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New to the forums and inheriting an 04 cooper (non s) with 23k miles from my grandma. Looking to start with simple mods - corbeau rrx seats, miltek exhaust, rotiform las-r’s & bilstein struts / h&r springs / craven camber plates to start. Any suggestions as an intro to this platform or any gremlins to know about? Other weekend car attached
As Chief says, harmonic balancers can be an issue. The ATI super damper is an excellent replacement that actually makes the engine noticeably smoother - well worth the money.
Of course, there's a long list of "known issues" but I wouldn't worry about them until they pop up.
I have on '03 (cooper S) with over 100k miles and I still have a functioning low speed fan resistor - so they're not as fault prone as everyone thinks, I guess. Same could be said for the 5-speed midlands transmission in your car. On these forums "they're garbage" but I have a close friend that got well over 200k miles on his.
If you're doing mods, I would start with the suspension. These cars have an excellent chassis and stock suspension, but they really become go karts with a few simple bolt-ons.
H&R springs with Bilstiens is a good start. An adjustable rear sway bar can dial out the factory understeer. Start with this and you'll be surprised by the transformation. Throw in some urethane bushings front and rear if you really want to tighten things up more. Camber plates are overkill for the street IMO, but on the track they will give you an advantage (same goes for rear adjustable control arms for dialing in camber).
Yep, I redid the complete suspension of my MCS and it transforms the car indeed. Tightening up with fresh bushes (I went the polybush way) is a major improvement. In the Netherlands we have a lot of speed bumps, so lowering it compromised the practicality a lot for me (I need to slow down a lot), but I knew that upfront.
Congrats on your 'Justa' and welcome aboard! You've got a great car to work with...upgrading tires may be your biggest bang for the buck to start. Then I would suggest a rear sway bar for better handling and a CAI to squeeze out a few more HP. Low mileage cars that are 17 years old may need new bushings, belts, etc. Also check dates on last brake and coolant changes.
If you keep up with the regular maintenance, your R50 should last you for many more years yet. My '06 R50 daily driver has justa over 255000 miles on the clock. It did over 200000 on the original clutch and battery.
If they haven't been replaced already, the lower control arm bushings will probably need to be done. As a rule, they are shot after 30-40000 miles and given that your MINI is 17 years old, they need replaced. Fit Powerflex, and you'll never have to do them again.
As Chief says, harmonic balancers can be an issue. The ATI super damper is an excellent replacement that actually makes the engine noticeably smoother - well worth the money.
Of course, there's a long list of "known issues" but I wouldn't worry about them until they pop up.
I have on '03 (cooper S) with over 100k miles and I still have a functioning low speed fan resistor - so they're not as fault prone as everyone thinks, I guess. Same could be said for the 5-speed midlands transmission in your car. On these forums "they're garbage" but I have a close friend that got well over 200k miles on his.
If you're doing mods, I would start with the suspension. These cars have an excellent chassis and stock suspension, but they really become go karts with a few simple bolt-ons.
H&R springs with Bilstiens is a good start. An adjustable rear sway bar can dial out the factory understeer. Start with this and you'll be surprised by the transformation. Throw in some urethane bushings front and rear if you really want to tighten things up more. Camber plates are overkill for the street IMO, but on the track they will give you an advantage (same goes for rear adjustable control arms for dialing in camber).
Hope you enjoy your new ride!
AFAIK, the ATI part does not fit the R50. The crankshaft snouts are different sizes.
IMO, camber plates are great for the street. The car doesn’t have nearly enough front camber when stock. I always wore the outside shoulders of my tires until I more than doubled the front camber.
You could, I did just the front bushings. Mine is just a driver so no street race or track, I wanted something that would last and not make the car too stiff. I don’t have any experience with the full package so some that does might be able to help you more.
I’m not sure what to say about the handling pack either, but I’m pleased with the Powerflex bushings I’ve installed. The only noticeable increases in NVH to me came from the lower engine mount bushings and the upper mount that I swapped to Vibra-technics. My other cars are more harsh than the mini though, and I have Swift springs with Koni yellows. So take that opinion as you will. Changing the engine mounts made a noticeable difference in drivability to me.
Looking at the handling pack, I have everything in it but the LCA bushing support kit, and I used inserts for the rear trailing arms instead of full bushings. I also did front sway bar bushings, the small lower engine mount bushing, and trans mount inserts.
I’m going to claim that I could tell a difference after I added the rear trailing arm inserts. The rear end felt a little bit less vague. I don’t know whether the full bushings are appreciably better, but I didn’t have to remove the arms from the car to install the inserts. I think that might be necessary to do the full bushings, but I’m not sure.
Oh, some people have claimed that the upper rear strut bushings have too little flex and can cause the damper shaft to fail. Thus far I’ve had no issues with mine.
