I had a modified 2001 Acura CL-S with header, intake, pulley, motor swap, upgraded tranny. I thought I was happy - then I drove a co workers 2003 Mini S she was trying to get trade it for -
holy cow this thing was a beast in the corners! - so sell my cl-s and buy the Mini
Break it within 6 days by cracking the oil pan on a rock
fix it - new oil pan, oil change, oil filter change -what a hassle , new front left hub, new fuel filter - good tip on put the plastic down, valve cover gasket and spark plug well gaskets, Intercooler gasket to intake tube to get rid of vacuum leak that made me not pass smog.
new gas cap for old cracked one
replace old cabin air filter - vacuum up rates nest of acorns that was inside ac housing.
will borrow a stock coil as the MSD coil EO number was not accepted by my smog guy.
Once smog is done it will be onto pulley change - maybe do the water pump at same time as not much heat from heater.
bottle of injector cleaner


still a blast to drive !


currently has Miltek Exhaust with resonator cut out - drone at freeway speeds. Not sure the $200 is worth it for stock one.
MSD coil and plug wires -
K&N Panel filter - going away after smog
Tires are 215/45/17 so 10 mm taller than stock. 75% so will keep for a while.
Found a r56 front brake swap for under $200 - trying to decide if its worth it
need to replace some front suspension bushings that are loose
lower front motor mount is shot -maybe powerflex will replace it


More to come !

 

Sounds like typical r53 issues, definitely grab the brakes for that price. Sounds like fun already

 

Flush the cooling system....sure the heater core is full of sediment....it is the lowest place in the cooling system.... remember, r53's have a CAST IRON BLOCK, coolant changes/flushes are a regular task. So many cars have aluminium, and folks simply get out of the habit...but you NEED TO DO IT REGULARLY....
I kinda suspect you will need to swap the heater core...

 

Collet tank replace 1.5 years ago.
Heater was replaced last year 12k ago. It was plugged,
Thermostat 4K ago. Water pump,was not. I already bought a mini replacement water pump as it sounds a little noisy.
and have it and zerex on shelf.
Have gaskets for intake and supercharger already bought.
Thinking will pull supercharger and water pump next week after smog to,put under drive pulley on.
Plus flush system at same time.
Found a deal kcal on pulley and crank pulley thinking about pulling the trigger on that one if my budget allows it

 

Beautiful Blue! Recently picked up an R53 myself and just love it. Very reminiscent of my three Classic Minis i had and raced.

Welcome to NAM and the world of MINI motoring!

Here’s a handy service and maintenance guide covering all three MINI generations that I found very helpful:

http://new.minimania.com/Mini_Cooper...for_Gen3_Minis

When you are ready for some performance and appearance upgrades, please check out Mini Mania and our full inventory of parts and accessories. Here’s a Performance Upgrade Guide:

http://new.minimania.com/Mini_Cooper..._for_your_Mini

You can also find helpful information in our articles section. We have many knowledgeable experts on staff with over 40 years’ experience working on all generations of Minis, both on the street and track.

http://new.minimania.com/articlelist...%20Information

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have any questions!

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

well fuel pump went on freeway - just barely made it to off ramp.
of course its special order so wont be here until Tuesday - got a good price on vdo of $160 shipped


since its down - I might as well do the water pump.
hassle but got everything off- drained and refilled supercharger oil while I was in their. nose was a little light on oil.


Cool thing is that the supercharger is a 07 model so it has Teflon coated rotors. verified by looking at them. pretty cool.

