Mini Cooper S R53

[ahuxley]

When I purchased the car last October it had 60k on the clock and one previous owner:



It ticked all the right boxes for me; facelift, dark silver/black combo, supercharger & factory LSD.

So I got it bought and in the seven months of ownership so far I have done the following.

Current Spec:

Engine & Drivetrain
Kavs 15% SC pulley
Orranje Stealth CIA
BCR8ES Plugs

Chassis & Suspension
BC BR coilovers
7kg BR front springs
Hardrace roll centre adjusters
Hardrace adjustable control arms
Poweflexed engine and box

Wheels:
BBS RX 17x7.5 ET35 in Anthracite with Avon ZZ5 205/45/17

Brakes:
R56S Calipers with 294mm discs
HEL Braided hoses

Exterior:
Beltline Blackout
Black S badges
De badged rear
CC'd Cooper flap
CC'd Headlight rings
Aero grill upper and lower
Mini Sport aerial

It currently stands like this:



It handles as you'd expect a little fwd hatchback to handle and in the near future I plan to fit front adjustable top mounts so I can take my geometry tinkering up a notch, it's current got -0.5 on the front and -1.0 on the rear until I can adjust the front I didn't want the back too pointy... it already exposes the sloppiness of the front.

Comments welcome, good or bad.

Edited by ahuxley on Saturday 24th May 11:10

Edited by ahuxley on Friday 22 August 11:28

Edited by ahuxley on Monday 1st September 21:33

[Maty]

Nice...your right t'is the best colour for an R53.

Had one in the same colour/spec in 2007, fantastic car and never ever got bored of that noise. Mine had black bonnet stripes and an aero grill conversion which made it look much better...think Lohen did the grill but apparently its not that hard a DiY job.

[Evo]

Cracking little car which i'll read with interest as this is exactly what i'm about to do myself as a commuter car.

How much of an improvement was the 15% pulley and plugs, does it give it a good deal more of shove.

If you havn't fitted a strut brace would it not be worth fitting both the upper brace and the lower "Cabrio" races to tighten up the front.

Lovely looking and the colours i'll be looking for too.

[aspirated]

Very tastefully modified

[ahuxley]

Evo said:

Cracking little car which i'll read with interest as this is exactly what i'm about to do myself as a commuter car.

Thanks Evo, you won't regret getting one. They are infectious and if you can afford the low MPG there is very little to grumble about with these cars, my car currently gets around 27MPG.

Evo said:

How much of an improvement was the 15% pulley and plugs, does it give it a good deal more of shove.

15% pulley and the cooler plugs made a huge difference to the power delivery in terms of BHP and torque, the bum dyno noticed a big leap in power anyway! Also makes the super charger a bit noisier, which is never a bad thing.

Evo said:

If you havn't fitted a strut brace would it not be worth fitting both the upper brace and the lower "Cabrio" races to tighten up the front.

Not too fussed with fitting the lower brace if I'm honest but I have been looking into the M7 upper brace but I wanted to get the top mounts on first to see if the upper brace is still needed, with my driving style I don't think I will benefit.

Evo said:

Lovely looking and the colours i'll be looking for too.

Thanks again! They are perhaps one of the most common colours but for a reason... it's the best colour choice!

[Evo]

ahuxley said:

Evo said:

Cracking little car which i'll read with interest as this is exactly what i'm about to do myself as a commuter car.

Thanks Evo, you won't regret getting one. They are infectious and if you can afford the low MPG there is very little to grumble about with these cars, my car currently gets around 27MPG.

Evo said:

How much of an improvement was the 15% pulley and plugs, does it give it a good deal more of shove.

15% pulley and the cooler plugs made a huge difference to the power delivery in terms of BHP and torque, the bum dyno noticed a big leap in power anyway! Also makes the super charger a bit noisier, which is never a bad thing.

Evo said:

If you havn't fitted a strut brace would it not be worth fitting both the upper brace and the lower "Cabrio" races to tighten up the front.

