Had a drive of a R53 Cooper S yesterday...

[elephantstone]

And loved it. Putting my MX5 on PH this afternoon.. I want one.

My budget should fetch me a nice clean facelift model with about 65,000miles on it!

[DavidLScott]

Good man!

[elephantstone]

DavidLScott said:

Good man!

I better not say this too loudly but the Mini drove better than my mk3 MX5!

[MX-5 Lazza]

elephantstone said:

DavidLScott said:

Good man!

I better not say this too loudly but the Mini drove better than my mk3 MX5!

That's because you bought the wrong Mk of MX5

[elephantstone]

MX-5 Lazza said:

elephantstone said:

DavidLScott said:

Good man!

I better not say this too loudly but the Mini drove better than my mk3 MX5!

That's because you bought the wrong Mk of MX5

Hmm ive had a Mk2 and this Mk3 but the mk2 was set up wrong and had bent alloys. I still have a big Mk1 Turbo itch to scratch!

[juan king]

You need to look into getting a reduced charger pulley, I went for an Alta 17% and it transformed the car and along with the GTT cold ram the supercharger whine sounded great.

[elephantstone]

juan king said:

You need to look into getting a reduced charger pulley, I went for an Alta 17% and it transformed the car and along with the GTT cold ram the supercharger whine sounded great.

Reduced charger pulley is on my radar. Which percentage should i get without modding any other parts of the engine?

[juan king]

15 % is supposed to be the sweet spot and safe to run with a standard intercooler but don't forget to change to some cooler running spark plugs, if you're anything like me though you'll get addicted to the noise and power, I ended up with 210bhp and an empty wallet

[jackh707]

I'm hunting for similar cars myself... Looking for a low mileage (less than 60k) facelift. Cant wait to get mine!

Just waiting for my car to sell

[nottyash]

I've a Facelift 54 plate with 65k miles on for the Mrs. She said it wasn't fast enough compared to her previous JCW, so I fitted a 17 percent Kava pulley, k and n filter, different plugs, 200 cell stainless sports cat and a stainless Fletcher exhaust which seems to of done the trick.

[elephantstone]

jackh707 said:

I'm hunting for similar cars myself... Looking for a low mileage (less than 60k) facelift. Cant wait to get mine!

Just waiting for my car to sell

I hate waiting for cars to sell!!

[CO2000]

elephantstone said:

juan king said:

You need to look into getting a reduced charger pulley, I went for an Alta 17% and it transformed the car and along with the GTT cold ram the supercharger whine sounded great.

Reduced charger pulley is on my radar. Which percentage should i get without modding any other parts of the engine?

You can get 16% ones (Kavs?) but prob only a few bhp in it compared to 15/17's.

Does it have no run flats/lsd?

[hyperblue]

Congrats, welcome to the dark side. Don't go telling everyone how much fun these are though

You can get away with a 15% pulley without upgrading the intercooler. Just for info, the JCW had an 11% pulley, as did the GP which came with a larger intercooler.

[Justin Cyder]

Running a 15% Kavs pulley here with cooler plugs & no heating problems on the standard intercooler. It was easy to fit too, a morning's work with a puller & a tool to push back the aux belt tensioner.

[jackh707]

Folks who have done the 15% pulley mod! how was you insurance affected, I've only had my r53 4days now, it's bone stock , but I'm planning a pulley mod for the future if the added insurance cost isn't ridiculous.

[elephantstone]

Looks like im not getting a Cooper S after all.. im sticking with the MX5.

[juan king]

jackh707 said:

Folks who have done the 15% pulley mod! how was you insurance affected, I've only had my r53 4days now, it's bone stock , but I'm planning a pulley mod for the future if the added insurance cost isn't ridiculous.

There's a company that does reduced pulleys that look exactly same as the original, just sayin!

[chris watton]

My wife absolutely loves her R53 Cooper S - she even cleans it every week - something she's never done before!

Gonna upgrade it for her next year with JCW parts - suspension, brakes, engine bits and intercooler....Oh yes, and better sticky tyres!

[eatcustard]

If you do the pulley do the air filter, or you will not get the full power.

And I have never know anyone with a 17% pulley suffer with heat, running a standard intercooler.

But the most important thing to do first is uprate the front brakes, they are crap at best, and will struggle with the extra power.