I’ve loved these cars for years and just never bit the bullet. I first drove a mini at a Saab proving grounds event where I drove the justa and S. Loved them both but liked the justa and the way it was smooth at the time . Anyway, I have driven many cars and been very fortunate with good friends but always wanted a mini.

My best friend convinced me to buy a car for autocross so I started looking and within 24hours I purchased this:
2003 R50 with sport package, aero kit, cold weather, and premium.




I am the third owner with complete service records since new. It got a new transmission at 32,000miles….. it now has 247,000.
motor runs strong, transmission shifts as it should, though the throw out bearing or something else makes a ton of noise while clutch is engaged and rolling….

list of things wrong,

passenger window didn’t work- cable was broken, fixed now

air conditioner did not work, changed coil, it worked for 10seconds, ordered new clutch, going to replace. If needed, new compressor

cooling fan low speed did not work- replaced resistor, still did not work, finally worked when I had the ac compressor working, but only for the same 10 seconds… will report back when ac is working right.

PS pump fan replaced, old one seized

various bulbs changed,

front brakes pads changed

new serpentine tensioner And belt

new timing tensioner installed

new crank position sensor seal

air box pipe from throttle body deteriorated, I installed an intake for the time being

Front bumper has cracks from age and hitting deer back in December(previous owner)

front of hood also has dents as of said deer sat on it…. Replacement hood being prepped for paint soon

factory exhaust tip installed

passenger speaker replaced

third Brake light replaced

rear wiper washer was clogged, replaced wiper arm and cleared washer.

engine oil and filter changed, fuel filter, cabin filter

headliner needs to be replaced

replaced two floor mats

I have new rear struts to install as well as poly front bushings

I have collected most of the parts I need for the 6speed swap already, so hopefully this winter that will be my project as well as acquiring a spare engine.


There will be many things I’ve forgotten but I’ll try and add things as I go
the plan for the car was to use it for autox only but I enjoy driving it so much I have been commuting with it as much as I can as long as the transmission holds up

 

Cool, you did a lot already Enjoy it!

 

Awesome find man! Killer deal at $450! What class do you plan to run? Also post lots of pictures as you build/replace/modify. And welcome to the forum.

 

transmission blew up two days ago. So I am ordering the remainder of the parts for the 6 speed swap and will get that done soon. I am also picking up a ton of spare parts including an r53 engine which will likely be parted out.

I am horrible at taking photos and posting but I will attempt to start doing it going forward.

I replaced the lower control arm bushings with poly. Also replaced the AC clutch and it works awesome again as does the low speed fan again!

Also the mini is H class I believe so that’ll be the one.

 

Where are you located? I may be interested in the head if your parting it out.

 

Só a cool guy I met through buying parts and chatting is building a Franken-Honda-Mini.
He is putting a Honda drivetrain with AWD in his r53. It is 90% done.

Tomorrow morning I should be picking up every part he removed from the R53 including the suspension and sway bars. He offered it all to me for $400 and I couldn’t say no, so I’ll be listing a ton of parts on EBay extremely cheap just to get my money back. Including the supercharger and top mount.

I am contemplating keeping parts of the motor but am not sure yet, as I will need to rebuild a motor at some point.

Today I got the transmission mount, shift ****, reverse switch connector and driver’s side cv shaft, so I think I have everything I need for the swap finally. I also started working on pulling dents and prepping the replacement hood I picked up.

the rear hatch has rust under the paint where the lights are, so that’s another major thing I need to do.

im stoked for the larger sway bars and r53 suspension, as I am sure after 250k miles the stock suspension needs help.

 

So I completely forgot about this thread. I got a Nissan Xterra shortly after this transmission blew up and had been working on that. I just started a new thread in regards to another R50 I just acquired about two weeks ago and have already completed a ton of work on as it should be my new autoX and daily driver.

 

I’m currently in the process of swapping another
midlands in that potentially has a bad reverse gear…. Though I won’t know until I finish putting everything in and testing.

im literally at the point right now that I just need to put the new radiator, new fan, on and refill with coolant, then add a battery tray and test drive.

This car will now become my father’s toy as he was just diagnosed with stage one cancer. We are trying to get him set up with something fun to do. He used to do body work and fix cars way back when and will be helping me with some of my other projects soon.