R53 Cooper S to tinker with ...

R53 Cooper S to tinker with ...

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Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
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So in April i had to grow up & buy a flat, so sold my GP1: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... then in August my gf's brother moved to Dubai and needed rid of the MCS that he had loved & tinkered with for 7 years ... silly offer was accepted and i owned a 2nd car again biggrin

Spec was fairly long when i purchased it, but exterior/looks were not quite to my taste:





First to go was the silver patina dash/chrome trims/pre-facelift doorcards, to be replaced with the anthracite dash/trim from the mini one, some facelifted door cards & the later 3 spoke JCW steering wheel:





Then my attention was turned to the outside, where i fitted the facelifted front xenons/rear lights to freshen it up a little bit outside, & got the Turinis from my GP out the shed:





Also fitted an OMP upper strut brace to go with the lower one already fitted:


Spec is now fairly extensive with (amongst other things) a Newman Cam, 450 injectors, 15% Pulley, Dave.F airbox, GRS 'Motorsport' intercooler, Milltek cat-back, 1320 "Mynes" Tune. R56S front brake Calipers, Nitrac 294mm 12 groove discs, MintexM1144's, GoodridgeSS hoses, Castrol Response Super Dot 4 fluid. MeisterR Coilovers, V-Maxx F.droplinks, OMP upper/lower brace, rear bench brace, Powerflex wishbone bushes. 17" Turinis with Continentals, Black beltline kit, aero front grills, stubby aerial. Scanguage 2, CG Lock and all the other bits & bobs above.

Compared to my M135i it feels pretty slow low down (even with 230+ bhp lol), but once its wound up it goes like stink, also grips to the road like glue!!! Brilliant little 2nd car for me to tinker about with/do track days in. Ill keep the thread updated with any little changes i make - might be helpful for any other mini owners on the site driving




0llie

3,006 posts

195 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
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Super spec thumbup

I was almost screaming at my monitor at the chrome interior, very glad to see that it had gone in the next image! hehe




e46acs

548 posts

190 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
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very nice. dirty engine bay letting to down though! smile

Evo

3,462 posts

253 months

Wednesday 24th September 2014
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Awesome spec, car looks great on the turbines, such a nice wheels design.

I agree with tidying the bay up, your car deserves it lol, I appreciate not everyone is into that though.

Great work smile

nunpuncher

3,364 posts

124 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
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Thinking about getting one of these at the moment after ruling out a long list of quicker and subsequently more expensive metal.

I'm wondering how it compares in terms of overall experience and involvement compared to the M135i. I recently got shot of one because I couldn't stand the steering or handling (non adaptive) at speed on any less than perfect B road.

Edited by nunpuncher on Thursday 2nd October 07:32

Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
nunpuncher said:
Thinking about getting one of these at the moment after ruling out a long list of quicker and subsequently more expensive metal.

I'm wondering how it compares in terms of overall experience and involvement compared to the M135i. I recently got shot of one because I couldn't stand the steering or handling (non adaptive) at speed on any less than perfect B road.
Its ALOT more fun i guess, & the 135i wouldnt know which way it went down a B road, but as a daily, i couldnt be bothered with the rattles, hard ride or lack of comfort compared to the BMW. Im surprised at your reasons for selling the 135i though, yes, its a little floaty, but certainly dont have any issues with the steering (ok its a bit light/lacking feel) or handling at road speeds. Its not an M car though, so i wouldnt expect it to be any better than say my old 330is.

Tiger Tim

1,810 posts

221 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
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I just can't believe you still have that Pioneer Dolphin head unit. It must have been in about 20 cars now.. smile

nunpuncher

3,364 posts

124 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
quotequote all
Sir_Dave said:
Its ALOT more fun i guess, & the 135i wouldnt know which way it went down a B road, but as a daily, i couldnt be bothered with the rattles, hard ride or lack of comfort compared to the BMW. Im surprised at your reasons for selling the 135i though, yes, its a little floaty, but certainly dont have any issues with the steering (ok its a bit light/lacking feel) or handling at road speeds. Its not an M car though, so i wouldnt expect it to be any better than say my old 330is.
Those weren't my reasons for selling. I got rid of it because I didn't need a car day to day anymore and I really resented paying so much for a car to sit on the drive most of the time. They are good but not really my idea of a fun car. I did 20k miles in mine before splitting and i guess it's like marrying that perfect women then discovering several years later that those tiny little flaws are grounds for divorce.

tintopracer

139 posts

166 months

Thursday 2nd October 2014
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Out of interest, how easy is it to swap to a three spoke wheel? Always preferred the look of those to the 2 spoke ones.

Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Tiger Tim said:
I just can't believe you still have that Pioneer Dolphin head unit. It must have been in about 20 cars now.. smile
Ha ha, you wont believe me, but its actually a different unit, although very similar!!

The Dolphin one will naturally be going in shorty however ...

So. Update time.
Went to Goodwood for Hot Hatch Sunday, had a nice drive down there, but definitely missed the diff from the GP ...


Then went to 1320 on Monday 13th for some work to be done.
Strut tops were enlarged to allow easier camber adjustment. Angle grinder FTW!!


From:


To:


Then Whiteline rear ARB fitted:



Unfortunately, on the way home, the brakes failed - not 1320's fault i might add!!


The culprit underneath the fuel tank:


Which meant a trip to Minispeed in West Byfleet for a new brake pipe & hose.
They also fitted a new handbrake cable & the rear Hardace camber arms that i bought a couple of month back:



Before "alignment" - dunno how people drive with it like this lol:



Note the toe on the passenger rear wheel. They didnt sort this in the "alignment" as they couldnt get their equipment on apparently (not sure how they did the camber then ffs), so im going to sort it out myself over the weekend, the rear camber looks more positive than -1.5 as well, so need to check that with my camber gauge ...




