I have some Brembo stickers that came with my rotors, I never thought to put them on the calipers!! No wonder my brakes have marginal performance!
At least now I know the solution lol

 

well duh , step your sticker game up son....lol

 

Wow these r56 brakes are an improvement..but what a pita they rotors and pads were because of the anti rust and breakin compounds. I had to grind down the taps on the back of the pads halfway AND grind off all the breakin material on the pads because it was wayyyyy too thick for brand new coated rotors. But I got them correctly broken in and I never had brakes take so long and be such a pita to do so. I actually got nervous the pads or rotors were junk ,lol..
I pushed it pretty hard and the ebc pads and rotors have GREAT performance when hot , they actually seem to bite better and i got absolutely no brake fade now..
BUT MY CAR LOST a decent amount of low end grunt after I switched to these bigger heavier rotors and calipers AND the stock rims which weigh atleast 2x of my aftermarket ones AND they have a much taller tire and I can really feel the taller tire and heavier rotation mass ..
I gotta admit , I forgot just how much upgrading my rims and tires helped because I did it so long ago but WOW. IF your running stock rims or aftermarket rims that are for vanity only I highly HIGHLY suggest dropping down to the smallest diameter lightweight rim you can fit with good matching tire. You will be amazed how much it will help your accelerating. I just cannot believe hoe much it's effected it. Wow just wow. Lol I can't WAIT to get these stock p.o.s off my car next season I'm selling these stockers and finding an aftermarket lightweight winter setup. I just cant do these anchors..

 

It could be worse. Hankook Ventus v12 is the lightest performance tire aside from the garbage P7 cinturato. Most weigh 3-4lbs more per tire! I spent way too much time looking into this.

I haven't noticed an acceleration difference going from the Slites to the Xlites, however the ride is much nicer. 24lb wheel to 18lb wheel.

I DID notice a huge difference going from standard S brakes with EBC red to JCW S brakes with EBC red. The 'normal' brakes had plenty of stop, but the JCW brakes take it to another level and make braking fun, they are grippy and feel like they have plenty of stopping power. Almost as much fun as my Z with 13" rotors all around.

 

My goals for this winter :

. r56 rear brakes and trailing arms
. 1x piece lightweight flywheel & stage 2x clutch
. Ac delete ( already removed condenser and hung the lines and capped them encase I ever want ac back ) and also a gpr tensioner
. upgrade from 2% to either 3% or 4% crank , need to see my clearance with the gpr tensioner setup.
. Mount the carbonfiber lower trunk spoiler when ever its done being made and gets here
. And I REALLY REALLY like to take off my head and FULLY port it out as well as open up the runners more on my sneedspeed Manifold BUT these will only get done if i complete all the other things above 1st. Because it DOESNT NEED the head and intake to be larger BUT i know for dang sure it will benefit from it. Theeeeeeen i will retry the v12 throttlebody upgrade again with an oem throttlebody.

 

If you think wheel weight is noticeable on a fully built R53, try a 115 HP R50. Its hard to wrap your head around.

If your looking for lightweight wheels that wont break the bank check out Konig. I have the 15x6.5 helium's on my car, 11 lbs. each. They would be too small for yours I think but even their larger wheels are still extremely light.

 

wow 11lb only , that's awesome. I think mine are like 16 or 17lb but they are a 16x8..
my mst timeattack setup is pretty light. And with the r56 calipers, yea. I'm pretty limited to what 15s I can run.
it looks like I'm probably going to be upgrading the clutch , flywheel and lsd just after xmas... my buddy just did his clutch and has all the tools and even engine suspending thing he was telling me about and he is excited to get at it but i gotta save and purchase the parts 1st..
I'm just going with a 1 piece 16lb flywheel, stage 2 clutch and I'm still debating between the 2x lsd's. I will have to look into feedback from people that have used them in their cars.
I still wonder forsure though if my car has an lsd lol my luck ille buy one and find out my car DOES have one. I mean it does lay 2x wheel shadowsnakes and doesnt understeer really much at all even when wot through a hard turn.
I tried getting in contact with previous owner but no luck. Because he's the one that put in the newer eng and trans and he had some good parts on the car when I bought it so I'd assume he woulda used an lsd trans but I wanna be able to know and say for sure..then worse comes to worse if I DO have one , I'm sure the aftermarket one is going to be better suited for my goals with the car so I could just sell the oem lsd if it has one..

