When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Bought son a red facelift aerobody JCW with a bunch of JCW/factory options as a first car/incentive to get a license last year. Together we Got it about 90% fixed and then had engine failure, bought a parts car to cannibalize so it’s getting engine swap at present but I really wanted to get one for myself as a daily fun car with good mpg so I can get rid of CrewCad, my shaved 95 Cadillac’s crewcab dually on semis that I can’t even afford to drive anymore.
have been looking for a bit, first for a parts car, and most recently with spousal approval for a car with good mpg so I can put CrewCad up for sale. After some shopping ( wrapped purple brg prefacelift, couple local silver slicktops (one with aerobody) missed aerobody pepper white with everythingg, I kind of knew what my must haves were, and my I’d really like, and my do not want were. for me it’s Xenon’s facelift sunroof fogs & leather on the must have, nice to have would be crono,anthracite headlining, chromeline, BEP, heated seats, English leather. NOTs would be red, brg, poverty spec.
found one in OKC that ticked most of my boxes, chatted on Fab and then by phone. seller was really upfront about it and what the issues were with it, amd that it was a flip. He bought it with a supposedly locked up engine, and when he started to pull it to rebuild, discovered the belt had failed, and tensioner slammed into the Alta crank pulley. He put a OEM pulley and tensioner on it put it back together amd it was fine, compression tested it, etc, and drove it for a week before listing but with a stock sized belt since that was what he had on hand from his r52.
He had a buyer who kept having “ATM problems” (can’t pull money that doesn’t exist), commiserated about selling on FB, and made a deal and sent a small deposit to lock things in so I could buy tickets and not worry about it being sold out from under me if ATM guy managed to knock over a bank and he’d pull the listing until I saw it in person. He agreed to give a location and hand and supply tools to replace the belt and anything else we found that was a road safe repair requirement.
Left house for airport Saturday/yesterday at 3 am, with my favorite copilot Alex, planning on a single long day and be home by 11pm.
At our flights height we were skimming the very tops of the clouds, like a canoe on a river. Was pretty cool
Watched a bad bad line of thunderstorms, then Saw dawn break from 25 thousand feet
we flew out with a new K060535 belt and my BMW diagnostic computer, inpa cable, and a couple CDs in my back pack, and toothbrushes and paste in case we got stuck somewhere due to severe weather because indeed it happened the night before.
Will Rogers was MY grandpas favorite.
arrived to Will Rogers OKC at 10am after a stop in DFW and seller picked us up. Was a bit dirtier than pics, but overall presented well. Some PO had boy racer aspirations as it had drilled and slotted rotors front and rear and red painted calipers and all the red Alta stuff. Got belt swapped for correct one and no more slipping under boost, all the codes except ABS cleared, but I didn’t bring my bmw scanner 1.4 cable to tell which one.
made deal and got on Route 66 which was literally the road right behind sellers house, and thus the title. Stopped for first of many fill ups on a couple miles down Route 66, then again for a people filling but cheap McDs in the median of i44… as I didn’t entirely trust the sender and in west Texas stops are as much as 90 miles apart. I filled up every half tank or so, just to be safe and until I personally get some time with it
siri took me on some wild 150 mile detour thru all kinds of country highways (75mph speed limit and well maintained so no qualms there) once we got into Texas instead of heading for i20 at Abilene, so instead we wound up hitting i20 at Big Spring. Apparently it was cutting the corner and about 20minutes off the trip. Got to see some parts of the country i otherwise would never have seen.
(Somewhere down here the sign says welcome to Texas, copilot was dead asleep, a recurring issue in documenting this trip)
Find this in Big Spring while heading to a Walmart for washer fluid and a quick walk around.
when it struck me, we are driving a German engineered, British built, Brazilian motored, newstalgia version of a 60’s economy car turned into a rally champ off to “look for America” to quote Simon and Garfunkel.
found the Hellas weren’t hooked up to the original driving lights harness, and xenon’s were pointing at floor 10 feet in front of us, but with highs on was about equivalent of normal lows in throw, and I know i20 to i10 to home very well, so we pressed on the 4 more hours home despite mounting fatigue and dark.
arrived home at 1:20 am after stops in both Monahan’s and Van Horn to top off tank and to stretch legs, rest Brain, drink energy drink etc, completing a near 24 hour day. Only ran into rain for about 5 minutes between two local exits near home, right after I had said what a bear it was gonna be to wash those dead bugs off. Someone above was watching out and listening to us all the way home.
