheels.

 

You will end up driving this more than the M...trust me!

 

I’m having fun fixing some cosmetic issues. I’m starting with the black trim. As I found out, the black trim on the aero kit parts isn’t textured plastic like it is around the fenders. It’s simulated from the factory with a textured paint. The drivers side corner and under bumper had some light damage so I’ve sanded it all down and repainted it with some PRO FORM spray.
as you can see - my side reflector is broken. Can anyone confirm if the side reflector in the aero kit is the same size as the regular Cooper S? If so, I’ll source one at the junkers.



Before - some light damage

Stone chips continue under the lip

It gets really bad toward the centre of the bumper

Masked and sanded down

I chose this out of a handful of options at the bodywork store

Done but still tacky to the touch. It’s already a better match to the textured plastic on the fenders than Mini’s first attempt back on late ‘05. I might do the whole car to match.

 

Wow, that looks great. Can't wait to see the new shoes on her, as well.

 

Is that strut brace "a thing?" I had a similar one on mine, but it was kind of pitted and stained, and frankly, a PITA to work around when doing any kind of maintenance. I swapped it out for a set of reinforcement plates. But if it's some kind of rare JCW part or something, I might get to work on polishing it up and rethinking things.

 

Very nice find! Congrats!