Hey, that's great to hear. I'm considering the wires also. I like to eek out performance from small engines.

 

A 19mm swaybar is a good choice. I have a 22mm Rspeed but if I had it to do over I would go with a 19mm Alta.. I also have proxes 4 in 205 50 16. I like them a lot. An ecu upgrade like MTH is also a nice easy improvement. Have fun with your Cooper!

 

Thanks for the encouragment.
Congrats on the new 06 car. That's great!
And, hey, you had the good sense to stay with British Racing Green

 

Mine is an 02 I have had for over two years .. I bought it with 11K..... minor stuff.... all warranty.... now out of warranty and I would not sell it for another Mini.....but I have to admit when I drive the 06 I notice the refinement

 

Thanks, I am going with the 19mm Alta. Alta advised me that the 22 would likely be too much at higher speeds (22 is probably ok on the MCS).

I want the Proxes 4, but it means putting 205/50 on my 5.5" rims. I'm wondering if the width is just too much for that narrow rim. The charts say no... but it seems to be pushing the limit.

I want to find a way to improve the air intake. I did that on my 4-cyl Z3 and it made a significant difference. I did it without buying an aftermarket CAI. It was a matter of increasing the hole into the airbox and eliminated the bottleneck along the airpath (it's called "Fogging" an airbox - named after Shawn Fogg who invented the technique). It was superior to aftermarked CAI for the Z3 because it kept the hot air out.

I hadn't considered the ECU, but I will.

I want the sway bar and tires first. Got to convince myself that 205/55x15 are a good fitment on my little rims.

 

I run 205/50/15's Toyo RA1's on 5.5 inch wide holeys for my track tires. They work fine.

 

I love my '02. No problems thus far, hopefully it will stay that way for quite awhile.

And yes, the suspension is extremely stiff. But I do get satisfaction out of thinking how mushy the suspension seems on my friend's 325i by comparison!! I'll trade comfort for handling any day. Not that it's so bad, I'm used to it by now. But you do feel every little bump in the road, so be prepared.

 

I live in Winnipeg, MB, where it gets pretty cold most winters.

My '02 Canadian Launch Edition Cooper had a transaxle seal go one night when it hit -55C (with wind chill) here a few winters ago. Other than the mess to clean up from the dropped fluid and the inconvenience of having to have it towed to the dealer, fixing it cost me nothing under warranty.

I loved driving almost every one of the 78,000 KMs I put on that car before I traded it in on my '06 .