Good Bad Ugly will be posted at a later time, I’m off to Detail Garage to grab a new bottle of nonsense interior cleaner, as from red JCW experience I know it takes a heathy part of a bottle to really do a full on first time interior cleaning.
happy belated birthday to my new mini, It turned 19 2 days ago (07/21/2004) Got it a new owner and a new lease on life.
Last edited by Onizukachan; Jul 23, 2023 at 02:45 PM.
bad: alignment is poop drives straight at highway spped but with wheel cocked over about 10 degrees. At low speeds sometimes pulls left, sometimes doesn’t which means something is worn somewhere.
tires have good tread and work in heavy rain at 70, but are off brand. Will do for now but on the list.
seats are not heated
Alta airbox, diverter, are not to my taste, diverter actually dented hood in two small places, so it’s already pulled off.
has nav no Crono. Im familiar with the system since my former, now eldest sons e46 has it. I added TV tuner and rear camera to his, along with USB playback when it was still mine.
r53s Software is old, and nav disc either isn’t present or was a burned disc that has worn out as it won’t read it. Will borrow one of the spare discs from eldest son to test the drive.
iteresting that it is a full on standalone and thus doesn’t even give any of the benefits that it does in bmws.
I plan on switching to chrono center after I get a r270 so I can flash it to virgin. Better a fake (lo fine hot) water temp gauge, than none at all.
dent in lower pass rear bumper, like someone with a trailer ball backed into it. Will remove skin and use heat gun to push it back out. Also someone at some point tapped it in the rear, whoever it was, used flathead screws, not Phillips, on their front license plate. Lol.
is HK, but Both lower door speakers and left rear speaker are out, luckily parts car has the full compliment in full working order, so can do that at $0 cost.
aux is bad. Had to listen to cds and fm radio (when there was any) on way home. Will probably do same BT aux I did on Alex’s instead, and put the working iPod adapter in this one, since Alex has Sirius and the required both at once cable is now NLA.
stripes need replacing, and at least one side is NLA. Anyone know anyone who does a repop? I actually like how the factory ones have the built in pinstripe.
aux lights wiring was cut at the light when the OEM aux lights were removed, and Hellas mounted but not connected to it. Easy fix.
Most of the fender side markers are cracked to hell and/or missing part of lens. Already have Chinesium black set with LEDs, since it has led tails cause I hate the orange red against the black.
xenon’s pointing at ground. Not seeing the up down self test happening so will have to investigate before manually adjusting.
abs light on
SES/CEL comes and goes. Could be related to…
ebay header. probs also reason why car likes to play “the floor is lava” with the area by drivers throttle foot after driving for a while.
I don’t think it’s factory LSD. But I wasn’t able to one wheel peel it either.
the good. It’s solid. It runs well, and everything works accept the Dang abs.
I have most of the parts to un **** it between parts car, surplus parts to JCW, etc.
rack doesn’t actually make noise… not that I can hear anyway.
28 mpg at 75 real, 80 indicated.
30 mpg when between 65-70 real, 70-75 indicated.
Leather is supple, even though has quite a few cracks around edge of bolster. It is also a full shade lighter after cleaning with Jay Leno s leather cleaner. some one borrowed my good Lexol to save their red leather that was rock hard and never returned it… and Walmart no longer Carries it.
key works well and is in good shape overall.
the ugly: fix dents and at least get the paint and plastics polished
really needs coding
Last edited by Onizukachan; Jul 24, 2023 at 12:02 PM.
Congrats on the new R53! I've always loved pepper white, and I like how yours has the two tone interior. Less boring than all black!
Also looks like a fun little road trip to pick it up! I did something similar with my E53 X5 4.8is, except I was supposed to drive from Los Angeles to New Orleans after picking it up....and my water pump exploded at 3am on a Sunday just out side of Las Cruces LOL. So consider yourself lucky you made it home!
Aw man, you didn’t break down far from here either (El paso)! that sucks, I could have helped out if I had known.
Thanks, I saw a brg with cashmere and liked it when I was shopping around locally last week. It’s not heated English leather, but my eldest when he saw it last night, asked if it had more backseat room than Alex’s, as it it just looks that much bigger inside. Really have to get after it with the nonsense cleaner and soft detail brushes though as you notice the crud/dirt in the plastic grain a lot more!
Aw man, you didn’t break down far from here either (El paso)! that sucks, I could have helped out if I had known.