Tiger Tim

1,810 posts

221 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Sir_Dave said:
Tiger Tim said:
I just can't believe you still have that Pioneer Dolphin head unit. It must have been in about 20 cars now.. smile
Ha ha, you wont believe me, but its actually a different unit, although very similar!!

The Dolphin one will naturally be going in shorty however ...

So. Update time.
Went to Goodwood for Hot Hatch Sunday, had a nice drive down there, but definitely missed the diff from the GP ...


Then went to 1320 on Monday 13th for some work to be done.
Strut tops were enlarged to allow easier camber adjustment. Angle grinder FTW!!


Driving round the nham in your 106 with NERD playing before hitting up KFC for a greasy bucket. Mate that was about a decade ago now. That little head unit has seen a lot in its life.
From:


To:


Then Whiteline rear ARB fitted:



Unfortunately, on the way home, the brakes failed - not 1320's fault i might add!!


The culprit underneath the fuel tank:


Which meant a trip to Minispeed in West Byfleet for a new brake pipe & hose.
They also fitted a new handbrake cable & the rear Hardace camber arms that i bought a couple of month back:



Before "alignment" - dunno how people drive with it like this lol:



Note the toe on the passenger rear wheel. They didnt sort this in the "alignment" as they couldnt get their equipment on apparently (not sure how they did the camber then ffs), so im going to sort it out myself over the weekend, the rear camber looks more positive than -1.5 as well, so need to check that with my camber gauge ...

n3il123

2,602 posts

212 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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That looks well stanced innit... wink

CMYKguru

3,017 posts

174 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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Thats looks great

Only thing is the black sill, arch and bumper black bits are starting to look grey , could be the photos

Autoglym Bumper and Trim restorer gel is great at about £6.

Turns it back to black and the water beads off it

Loui

350 posts

206 months

Wednesday 29th October 2014
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You should get yourself on track mini Dave

JakeT

5,406 posts

119 months

Thursday 30th October 2014
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CMYKguru said:
Thats looks great

Only thing is the black sill, arch and bumper black bits are starting to look grey , could be the photos

Autoglym Bumper and Trim restorer gel is great at about £6.

Turns it back to black and the water beads off it
It isn't permanent though. After a few washes/ driving in the rain for some time they dull again. It is good though and makes my trim look like new.

Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Monday 3rd November 2014
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Loui said:
You should get yourself on track mini Dave
Ah, might do that!!

So, this weekend we dicovered why the rear toe was off so much ... essentially Minispeed hadnt fitted the wheel properly, so the spigot wasnt seated correctly, but they'd gunned it on anyways, albeit only finger tight. So when the wheel turned, it wobbled from side to side, changing the camber/toe with each revolution. Really not happy, could have fallen off & killed me FFS!!

The metal ring that holds the spigot on, & how it was seated:


Damage to my wheel:


The wobble:


With this in mind, we then got the camber gauges out to check the front/rear camber that id asked them to set everything to: -2.5 front/-1.5 rear. Result (it looked off by eye in all seriousness):

[I]Front drivers -2.3
Front passenger -1.2
Rear driver - 1.1
Rear passenger +1.0[/I]

So we re-did it to -2.0 front/-1.5 rear. Need to change the top mount screw holes in order to get more on the front, but as with other things on this car from now on, Ill be doing it myself where possible, not relying on others to do it in my lazyness. If you want a job doing properly etc.

Also changed the K&N air filter. Bit grubby lol:


Oh and fitted some Carbotech XP8 front pads.

Having finally driven it properly now, i can confirm that the Whiteline rear ARB adds a certain level of "steer from the rear", the smaller s/c belt that 1320 fitted (it was approx 1" too long previously) has definitely increased the level of boost at high revs and the XP8 squeak ALOT, seem pretty powerful though. Trackday on Sunday will hopefully be good.

Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Friday 14th November 2014
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So Donington on the 9th was brilliant, for the 40 mins the car worked rofl

Unfortunately, most of the day was spent like this:


Because of this: http://www.cliosport.net/threads/melted-spark-plug...

Which needs i need to spend more money.

Moneypit.

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Friday 14th November 2014
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The strut tower modification looks a little scary. These cars often suffer from "mushroomed" turrets, chopping part off will have weakened them. I suppose the more solid top mounts may compensate to a degree.
Looks like an interesting project, sure you'lll get the bottom of the plug issue.

McSam

6,753 posts

174 months

Saturday 15th November 2014
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helix402 said:
The strut tower modification looks a little scary. These cars often suffer from "mushroomed" turrets, chopping part off will have weakened them. I suppose the more solid top mounts may compensate to a degree.
I was thinking the same. Whenever someone starts cutting body metal, I wonder how little appreciation they must have for the huge amount of analysis, modelling and testing that goes into designing such critical hardpoints. Certainly I'd never even consider buying a car that had that sort of thing done to it.

Shame as the rest of it looks nicely kitted out and it sounds like a good fun tool, though perhaps a little too highly strung!

Sir_Dave

Original Poster:

1,494 posts

209 months

Monday 17th November 2014
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As far as im aware, the mushrooming only affects cars running the standard top mounts/suspension, whereas this has had solid top mounts/coilovers for the past 5 years. I will probably be put some additional reinforcement plates on the top as well though just to be on the safe side. The cutting needed doing though unfortunately, no doubt having full camber adjustment on the front top mounts if you cant adjust it without taking the front coilovers off the car - would make for a rather arduous alignment process.

Getting some advice re: the spark pug problem at the moment, & also considering the benefits of a front mount intercooler instead of a top mount to try & reduce temps further when on track.