Hey guys and gals, my name is blake, im from Idaho.


One of my dream cars since I was a little kid was always a mini cooper. Well, im 21 now and I saved and saved and found what I thought at the time was a good deal.


The car is a 2003 mini cooper s. r53 in the dark silver.


When I went to get the car, it has 136k miles. I regrettably paid 8300 for the car.
The car was advertised with the following,
1. dinan intake
2. dinan exhaust
3. dinan sc pulley
4. racelands
5. avid 1 wheels


Car didn't have the dinan exhaust. infact it was just a muffler cut off.
The dinan intake was cut up.


Within a month of owning the car, it literally had to have these done because of stupid crap breaking.
1. rmw header
2. kw variant full coilovers.
3. new starter
4. new fuel pump
5. new fuel filter
6. new snoot boots (alta)
7. Detroit tuned bypass valve.
8. multilink g4 extreme
9. new sc belt
10. new door ( someone backed into me in a parking lot)
11. new window regulator
12. post facelift xenons
13. sunroof visor.
14. slight smoothing of the intake and exhaust ports.
Currently saving up for new airbox, exhaust, and the airtech intercooler, and possibly a rotrex or sprintex supercharger.

 

Bummer that it wasn't what you thought you were getting, and yeah you paid a little too much, but once you get it sorted you'll love it. The first gen cars are special (maybe I'm partial). To be honest, many of those "repairs" are things most any car with 125k+ miles would need replaced. For now, just take your lumps (and take notes), it is usually best to avoid modified cars when buying used or at least get a pre-purchase inspection by a respectable mechanic.

 

yeah, definitely.. a learning experience for sure. then my plans to buy a new tensioner are put on hold because im not messing with the suspension on the mini to make it drivable during our snow. so im picking up a little mk1 rabbit this week as a winter beater.

 

hell, its my birthday.... and instead of getting a present, I washed my baby. she is all purty sitting in my work parking lot.

 

Shame about the price. I would have sold you my R53 for about half that and it's pretty well sorted.

 

I got the dinan exhaust direct from them years ago and it is just the muffler with Dinan labelled tips. It's well made and has been great for 5+ years but it wasn't like a full exhaust. It was an overpriced muffler. It sounds good though. oh and Happy B-Day!

 

Nice mini bro, shame you paid so much. It is still a nice mini. I want to see how this build turns out. Cheers Badge from SC

 

where in SC are you from, I did my military training at FT Jackson.


thanks for the birthday wishes as well.
getting a new tensioner today. so ill be able to hit some good boost.
also thinking about blacking out all the grey interior pieces.

 

I am actually from phili but have ive here for 10 years The new tensioner should give a little extra boost, i love seeing the interior pieces black, nice color for the interior.

 

nice! so my new fender flare came in the mail, and I ordered a new tensioner. when those come in they will get done.




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Also, do you guys use a specific coolant, I think I might be low, temp gauge started to go up while I was at a stop light today. soon as I took off, it went back down.

 

That car is looking sweet! Did you buy the headlights like that or color them yourself?

 

what do you mean by color them? that is the old headlights, they were hazy as can be, I bought facelift headlights later. from an 06

 

OP, you have done an outstanding job putting together a very classy, clean R53. Congrats my friend!

And bottom line is whether you're happy or not with your car. Money comes and goes, and it always will! Don't sweat it...enjoy your Cooper!

 

I meant to say the trim around the head lights. I know some people plasti-dip them black from the original chrome look.

 

so, my baby started to get a little warm at a drive in yesterday. got some coolant after work and attempted to bleed and refill in my work parking lot. im hoping its just evaporation from the stupid plastic reservoir. because it took half a gallon.




previous owner attempted to black them out, when I switched to the 06 head lights, I went back to the chrome until I can get them dipped black.

 

new tensioner has arrived, with the powerflex bushings. hopefully this weekend ill install it, other wise I have vacation time in the first week of December.

 

this is my 8v gas rabbit that we are swapping to rwd with a boosted ka24d from a Nissan 240.



and this is my ultra super rare original turbo diesel 1.6 liter rabbit at our local car show.

 

got my tensioner and belt replaced, and holy ****! what a difference. I am hitting 17lbs of pure glory. Now to install my rmw header, and axle.

 

ok, guys. I think im finally ready to get back into scca locally. I did do a few runs in my old delsol, but power to weight, and not having forced induction I didn't have a feel for it. Now I feel that the acceleration that my r53 has and if I were to do a few more mods internally (clutch & flywheel) I think I might have a standing chance at competing.

 

just got the new rmw header on, the new axle on.


then I found out that my injectors are at 100% dc at only 5400 rpm.. so I ordered the bosche 550cc injectors with the pigtails for the wiring difference. then I can actually get my tune.