MDifficult’s E82 1M Coupe & Ariel Atom 3

[MDifficult]

A little background first...

This car is a hedge. A hedge that Boris is going to start letting us out into the world and that trackdays are going to resume reasonably soon. I'd like to try to do a good few when they reopen and I wanted to have a car to do them in that a) would be reliable, b) safe and enjoyable, c) not so nice, or so expensive that it preys on my mind and d) Should still be worth something at some point in the future

Oh, and it also needed to fit in my garage and not take up too much space. Truth be told, I didn't plan to spend quite this much money but it cost less than half what my GP2 did and when it came up for sale (hopefully you'll agree) it seemed crazy not to go for it for the sake of a grand or two extra. It also came with a 5-series-touring-boot-sized pile of bits and spares.

So what is it? A MINI R53 of course!

This isn't just any R53 however. Firstly, it's featured in the current issue of Performance MINI magazine. Secondly, it's got a spec list longer than my arm, having been lovingly and expensively built up over a number of years by a dedicated guy with a good eye (and deep pockets) and then, more recently, owned by a track-obsessed mechanical engineer with OCD to rival my own!

Before I get into pictures and stuff, here's a spec list. I've very gratefully pulled it from the original builder's build thread on Minitorque and updated it based on the more recent changes:

2004 MINI Cooper S JCW 210

Suspension & Geometry. Wheels & Brakes
Sparco Assetto Gara Bronze with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 205/45/17
Wheel Stud Conversion & Gorilla steel nuts
KW Clubsport Suspension
Whiteline adjustable rear ARB
16mm MINI One front ARB
Adjustable drop links front & rear
KND Adjustable rear control arms
Lightweight trailing arm conversion
K Sport Big Brake Kit with Nitrac 12 Groove Discs
R56 Cooper S brake upgrade rear
Motul RBF600 Fluid

Exterior cosmetics
Aero front grills
Aero sideskirts
De wiper rear
JCW carbon scoop & boot handle
JCW aero spoiler
Colour coded wing mirrors/handles/headlight rings
Facelift xenons
Magnetic front number plate

Interior
Coolerworx Shifter
Sparco Evo II & OMP seats
Schroth ASM 4 point harnesses
Rear only Safety Devices custom cage with single diagonal in yellow
GP rear delete kit
JCW carbon dash, shifter & handbrake
Sabelt SW-633 Steering Wheel
Custom gauge faces
SPA Signature oil temp/pressure
SPA Signature water temp/voltage
Satin black trim surrounds

Engine & Drivetrain
Recent Full Engine Rebuild
Robert Cox Engineering Ported Head
Catcam 1202469
550CC Injectors
1320 Bytronik tune
Helix organic clutch with lightweight 1320 flywheel
JCW Exhaust system
Janspeed 4-1 Manifold with OEM cat
17% Supercharger Pulley
ITG Air filter
AEM Meth Injection

Performance
According to the most recent rolling road session to set up the meth injection, is somewhere around 205Bhp at the wheels (so maybe 250 at the crank?). That should be plenty!

Anyway, enough willy-waving (especially as I only understand about 50% of the items on that list), here's the car as featured in Performance MINI. Hopefully they don't mind me reproducing the picture (since I own the car in question) and I heartily encourage people to subscribe to the magazine - it's a fine publication!



So what's my immediate plans? A few thoughts...
- The car's going off to be head-to-toed by a mechanic. I want to make sure alls-well and safe
- I'm a big fan of the car's original look in the mag, so some recently added stickers and stripes are going to be gently removed
- It's got a head unit, but it's not Bluetooth/iPhone compatible to I need to swap that out to get my phone working and avoid the horrors of DAB
- I need to learn a lot about the car, the various dials, gauges, and what the hell I do with meth injection
- Start hanging around in the McDonalds carpark

That's enough for now. This has probably been an enormous error...

[JakeT]

Looks cracking. I'm sure that will be a lot of fun around various circuits.

MDifficult said:

- Start hanging around in the McDonalds carpark

I wonder when the big meet that happens near Madjeski will be back on...

[MDifficult]

JakeT said:

Looks cracking. I'm sure that will be a lot of fun around various circuits.

MDifficult said:

- Start hanging around in the McDonalds carpark

I wonder when the big meet that happens near Madjeski will be back on...

Cheers. I'm going to have to invest in a 'pops and bangs map' if I really want to impress the lads

[outnumbered]

Looks like a lot of fun!

[MDifficult]

outnumbered said:

Looks like a lot of fun!

Thanks very much - on the basis of one drive it's pretty hilarious

Definitely pushing the limits of 'road legal track car' but I might re-fit the carpet (came with the spares) to bring it back towards more of a 'clubsport' spec.

[5mileofdeath]

MDifficult said:

Anyway, enough willy-waving (especially as I only understand about 50% of the items on that list)

[

50% is good, you lost me at geometry!

