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So about a year ago, a buddy of mine and I were talking about wanting to get back into autocross after about a 10 year layoff...
... I can’t run my daily driven Countryman, so the search was on for an R53... a few months into my search, I found a good example in need of some love, and game on!
she had some rust (and other poorly repaired rust), some dents, and a lot of things I’d like to make right, but overall, she’s got good bones.
My plan is to run in NEPA SCCA STX class, and though I’m not looking to build a show winner, I want it to be clean.
So far, I’ve identified:
a need for wheels (bends and curbrash)
a hood
a hatch (rust)
a set of front bushings and ball joints,
rear brakes,
something with the shifter is binding a bit (probably cables),
a thermostat/housing,
and a heater core (not leaking, but not getting warm air into the cabin either)
along with a few wants:
megan racing coils
swaybars
an exhaust
...and then to drive it like I stole it!
I’ll probably have questions as I go, but this is also just a good spot to document what I accomplish over time.
pics for clicks
Congrats on the new R53. On LY MINIs its easy to tell if the factory paint has been repainted. Nice you found one without the sunroof. Most of those i have seen are R50s.
I did some work on the replacement hatch this afternoon. It had a surface rust spot near the thir brake light, so I sanded this smooth, and coated it with primer (which will ultimately be sanded back off).
i don’t intend on reusing the third brake light from the used hatch, so I just did a quick tape off for primer purposes.
