I just purchased a 2004 Jet Black Mini Cooper S as I have always loved these excellent little cars. I enjoy cars but I am not very knowledgable about them although I can usually keep up with someone that knows them well.

I bought the car from an independent non-Mini dealer and they apparently did not these cars at all.

I immediately took the car to have the oil changed as I usually do and the guy doing the oil change seemed impressed with what he saw and pointed out to me that the car had been pretty heavily modded. He pointed out that it had a K & W coilover suspension, Bear brake package, Borla exhaust system, after market oil coated cold air intake, heavy duty strut brace, special after market radiator fill tank and other misc things he noticed but I can't remember. It also had a phone type wire coming out of the top of the dash that he figured was for a lap meter and he also pointed out a spot where a fire extinguisher had been mounted. The car had apparently been used on a race track but is in mint condition otherwise in and out and has 33,000 miles on it. It is a super little car and runs great in my opinion.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone that knows these types of mods would be interested in meeting me somewhere of their convenience and looking my car over and could point out to me what was done to it and give me some suggestions. The car has been lowered too close to the ground and I know I will have to have someone raise it because occasionally at certain speeds if I hit a bump it sounds like a tire rubs mometarily.

I took it to Mini St. Louis and they would not mess with any of the mods because they were after market.

One other thing, I had the check engine light on and when I took it to the dealer they pointed out a evap leak error which they said could be anything. I did some research and found a note about a DME update for the computer to fix this. They did the update and the light has not come back on but the car seems to not quite have the same power it did before. Could there have been some programming changes for the mods that were undone with the DME update or is this just my imagination?

I would very much appreciate any suggestions or responses. I would also be willing to pay someone for a professional opinion.

Thank you all for your time.

gregdx7

 

Your best bet is to look at the calendar at http://www.stlmini.com and stop by one of our next events. Between the group we will be able to give you more information than you could want. It would also be a great way to see if you want to join the club.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, thats a great idea.

gregdx7