Thanks, I saw a brg with cashmere and liked it when I was shopping around locally last week. It’s not heated English leather, but my eldest when he saw it last night, asked if it had more backseat room than Alex’s, as it it just looks that much bigger inside. Really have to get after it with the nonsense cleaner and soft detail brushes though as you notice the crud/dirt in the plastic grain a lot more!
haha not far at all. I ended up getting a tow to a hotel in las cruces, then I called around looking for parts in town first. When that failed, i tried finding a rental car - any car.... a truck, a u haul, anything and none of the companies had any between there and El Paso! So my brother ended up coming down from Colorado Springs and towing me to his house hahaha. I bought an entire new cooling system and paid for 2-day shipping. got it fixed by the next weekend and finished the drive home.
Regarding the leather - have you ever tried colourlock? They make an amazing cleaner that I used on some oyster (light cream colored) leather, and it was a huge transformation. Put a tape line down the middle of one panel and clean to see just how massive the difference is!
Yes, I’m familiar with them from my bmw days. Lexol is still my favorite initial cleaner, and best conditioner I’ve ever used. I’ve had door armrest leather that was literally as hard as plastic on my f31, turn completely soft and supple and like new with it.
Coded the new mini. All the usuals, fogs with high beams, fogs with park, comfort close amd open, no speed lock, no two step lock, double impulse hazards,etc.
coded cold check off for the rear turn signals since they are LED to get rid of the hyperflash issue. also found where to code out the clutch switch interrupt in ews. But since this one has a sticky starter will have to wait to 100% confirm it till I can test on one of the other ones.
DiS tells me it is the right front abs sensor that is out, iirc it is the left that is bad on parts car so that’s fixable.
polished the hood just to try it out and see how it looked. Polished headlights, they are still slightly yellow but about as good as they will get at the moment.
also started UNfüćking the mess someone made of the driving light wiring. Basically I’m going to want to run new underhood positive wiring cause they cut it in random places, the big ugly fuse box is only connected on one side with the other cut off, etc. wire gauge seems a little small too. Will do more research on what it is supposed to connect to, and try to replicate that. Was able to confirm with a jumper wire that both Hellas do work. So once this gets fixed I’ll have some decent lighting at least.
Yanked the Alta diverter off, will swap for parts car’s OEM diverter and iC.
trying to decide if I want to paint it silver like a JCW with black iC face, because that looks subtle but fabulous on Alex’s JCW, or perhaps go a custom color on the diverter and a few other accent pieces.
the red accents would be great on a chili, but I’m not feeling it on the Panda 53. (Those who have watched Initial D will get the reference) so I think I will convert to factory airbox, but keep the Alta foam element. Alex’s has one as well. Can always mod it for more intake noise with one of my many holesaws, got everything from 1” to 6” sizing.
no pics for the moment,nothing much worth taking picture of yet.
My dealer back in the day (Keeler, Albany) enabled pretty much all of the cool stuff, but I might want to mess around with some other things. Do you use a tablet or pc and what adapter did you get? Not sure I need this, but information would be good. Thanks!
I’ve had a couple bmws before so for the last decade or so, I have an entire old dell xp dedicated to pre 2012 bimmers & minis with ncs expert and ncs dummies for coding, DIS 57, navcoder for mk2/3/4 bmw nav &telecom systems (I tried,does nothing for r53 mk4) , which all use inpa cable, and bmw scanner 1.4 which has its own diagnostic head.
also have another win 8 machine for post 2012 bmws like my former f31 which use totally different programs for coding and Ethernet inpa cables.
My r53/e46/e83 machine saved me $400 bucks and more than paid for itself when it told me exactly what evap part failed ( the pump) where it was (under right rear fender liner), and how to access it and fix it when my then gf, now wife, ran her e83 slap out of gas for the umpteenth time and got a cel that wouldn’t go away,
between inpa, dis, bmw scanner I can diagnose and then clear just about any code, even stubborn ones, change module vins (and on e46 revirginize them) so it’s saved me a ton o er the years.
and All of it is freeware (unless you buy a preconfigured install disc which is still worth it amd what I did for the post 2012 bmw computer)… definitely is worthwhile investing in an old laptop and cable (and maybe a preconfigured install for dis 44 which lets you do retrofits via VO coding like dealerships did them vs the 57 I run) vs something like bimmer code. Imho.