The CPS is clean and dry with no oil leak. Not sure would be worthwhile to replace if its not leaking.


found my water leak - the o ring going from water pump to block was shot.
so that is a good thing. was about to put everything back together but didn't like the looks of the small 1 inch water house going from water pump to heater line. will get a replacement tomorrow. I had ordered a new radiator but got sent a r50 one instead of r53. so that one is going back tomorrow and I already ordered a r53 mini cooper s one.


waffling on the supercharger pulley. if I have everything apart I really should do it now.


got that done and put aside and went after the sub frame and bushings.


dropped the sub frame fairly easily. Lots of banging with the pickle fork to get the ball joints off the control arms. The trailing bushings were a hassle as expected. Not that bad once I got the 2nd one once I remembered to put dishwashing soap on the bushing and get it positioned just right in the vise. Just had to be careful while cutting the inner rubber bushing off.


put everything back together with a little bit of jiggling. So suspension is done for moment.


will rotate the tires later this week when I put it back together.

 

sounds like me with my '03 a year ago.. lol.. keep at it!!

 

Found the water leak at the water pump to block connection. So that will be fixed.
Radiator showed up . Fits

Fuel pump shows up and installed that. Took me a minute to remember to just push down on the fuel pump top to get it to seat. Plugged everything back in and turned on key. No fuel pump pressure. Yuck. So will need to walk through factory troubleshooting . Maybe order the fuel pump relay as I didn't here it click on. I have plenty of 5 pole relays so,will test tomorrow with a replacement. Only $25 for factory replacement so might just order it.

Bought a jcw 11.5% pulley however when a friend was putting it on, he bent it. So ordered a Alta 15% yesterday. It will be here soon.
When my bud was putting on pulley he noticed that coupler might be loose. So ordered a new coupler. Drained oil, put new coupler in, skimmed face with black RTV and bolted that together.

Ordered colder plugs at good price . Got them in hand.

Got the belt for $6 shipped .

I was hearing the throw out bearing rattle and then go away when you push in the clutch. So Bought a Luk clutch set for $120. Plus the clutch throw out support. Going to pull the motor next week and do that. Will give me a chance to also fix the oil,leak at the oil cooler also. It looks to be almost the same amount of work as just pulling tranny.

Did the Dave f air mod or close to it. Curious to see how much noise it adds. I bought a complete separate air box lid, K&N filter, specter air adapter and bolster it all together. Then cut another hole in back panel to get cold air in. Will do final air seal when I bolt everything back together,

I need to remember to do the vgs mod when I bolt it all together.

Harmonic balenced has a tear in it and I can move the outer ring by hand. Sigh

Leaning to just doing all this once. But it's getting expensive.

 

Also pulled the trigger on a set of r56 front calipers $88 shipped and stop tech stainless steel lines $45

I needed to do front brakes anyway. Trying to decide what type of front brake discs and pads to order. Ebay power sport rotors and pads for $120 are looking good right now. Also found a set of stock low mileage r56 front rotors and pads 45k for $90 shipped.

 

all together and running -
looks like the throttle body is having issues at 2-3k p1689 pending code.

Spreadsheet of how much I spend so far

5-Jul
160,000
Change oil and filter - $35.00
Left front hub $45.00
New oil pan $80.00
Change fuel filter $30.27
New Gas Cap - $18.83
Intercooler bellows gaskets $27.00
New green gasket intercooler duct to SC $14.00
Check k&N air filter panel - ok
Cabin air filter $13.00
New valve cover gasket and spark plug well gaskets $28.00
Insides look good and clean
Clean throttle body

15-Aug
Need to change water pump ,
zerex $13.00
water $2.00
Water pump $107.00
thermostat - $11.40
thermostat housing changed 5k ago
Water heater core changed 10k ago
Radiator $77.00

Upper supercharger gasket, $8.72
intake manifold gasket $9.97

Ordered inside and outside ball joints along with poly rear trailing arm bushing $187.85
Fuel Pump $167.00
Clutch Set $155.00
Possible strut mount is bad also ?
o2 sensor $55.00
Under drive pulley and belt ? $35.00
Air box $15.00
K&N filter $35.00

Belt ordered $5.00
Need spark plug number so can order $25.00
Under drive pulley $105.00
Pulley puller $- 0
Harmonic balancer $155.00
seal front oil seal $4.29
CV boot kit $45.00
oil cooler o rings $11.16
front engine mount $56.06
r56 s calipers $105
r56 s rotors used $60.00
R56 ss lines front $45.00
r56 pads - $55
4 springs and struts $265
$2100 sigh

 

Welcome to the 03 R53 world, I picked up a high mile 03 R53 a few months ago and have been working on it ever since. With 160thou I would bet the shock on the belt tensioner is done----check it. I have an oil leak that I have been chasing since the beginning and can not find it----a small leak but it is ticking me off!!! If one mount is toast the other 2 are usually not far behind. Enjoy.