 

Adam, their is a barcode above the drivers side axle on the transmission. You can see it through the control arm hole or to the right of the subframe. The car must be in the air though. At the end of the barcode their are 3 letters. BKE will mean that you have an open diff and BKL will mean that you have a lsd. I have 3 mini's and one of them has the BKL trans so I know that the letters and what they stand for are correct. Check that before ordering the lsd so you wont have to return it.

 

I've looked and there's no stickers AT ALL on my engine or transmission. All the times I've cleaned my engine or painted stuff on it , they're long gone..
though I will still 2x check for it....thx for the tip

 

The trans upgrade will be coming 1st.. I decided on and already purchased a clutchmasters aluminum 1x piece flywheel. I will be mating a clutchmasters stage 2 clutch to that then also. To REALLY help it scoot I will be buying a getrag lsd also. I mean , our trans IS MADE by getrag and this getrag lsd looks IDENTICAL to the 2x the priced qulafie.
unfortunately buying a budget clutch and flywheel, like one of the stage 2 or 3 kits off ebay like the xtr kit or something, those are out of the question. i guess IF i had no choice and money was the constituting factor id have tried one but I am going to save and buy the propper parts and do it rite..
I also am working on a parts list of things I need to replace like rear main seal , clutch fork prong things , oilpan gasket , ball joints.. am I forgetting anything ? Kit comes with new throw out bearing and I hope new flywheel bolts and stuff..lol I better 2x check..
but that's where I'm at with the car fir now.. all the parts will hopefully be purchased by the beginning of the new year. Wish me luck into uncharted territory !

 

So far 2x goodies have arrived...
my wife bought me the gpr tensioner for Xmas and a fellow member kope618 (THANK YOU VERY MUCH ) gave me the lead on it. They've been sold out EVERYWHERE , ALL year sofar and supposedly wernt having any more reproduced until February 2023 and that wasn't even a guarantee. So scoring it was worth its weight in gold to me. Plus the guy sold it to me for exact price they sell fir without cost of shipping and threw in a vented drain plug and tensioner strut for the tensioner ( you need to install the stock rod onto the gpr ).
I also got my lightweight flywheel.
I also picked up somemore power.. i tried a v12 tbody again and now with my new fuelpump and stuff , it makes the power it should have last time i trued this mod. So now i will sell iff my oem ported tbody and intake and swap on one of my 3in intakes soon as they get here..

 

Awesome, gpr tensioner was a pretty strait 4ward install. Sure is nice being able to service jy serpentine system like stock now AND IT BUILDS 24PSI max now and hits more boost sooner thx to NO belt slip..Awesome !
but I found the upper engine mount was starting to fail as it pissed out sone hydrolic fluid so oem one along with performance top bushing has been ordered and soon as it's here it will be installed along with the ac delete pulley..
I have enough for the clutch n lsd as of now buuuuut I'm really trying to buy a s60R to build as a 2nd car for some straight line big power..
here's the old and new tensioner.

 

Glad you got your tensioner finally.

As someone who's had a handful of P2 Volvos I totally support this.

I have a 04 V70 T5 waiting to serve as my new winter DD as soon as we finish the JCW build that's currently hogging the garage.

I've got a Volvo cable/computer which is pretty much mandatory if you plan on doing work yourself. LMK if you need any pointers in the future.

 

awesome ! I will keep you in mind yet again.lol
A pepperwhite aero popped up somewhat close and thars what i was really attempting to get but I've tried numerous times , everyday possible to contact the seller abd never once got a response so unfortunately its either a fishing add it sold immediately. I suspect it's sold because of its condition and their asking price buy that's ok.. I think I'd rather build and play with this s60R instead of another , almost exact mini again. Though I had fun building my mini I wanna see the potential of a turbo car now.
I had a 95 aero for abit I began to modify and omfg that sucka started making some good power very easily. Lol only did catless downpipe and exhaust, upgraded turbo internals , upgraded injectors, cai and a eco tune it was called because it was able to run e85 or 93oct without having to switch tune or anything.. and lol that sucka on e85 WAS AN ABSOLUTE MONSTER ! only problem was there was NO WAYY that auto trans stock was going to hold that cars power , even at its semi bolt on state..
I need to look into this volvo more because unfortunately it too is auto so I need to find it's limitations. I don't mind an auto at all , its nice actually having an auto because of my terrible back n arthritis but that auto needs to be able to handle me and be able to go wot , when ever , where ever and not have to worry about letting off when its about to shift or cant go 100% throttle ect.. if my car can't be thrashed on and be just fine afterwards.. it's a car I don't want..