I think Bmw.. I mean mini, , really missed the mark in not offering a two tone steering wheel on two tone leather cars… so I impulse bought this since the leather is destroyed to the point of crumbling on the PW at the top.
should look good against the cashmere beige and black two tone.
they made lots of auto sidewalks apparently but not so many manuals. Or maybe people who drive manuals don’t crash as much because they pay attention? *shrug*
Read the install guide from mini and the one from pelican and was able to make sense finally of what I was seeing under hood for aux lights, with out having to tamper with Alex’s.
Re ran new positive leads with some actual automotive wire (not the autozone Walmart stuff) for the driving lights from inside the bin on out to hood, since some PO cut them under hood and pulled parts of them out. Found the hot wire that is supposed to go off the fuse box to the driving light fuse holder too. they cut it and left under the brake booster. I was able to reattach it and install it. rewrapped the whole shebang and zip tied the wires up correctly… then took a drive to a dark long straight road nearby so I could aim them. Really would have come in handy on drive home Saturday night!
Sorry for mess, garage is a little crowded at the moment.
CEL came back, it’s for the o2 sensor but I can’t remember which code, but iirc it is the primary. I noticed it has an eBay header on it, unknown if it still has a cat.
Do know it really needs at least the one ball mod! so I guess I’ll try putting one of the known good ones on it soon so I can get it registered. Haven’t even gotten under it yet cause my ramps are under the rear tires of the JCW. Will have to get back on the engine swap this weekend, but maybe I can get just a little more done on the PW on Thursday since it’s my birthday and I have it off work. Like installing my iPod adapter from the parts car into it, And Alex’s old no rear fog switch bank which is in better shape than the one in there, and the smoked side markers in the flares.
It’s about clean enough now to take out to rides and coffee at the Detail Garage a few blocks away this Sunday, even if not up to my standards yet. Figure why bother super cleaning the interior panels when I have to pull them all to change out all the HK speakers? Plan ahead and not have to take something apart or clean it twice me thinks.
it needs new hydraulic mount for sure and I need to check the grounds, on way home the driver side footwell got really hot after a couple hours driving. Thought it was maybe header install but tonight I only drove it a few minutes till it was fully worked up amd issue recurred. Can feel hot piping in the console right by accelerator. Don’t need toasty feet when it’s over 110 outside!
Today was my birthday so day off from work. Took mini to Krispy Kreme with wife and daughter for my box of original glazed as is tradition.
saw a beat on pseudo General Lee whilst there.
Swapped parts car to other side of driveway so I could get into the shade and partway into garage with PW. Needs a name, I suppose.
Alex’s is “Chili”, wife says her white Atlas SE is “Becky” cause it’s a basic b..ch. I suppose I could name it “Kicks”. Cause I got my “Kicks” on Route 66.
Painted parts cars’ OEM diverter silver, and got the hood scoop liner off the parts car. got those installed after I Dusted my IC grey after a good clean of the fins. I’m an OEM+ guy but compared to JCW, the S is pretty *ahem* plain. Just needs a little visual impact with out going to the extreme of Boy racer Red. Red looks cohesive to me against red, or even blue, but not on this one. Eventually I’m swapping a modded OEM box in to replace the Alta red (near) open filter box.
Re IC paint. According to actual white paper research we found (and real world+dyno testing) back in my DSM days 20 years ago, the difference is minimal (as in less than margin of error between runs) between raw aluminum once it has already surface oxidized and any thin coating of paint, etc... I personally prefer them painted so they look nice and can be kept clean. I did Alex’s in a matte black against JCW cover. Wanted mine different than his. If you feel like having it raw is better, you do you! Different strokes for different folks!
Also peeled the faded mini sticker off, it literally lifted off just by hooking a fingernail under the edge and tugging gently.
but looks like Facelift (or at least mine (07/22/2004)) don’t have the embossed 1.6L 16 valve lettering under the sticker. Just plain black.
I also scrubbed the formerly black trim with DG Trim Clean and a microfiber sponge, to make sure that they were cleaned of grime, dirt, oils, etc. then scrubbed in Hydroshield with another microfiber sponge. Stuff really works. Alex’s car sat outside on the street for 9+ months in all kind of weather, and his are still black as new today.
Finally I also installed the eBay smoked LED versions of the front sidemarkers. Have the backs too but didn’t feel like doing them just yet and the rears were still in one piece and working, unlike fronts.
Compare left side which is cleaned with VRP, vs the chin trim which has the Hydroshield applied. still need to do grill, but did the fender liners engine VC, fuse box and ECU lids so it’s looking presentable under hood at least.
also put new sylvania orange bulbs in the turns. the ones that were in there, the orange had almost all flaked off the bulb, so they were either pretty old, or pretty cheap!
