I have not posted much but wanted to share my 2004 Mini father-son project, my 10 year old son Aidan and I are working on. This is not our 1st Mini my late wife had 2 R53s before we had kids and when the time came to start a project my son wanted a R53 like his mom had.
We got the car in April and have been working hard on it. It came with a few mods and about 220k on the motor and she was a bit tired.


We started by changing the fluids, plugs, wires, detail and a plastic dip the trim. His little sister even got in on the action

 

You're making memories as much as rejuvenating a car. Enjoy it.

 

Cool project. Looking forward to updates

 

My son turned 6 today and I try to get him involved in my Mini project but he has no interest, hopefully when he gets older we can do the same thing as you.
Awsome father and memories!!

 

**smiles**

 

Really nice, but your going to need 2 cars.

 

For such a nice job, I'll help you with a free charge tuned file.

 

Hard to believe its been over 2yrs since we started this thread. Life, work, other projects and pets have gotten in the way from me updating but we have been hard at work.
Spring summer of 21 saw the following upgrades and about 3000 miles of fun and a drive around Richmond Raceway
Borla catback mounted to the current long tub header
Plugs, wires and coil pack
Alta intercooler air diverter

 

 

On the way home from the track the alternator fried so changed that and upgraded to Fortune Auto coilovers, R56 rear arms, JCW brake kit, M7 throttle body and put in a catch can. the Mini handled great and was still quick with the tired engine.
We were able to pick up a complete engine with about 100k on to locally for 500 bucks and started to tear that down.
Things were great till the fall when the littlest kid in the back seat told the big kid driving to "GO FAST DADDY" !!
Well we cooked the clutch. So we decided to start a full rebuild

 

We picked up JCW Aero kit sideskirts, new tailgate to replace the one that was rotted out, front and rear bumper covers and rear GP bumper inserts.
The kids and I striped the Mini down and painted it in our garage. I even leaded some rust repair around the tale lights.
It came out good for a garage job and an 10 year old and a guy that hasn't sprayed a car in 25 years doing it.

 

 

We



buffed the paint out before Christmas and we were able to limp the car around to check out the lights

 

In spring of last year we started working on the interior. We redid the headliner in black added sound deading, upgraded the stereo to a double din with car play, wrapped the dash and installed R56 seats. Still have some work to finish up on the inside but its getting there.
We tore down the spare engine and sent it out to be checked out and then ordered a engine rebuild kit, had the head ported and polished, picked up a cat cam, lightened flywheel and a beefer clutch.

 

The engine is finally finished and hopefully


will be in the car by the end of March. We are currently changing the Aero grille out for an M7 one and adding Orca air vents

 

This has been an awesome project for us to work on together. I'll make sure to post more frequently on our progress.

 

The new engine was finally back from the the machine shop in April and the install started.

 

Have a bit more tuning to do with Adrian but here is the "finished" product.

 

Sweet! Nice work.

 

Outstanding!

 

The memories you will have are priceless. The two of you will be talking about the build of decades.

 

This is great! Car looks pretty good too!

Curiously, what vinyl did you use for the dash panels? I tried with two different brands and neither stuck around the inside of the vents.

 

Love the M7/Grillcraft grilles. I think Orranje in the UK may still have some of them left if anyone else is looking. Great looking car!

 

Found it on Amazon
VViViD XPO black carbon fiber wrap think it was about 20bucks for the roll

 

Love the bronze wheels with the black paint -- classy!