R50/53 Budget Mods
3rd Gear
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 179
Likes: 25
From: Finland, Europe, Earth
They didn't come off easy after that treatment...
3rd Gear
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 179
Likes: 25
From: Finland, Europe, Earth
Yeah, this. First thing that a newbie needs to understand with these Gen 1 Coopers is that you are not buying a Honda or a Toyota that's just going to go and go and go. These cars require daily attention or you will be stranded. I've owned my R53 since July of 2011 and the car has been unusable for about 40% of that time. It's absolute blast to drive when it's running properly, but the vast majority of the money I've spent on that car has been in effort to keep it on the road.
List of repairs off the top of my head:
- A/C compressor - first time it burnt out
- A/C coil - second and third time it burnt out
- Throttle body - built in sensor that burns out
- Valve body for the TF-60SN
- Camshaft sensor - burn out about every 75k
- Crankshaft sensor - burn out about every 75k
- MAP sensor - burn out about every 75k
- Radiator & support
- Engine wiring harness - mouse turned it to a chew toy
- Exhaust manifold, cat converter, and oxygen sensors - weld broke on 1-20 and got loud as HELL
- Valve cover gaskets
- Supercharger - burnt out and almost left me stranded... limped home and about cooked my engine
- Crank pulley - disintegrated and left me stranded... thought ole boy was done for
- Upper intake duct hose - cracked and left me stranded
- Belt tensioner
- Idler pulley
- Oil pan and gasket
- Power and ground cables - kept stalling out at red lights
- Engine fan assembly - built in sensor that burns out. There is a hack to fix, but I ain't got no time for dat.
- Swapped out worn bushings for Powerflex
- Swapped out broken dipstick for Cravenspeed dipstick - yeah, our dipsticks are trash
- Cracked coolant overflow tank... three times. Third time I ponied up for an aluminum one
I'll give it my ole R53, he's a resilient one. Takes a hit and keeps coming back for more. Really the only mods I've been able to do is the dipstick, aluminum overflow tank, Powerflex bushings, and Megan Racing header... during 8-1/2 years of ownership.
List of repairs off the top of my head:
- A/C compressor - first time it burnt out
- A/C coil - second and third time it burnt out
- Throttle body - built in sensor that burns out
- Valve body for the TF-60SN
- Camshaft sensor - burn out about every 75k
- Crankshaft sensor - burn out about every 75k
- MAP sensor - burn out about every 75k
- Radiator & support
- Engine wiring harness - mouse turned it to a chew toy
- Exhaust manifold, cat converter, and oxygen sensors - weld broke on 1-20 and got loud as HELL
- Valve cover gaskets
- Supercharger - burnt out and almost left me stranded... limped home and about cooked my engine
- Crank pulley - disintegrated and left me stranded... thought ole boy was done for
- Upper intake duct hose - cracked and left me stranded
- Belt tensioner
- Idler pulley
- Oil pan and gasket
- Power and ground cables - kept stalling out at red lights
- Engine fan assembly - built in sensor that burns out. There is a hack to fix, but I ain't got no time for dat.
- Swapped out worn bushings for Powerflex
- Swapped out broken dipstick for Cravenspeed dipstick - yeah, our dipsticks are trash
- Cracked coolant overflow tank... three times. Third time I ponied up for an aluminum one
I'll give it my ole R53, he's a resilient one. Takes a hit and keeps coming back for more. Really the only mods I've been able to do is the dipstick, aluminum overflow tank, Powerflex bushings, and Megan Racing header... during 8-1/2 years of ownership.
1st Gear
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 17
Likes: 3
Order up some patience! I just did this job and these cars are a royal pita to work on......
3rd Gear
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 168
Likes: 13
From: Loganville, GA
- That's the same time I gave up as well and bought me a Jeep. I had two unreliable vehicles in my driveway at the time and something had to give. Luckily both cars were paid for so I still have them for projects, but I much rather drive my Jeep these days purely for my back and knees sake. Too bad I having to sell it due to financial reasons.
I don't know what to think on reliability with these r53s ..either you got a good one or you don't it seems. I think so long as propper maintenance is kept up the keep going but they require more attention than most vehicles . Get out and check under the hood every week and visually inspect everything you can . I've owned many diff kinds of sporty commuter cars and always mod them . My biggest money pit was my 04 s55 amg , that like above was on the road 40% of the time I owned it and it had 98k miles . Well, my mini had 198k when I got it. But was in amazing condition for the miles and the family it came from must have cared for it well. It's modded and I got it with some mods on already too. Im by no means easy on this car and it has never once in the 6 months and around 10k miles of driving it has had ZERO issues .
but the day I brought monster mini home I literally took like 3 hours just walking around the car inspecting any and everything I had any bit knowledge of, if I found something that needed to be addressed it immediately got fixed . I SHOULD have checked my plugs but I assumed they were ok, THAT one mistake could have cost me my engine .not only were they in finger tight they were the wrong heat range. Just go out and give ur mini some love and attention and report back to us if you find anything out of the norm.
but the day I brought monster mini home I literally took like 3 hours just walking around the car inspecting any and everything I had any bit knowledge of, if I found something that needed to be addressed it immediately got fixed . I SHOULD have checked my plugs but I assumed they were ok, THAT one mistake could have cost me my engine .not only were they in finger tight they were the wrong heat range. Just go out and give ur mini some love and attention and report back to us if you find anything out of the norm.
Last edited by MiniManAdam; Feb 14, 2020 at 07:59 AM.
Banned
Joined: Aug 2018
Posts: 264
Likes: 39
Best early mod I ever did was get a set of wilwood 6 pot calipers and 13” rotors followed by quality tires.
also nothing on this car is hard to do. Do all the work yourself and learn away. Clutches,suspension etc it’s all pretty easy to do. Don’t be intimidated by this car.
also nothing on this car is hard to do. Do all the work yourself and learn away. Clutches,suspension etc it’s all pretty easy to do. Don’t be intimidated by this car.
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