Last edited by Onizukachan; Aug 9, 2023 at 11:31 PM.
@njaremka Yes. Spendy I know, but unlike back to black and other spray on temporary silicone sprays that wear out in weeks or with next wash, this stuff works.
I used it on my front lip and rear diffuser on my f31d (matte black rattlecanned) as well as underhood plastics and rubbers, wiper arms, etc. and even with washing and rainstorms they stayed black. then I used it on Alex’s fender flares to restore them. And a week later when I rattle canned his sidemarkers black… I didn’t even mask them. Just waited a few minutes till they dried and wiped the overspray off with a microfiber towel.
Installed my new steering wheel today, and treated all the interior plastics. Then went straight to a night time cars n coffee after work.
I have Nokya yellow h11 like I used in Alex’s fogs for mine too, need to get those installed, and would like to get the abs sensor and 02 sensor installed but may have to wait for Monday.
Yeah, it’s be better if it were cashmere to match, maybe one day I can get the OEM custom recovered with cashmere lower and black outer, and pass this one along, but for now it feels SO nice. Dunno if the Sidewalks had extra thickness, or this one is just in so much better shape, but for now it’s great to interact with!
Last edited by Onizukachan; Jul 28, 2023 at 10:46 PM.
im currently stripping useful bits out of my pre facelift donor car whilst on lunch break, already grabbed the one good front abs sensor to replace the one bad front abs sensor on the PW Saturday night, which fixed that light, but DSC amd tpms are still on. DSC offset error, pretty sure it’s because the wheel is cocked over 10 degrees when driving straight… Need to pull the complete strut and knuckle assembly off parts car on both sides as I noticed the wheel bearings are shot on PW front end when I did the abs sensor, and the PW towers are mushroomed so cravenspeed STD are needed.
And need to grab the O2 sensors off it as well when I pull the manifold as I’m getting a CEL code for the front O2. get those fixed and I should be able to register it at least, though it certainly needs motor mounts. No question about it, the hydro is collapsed.
funny how different the two cars are, built less than one year apart, 05 PW is super early FL built 7/21/04, 04 donor car is pfl, built 7/22/03.
PFL has small antenna base, has the 1.6L 16valve script on the valve cover,and taller gearing , FL have the big base antenna , no script, and shorter gearing.
it’s only option literally was HK. Didn’t even have a rear 12v socket. Saddens me to have to strip it since the driveline and suspension were in such good shape, but it’s going to fix TWO better spec’d and nicer condition minis, that otherwise would have been uneconomical to fix.
and yes I’m saving the rear 12v delete plug for someone who may need it in the future!
I stripped the rear panels out and removed he HK amp and rear HK speakers as I have a bad left rear, and then put panels and rear seats back. Was far easier than I had expected!
will be taking the front panels off and removing the speakers to replace my dead lower door speakers on PW. Also found a full tool kit, and including the folding wheel chock in it.
then hopefully someone will want to buy the shell & Kswap it, or make a track car out of it… or just buy it to do a 6 speed swap on a busted autotragic.
cause it’s not a bad car at all, just poverty spec no options PFL. Didn’t even have the rear 12v socket! . Makes me sad to have to cannabalize it, but it’s saving two better optioned FLs.
Was jsut playing with the aux input, interesting HK failure mode. Aux is tinny and basically only plays from front tweeters, Festival mode is jsut massive screeching on Any input. Min hk is pretty ok. So I’m going to go out on a limb and guess there is something super wrong with the HKamp itself. I’ll pull the head unit from the donor car jsut in case. It was totally fine except display started getting goofy after we pulled it first time to play with its iPod adapter, which I will also pull for mine.
was going to give to Alex but now that the needed cable to allow both is NLA, and I just bought him a 2 year subscription to XM at $5 a month, I’m not putting an iPod adapter back as it will override the Sirius with out that special cable.
Sad to cannibalize another car- I've had to do it as well, but if you're able to get good parts to save your cars and maybe some to sell off to offset your costs, it's a win-win. One thing I'd recommend if you are removing panels is to start working on the sound deadening. I've used dynomat and some other brands in the past, but lately I've found that a brand called SILESS on Amazon is the best bang for the buck. I purchased a few cases and always take the opportunity to add some to every car. It's not a huge difference in interior sound (unless you do a ton of it), but it makes the cars "feel" a little more solid and less like a tin can.
For me it's just something to do while I've got things apart.
