I was asked by a member to create a build thread, so here we go!

My name is Andy from The Netherlands, and I bought a nice Mini Cooper S R53 John Cooper Works not too long ago. I wanted to buy a Mini Cooper 2 times before, but this year due to Covid-19, I finally made the decision to use my holiday money for something else (a projectcar!).

Looked around, did some proper research and decided to go for a facelift R53, preferably JCW. Things I found important:
-Not too much previous owners
-Black or Red car
-Teflon coated Eaton m45 supercharger
-Getrag 6 speed gearbox
-Chronopack (I dont like the look of the speedometer in the centre console)
-Climate control
-Optionally: Limited Slip Differential (LSD)
-Optionally: Park Lane trim

I have been searching for a couple of months, I was ready to go look at a MCS with Aero package, but with stock power figures. Just 2 days before I went too look at it, I found another advert for a 2006 JCW with some nice additions. I spoke to the owner and it sounded right. It didnt receive the supercharger service, so talked the price down. Went for a testdrive and the rest is history!

Did a VIN decode and it seems it even has the optional LSD. It ticked all the boxes for me :D Some pictures when I bought it. Extra's which I didnt notice in the advert:

-Carbon hood scoop
-Carbon GP inserts for rear bumper
-Carbon tail lid lip
-Carbon black R56 JCW spoiler
-Full LED conversion tail lights
-Full LED conversion city lights
-JCW Airbox (deflapped) with Pipercross filter
-Front lower strutbar

I document almost everything I do, so this thread will be picture heavy. It has 161k km's on the clock, so due for supercharger service.

























I have more than enough plans, but I have no rush as this is a project car and not my daily car Speaking of which, my daily car is a Volvo S80 2.4T with about 240bhp (2.4liter, 5 cilinder turbo). Modded slightly as it's a "old man" car, which I made less "old man". Pictures > https://secure.flickr.com/photos/and...57694648668714

-Full 3" stainless turboback exhaust
-Volvo T5R Japanifold manifold
-DO88.se 3" silicone intake
-DO88.se hardpipe boostkit (larger diameter)
-Bilstein B4 with Vogtland springs all around
-Brembo Xtraline drilled brakes front + back
-Full stage 0



My colleague posing :P





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRlS9Vygs58

 

I wanted an aero grill, but to save some money I started with plastidipping the louvre grill matte black









Happy with the looks!

 

Applied the VGS mod, which helped in building aggressive boost



Also replaced the stock intake pipe (with the resonator) with silicone pipe, using two aluminium couplers on each side.





New parts being delivered ever so slowly



Didn't know there was Pipercross filter in the JCW airbox, so ordered a K&N RU-3190. I will probably keep using the Pipercross, but need to test the K&N.

 

Weighed the Mini R113 17" reps (?) with shitty Chinese tyres, about 18kg, which is quite heavy.



Received the serpentine belt tool to start the supercharger service



Some damage to the condensor (is still intact!)



The black residue is from my plastidip experiment



Radiator comes off



Leakage detected

 

More updates will follow later, have to go now

 

Supercharger removed, looks like the first waterpump



How it looks without the supercharger



Old vs new bypass valve



Dirty throttle body



Clean throttle body

 

New LED license plate lights



My MCs was equipped with an MSD coil and MSD HT leads, I replaced it with an OEM coil pack and HT leads. I thought it was an upgrade, but also read some negative stories about them. Received the tip via a buddy who notified me.



New thermostat + housing



New injector rubbers on the blue tops

 

Old vs new O2 sensor. I totally forgot that the MCS has 2, so I need to order another one...



Replaced the oil on the waterpump side, but opened up the pulley side as I will also be replacing the nylon coupler. Happy to see that the gears are in good condition :D









Need to wait for the nylon coupler, new waterpump and also the belt, idler pulley and new belt tensioner. Should be arriving this week.