 

Over Xmas it was bitter cold with negative temps AND steady wind of 30mph with gusts upto 50mph.. then today it was almost 50F , lol gotta love Wisconsin weather..
so I took advantage of the warmth and threw on the ac delete pulley along with new upper engine mount and polly bushing..
idk WHY every ac compressor removal article or video said i had to use a rachet strap or something to pull the engine forward to get the compressor out. Not only did i NOT have to do that i was able to even leave all ky coolant hoses attached and just peeled back the core support enough to get down there and then i dropped the compressor out through the bottom.. I thiiiiiiiiink this pulley is a few mm smaller than the ac one , either that or my best stretched some after sitting fir a few weeks , though it was a new belt I just put on. I felt like it was much easier and I had a tad more slack when putting back on the belt..
the engine mount was straight forward install , didnt have any issues. Though i did wirewheel every bolt I'd taken off and put back on just to clean up their treads and knock off any corrosion starting. Why ? Because I'm nuts like that , that's why ! Lol I like my stuff as nice as I can get it..lol you guys reakky have no clue how much time ive put into the small tiny details on this car that youll probably neber even see or knowtice but in the end it all comes together to make my car that much nicer..
soon as weather and roads permit I'd like to test drive it abd make sure I have no belt slip still.
btw , if you haven't seen yet because we don't text , I aquired another 04 aero finally ! I bring it home the 2nd and will begin a massive cleaning and inspection from top to bottom from the 5th to the 12th because i will be at my brother's watching his dogs for them days so ille take that time to just get a good start on the new mini..
as always , here's pics guys !
Hope your holidays went well.. have a safe , happy new year AND MOTOR ON MINIACS !!!!

 

Do you go to car auctions? I notice a lot of buying and selling of vehicles and was curious. The lot the new MINI is parked in looks suspiciously like an auction lot lol.

Your motor looks good man. If we parked our cars side by side, all that attention to detail would be blatantly obvious, mine is a mess!

 

I found that mini at a used car dealership for a good price too. I got it under 3k.
your correct though, most cars they have are auction cars but some are trade ins too. I dont have a dealers license so i can't go to car auctions unfortunately..
I will sometimes come across a deal that's too good to pass up and I will jump on it and flip it fir a few bucks if possible.
Like now. Im also in process of getting an 02 passat that needs finished put back together after its front end accident, has all parts and windshield was just put in. 107k miles , 1.8t , auto...I been trying to get rid of my fish and fish tank and we might trade so long as that car has no frame damage..but the vw I'd flip the second it was road worthy. Unless I end up falling head over heals for the pepper aero when I get it , then I might keep the vw as my daily beatermobile and then get a 2nd garage for the pepper aero and make it a garage queen like project rice is. Because honestly, from the looks of it , the pepper aero looks like it's underbody is just as clean if not abit better and it's body vs project rices body ( before paint n body work ) is better. It had absolutely no taillight rust or in the door frames ect , none.. project rice did have some bubbles starting under a taillight I had to fix while we were doing body prep..

 

