Congratulations on going with the S-Lites. I didn't want to give my oppinion before, so as color your decision with my personal tastes. For me, a first generation "S" hardtop (JCW especially) with those wheels, and two tone is THE quintessential new MINI.

 

It's a nice 20 footer. Your stable is rather nice also. I think you have the British Marquee pretty well covered with some very desirable cars.

 

Pics?

 

Is your car's frame solid? If so, then that's more than good enough!! The problem with those later TR's (4A's, 250's, and 6's specifically)(well, all of them rusted out but those were EXTRA bad) is the rear differential mounts and the front A-Arm mounts.

I don't know any TR owner who doesn't like to give their car gas, but without the rear differential mounts gussetted, you have to be very careful unless your car's frame is perfectly solid.

I was having some clunks in the rear end of my 4A and I feared it may be this problem. The good news, it was not. The bad news, I needed new half shafts/axles, 5 new U-Joints (they kinda get ruined when you take them out), and a rear shock. No big deal though, I got the car at a great price and I've more than built up some nice equity in it. We gussetted the diff mounts anyways for some extra insurance and with a new set of bushings, it's in there rock solid.

Thanks for the kind words man. I'm always trying to make them just perfect.

 

Sure! Later today!

 

my friends jcw has the r98 webspoke wheels which i believe came with it. Most Cooper S's will have S-lites (r85) which are very easy to find. My favorite OEM wheels are the r91 Bullets which were only available on the cabrio which i fitted onto my cooper. In my opinion these are the way to go, they look great, OEM but different from what you commonly see, also i believe their the lightest OEM 17" wheel

 

Sorry i didnt see the post that you got the S-lites. nice choice as well, its a modern spin on the original mini wheels, im thinking of picking up a set for winter wheels

 

Been there, done that, have the t-shirt. The current frame is OK at the A-arms thanks to some nasty fishplates welded in but it was not really done right. I have a spare frame and suspension that I will be rebuilding in preparation for a frame off of the car. Getting closer to that point. Will not probably happen this fall but maybe next fall it will. The spare frame is in good shape but will require a little attention to the differential mount areas to make up for the factory deficiencies.

The current frame has had repairs done to the differential mounts. Check out triumphowners.com/108 to see my solution to the problem. You just have to scroll through the picture galleries and there are images that show and describe the repair. I do love the sound of that straight six though. Nothing quite like it.

Are pictures of your cars anywhere on the web?