Its been a loooong time coming, but I finally got around to getting a new place to host my pics, photobucket and its great. So please enjoy the pics and feel free to PM or ask questions about anything, forget about the search feature...

First pics of the car in the showroom



Nice profile!


Hey, hey, eyes on me here!


My MA taking it to get filled up


MINI's everywhere!


2 days later at a dyno meet, 150 miles old


Proof that the R56 needs to be lowered, Ryan's ride sporting German-spec H&R's with an extra coil removed in the rear and those sweet 18" ASA AR1's




...and once again, the proof!


First mod I did to the car, walked about 15 feet to the car, unscrewed the "RC" antenna and added the Helix "stubby" antenna to it, perfect and No problems with reception.


Once I got the car home I installed some yellow Nokya H8 fogbulbs because with or w/o HIDs those things are just dim and boring compared to these. You'll also notice the 194 NA bulbs for the parking lights, a must do IMO.


One of the first things I wanted for my MCS was a cueball shiftknob and was directed to Doug Whalen, thanks to everyone who helped me out here because this mod is unbelievable! Note the clear Dragon that lights up green when pushed in in place of the cig lighter and that cubby organizer. I got the organizer from Mini Madness, but its available through the dealers too.





Ok, enough of my **** (LOL!) Lets move onto the exhaust system!
Overview


Pypes tip in polished SS looks right at home with the stock cut-out in the center of the bumper.


Polished SS Magnaflow muffler that produces a perfect sound IMO!


Mandrel bend, T304 SS piping that measures 2.5", not the 2.4" into 2.2" from the factory.


Ok, now lets move all the way to the front and check out the intake.




The intake mod is GREAT! Gives the car a nice sound, not real loud w/ the BOV, but you CAN hear it! Its nothing like an HKS SSQV, that I can assure you! You can also hear the spooling up of the turbo and rush of air too, again, NICE!

Up next are the rims and honestly I changed my mind MANY times, but in the end I got it right!

17" x 7" PIAA Sport Mesh in Hyper Black


This is a nice overview of the rims on the car as well a nice pic of the 35% metallic window tint.





Close-up of the turbo badge. I originally bought this from Autozone for $5.00 just to see what it would look like, then go to the Porsche/VW dealer and buy one from them. Then I just decided to use it because its triple chrome plated and looks perfect!



My one daughter and wife bought this for me with the $25.00 gift certificate the MA gave me, you can never be too safe, LOL!


Like I said earlier if you have ANY questions feel free to ask here or PM me, I wanna help in any way I can. Future plans for the car are springs, either the H&R's or H-Sport. I wanna have the "raked" look the H&R's give, but will see what comes out in the next year. I plan on doing this in the spring of next year, no doubt about it. I'd like to do it now, but I've got a budget like everyone else and mine is used up for the year, not to mention my wife and I are going on a cruize in the fall. Another thing I hope to address in the spring is the ECU, i.e. MORE power! Not that the car is lacking in that department but I'm old school in my thinking there because "there is no such thing as too much power!".....ok, maybe in a FWD car there is, but another 20-35 hp isn't going to hurt In closing I'm glad to have this car and glad to be an active member of NAM!

 

Looks sweet. Did you move the stock tires over to your new rims?

 

awesome!! its a great start. looking forward to seeing more of it around here.

 

Yes I did and here's why. After driving the car for the better part of 2 days I couldn't justify getting rid of them. Sure the ride is firm, but not firm enough to make me so upset that I'd give away the tires for $200.00, no way Once the tires are on their way out, probably close to the end of summer driving season next year, I'll be replacing them with eithe rBFG KDW N/T's or Falken 615's. I did alot of late night research here and on tirerack about the runflats and it got real taxing after awhile so I told myself I'd wait to drive the car for a couple days to make the final decision and for me it was simple, keep em'

 

That's a great looking car. My favorite part is the reflection of your Michigan sweatshirt. Go Blue!

 

Nice mods. Wish my budget was higher then $ 10.00.

 

WOW great pics...i also like the green but wish its not metallic

is it worth it to get the sport suspension knowing i want to lower the car?

