New member here, from southern central Illinois. We just picked up our first mini a few days ago, an 03 R53. It has a few issues to be worked out but nothing too awful. I was lucky enough to get a pretty good deal on the car as I bought it off of a bank(repo) so I don't mind throwing some time and money(as little as possible) into some repairs and upgrades. First on my list will be what seems to be the oh so common DMF clickity clack. I'm considering going to a single mass setup if anyone here has any advice from experience or suggestions on which setup to get, I'm all ears.

I look forward to having some great conversations and any help and input will be greatly appreciated. I hope I can contribute some knowledge to the community here as well.

 

hello and welcome, the DMF to single mass flywheel ( SMF ) conversion from valeo is the most popular. i have other things listed to check and change in the thread,.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...utch-disc.html


Post up some pics of the new R53

 

Congrats on your mini. Do you have a pic?

 

Welcome to NAM! What issues are you working out? Yes, pictures would be great.

 

My $700 R53.

 

Just replaced the right front wheel bearing, passenger side lock actuator, and reset an airbag code today. Also had to repair the wiring to the hatch release button and license plate lights. Somewhere along the way some dummy butchered up the wiring back there and spliced in a power wire for something???...no clue what but it was a horrible butcher job.

 

Looks like you're getting things worked out! Not a bad project for $700. If you need anything along the way don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Wow $700!

 

Actually got it and a 150cc scooter for the $700. Probably going to be swapping to a single mass flywheel and new clutch in a week or two due to the one that's in it making a real nice racket. Down the road as time and money allows, throw on a 15% pulley, new exhaust, and swap out the cloth seats for leather.

 

Got rid of the ugly *** factory tips.

 

I thinking the same thing.

 

Thats a deal.

Nice plans , what else. I am glad you are bringing it back to life, did the past owner beat on it ?

 

It's actually in pretty decent shape with just a few of the common problems. It has 114k on it, a few dings here and there but nothing major. The individual that owned it went away for a while for drugs and the bank repo'd it. It sat in storage for a couple years until I found it. When I had the gate apart to repair the wiring I noticed some rust hidden around the holes so I'll be working on that today.

 

I wish I could score a deal like that around here.

 

I tried to reply a bit ago but I guess it didn't post so here goes again. The car has 114k on it and is in decent shape other than a few of the common mini problems. The original owner went away for a while on drug related charges and it sat in a warehouse with the scooter for a couple years after being repo'd by the bank. I found out through the grapevine that they were taking offers on them, I put in a bid and they accepted. I'm on a bit of a limited budget right now due to having a couple other projects in front of it that need to be done before summer so things will be slow moving on the cooper upgrades. I'd like to make it a little faster and give it a little meaner look.