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I've been trying to get a nice daily driver forever but my desire to modify and personalize cars tends to suck more money than I always plan to spend. This, combined with some other issues that popped up over the last year and I was looking to simplify into one car that sucks all the cash rather than two. Originally the plan was to sell both the E30 and the Roadster and dump all that money into a Cayman.
However, as life would have it, just after I sold the E30 and was looking at the reality of selling the Roadster I was hesitant to do that after spending nearly all of 2019 working on making it true to its potential. Within a few days of that a few other things happened and it became obvious the Cayman wasnt going to happen now...
So the mission was to find something that I would enjoy driving, but would have limited potential so that the desire to modify would be minimal. My buddy has been DDing a Mini Cooper for a while now and I quite enjoyed it. Its new enough that I dont have any smog headaches to worry about, its not the supercharged one so no point in trying to make it fast because it never will be, but its light enough that the 115bhp was good enough. Went and saw this one and was sold. Kinda wanted a 05ish one with the Getrag transmission, but loved the one I found, even with its flaws... so here it is!
Notice the missing a-pillar trim. More on that soon...
Our ~40 mile drive back from Upland and I was grinning from ear to ear.
Once home, I had a list of things I wanted to address. First was the A-pillar trim, I decided to buy a brand new one and dealt with that. realoem is still in play which is great
Notice the assortment of incorrect hardware that was removed from the broken trim. Fixing things that dumb@ss previous owners have done...
With that addressed, the next thing was the mismatched tires. The two in front were different than the two in back, and all were old... I searched and searched and ultimately decided on another set of stock Mini wheels that had good Michelin Pilot Sports. Went and got them... They all fit in the Mini. Love hatchbacks!
Im diggin this look with no center caps (didnt include them anyways) and some less white is a good thing.
This is basically the look going forward, unless for some reason the SSRs find their way back to me. Im not anticipating it because the new owner loves them and I think its time for me to move on... but should they pop up!... haha
The (hopefully) short list is to do some basic maintenance, make it handle a little better (already bought a Eibach rear swaybar) and that is probably it. A few other things too, but nothing wild. No engine builds, no crazy mods. Just DD goodness... until further notice!
Yea Im planning to have a thread to document my process... is this not something you guys allow here or are you just being "one of those guys"
So anywyas ... the first major thing I wanted to tackle was to take the extra set of lights off. I inspected them a few times to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into and overall seemed straight forward. FAMOUS LAST WORDS...
I had a plan for the parts, here she is inside the garage next to my Fairlady Roadster
The official "BEFORE" pic
Looking underneath and the brackets were riveted on to the hood. No problem!
Drilled the rivets out and with some prying, I got these loose. Next up was the lights themselves and for being just over fifteen years old, they look like they came from my fifty year old Datsun
The passenger side started with a major headache. I simply could not get the big nut loose, and when it finally began turning it was the entire nut and threaded inner shaft was spinning together... insert your favorite bad word here.
The driverside light I was able to break it the big nut loose but the small phillips was a bit of a disaster. Took half a dozen different screwdrivers to finally get one that worked, but I was staring at this for way too long
Ultimately I got the driverside one off, but the pass side will need another attempt. The wiring is at the firewall and once I figure out which direction to pull it through (into the car, or into the engine bay) I will finish off the auxiliary light removal
I recognize your name from R3V. I sold my E36 M3 about 6 months ago for various reasons and ended up in an R53 about a month ago. So far it's been great. Look forward to following yours!
FYI, there is a build thread section of this forum too...at least that is where I started mine.
Thanks, the Datsun has been a great little car. I eventually plan to vintage race it but for now its a weekend soon to be HPDE ready car. Ive spent the last few years getting the car ready for that abuse...
Originally Posted by cblock406
I recognize your name from R3V. I sold my E36 M3 about 6 months ago for various reasons and ended up in an R53 about a month ago. So far it's been great. Look forward to following yours!
FYI, there is a build thread section of this forum too...at least that is where I started mine.
Thanks! I was looking for a build thread section, guess I missed it. If a moderator wants to move it there, perfectly fine for me
The R53 is a great car, but I had to avoid that because I want to prevent myself from modifying the car much. Going to focus on making it handle a little better and hopefully thats it haha
🤷♂️
lol. Just reminded me of ur poses....
Nice color combo on that r50
It perfectly summarizes my vehicle purchases and likely the path of this thread haha
My buddy gave these cabrio braces years ago and I never needed them, so I gave them to my friend who also hasnt used them so I think now I need to get them back so I can install them myself
If you're enjoying it, that's what matters. I was slightly triggered seeing "sold my e30" in the title as I have one myself. It's currently stripped down to nothing and parked in a corner of the garage until I'm done with my '05 Cooper S. The e30 is a long term project as I simply can't shed money to get the body fixed, plus the S52 swap and everything else. I'm trying to focus on the MINI as I have the bad habit of starting something and not finishing it...
If you do normal maintenance and then some prenventive one, you shouldn't have much problems with the MINI. My '05 S has slightly over 200,000 km and 15 years and I had some of the known issues and everything else was just normal maintenance.
If you're enjoying it, that's what matters. I was slightly triggered seeing "sold my e30" in the title as I have one myself...
E30s are a fantastic car, really hard to keep em stock though. I’ve owned an E30 for the last 10 years and was just ready for something different. Enjoying the Mini so far.