 

Ordered new snoot boots from MTC Motorsport



The new coupler from Boosttech Supercharger (eBay)



New waterpump & coolant temp sensor & G11 coolant from dutch manufacturer Kroon Oil.



New vs old waterpump



New vs old coolant temp sensor

 

My make shift garden spraypaint ghetto setup (intercooler brackets)



Some more bits



Old vs new



Car is put together again, but the TMAP sensor failed me. I doublechecked with an analog boostgauge to make sure and it's the TMAP sensor all right. Waiting for a new one (hopefully this week). Then it's on to bleeding the coolant circuit (already did some with just stationary).

 

That looks like a fun project. It's going to run like a champ. Did you happen to get the fuel injectors cleaned? Every car I've done had clogged injectors and it's a cheap service versus new injectors.

Can't wait to see it completed.

 

It is! I'm dying for the sensor to arrive so I can run it again. I only replaced the injector rubbers (both side), I visually checked the spraying holes which looked very clean. I havent changed out the filter baskets or checked the spray pattern (might do that for peace of mind some day).

I did that on my Volvo S80 though



Filter basket tool



Will it ever be completed :D ???

 

When it’s your own car, No. Something always comes up as “I can do it better”, but that’s a good thing.

 

Also keeps the economy going

 

Finally drove it again yesterday after fitting a new MAP sensor. Unfortunately the new sensor didnt fix it completely, as I received a high input warning. Searched around and found this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ht-it-was.html

This finally fixed the issue!

Replaced the original sensor with an Autlog AS4907 MAP sensor

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Also received my smoked brake light from the far east. Looks awesome and is a 1:1 swap







And snapped a picture in the dutch countryside

 

Just read through your thread, and it’s great work Andy . I’m really enjoying the thoroughness of your preventative maintenance. You’re going to have one of the most reliable MINIs around! Haha.


Oof. I don’t even know how the P.O. could bend the condenser like that without destroying the bumper cover.. Unless the damage happened when it was in front end service mode?

Hopefully your radiator didn’t get any pin holes in it from that impact. They can be pesky and let air leak into your system over time.. They’re also really hard to detect if they aren’t big enough to drip coolant. I had an issue with that on a previous car (non-MINI)

Looks like your coolant was in decent shape though, and you had MINI oem blue stuff too!



Oh interesting. This coupler never came up when I was researching SC maintenance for my own build. Maybe I missed it. Did you read this is something that wears out?

 

I happended to stumble upon it when searching for the supercharger oil on eBay. Then I did some searching and they are oil filled nylon couplers. They are usually swapped when maintenance is being done on the supercharger gears/bearings, but I havent ready any stories about them failing.

Regarding the condensor, it's a big question mark for me too. So far I havent found any leads for pin holes in the radiator, but time will tell. I do want to upgrade to a aluminium radiator someday, so that will eventually rule that out

Thats the whole plan, to have a fun and reliable car to throw around every once in a while haha. I washed it today and stored it in the garage for the next ride. Next things on the agenda are fresh plugs (NGK BKR7E), rocker cover gasket and fuel filter.

And thanks for reading, I'm hoping to learn from this car and hopefully help others in the process

 

Smoked the foglights with dark wrap and the DRL/indicators with lighter wrap. Loving the look and ties in better with the blackness.

Left smoked, rightside unsmoked



Finished product

 

Also changed the fuel filter today.

 

I just read through this thread. Your making some impressive progress! I wish I had more time to wrench on my little R50 but its my daily and between a long commute, long hours, and a family, it'll be awhile before I make any significant progress. I freaking love all the carbon fiber on your car! Especially the spoiler, I don't think I've seen one quite like that before.
Also, what kind of shifter is in your car? Is it aftermarket? Looks cool. I've seen that boot before but the shaft part looks different to me.
My fuel filter looked the same as yours when I changed it, actually most pictures of mini filters look like that. It amazes me how nasty they get!
I'm also a huge fan of smoked lenses too (and admittedly an eBay shopper lol) I literally just saved a bunch of smoked lenses to my watchlist yesterday. I put leftover window tint film on some of mine to see if I'd like it and I do so I plan to order all new lenses. I'm replacing the side lights, 3rd brake light, and fender lights. I haven't found taillights I like yet though.
Cool car though, or actually cool cars, there both sweet.

