Great thread and super job so far. You did good on the body work and paint. What are your plans to build track power?

 

Thanks @cooper48 . Nothing out of the ordinary for power - 17% pulley, 550cc inj, plugs, header, exhaust, intake, water/meth, and tune. Keeping the stock intercooler and internals since they are healthy.

There’s just as much emphasis on weight reduction by way of rear aluminum trailing arms, A/C removal, stripped interior/airbags/wiring to offset the added weight of the rear cage. This will be a just-for-fun autoX car (not at all competitive in its class EP) as I work on skills through HPDE.

 

Masking finished which took nearly a full day and started to lay down primer. I used Rustolium Universal Bonding Primer with great results. Get a P100 respirator though - it’s nasty stuff.



Primer done. I decided not to waste time on the doors since they’ll be covered with door cards.



First coat of paint down. This is the best photo of the light gray color I chose. The sunlight in the following pics washed it out.

The color is called “Light machine gray” from McMaster Carr, and specifically formulated for semi gloss and high wear and applications. Great paint.



2nd coat complete, and a 3rd in high wear spots. Making removed. Wiring harnesses trimmed down to remove all the unnecessary weaight and connectors like seat and curtain airbags, radio / speaker wires, etc. Finished by wrapping in black split loom. I think it came out great and not overly complicated.



Rear view with the routing of the newly wrapped wiring. I kept a majority of the factor mounting points to make it easy. Ignore the pepper white “shelf” in the background.



Starting to put interior pieces back. Also installed the quick release steering wheel hub.



Test fitting the Safety Devices rear cage. This version has geometry specific for slick top R53s and the fit is pretty close to perfect. It could have been half and inch wider but I’m sure the engineers know better than I do.



Happy with the paint and cage. Nothing flashy, as I enjoy the exercise in restraint.

it’s a little hard to see but in the last two pictures you can see where I rerouted the rear hatch manual release to just inside the passenger door - about halfway up from the floor. I found this to be an easy access spot that wouldn’t get in my way often.

 

While interior parts were being ordered and shipped, the suspension and breaks needed some tlc



The passenger lower ball joint was almost completely ground down. I started to piece together I think this car had a wheel come loose while driving. That would explain how the original fender got bent, missing exhaust heat shielding, and damage to the control arms.



New parts ready for assembly. I painted the new calipers and hangers with the same aluminum POR caliper paint from my first build. It’s held up well after a few years.



82mm stud conversion. I got a longer stud than usual to account for the 20mm spacer I will need for the planned wheel/tire setup



New axels



Bar brake lines needed repairing. And I replaced the flex hoses with stainless steel braided lines.



Portable bubble flare tool was perfect for a cut and repair job without removing the whole line.



Double flare looks good



New BC coil overs, spindles, ball joints, hubs and brakes installed. I ordered 10k spring rate on this set of coil overs.

 

Lots more restorative work to do, but did I say aggressive fitment yet?

 

What did you go with for pads and rotors on this one?

 

@JerBear Basic Zimmerman rotors, nothing fancy. HP+ pads in the front, and I had some cheapy autozone pads in the basement for the rear already. I forget what tier they are.. gold something.

 

I pulled the rear end off as one piece this time since I was replacing everything. I suppose it saved a bit of time and frustration unsticking rusty fasteners, but the maneuverability was awful. Sometimes not having garage, or even a large driveway sucks.



Everything but the new brakes I installed for an earlier test drive was going in the trash.

In its place:

• New subframe I picked up a while ago off eBay
• 22mm rear sway bar
• Aluminum trailing arm conversion
• BC BR series coil overs and end links
• New parking brake cables
• Stainless braided brake lines
• Adjustable rear control arms
• New subframe hardware

New trailing arms



Powerflex Black series rear arm bushings



Didn’t take a great pic underneath pic of the new rear assembly.



I knew I’d have to clearance the aluminum trailing arms ever so slightly to fit the 15x10s and not exceed a 20mm spacer.



Just a few mm ground from the outer lip was all it took.

 

Yeah, those wheels are insane.

Also the condition of that rear subframe... woof.

We've gotta get your two cars and mine together at some point for a shoot - mine is finally off the jackstands again.

 

@Zillon Yeah man, hit me up on IG if you have any events, meets, or whatever you plan on attending this season. Any excuse to drive the track toy around is a good one

The whole rear end was a piece of rust haha. Like I said, this being an auction buy basically sight-unseen there was no owner history, but the original paperwork was in the glovebox when it was delivered. This car was from the MINI dealership in South Burlington, VT.

If you thought Jersey was salty in the winter…

 

On the topic of wheels, I’ll take a quick detour to pull the process together in one post. (The process was over a few months)


First test fit of the bare wheel. I just ordered a single to ensure I could make these work before committing to all four. Not going to like I was laughing out loud at the sight of these things.



Just a smidge of poke



It was hard to find concrete dimensions to confirm the JCW brakes would clear the wheel. I wrote to Konig a few times and got mixed answers which didn’t inspire confidence. Turns out there is ample room under the 15x10 dekagrams.



Doing the math beforehand I came up with a 20mm spacer should result in 4mm clearance of the coil overs. There is 5mm is reality so not far off.



Here’s the full set after a successful test fit. Just to list the combo again for future reading, These are 245/40R15 Falken RT660 tires stretched slightly on Konig Dekagram 15x10 wheels.



A comparison to the 225/40R16 Toyo R1R on my other set of 16x8 Dekagrams.



Full test fit of the combo over JCW brakes. (294mm rotor)



And finally the full inside clearance.

 

I actually like those rims and those tires are 🔥

im looking for something that I can do wide fender flares with.

 

Just found this thread, but this has been super entertaining to read through. Great work so far! I'm going through some similar issues with rust on an R53 I picked up in Pennsylvania, so I feel your pain. Good stuff so far!