 

IMO yes and here's why. You still get the stiffer struts/shocks and larger sway bars, so your just changing out the springs to lower the ride height. Ryan told me that it also helps cure the torque steer problem as well, not to mention how good it looks. Heres a pic I forgot to post showing it from the front...

Mine


Ryan's

 

Super slick, can't wait to see it after the drop!

 

Your MCS is looking awesome ,keep up the good work. Have you been Dynoed yet?

 

Very Nice where did you get the intake from cause i have been looking 4 one thanx

 

nice.. i don't normally like the brg that much but that looks snazzy... i like the shiftknob... :-D

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=99615

All the info you need, including pics can be had here. Several of us have this mod done w/ GREAT results

 

Looks amazing!!!

 

Looks great...thanks for tiding me over.

 

Looks great! I think it is awesome that you've put so much "you-ificiation" into your MINI already!

I noticed that you have the chrome-line exterior and white mirror caps. I thought I read that if you got the chrome-line exterior, you had to get chrome mirror caps. Has this changed or did you get the white mirror caps added? I would like to get the chrome line exterior, but I don't want white mirror caps at all.

 

First off thanks for the compliments This car is all about "you-ification", that's what I like most about it. Now as far as the chrome mirror caps go, well, that's more "you-ification" right there. I spoke to my MA's boss and asked could I swap out my chrome mirror caps for the basic ones on one in the dealer stock and she said yes. At first she thought I wanted them to pay me the difference and I said NO, NO, I want the mirror caps to match the roof, that's the way I envision the car and they made that possible That right there made me VERY happy! So when you order the chrome lined exterior you'll get the lower front and rear grills trimmed in chrome (a must IMO because it gives the car a "finished" look), chrome mirror caps and the piece above the license plate in chrome, just the way YOU want it!

 

Hey there Klasse! Your R56 is looking great! Congrats on the successful cat-back exhaust, the tip looks very nice, and I look forward to hearing it! I can't wait to dig into the intake filter myself [just ordered one!]. The wheels look very nice too, gives the car a polished quartz sort of look, very sexy.

Thanks for plugging my Astro, the springs really are a no-compromise setup. I gave Trinity07 a ride in my MINI at Dragon meet this past weekend and she'll agree the ride is very similar to stock while giving the R56 "proper" stance.

Cheers,
Ryan

 

No problem on the plugging of your ride Ryan and when we meet up on Woodward we'll switch cars and go out for a little spin to make our observations. The mods I've done so far will tie me over till the spring when the car is lowered, then it will be like a new car all over again

 

great looking & mods too!
what camera did you use?? very sharp.

 

Hey Klasse,
Which Turbo badge did you end up with? The VW or the one from Autozone? How much was it?

 

Killer job!

Where did you get the stubby antenna? That's the first thing that has to go when we get ours.

 

Its the one from Helix and IIRC it cost about $35.00 shipped and made of quality aluminum.

Seal, the badge is from Autozone and was only $4.99 plus tax and is probably the best mod I've done for the money

 

Congrats,

You have done some nice things to your car. The first, and only mod so far, that I done is the stubby antenna. I got mine from outmotoring for $25.00. It looks to be the same as yours, but it's difficult to tell from the photographs. In any event it looks good and does a good job.

I also got a MINI umbrella from them. It's black and has some MINI cuteness that is fun. It's it also well made and waterproof, a good feature in an umbrella. It cost $38, I think.

Oh, I also got a set of magnetic autocross numbers from SoloTime. I had a very good experience with the company. I made an error in placing the order and they were great about redoing it for me at a low price.

A question: Has the cold air intake been dyno tested? I ask because it looks as if it would be picking up hot air in the location where the filter is. Do you have any info about that? The stock system is rather Byzantine, but it does take cool hair from ahead of the engine bay.

Happy cruising,

Joe

 

The turbo is going to be heating up the air anyway, so the intercooler takes care of the filter placement issue. My guess would be that the filter is good for changing some of the sound effects, but not much of the power .


Klasse, great looking car! I've got my eye on a BRG MCS as well... but I'm going with black instead of white.