 

Mine is an 05 with 105k, and I'm spending 300 or so a month (averaged) on repairs for the thing. lol

 

I did replace the main motor on the passenger side since the spreadsheet, old one was shot also.
Will probably get the inserts later this month or fill all the mounts with window weld.
Good pint on the shock in tensioner for the belt.

I will say it drives so much better with new ball joints and fresh motor mounts. Before you could feel the driver side wheel move when you shifted.

Now the CD player is futzing at me. The radio antenna sucks wind on the H&K radio. Maybe a better radio s in the future also.

 

Did you change the clutch yourself or go with a shop?

 

did the clutch myself - that is one of the pictures above. not that hard to do. ended up pulling motor out as it was only like 10 more bolts and the sub frame stayed in the car

 

Well cool! My p1689 code went away as the car relearned the throttle body.
It's doing much better at low throttle settings.

Got my r56 s front calipers in the mail today. So now have my stain less steel lines, calipers, brackets and rotors. Have the old pads so I can get it all together. Comparing brake pad reviews and leaning towards ebc reds.

Right now the DSC is off as the brakes are at their limit. The funny thing is how much I am spinning the tires with damp roads. Or dry

 

When you did you inner ball joints how did you get them out, drop the sub frame?

 

Yup dropped subframe.
Was not hard at all.hardest problem was getting the sub frame lined up when I put it back on by myself with no helpers.

 

Congrats Shawn on making so much progress on your R53. You are definitely reaching expert qualifications.

We now have an easier-to-use parts and accessories page dedicated for the R53 (as well as the Countryman and R56). Check it out and let us know if we can help!

http://new.minimania.com/MINI_Cooper...nd_Accessories

Drive Hard. Drive Safe. Keep Grinning.

 

Got the r56 s brakes in.
Stainless lines in
Vavoline dot 4 synthetic run through the lines.
The old brake calipers were really messed up.

Took it for a drive and wow we have brakes!
Only took it for a quick drive.. I end up re using the brake pads that came with the calipers as they were almost new.

Will be looking at ordering ebc reds next week.

Since it was raining decided to pull the hood insulation down and fix the squiters. Turned out that the drivers side connector was just off the nozzle. Pushed it back on. Filled it up with washer fluid and hey we have fluid on the windshield !

Cool beans.

However, I have a guy looking at trading a g35 for my mini. Hmm we will see Monday.

 

Still fixing. Small stuff.
Tried to sell it but best offer was at $4k and that person backed out.
So decided to drive it to get my money out of it
If I get a offer of $4k I might still take it.

Just bought a batch of stuff locally
Top left power insert
Transmission insert
Oil cooler lines and adapter
Power steering pump, rack and piñon, powerflex front sway bar bushings
Drop links for sway bar front
Catch can setup
Broken header
Throttle body that might be good or bad
Good shape lower intake tube with good vacuum fittings and boost bypass Valve.
Head with some damage -complete
Mishamoto radiator hoses
Stock plug wires

I had another batch of stuff ordered by it got lost in mail. Hopefully it comes in as it had lower motor must inserts. Would like to do it all at once.

Already replaced two front tires due to pot holes last month
Dave f air box is on after I decided to drive it and working
Bought another helicoil insert to replace. Spark plug number 2
Oil,and filter replaced car liked it
Replaced clutch slave which was a bear and a half. Thinking the s10 clutch slave is in my future.

Thinking of ebc yellow pads for all 4 corners.