All jokes aside that’s a right sorted little motor, it will be very at home on track.. congrats OP!

[Court_S]

That’s cool as fk, but I’m a sucker for an R53.

I loved mine, but didn’t own it long unfortunately. I know for many people it’s not a real Mini etc, but I think BMW got it so right with this first gen car. They’ve aged really well and look great. There’s a pretty good scene for them and loads of scope for fiddling.

[MrTouring]

Should’ve bought a Clio.........

[MDifficult]

MrTouring said:

Should’ve bought a Clio.........

If they weren't too big to fit in the garage!

[MDifficult]

Well the new addition has barely moved apart from in and out of the garage - but I've been busy working through a long list of little jobs before the car heads off to 1320 for a thorough go over at the end of March.

The first track day is booked for April so I've plenty of time to get busy...

Firstly... the difficult subject of stickers. Since the car appeared in Performance MINI, the last owner 'went to town' with stickers. Bonnet stripes, roof union flag and a bunch of other branded stuff. Sadly, I'm not a fan of any of it so it all had to go...

How it started:


Well, that looks better already:


Onto the roof... no going back now...


Half way. Don't panic... that's just road grime - I've not pulled the lacquer off!


And finally, with the sun visor stripped back to plain black, all's looking A LOT better...


Thankfully, with most of the stickers being relatively recently added, a little heat and they came off without too much fuss, and no lacquer damaged. I happened to have a glass-scraper in my toolbox which makes removing stickers from glass a walk in the park.

Onto the inside...

The car came with a head unit featuring both a CD player and DAB, i.e absolutely useless.

Out with the old:


...and in with the new. I found the cheapest Sony mech-less eBay had to offer to make it a plug & play swap. £60 and it even lets you match the colour to your dash! Podcasts, Apple Music and Phonecalls all sorted. Must be 20 years since I last swapped out a head-unit - proper nostalgia moment


Next up was the Coolerworx shifter. Proper sexy shifter but proper ugly gaps left in the console:


Bosh! 3D-printed covers click straight into place:


The car came with a JCW carbon handbrake handle and alcantara gaiter, but it was all falling apart. 20 minutes with a new cable-tie and a dab of glue to re-attach the gaiter to the frame and... job's a good 'un:


Back to the outside. The reversing light wasn't working when I picked the car up. Changed the bulb and... nothing. Turns out the sensor is a common issue on the R53 - and it's an easy replacement on the back of the gearbox via the left wheel arch:


3 quid and 45 minutes well spent - and that included making a wooden ramp so my trolley jack will fit under the car! Net results - working reversing light!


Next job was a bit more involved. The car has an external oil cooler fitted to keep temps down on track, but the original builder didn't fit a thermostat for reliability reasons, so the car runs a little cool in the winter. I decided to fit a cover for the cooler, that could be easily and quickly removed at the track should things get toasty. So, off with the front bumper - 5 minutes and a couple of bolts...


Stuck some high strength Velcro above the cooler...


Then fixed the other half of the Velcro to some high-temp rubber mat. Quick release cooler cover complete!...


Yes - it's a bit of bodgery and I may fit a thermostat if it proves a pain, but for now - should do the job nicely.

Last but not least - I decided to remove, clean and re-fit the lower aero grill as it didn't feel firmly attached and I didn't want to see it suddenly fly off somewhere...


On top of all of that, I removed a bunch of the interior stickers, tidied some of the interior cable runs, and fitted a fly-lead so I can keep the battery topped up. Oh, and added the one sticker I can live with..


What's next? Well - I need to give it a bloody good clean! I'll probably do a paint correction on the roof to remove the swirls and make it presentable, and I've got some Gtechniq C4 to try to bring the arches etc back to life. Then it'll be time to hand it over to the professionals!

[outnumbered]

You missed a tool buying opportunity there. Everyone needs a low profile trolley jack !

[MDifficult]

outnumbered said:

You missed a tool buying opportunity there. Everyone needs a low profile trolley jack !

I’ve considered it mate, quite a few times! However, I’ve had my Halfords jack since I was 17 (yeeesh - 25 years!) and it’s still in great condition, works perfectly and I can’t bring myself to just get rid or sell it on. I was gifted a Halfords Professional socket set at the same time and that’s still going too!

[Court_S]

The MINI looks much better without the stickers. Nice work on the other bits and bobs too.

[MDifficult]

Court_S said:

The MINI looks much better without the stickers. Nice work on the other bits and bobs too.

Thanks very much - I felt a bit bad about removing the roof decals as I know the previous owner created them from scratch, taking ages applying them and was very proud of the result. But, as soon as I started peeling I knew it was the right decision!

One task for this week is the wheel studs. Never run a car with a stud conversion before and when I removed the wheel I managed to unwind one of the studs. That's left me a little nervous about them, so the plan is to remove all of them, one by one, locktite blue and then re-torque properly. Lots of different suggested torque values on the web so I need to do a little research first.

