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Rewind 3yrs ago a good friend of mine was in the market for an R53. We both searched high/low and i found this particular one in Connecticut. Had about 80k miles and serviced at the dealer until my friend picked it up.
During his ownership, he completely overhauled the front end, new strut housings, both axles, Both wheel bearings, both control arms and bushings, crank seal, motor mounts, oil pan gasket, new ac compressor, new spark plugs, wires, coolant expansion tank, new radiator, power steering pump, brand new hankook noble S3 (meatier setup which i personally love)....list goes on.
fast forward to 3 weeks ago my BIL mentioned he always wanted one. Made a quick call to my buddy and 2 days ($2200) later the car was his!
parts that came with the purchase but not installed, abs sensor, new oem rear arches (original was sideswiped), and some oil filters
here are pics from the day we picked it up
car currently had 106k miles, 6 speed, CEL light on at the time of purchase due to LDP evap leak and post car O2 sensor + trifecta of abs, low tire pressure & traction light due to bad abs sensor. Car drives like a dream otherwise
As soon as we got her home from queens, we quickly wetsanded both headlights and taillights, and buffed with my orbital. Also installed the new rear arch trim pieces my friend gave with the purchase
Next we addressed some of the lights on the dash. We first installed the Abs sensor provided with the sale. This was a PITA since the Allen bolt stripped. Hammered an 11/32 12pt socket (now part of the car) and it came out. Had to drill out the sensor since it was jammed in there. Once the new sensor was installed, abs light, traction & low tire pressure lights no more!
then we swapped out the post-cat o2 sensor. That was a nice and easy installed and got rid of the o2 sensor code
My BIL realized after driving around a bit that one of the horns didn’t work. He ordered a pair of Hella horns on amazon and we removed the front bumper to access the horns. A little wiring, and the horns were installed and sound amazing!
while in there we adjusted the droopy front passenger side of the bumper by raising the height adjustment bracket. Head bolt snapped off so i was able to drill a hole in the adjustment bracket and zip tied it in place to hold proper height. Now the front bumper sits even!
Then we decided to take a stab at Paintless dent removal. Picked up a $20 kit from autozone to take out a couple dents on the trunk and door. We were pleasantly surprised at the outcome. 1 of the dents came out completely. The other 2 about 80-90%
The drivers interior door handle and all trunk trim plastics were heavily chipped and worn out. Was missing chunks so my BIL found duplicolor perfect match gunmetal paint at autozone and i had black duplicolor plastic vinyl paint we used in the trunk. Looks so fresh now and a spot on match !
We saw some caked up residue on the power steering cap & coolant expansion tank cap. We swapped out the gasket on the ps cap and installed new coolant & gas caps....and did an oil change while we were at it
Today was the next hurdle. We spent the day clay barring the rough feeling paint, and did a paint correction on the entire car. Unbelievable results!!! The car looks and feels so slick! Can’t believe how pristine the paint came out....
Looks great. I was too lazy to tape off the black trim when I polished and waxed mine recently. My flares are in iffy shape anyway. Just tried to stay away from them, but you did a really nice job.
Great looking MINI. Paint came up beautifully. I think this is the best color combination on a MINI. I was in the market for just this color combo when I ran across a great deal instead on an MC40 which I bought. Paint correction is a wonderful thing.
Great looking MINI. Paint came up beautifully. I think this is the best color combination on a MINI. I was in the market for just this color combo when I ran across a great deal instead on an MC40 which I bought. Paint correction is a wonderful thing.
Did the $10 garage door seal lip and it came out amazing. The double stick tape wouldn’t stick to the seal so we just used the provided large washers with self tapping screws. No weird sagging either
Instead of swapping badges my BIL picked up these carbon fiber decals for the front and back. With a little heat with a hair dryer we got them to stick well
