Hello all. Figured I would make a quick intro. been a car guy (as my father says) since I was concieved by an abscure interaction of trasnmission fuild and engine oil. However, my tastes, up until last fall anyways, always landed on more "utilitarian" flavors: suburbans, wagoneers, land-rovers (only the series and defenders) due to an unrelenting passion for finding obscure east-coast surf locations necessatating 4wd and typical low rpm torque. Well, as luck would have it, a coworker blew his 2003 base CVT and offered it to me for a pittance. I figured, "fun project." Do some convresion on it and have some fun. However, I soon realized, conversions were not as broad as I originally thought, that another mini would need to donate. So I purchased from an online auction a "totalled" 2005 MCS R52, only to find when I picked it up, it was too nice to part. So I fixed it (still somewhat in the process) and bought, yes another. THis time an MCS R53 with 41k on the ticker. roll-over so body was pretty rough. Great engine and trans, so the "conversion" has begun. Family members are considering an intervention if this continues. I love these little cars. So used to fabricating big, rusty stuff that is heavy and lunky, working on a precision (yes, these seem very precision to my limited perspective) vehicle that is so intelligent in many design/engineering aspects really provides enjoyment. Now, on to the R50/52/53 areas to post some questions!! Thanks all, and I sincerely hope I can help provide a return on the informational investment!
:cornut: Welcome to MA and congratulations on your new 'Basket Case MINI'. If you could(please), photographically document your rebuild from beginning to end and post it here each time you do something else to your MINI. Your experience will help many others and as you post, many of us will be learning also and offering suggestions etc Jason.