I was just randomly looking at my car today and knowticed something very BAD , the air under hood air diverter for my grs ic I have was too long and was sticking out half way in my hoodscoop so only half the air was semi being diverterd across the ic and the rest just went above it and back across my engine..
so then I cut up the 2nd diverter which sits infront below the ic so it stops air from going underground, I didn't have it on yet but I'd finally cut it enough to fit.. now looking down my scoop the airpath is WAY wayyyyyy more direct and much larger capacity too. I wish I woulda taken a befor pic because I'm not exaggerating how much it was being restricted and diverted wrongly ..lol derderder Adam. Also I think I didn't bleed the brakes good enough when I put on the r56 brakes because my brake pedal slowly sinks to the floor while the cars started. Though it has great pressure ect when off so I hope my master cyl seal isn't failing.. i will adress the brake pedal issue eventually but I'm kinda bust with the other cooper rite now turning it into my dailydriver. It's getting full tune up and all new fluids ect and a handful of performance parts to get started.. already have or on the way for the pepper aero.... 40k coil , 10mm wires , step colder ngks , catless headers , intake and 65mm throttlebody , boost and x60 gauge with dual gauge mount and I might be trading my buddy the stock seats our of it for his corbue ( or how ever you spell it ) seats. I also have to order and do a clutch in it probably too..
anyways, check out the fixed air flow now through the scoop. I had to cut and trim both diverts alot to get them to fit correctly and line up , the 2x holes you see is to clear the intercooler sprayers..

 

Thats GRS intercooler looks sweet. Looks like a leap works scoop also?

 

close...... but it's just an over seas one....

 

My brakes never felt rite after doing the r56 brake swap. I felt like the pedal was abit spongy , took extra effort and they hung up. Though it was still an improvement it wasn't as good in other areas..I since borrowed my buddies pressure bleeder and bled all 4x brakes and bled 3qts through them to make sure I got it all out.. I then looked with my inpa to see if I could activate the abs module and bleed that too but either inpa cannot access it or I could find out how to do it.
I sold the gold stock S lites because I have an entire car I can drive now encase of emergency so no use keeping energy winter tires n rims any longer.
I can't wait to drive this car again.. I forget just how quick it is after not driving it for awhile.. then ille get in it and it surprises me all over again and brings on the smiles..

 

I decided to pull off the sprintex and port out the intercooler and intake horns.. WOW there was alot of room for improvement in them. The casing looks like it's as good as it will get because it will be too hard to clean.
I'm going to be redoing the vacuum line because I kinda rushed them when I last put it all together so I'm going to be rerouting and using better lines and ensuring I have NO boost or vacuum leaks what so EVER .
I gotta admit , it nice having the gpr tensioner, it makes servicing things as easy as stock..
but look at those sharp edges and blockages of air flow in the pre ported horns , you'd think they'd take the few extra hours and do the porting. It's amazing how much it really helps.. it will go well with the 65mm throttlebody. I'm also going to order a throttle controller to get rid of the dead pedal feel from the tbody swap. I found a 30$ knock off pedal commander thing that's works amazing..
my porting tool finally **** out so I replaced both brushes in it and it ended up that the switch went bad so I wired up a pressure switch so it's wayyy easier actually to control it now.
here's some pics

 

I got most thing back together. Just gotta get on rad and front end but I test started it and 0 issues. I doubt I'd even be able to feel a difference from the few things I ported BUT it should help. I also completely dumped and put new oil in the sc. Omg that old oil was yuk. I had to use my heat gun too to heat it up so it would drain most out because it thickened up so much. I couldn't believe how much easier the snout rotates now just from an oil change..
I removed sprintexs vacuum setup and tapped and installed brass barbs to ensure that there wont be any vacuum or boost leaks at all..I obviously cleaned all the matings surfaces and put in new seals I had to hunt down but there all in and it's back together..
I also found a water cooled ic I'm going to purchase Ina few weeks . I'm going to be going with a Kavs watercooled ic.
I can't WAIT for nicer weather to get and and start ripping this little beast around again..

 

I am a new Mini owner so I am fresh here, super fun read going through your build. I look forward to more updates!

 

thx you... if you ever have any questions about anything I used or where I sourced it just feel free to p.m anytime..

I put the cooling system back on today and unfortunately it leaked out the waterpump flange where it connects to the block. I put on a larger gasket to the point where it was hard to press the pump in AND I put rtv on it and am letting it dry over night.. if it still leaks I know I need a new flange because I think I might have bent mine long ago , it's always been a pita to get tgat to seal on this car and I've never had an issue with any of my other minis..
ah well , ille get it figured out..that's why I wanted to do this now so all kinks will be worked out by good weather time and I won't have to rush it together to be able to drive... that's why I got the aero mini for my daily..that cars coming along well too , check out that thread if you guys wanna.." Adam's aero build thread "