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Making camber adjustments is going to be an annoying process. Ah well - it only needs to be set up properly once but I’m sure I’ll have to pop them out a few times in the process 😫 Love seeing the R56 brakes on the R53. They should bite nicely with these aluminum lines and I’m looking forward to setting up the suspension properly. R56 rear JCW brakes with R56 aluminum trailing arms and an Alta adjustable sway bar.
thanks again jackmac for the help. Needed to order left and right ebrake cables as the r53 cable won’t function with these
Last edited by jacktown; Sep 24, 2020 at 09:27 PM.
Mini still sell them in both black and silver but they're quite expensive to buy new. If you can afford to be patient then keep checking the classifieds, eventually you'll get lucky like I did.
Awesome Thread Man! And great work on the MINI so far. Your attention to detail is admirable. I am from a BMW background as well, mainly the E39 (M5), etc. Nice ///M Car there too!
Awesome Thread Man! And great work on the MINI so far. Your attention to detail is admirable. I am from a BMW background as well, mainly the E39 (M5), etc. Nice ///M Car there too!
thank you friend. It’s driving very nice now - a lot like my 2 year old checkmate when I got it all those years ago - but a little tighter and faster. I’m get to take pics as the snow just started flying here but I’ll be sure to have some fun with it next spring.
thank you friend. It’s driving very nice now - a lot like my 2 year old checkmate when I got it all those years ago - but a little tighter and faster. I’m get to take pics as the snow just started flying here but I’ll be sure to have some fun with it next spring.
Snow ?!?! What is that ?!?! LOL! Sadly, you are now motivating me to dive deeper into my MINI - I will blame you for any and all outcome! LOL! Your work is inspiring. Can I send my car up to you for a clutch job?
How do you like the Flatout Coilovers? Thinking of getting them for my incoming F56 JCW, Thamks.
hi. I haven’t put a lot of KM’s on the car since installing as we were heading in to winter here in Calgary - I’ve parked her until spring. Must say though - in the approximately 100km I did I was very very impressed. The quality in hand was really good too. Bang for buck is second to none on these. If I was building another Mini tomorrow I’d only buy another brand out of morbid curiosity.
It's been a little while since I updated the thread. There's not much going on right now as she's tucked up in a new garage I acquired for the winter. I'm hoping to fix this garage up a little with some paint, swiss trax and art work but for now you'll have to forgive some of the current deco. I'm really happy with how far along I was able to bring the car since picking her up back in April/May. She drives better than new and outside of a couple cosmetic things I'll get to, I'm so happy.
I absolutely love the R112 Challenge wheels BUT, it sort of bothers me that they weren't officially an R53 wheel. They're perfect for the car in fitment and form but I've been on the lookout for something different. So for now, let's just take a moment to enjoy how incredible these 4 pot R56 JCW Brembos look behind these modest 17" wheels. It also bothers me that the brakes and centre caps have the Gen 2 logo - I'm sure I'll resolve that in 2021. Shout out to Aaron at Outmotoring for selling me 90% of the parts I used this year, including this brand new OEM brake kit which I paired with some aluminum lines. This is probably a more significant upgrade to the car than extra power - you can really stand on these and scrub speed much more quickly than with the R53 JCW 2 pots. NB. the car is wearing the OEM rear rotors that were supplied with this klit but I've since sourced some same size drilled/slotted rotors to be a cosmetic match for the fronts.
On to what's new. A few months ago I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time as some less than perfect OEM JCW Sparcos were listed on one of the UK R53 facebook pages. I wasted no time and snagged them for a measly 600 pounds which is probably fair on account of the bolster damage. That stuff doesn't scare me too much though. I'm not a upholstery guy myself but 'I know a guy' as the saying goes. It was an absolute pain in the *** to move these from the UK to Canada though. I checked all of the usual freight companies who were quoting $3000-$4000 Canadian to air ship these - it was so bad that I almost tried to wriggle myself out fo the sale I'd committed to. My back up plan was to find another UK buyer to take them off my hands. Fortunately, I was able to have my UK based nephew pick them up and palletize them on the appropriately rated wooden skid and package them well. A friend of mine who arranges commercial freight was able to pull some strings and have them shipped to my door and all in, it was about $1100 Canadian for the pleasure. By the time I get them stitched up, they'll be the most expensive single item I've bought for the car but they're worth it to me and I'm happy as a pig in ****. BONUS! I assumed they weren't heated but looking at the picture I took before I tucked them away in my garage earlier, I think I see a heated seat connector hanging out the bottom....Can anyone confirm if that blue dongle is for the heated elements?
