Thanks man. What width tires do you use? I switched recently from 205s to 215s and like them. Maybe it's psychological, but I feel that they're a bit cushier, and they make my speedo a couple mph more accurate.

 

I'm running 195/60-15 right now because I swapped wheels from my R50. I wanted to switch to a 205/50 or 205/55 when the tires wear out. I like the way they ride but as far as traction is concerned, they leave a lot to be desired.

 

Decided to rebuild my engine with ~160K miles on the clock. Everything was running fine, but the compression was low (even, but low) across all cylinders (it was about ~135, which is well below spec). Honed the cylinder walls, new bearings, new seals, new gaskets, new pistons, rings and rods, new/refurbished head. Still have to break it all in, but the first couple short drives seem good. Will be installing a "street fighter" Cat Cam in mid-September, and then we'll really see. Never thought I could do a job like this myself, but it wasn't that bad.

 

man looking fantastic

how long is the break-in period?

 

Thanks man. Opinions seem to vary on the break-in period. I'm changing the first oil and filter after just 50 miles, and then will use Amsoil break-in oil for 500 miles, and will then do another oil and filter change 1000 miles after that. All varied driving but nothing too high-revving or sustained for long periods (like driving on the highway for five hours at a consistent 4500 rpm).

 

Killer looking R50 & nice mods . Are the new Xenon headlights OEM or aftermarket & did you have to replace the E- brake cables to fit the R56 trailing arms?

 

Thanks! The new headlights are OEM (Hella) and they weren't cheap! But the originals lasted almost 20 years, and there are all kinds of new products on the market nowadays that prevent yellowing, so I decided to make the investment. It was a bummer to have to replace them; the driver's side was fine, but the passenger side developed a "lazy eye" as one of the adjustment screw brackets broke and would no longer hold the DRL in place. I have no idea how long it had been that way, but my wife mentioned it to me after I followed her to take her car in for servicing one day. Didn't have to replace the e-brake cables, no. The only difference is to the lower shock mounting point, but most vendors that sell these arms include the required bushing (it's just a machined, press-fit piece of aluminum). I highly recommend upgrading the trailing arms; saves a bunch of weight, looks better, and they don't rust. One word of warning: because the arms are aluminum, there are only so many times you can undo and redo the lower shock bolts before they strip. Both of mine did, and I solved this by replacing them with 80mm titanium bolts that I just forced into the arms to create new threads where the old ones ended (and used anti-seize compound). About ten threads stick out on the wheel side, but they're nice and secure.

 

Had the car tuned by Adrian this morning. What a great experience! I'd been frightened about doing something like this, but it was a breeze. I turned to Adrian after several dyno shops here in Phoenix didn't want to work on my R50. Their loss. Because I'm normally a Mac user, I picked up a HP laptop at Best Buy for half price (Black Friday deal; $240 all-in versus $500 pre-tax MSRP) and spent all of $50 on the Bimmertuning software and a OBDII interface cable. Adrian raised my redline to 7500 and the difference is night and day. In second and third the car used to want me to shift at 5K (it's a manual) but now I'm shifting at 6K, and this opens up more usable power. The car pulls like it didn't used to. And while I haven't tested it yet, the car used to "rev out" at about 110 mph and I now imagine it'll be good for another 10 mph or so. After my last dyno tune the car made 128 whp, but I expect it easily makes close to 140 whp now, which is very, very good for a R50. For reference, by wife has a 2024 BMW 330i and my R50 feels like it accelerates just as hard (I'm sure it's not as fast, but it feels just as fast). If you've been wondering about a tune, I highly recommend Adrian.

 

man it looks put together now. looking out for that 1-3 pull video

 

I'll get something up soon!

 

Yeah - amazing amount of upgrades and workmanship.
I have to add; what an incredibly nice job you did on the wrap on the R53 hood. You sir, are a master!