Not too fussed with fitting the lower brace if I'm honest but I have been looking into the M7 upper brace but I wanted to get the top mounts on first to see if the upper brace is still needed, with my driving style I don't think I will benefit.

Evo said:

Lovely looking and the colours i'll be looking for too.

Thanks again! They are perhaps one of the most common colours but for a reason... it's the best colour choice!

Well I currently get 25-29 out of a T5 so used to that. When not hooning about can you still get more sensible figures or is it 27 all the time.

[ahuxley]

Yeah, on eco mode I can get around 34-35 and a tad more on a run but my daily commute is 16 mile round trip so you can see where my average comes down.

[Evo]

That'll do nicely, I do a commute of 25 miles across the backroads of Goodwood, Sometimes I want to chill on the way with some tunes on and others I want to left foot brake and drive it like it's nicked

[ahuxley]

This is about as arty as my pictures get:

[TWW]

aspirated said:

Very tastefully modified

I agree, OP- stealthy and restrained. Do you struggle with left-foot braking with pedal arrangement?

[ahuxley]

To be honest I do a little, only because there is a little give in the brake pedal before I get any feedback. I have solid lines throughout so this is just a case of adjusting the pedal if I wish.

[Challo]

ahuxley said:

When I purchased the car last October it had 60k on the clock and one previous owner:



It ticked all the right boxes for me; facelift, dark silver/black combo, supercharger & factory LSD.

So I got it bought and in the seven months of ownership so far I have done the following.

Engine & Drivetrain
Kavs 15% SC pulley
Orranje Stealth CIA
BCR8ES Plugs

Chassis & Suspension
AP Coilovers
Hardrace adjustable control arms
Fully poweflexed

Wheels:
BBS RX 17x7.5 ET35 in Anthracite with Avon ZZ5 205/45/17

Brakes:
R56S Calipers with 294mm discs
HEL Braided hoses

Exterior:
Beltline Blackout
Black S badges

It currently stands like this:



It handles as you'd expect a little fwd hatchback to handle and in the near future I plan to fit front adjustable top mounts so I can take my geometry tinkering up a notch, it's current got -0.5 on the front and -1.0 on the rear until I can adjust the front I didn't want the back too pointy... it already exposes the sloppiness of the front.

Comments welcome, good or bad.

Edited by ahuxley on Saturday 24th May 11:10

Can I ask how easy it was to work on the suspension. My Mini needs new lower wishbones and apparently on the Mini they are a right pain to change and work on??

[Ruskie]

Lovely car. I had one when they first came out.

[MajorProblem]

Loved my R53. The best Mini they ever made.

[Jester27]

Nice car, and excellent choice of colour.

Bought my wife one a few years ago, no plans to sell!

[darren9]

Lovely car. Well modified. My wife has an R53 cooper S checkmate. I love it. I'm fighting the urge to improve it but I'm desperate to try it out on track.

[Twin2]

Lovely car. Particularly like your choice of wheels, opting to go smaller. I had an R56 before and if it had lived a little longer would've done something similar.

[ahuxley]

Thanks for the comments!

The R53 IMO is the best modern Mini they have made and are we worthy of chucking a few quid at.

I must admit I am not hands on with the major components such as suspension fitting/set up so I wouldn't know how hard the lower arms are to tinker with sorry, I just pay the bills lol.

[ahuxley]

Small update:

- Whilst having an oil and filter change I decided to change the rocker gasket and sump gasket as I was using around 250ml of oil per 1000 miles.

- I have fitted some cabrio diagonal braces under the bonnet.


They don't change the handling but they do make the car feel more solid over uneven roads.

- Lastly whilst at the Cosford breakfast meet this weekend just gone I purchased some BC BR Coilovers with 7kg springs for the front shocks and some roll center adjusters. I will have these fitted next week with a basic geo set up including camber on the front finally.

In a few months I plan to source some Swift springs and go for a full corner weighted set up.

No post is complete without a picture so here is one from the Cosford meet.

[GTIAlex]

Absolutely fantastic that is pal.
Definitely considering one of these after iv got bored of my 182