Hello! I just recently got a 05 cooper s and have been looking into adding some mods. Both performance and cosmetic. But I am a student and i have a fairly limited budget, but i do not want to have a bunch of cheap crap parts. So if anyone can recommend some fairly affordable best bang for their buck parts that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Congrats on getting a very fun car. It’s not sexy or even cool for that matter, but if you’re looking to enjoy the time behind the wheel, please plan to spend the larger percentage of your mod fund on all the things that keep your R53 on the road.

This includes, but not limited to the essentials like oil, coolant, brake pads and fluids. Plugs, belt, harmonic pulley, tensioner, suspension bushings and tires. Yeah, not shiny or exciting, but it’s also not fun being stuck on the side of the road either.

I bought a project R53 so that I could spend some time with my kid to teach and demystify the complexity of car maintenance and it’s been a really fun experience. Yes, we did some mods, but not until the car was reliable first.

 

Hands down and can't be argued the 2 best bang for the buck by far for the R53 is the supercharger pulley:
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-pulley-package.html
It will be by far the biggest gain in power for your $$, plus it will still be reliable and not hurt the car.
and a rear sway bar
https://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-rear-sway-bar.html
This will improve the handling the most for you buck and big the biggest that you will actually feel.

After that budget can determine what you do, and your personal feelings on what you want more of. But I'm sure you are going to get a bunch of responses with thousands of dollars in expenses.

 

Alta 17% Pulley with colder sparkplugs and new belt,pace setter exhaust and a tune ..be in under 700$ and imo best bang for the dollar mods
But if the car is new to you, invest in a COMPLETE tune up I.just did my plugs 6 months after getting the car and it had the wrong ones in it and they were finger tight.
do plugs ,oil , all fluids , intake filter . Check over brakes and suspension bushings . Address any issues you find before making it faster . Because if you don't your just gonna make what's worn fully fail faster with more power..the search bar on the forums main page too will lead to vast amounts of knowledge ..good luck !
Also shop around on waymotorworks.com ...they have alot of performance parts for good prices . But you just need to know what to get and when in the build to get what for it to be beneficial .

 

Good advice from above posters. I have been toying around with the idea of a sway bar, as well. Cheap, and an easy do it yourself job. Cosmetically, add some black jack accents, or checkered flag, if you prefer. I went with black jack, myself.

Kat

 

After adding the rear ARB I'd suggest getting the the OMP lower brace. It used to be around $60 I think, not sure of current price. Installs in minutes and ties the subframe together a bit better. Stopped the front end of my car from shaking/wobbling when understeering, feels a lot more stable with it. Can't say the same about the upper strut brace that I have (M7)... it's been on and off half a dozen times and I really can't feel any difference, only slight change in the squeeks and rattles coming from the dash.

Another working budget mod is this hobo brake cooling duct... it's not diverting air towards the brakes, just in to the wheelwell, but it still stopped my spigot rings from melting during track days.

 

Then there's the one ball exhaust mod, if your car still has the stock S exhaust. Shouldn't cost too much to have it done at an exhaust shop.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/wpbbkbr/

 

Awesome man ! If I didn't like and use my foglights Everytime Its kinda dark out I would do that duct mod . Lol I might take out my foglights and do that anyways. I can tell these stock brakes fade very very fast . I will do drilled n slotted with carbon fiber pads soon . I can't do the r56 calipers because I'm running 15s and I love these rims .

 

@JKo is that parking light (the one above the brake duct) you have OEM? Mine does not look like that. I need/want brake cooling, but also like the fog lights. But will sacrifice the lights. Wondering if you did something to that parking light to compensate for missing fog lights.

 

+5
After sorting the brakes and long before you install sway bars, poly bushings, blower pulley, dryer vent brake cooling or go-fast stickers. This one WILL leave you stranded in the best case, not as an 'if' but a 'when.' No warning at all.

Mod MINI with the how to:

 

Stickers are cheap though..and 3 of mine alone added 20hp..1x +10hp and 2x +5hp...cost me 6$, can't beat that !

 

^ 100% these are the first two mods for any R53. Affordable and highly effective.

 

I never even thought to check my sway bars to see if they are performance . My car is by far,the tightest car I've ever owned it driven .it literally has almost no body roll. I haven't pushed it that hard yet to tell like on a track but I have pushed it pretty hard on the street.
But I would have to say from reading results . Price per $$$ a pulley..lol I built an 04 Impala ss 3.8sc just to see how fast for cheap I could make it , I still think that was my fastest car though I never tracked it for definite numbers

 

By far it is the biggest gain in handling performance. I know you think your car handles well now as they do and that is why we all get them. But going to a larger rear sway bar will make the car more neutral and drastically change the turn in and rotation of the MINI. Plus when you go with our hollow 25mm bar it's also lighter so you can reduce weight on the car. Not something that you will really notice, but it will be less weight.

 

Ditto...
​​​​​​Pulley Kit
Sway Bar (+1 on the 25mm)
Then...
R56 Front Brake Upgrade
Good Non-Run.Flat Tires

 

I'd highly recommend getting non-drilled discs. Drilled ones tend to crack from the edge of the holes. Just do a google image search for "cracked drilled rotors". Slotted are fine. 15's on an R53 is a great look! Some 15's actually fit over the R56 calipers, but choices are quite limited.

BTW, foglights are useless at any speeds over 20mph as they only light up the area near the car. Almost dangerous at speed as the human eye naturally wants to look towards the brightest areas in the field of vision. It's actually illegal to use them here in Finland, unless there's enough fog to justify driving slow enough for them to be useful. But I know ppl still like to use them as they think they look cool... not judging, just stating facts.

 

They're aftermarket angel eye / halo parking lights. Got them cheap from ebay a few years back. The LEDs that make the halo ring are quite dim and partly behind the bumper too... the ones you find on ebay now seem a bit better, but also 4x the price.

 

As you see, my f

ogs give a bright yellow . Idk if they are aftermarket bulbs but they are super bright
That's my buddies r56 next to mine..

 

The problem is not the bulbs, it's the foglight housing and the light pattern it creates. If it's aimed like it's supposed to be then it only lights up the area too near the bumper to help visibility at speed. If it's aimed higher or if too bright bulbs are used then you're blinding the oncoming traffic. Trust me, the foglight location is far better used for brake cooling.

 

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.

 

As a student on a budget with a new to you R53... I hope you also have a bike!

 

melting your what now? I had to add ducts on my track car too, but I went much larger. I use drivng leds tied to my highbeams when we do night runs

 

If I am going to go in and service the supercharger, what else should I do while in there? I am planning on a water pump.

I have an ATI super damper to install. Should I do belt tensioner and idler pulley at same time? Should I use OEM parts?

 

Definitely the water pump as you said. I'd check out your bypass valve while the supercharger is out. It's known issue and is sort of buried. Also, be careful when removing the supercharger because there are quite a few plastic vacuum hoses that are brittle and will cracked if stressed.

Belt tensioner is good one too although I believe the passenger side engine mount will still need to come off... usually it's replaced from above. And if you have the engine mount off, it's a great chance to replace your camshaft sensor... preventative maintenance and all. Idler pulley is good to do while you're replacing the crank... easy install.

 

This is what we do with a supercharger service
https://www.waymotorworks.com/ultima...t-r52-r53.html