 

Thanks! It's been a never-ending project; good thing I enjoy working on the car. The hood's carbon fiber and it was a huge pain getting the headlights to fit correctly, but it's much lighter than the steel one was. Getting the rebuilt engine tuned properly was the final big piece. Now all that's really left is chasing down some remaining interior rattles; I've gotten most of them, but that just makes the couple that remain all the more noticeable! I don't think this car will ever be "done," though.

 

Took some video yesterday. First time using a new camera. Rebuilt engine and transmission are breaking in nicely, and the tune from Adrian was a game changer.

 

sounds fantastic Sir

 

Did a bit of work on the car over the last couple of days.

1. With my recent engine rebuild and tune from Adrian the car revs higher and, it turns out, the stock radiator cap on a R50 is a LIMFAC (limiting factor). Whenever I'd do pulls over 6K rpm there would be coolant all over the place because the stock cap couldn't take the pressure, so I found a higher-pressure cap made by Mishimoto and this solved the problem.

2. The next issue I solved is oil cooling. I always knew the internals of the R53 and R50 engine are different (I installed R53 exhaust valves as part of my rebuild) but I never knew that R53s came from the factory with an oil cooler but R50s didn't, so I installed an external oil cooler. With the rebuild and tune I'm regularly pushing the car above 6K now that it's broken in, so I want some extra insurance. Plus, I sometimes use the car for road trips between Phoenix and LA, where traffic often moves at 80-90 mph in 100F (45C) heat. The cooler itself is a 10-row, again from Mishimoto, and the thermostat, AN10 hoses and fittings are by Hel. I fit the cooler just above the air conditioning condenser, routed the hoses underneath, and the thermostat sits just beside the crank pulley. I wanted the thermostat as far away from the exhaust manifold as possible so it's sensing oil temperature and not exhaust temperature (I've seen some over-the-top installations where the thermostat is sitting close to the exhaust manifold). The cooler's fittings make contact with the underside of the (carbon fiber) hood just a little bit, but the hood still closes normally.

3. With the oil cooler installation came an oil change. This is my third oil change since rebuilding the engine ~3K miles ago. I am using Redline 5w30 this time, but am not sure if this is better or worse than the Amsoil 5w30 I've been using. I've read that Redline is "racier" and can unlock a bit of extra horsepower and fuel economy, but we'll see. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has first-hand experience using the two.

4. While I had the front end off, I also installed a 9" SPAL puller fan behind and inside the crash bar. I had to cut out a portion of the crash bar to fit the fan, and it is bolted to the front inside of the crash bar. I used a Hella auxiliary light switch kit with an inline fuse to activate the fan, and the lighted switch is located in the knee panel below the steering wheel where it's not noticeable unless it's turned on (the light is blue for "cool"). The air conditioning in these cars was not designed for the brutally hot summers we have in Phoenix and anytime I had to sit in traffic for more than a few minutes my AC began to blow cool-ish, not cold. (Last year I installed a new compressor and condenser, so the system is otherwise 100%.) The intent is that when it's super hot out and I'm stuck in slow traffic, I can turn on the fan and it will pull fresh air towards the condenser to help the system keep up. As a bonus, this fan is much quieter than the stock high-speed fan.

5. This one was a "nice to have." I installed a Rennline fire extinguisher mount under the front of the passenger seat. The thing was a pain to install, but it looks cool and now I have an extinguisher where it's readily accessible (my extinguisher was previously behind the passenger seat and was ineffectively held in place with Velcro).

6. Last, I replaced the power steering pump. My stock pump failed in March of 2025 after having been replaced by the dealer in 2014 as part of the recall. I bought a Chinese rebuild off of eBay for ~$500 and it only lasted nine months. This time I bought a Cardone unit which seems to be much better quality. Genuine MINI pumps seem to be in low supply. So we'll see. I'm paranoid now. I dropped the subframe to install it, which also made installing the oil cooler much easier as I had to replace my R50 oil filter housing with a R53 housing. (NOTE: Switching from the R50 to R53 oil filter housing requires a M8-1.25 x 80mm bolt; all three of the R50 housing bolts are the same length, but for the R53 housing you'll need a 80mm bolt.)