 

Thanks man, appreciate it!

The boot spoiler is a genuine R56 JCW spoiler which seems to have been retrofitted to the R53. I didn't know this, I thought it was a OEM spoiler for the R53. Also when I saw the advert, I didn't see there was so much in real carbon added to the car, so I was pleasantly suprised when I went to look at the car.

Added some strut tower defenders to the Mini yesterday.





Next month I would like to replace the JCW exhaust with something which gives more exhaust note. I was looking at this, but I think I will be deaf.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/150706729211



I think this will be better for my ears, will also complement the Carbon Black theme I have going on

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121046676780



Any thoughts?

 

My knee jerk response is go with the first one ha ha! It will be loud though. I guess it depends on how you use the car. If you like to take the family on scenic country drives and talk without yelling the second is probably better. If you like race cars and ear plugs go with the first one.

I found this for mine so I'm most likely a terrible person to ask about exhaust! Still trying to figure out what to do for a muffler.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-Polishe...r/282580369793

 

It's not a daily driver, so something louder is still an option. But I personally think it will be too much. I was also eyeballing the Quicksilver exhaust (single oval exit), which looks good imho. The only video reviews I have seen are the "ebay exhaust" videos.

I will probably go with the second one (with the carbon tips), as I will also add another header in the future, which will also add some more sound...

 

1. Thanks for the background on that nylon SC coupler. I’ll have to read up a little more on the symptoms and risks of that part wearing.

2. And glad your radiator seems alright! Upgrading to an all-aluminum (racing) radiator elicits mixed reactions from what I’ve read. It seems cheap/leaky welds and improper fitment tabs are almost always an issue.. Many time needing some sort of additional bracket or modification to install the way it should.

I believe the Mishimoto unit is known to have the most reliable fitment for R53s. They’re like half an inch (50%) thicker than stock units, but I know you can still run an AC condenser in front which is nice.


3. Exhaust! Of those two I’d pick the first one!

I’ll explain:
IMO if you want a system that’s tolerable for long drives and won’t wear out in a few years, spend a little more on a real Milltek or Invidia setup instead of an eBay copy. The real things are tried and true, and you never really hear of people disliking them. Very similar in exhaust note and build quality To each other, but also cost about twice the cost of the two options you posted above.
(One hidden benefit of the invidia which no one ever mentions is that you can drop just the Y pipe and keep the rest in place if you need to! Since it’s all flange joints instead of slip joints it’s super easy, and that saves me a decent amount of headache when I drop the rear subframe.)


So, that’s why I’d go with the loud, fun one from eBay. Spend as little as possible to experiment, knowing you might want to switch to a more mature system in the future and you won’t really regret it. On the other hand, It would kind of suck to get the Milltek knock off from eBay, (the second one you posted above) and then eventually replace it with a real Milltek you know?

I’ve secretly wanted to know what it’s like to have an R53 that will bang and crackle until your teeth come loose! Haha

 

Sounds like you want me to do the experimenting for you hahaha!


I checked for Invidia, but cannot be delivered anymore. There is only 1 distributor in NL. Buying via eBay would mean high import tax.

I'm not a Milltek fan, I'm always searching for alternatives which might be cheaper or just different. As with my Seat Leon 1.8T, the tried & tested method was the Milltek catback, but I went with Cobra. After my experiment, lots more people on a dutch Seat forum made the same step. I made a simple video, which gained some traction.


I still think the 1st will be too much, would be better off with the Quicksilver exhaust then (because weight savings), but that is 250 euro more which I can spend on a lightweight pulley for instance

Choices choices!