Originally Posted by Akumazeto
Nah I was laughing because you bought a r50 because it has no potential so no reason to mod it. If only every r50 owner took this stance lol. Welcome. I am also "One of those guys"
my 73 with hks plenum triple webers t4 super bad *** blow through setup Legit Devil Z car hence the name l28 n54 block p79 head. Dont see many people build like this anymore and I am one of the few who does.
I won’t lie, I’m having bad thoughts about that Big Valve R53 head that’s for sale right now but my Datsun is about to get some “new” Mikunis and the price plus the rebuild will take all that money
Cool vid, I’ve started making some videos of the Roadster on my weekend canyon runs
This is a great place with an expansive archive and lotsa goodvibe all round.
Glad you're here.
Thanks for posting up your thread and congrats on the R50.
Love the Datsun too, minilites look great on it --- fun stuff with the viddies as well, I watched Return from Rancho so far and it was a groovy ridealong.
And,
as devils advocate,
here's some R50 temptation for the demon tweeks:
Not mine --- I was just researching ITB's for my R53 because my #1 complaint is the detached disconnected throttle feeling due to drive-by-wire, but after investigation it looks like major heavy duty stuff to incorporate such a setup on R53, so I just dropped the subject and hope some adjustments can be made when I finally get a proper tune. If somebody had a plug-and-play conversion to cable throttle tho, I'd buy it inna heartbeat.
Here's another not-mine which is a good demo of a nicely tuned R50 :
This is a great place with an expansive archive and lotsa goodvibe all round.
Glad you're here.
Thanks for posting up your thread and congrats on the R50.
Love the Datsun too, minilites look great on it --- fun stuff with the viddies as well, I watched Return from Rancho so far and it was a groovy ridealong.
And,
as devils advocate,
here's some R50 temptation for the demon tweeks:
Not mine --- I was just researching ITB's for my R53 because my #1 complaint is the detached disconnected throttle feeling due to drive-by-wire, but after investigation it looks like major heavy duty stuff to incorporate such a setup on R53, so I just dropped the subject and hope some adjustments can be made when I finally get a proper tune. If somebody had a plug-and-play conversion to cable throttle tho, I'd buy it inna heartbeat.
Here's another not-mine which is a good demo of a nicely tuned R50 :
Had some time to play with the car while socially distancing myself lol
Got some 8mm spark plug wires from Mini Mania ($22!) , OEM NGK plugs and a new air filter. Air Filter wasnt a K&N, but Im still glad I did it because the old one was filthy. When it came to the plugs and wires I was even more glad I did it. I pulled out the 4 old spark plugs and they were 3 different types! DAPO (dumb@ss previous owners) strikes again!
The coil pack was a little ugly and needed attention too.
Before:
Cleaned and covered in dielectric grease:
Next was dealing with that last piece of the light that I couldnt get off. Damn thing wouldnt budge. We had to resort to the bigger, more brutal tools
And after some cutting grinding and more, finally got the other spare aux light off the car.
Did some social distancing yesterday and was going to take the Datsun out, but battery was dead so I took the Mini instead. Would love to see how the eibach rear sway helps the rotating in the turns.
Good to see you doing the normal maint and getting it in good shape.
By far the rear sway bar is the best bang for the buck in handling mods, check out our page as we have several options.
Then also go for the DDM intake it's good for 8ft lbs torque and an awesome deep sound.
Originally Posted by 2mAn
Did some social distancing yesterday and was going to take the Datsun out, but battery was dead so I took the Mini instead. Would love to see how the eibach rear sway helps the rotating in the turns.
Good to see you doing the normal maint and getting it in good shape.
By far the rear sway bar is the best bang for the buck in handling mods, check out our page as we have several options.
Then also go for the DDM intake it's good for 8ft lbs torque and an awesome deep sound.
That’s tempting but A) I don’t think CA emissions will be too thrilled, and B) I’m trying to avoid the motor mods... BUT I’ll probably still get a K&N panel air filter
Im likely going to get a set of motor mounts including the upgraded TSW pass side mount and the powerflex lower insert. I noticed my upper mount was torn so that’s definitely the next $250 I plan to spend
That’s tempting but A) I don’t think CA emissions will be too thrilled, and B) I’m trying to avoid the motor mods... BUT I’ll probably still get a K&N panel air filter
Im likely going to get a set of motor mounts including the upgraded TSW pass side mount and the powerflex lower insert. I noticed my upper mount was torn so that’s definitely the next $250 I plan to spend
Understood, as that is a shame since the intake likely improves the emissions.
Understood, as that is a shame since the intake likely improves the emissions.
I may still do it, but not 100% sure at this point because it is money that can and should be spent elsewhere. I will check with my local smog guy and see what he says.
Originally Posted by Akumazeto
RMW also has been making huge power for the N/A
RMW? any links?
I just ordered some parts, OEM side and lower motor mounts, powerflex inserts for both and some other stuff related to the interior of the car. Also found an eBay seller in Latvia who has brand new rear hatch trim in the factory black. Ordered two of them for about the price of one "chrome" one that I could've got locally. Down side? Its coming from Latvia so it will take a while
Legit Devil Z car hence the name l28 n54 block p79 head. Dont see many people build like this anymore and I am one of the few who does.