[C70R]

MDifficult said:

Court_S said:

The MINI looks much better without the stickers. Nice work on the other bits and bobs too.

Thanks very much - I felt a bit bad about removing the roof decals as I know the previous owner created them from scratch, taking ages applying them and was very proud of the result. But, as soon as I started peeling I knew it was the right decision!

One task for this week is the wheel studs. Never run a car with a stud conversion before and when I removed the wheel I managed to unwind one of the studs. That's left me a little nervous about them, so the plan is to remove all of them, one by one, locktite blue and then re-torque properly. Lots of different suggested torque values on the web so I need to do a little research first.

I run an R53 with very similar spec as a track car - albeit slightly more refined (I kept the stereo, carpet and aircon for long drives to track). You're going to have a blast.

I also have mine stud converted, and would recommend that you get them refitted properly, with high-temp loctite (or similar). They are an absolute godsend for swapping wheels over trackside.

There's a great little FB group called Track Mini that covers most of the common modifications/issues.

[MDifficult]

C70R said:

I run an R53 with very similar spec as a track car - albeit slightly more refined (I kept the stereo, carpet and aircon for long drives to track). You're going to have a blast.

I also have mine stud converted, and would recommend that you get them refitted properly, with high-temp loctite (or similar). They are an absolute godsend for swapping wheels over trackside.

There's a great little FB group called Track Mini that covers most of the common modifications/issues.

That's really helpful, thank you. Thankfully, I still have the stereo and the air-con and I'm holding on to the carpet just in case I decide to put it back in. Would be a shame to lose the Lohen footplates though.

There seems to be healthy online debate about the no thread-lock/blue/red decision with people in all camps. Some people saying you don't need it, some saying blue is fine (and gives the option to remove if you need to without faff), and some saying you need red as the blue melts at high temps. Classic internet authorities! All the manufacturers I've checked suggest high temp at least, so I'll go with that. Torque settings seem to range from low to really low, so I think I'll settle on 24 ft/lbs for the studs and 90 ft/lbs for the nuts.

[helix402]

You could also just use wheel bolts! 120Nm-sorted. They have the advantage of being a tried and tested solution.

[C70R]

MDifficult said:

C70R said:

I run an R53 with very similar spec as a track car - albeit slightly more refined (I kept the stereo, carpet and aircon for long drives to track). You're going to have a blast.

I also have mine stud converted, and would recommend that you get them refitted properly, with high-temp loctite (or similar). They are an absolute godsend for swapping wheels over trackside.

There's a great little FB group called Track Mini that covers most of the common modifications/issues.

That's really helpful, thank you. Thankfully, I still have the stereo and the air-con and I'm holding on to the carpet just in case I decide to put it back in. Would be a shame to lose the Lohen footplates though.

There seems to be healthy online debate about the no thread-lock/blue/red decision with people in all camps. Some people saying you don't need it, some saying blue is fine (and gives the option to remove if you need to without faff), and some saying you need red as the blue melts at high temps. Classic internet authorities! All the manufacturers I've checked suggest high temp at least, so I'll go with that. Torque settings seem to range from low to really low, so I think I'll settle on 24 ft/lbs for the studs and 90 ft/lbs for the nuts.

That sounds entirely sensible. Mine uses the high-temp stuff, for reference.

My torque numbers are similar, and my wheels have been on and off more times than I care to remember.

[MDifficult]

helix402 said:

You could also just use wheel bolts! 120Nm-sorted. They have the advantage of being a tried and tested solution.

And lose all my scene points? Have a word with yourself

[MDifficult]

More goodies have arrived this morning. When buying the car I was acutely aware of a couple of things...

1. It's 16 years old
2. It's had more than one home mechanic, and many other people do work on it, including the wiring
3. It's had almost everything uprated at some point and is running a pretty high state of tune
4. I've seen more than one R53 MINI burned to the ground on forums recently

With all that in mind, I looked at everything from carrying a small extinguisher (like I do in my other cars), to just biting the bullet and fitting a proper suppression system (which felt like a costly step far too far). In the end, I've opted for a couple of these which seem very highly recommended by kit car owners and are for sale at a number of race & rally shops:



My thought process was:

PROS:
- Small, light and tough and are good for at least 10 years with zero maintenance
- Appears to do at least as good a job as an extinguisher (although you have to get a little closer to use it)
- Doesn't leave a residue of crap all over everything after you've used it
- Lasts a lot longer than a traditional one, giving someone inexperienced like me more time to put the fire out
- Can easily be moved between cars, home etc

CONS:
- Pretty expensive
- Once you start it going, you can't stop it.

To mitigate those issues I bought two 25 second ones, rather than one 50 second. That way, if it's out with the first blast, I can avoid using the second one, plus I can use them elsewhere as required when my traditional ones in the other cars expire.

Fingers crossed I don't ever need them