Finally, I'm really excited about these! This gorgeous set of BBS R90s popped up on Vancouver Craigslist last week. I managed to see them within a few hours of being listed and reached out offering a full price, no drama transaction provided the buyer wouldn't mind packing them up and shipping to me at my expense. He seemed very happy to hear from me as he'd already been inundated with lowballers offering him half his asking price. I find this really surprising as his ask was only $900 for what are a near perfect condition set of 4 wheels that are $650 a corner from the dealer and as far as I'm aware, NLA. Whats more, the buyer rewarded my hustle by removing the rotted out tires and palletizing / shipping them all the way to Calgary on a work truck for no additional cost. What a lucky pick up! I've been blessed to cross lots of great R53 items off my list this year but these R90's and the Sparcos are far beyond my expectations.
Finally, I managed to grab a carbon/alcantara original logo gearknob and handbrake along with the original alcantara boots, this week. Therefore the carbon/alcantara gearknob I bought earlier this year (pictured below) that's currently in my car is up for grabs. PM me a good offer if you'd like to take it off my hands (If it still says this in this post, I still have it available) Give me one offer, If I don't respond I didn't like it. The **** is used but in really nice condition. The carbon has no damage, the alcantara part looks great but you can tell it's seen some miles.
Last edited by jacktown; Nov 24, 2020 at 03:33 PM.
Wow, you’ve had some really good luck with the parts search lately... jealous of the correct JCW logo on your seats as mine have the new logo.
Be careful mounting the R90’s as ECS says a 25mm spacer is needed with the 17” R90/JCW Brembo combo. That might also cause a rubbing or poke issue. My ‘05 with coil overs and OZ’s with an offset equivalent to 11mm rubs in the rear on occasion. I haven’t noticed any rubbing with my R90’s with 12mm front and 5mm rear.
Wow, you’ve had some really good luck with the parts search lately... jealous of the correct JCW logo on your seats as mine have the new logo.
Be careful mounting the R90’s as ECS says a 25mm spacer is needed with the 17” R90/JCW Brembo combo. That might also cause a rubbing or poke issue. My ‘05 with coil overs and OZ’s with an offset equivalent to 11mm rubs in the rear on occasion. I haven’t noticed any rubbing with my R90’s with 12mm front and 5mm rear.
And that deco .... what’s the backstory on that?
i’ll attempt a test fit but I’m not too concerned. I’m running 10mm spacers and I think that’ll be enough thanks to a tip I had from someone running the same combination in the past. Thanks for the heads up!
re. The logo, did they make Sparcos with the newer logo? I thought they’d moved in to the Recaros by then. I love learning / remembering all this stuff.
re. The logo, did they make Sparcos with the newer logo? I thought they’d moved in to the Recaros by then. I love learning / remembering all this stuff.
AFAIK, the JCW Sparcos only had the original logo. The original 1st gen Recaros were not JCW branded and had Recaro debossed and a MINI logo tag on the bolster. Both of these didn’t have airbags which is most likely why they weren’t offered in the US. The JCW Recaro Sportsters had airbags, but they probably weren’t available because they didn’t have the occupancy sensor.
I’ve seen the JCW Recaro's with both versions of the logo, but the original logo version is rare.
Nice thread, and great score on some of the parts....the "06 R52 JCW car I picked up didn't have the JCW sill plates either....I might have to get a set for my car
Just reading through your thread when I noticed this crack in the front bumper that is like a crack in my my car's plastic. How did you repair the crack before repainting?
Post 32:
Just reading through your thread when I noticed this crack in the front bumper that is like a crack in my my car's plastic. How did you repair the crack before repainting?
Post 32:
I used Bondo - it’s kind of like drywall spackle for cars. Same sort of process for applying it and sanding it down. Good luck!
Sadly, you are now motivating me to dive deeper into my MINI - I will blame you for any and all outcome! LOL! Your work is inspiring. Can I send my car up to you for a clutch job?