HOPEFULLY this is the last major work I'll have to do on the car for a while. Everything is sorted and the car runs and drives like a dream.

 

How much does the extinguisher affect room in the passenger footwell? It's something I think about buying every now and then.

 

It doesn't interfere with normal entry to the car whatsoever. Sticks out about 4" from the rails and front edge of the seat.

 

i think i may have already said this. Fantastic work! looks like a joy to drive

what made the install of the extinguisher mount difficult? looks easy peasy

 

Thanks very much! It really is a joy to drive. Puts a smile on my face every time.

Rennline makes some great stuff, but the nozzle end of the extinguisher bumps against the seat's fore-aft-adjustment lever and this interferes with its function, and this also means that the 2.5 lb extinguisher isn't perfectly centered and the bottom of it overhangs and bumps against the under-door trim on rough roads. Also, Rennline includes new bolts to secure the mount to the seat rails, but it turns out that they are too long and when I went to slide the seat back into position once I had everything bolted back together there was a sharp "CLUNK" as the seat's "slider guides" slammed into the ends of the bolts. So I had to unbolt the seat from the floor again, undo the cables, undo the rail bolts, add washers so the ends of the bolts would clear the slider guides, and then put it all back together again. So, yeah, seems like it should be a really quick and easy job, but there ended up being some swearing involved!

 

Not my intention to hijack but - Yeah, I encountered similar issues with a similar under the seat extinguisher mount.
Too frustrating for me so I wound up mounting mine to the passenger side footwell as pictured above.
​​​​​​
@ATK666 - You never cease to amaze me with the amount of work, logic and creativity you've put into your R50.
Exceptional

 

Smart! I like that installation!

@Here2Go Thanks! Just puttering in my garage and learning a bit more each time I break out the tools!

 

Just wanted to report that one immediate difference I am observing about Red Line 5w30 versus Amsoil 5w30 is that the Red Line is quieter. By that I mean at idle the engine is very silent with almost zero lifter tick. As part of my rebuild I made sure all the lifters were moving as they should (they were all seized; I used a vice to gently squeeze them in and out until they were limber again) and this made the idle much quieter, but with the Red Line it's another step quieter. Not sure yet about how it compares to Amsoil in terms of mileage or horsepower (if there's even a difference), but I'm digging the smooth and quiet idle.

 

I've pretty much run out of things to do to this car, but one cheeky modification I just made was to install a Baja Designs light bar on the underside of the front bumper cover. I'm going to be taking a road trip up to Canada this spring and may experience inclement weather, and I also want to make sure tired truckers can see me approaching (I read an article the other day about how a lot of new truckers who are being allowed behind the wheel aren't properly qualified because the industry is desperate for drivers). I've had above-the-bumper driving lights on this car before, but I'm not a fan of that look anymore. Anyhow, I am very pleased with how I "engineered" the install on this; the bolts pass through the bottom portion of the radiator housing and through the bumper cover, and the light bar sits flush in a gap I cut in the lip/splitter. I drilled the mounting brackets so the light bar is the same height as the OEM splitter (i.e., it doesn't hang down any lower), and it only makes contact (like the splitter would) on driveways that have a real dip, but this is avoided by approaching/departing at an angle, and the thing's built like a tank so I'm not worried about the occasional scrape. It sits far back and underneath enough that you don't see it when you're standing in front of the car, so it's not really noticable and doesn't mess with the car's aesthetics. When I have time, I'm going to run a line to the rear fog light (I have one in the rear bumper because it looks better than the black blank that was there, but it's not connected; I had it connected to the brake lights once, but that's another story) so when I activate this the rear fog light will also turn on.

 

Is the Spec Stage 1 clutch a single mass clutch set up ?

 

Hey, did you get my reply? Thanks for the Q.