1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: My 2005 R53 Daily Driver build thread

I haven't seen anything that would suggest the computer was different for the early cars, although there are many versions of these modules in the software, as features did change over time.

Would assume that these bulb checks existed from the early cars on, so 2002 will blink as well if you put LEDs in there. High beam and low beam, unless it was an HID car and then the low beams are disabled from the check, I assume to protect the ignitors. On my HID car the low beam check is disabled, all other bulbs are on.

The computer in my car does check almost all outside bulbs, and there's even a check for interior bulbs, which may explain why my boot light flickers (but none of the others. I am guessing the boot light is hooked to a rear brake or position light check circuit).

High beams, low beams if not HID, position lights, blinkers, brake lights except for the third one up high, fog lights and rear fog light if exist, as well as license plate light are all on the cold/warm checklist of the computer. Put in LEDs and they will flicker. I always wondered why the LED lights I got for my rear plate from Outmotoring were flickering, even though they were a "drop in replacement" - forgot to tell me that little detail about the computer in the product description...

 

Day one after re-coding the first bits of the lights module in the car, and it still runs without any issues. I will do a more detailed post about what exactly is involved to do this. Meanwhile, I noticed today that I didn't get the right circuit that makes the boot light flicker. I am guessing the setting monitoring interior lights only cares about lights that may be of some sort of importance. Perhaps that would be dash lights. The boot light must be hooked to the circuit of either the license plate, tail or brake lights. I will disable those next time around, just because that light is most annoying (no back seat in my car). Every time I turn the key in the dark, I think something is broken.

While testing the LED high beams I took a video of what I was doing. Here is a frame grab showing the condition of my headlight plastic. This is all within the plastic, fine cracks that are barely visible when the light is off.



It looks very different from the kind of plastic decay I removed form my Tundra a while back, so I am reluctant to break out the buffer and sandpaper to shave down these lights. It is still far too serviceable to risk destroying the housings, and as we all know, no replacement plastic is available without buying a full assembly. Would you polish these lights?

Also note the color temp of these "SuperNova V3" LEDs in the high beam position vs. the Philips D2S HID bulb.

 

Just for giggles, I tried the same plastic polish I used to shine up the tail lights on the high beams of this car. The outside surface got smoother, but the core issue, deep cracks in the plastic, cannot be touched. I doubt a proper sand and polish will deal with this issue either: None of the other cars in my garage have plastic that looks like this



I've been looking for replacement glass, but none for the R53 can be located. Aftermarket complete lights can only be found without washer, and the problem is far too minor to throw new OEM lights at this car. If it ever gets real bad, I'll have to revisit the issue but for now it'll just have to do. It's the "daily driver" after all, for crying out loud!

Here's my winter commuter setup - during our slushy snowy season, the bike did about 1500 miles, the car about 500 miles. picture taken just before the dark silver car came out of hibernation 3 weeks ago (it's on the right under the cover behind the styrofoam board).



Due to lack of parts for the other car's exhaust job, I think I'll tackle the engine damper on this car this weekend.

 

well, great to know it isn't off a Kia at least. I was wondering how likely it would be that a damper has the same diameter for both belt and crank shaft fit.

Makes you wonder how much engineering went into it when it comes in almost 25% heavier than stock and the car clearly exhibited chassis vibration at highway cruising speed (touch hand brake and there is a significant buzz going on in the chassis my other cars don't have). Engine mounts are in the same state on all of them - new except for gearbox.

I am somewhat worried that there could be a different reason for the vibration, such as drive shafts, although I assume I would feel that in the steering wheel. It's a much higher frequency and I can't really imagine anything other than the engine to be the origin of that.

 

I will have to give that top side a try. Never even thought of that after watching too many how to videos showing side access.

 

There's a $19,150 finger brake on amazon - free Prime shipping on a 3850 pound press. signature required. Now that's a bad boy.

 

Took it for a drive yesterday. Lights are not aimed correctly anymore, way high. I am worried that the bulbs are too deep in back after all and are making contact with the housing. Will dig into that tomorrow or later tonight. If it turns out the housing caps do blow the rear of the bulbs to totally level the lights to regular position, I will have a much bigger job at hand.

Another thing - was going to ask for input about this before but kept forgetting. On tight right turns in parking lots, when the car leans a little to the left and unloads the rear wheel, I get some strange noises from that rear inside corner. I am wondering if that could be the anti-roll bar bushing, or if it is the strut itself. Only right rear and very repeatable. I will record the noise when I get around to doing some exhaust recordings of my cars, just to get input what I may be hearing. Visually, everything is fine with the suspension around that wheel, so it' likely in a bushing or the shock, possibly even the wheel bearing, although the noise is a bit odd for that to be the source.

 

not sure I want to put film on top of this chemical solution. It likely will turn yellow and go cruddy on me in a year or two anyway, with or without clearbra on it. My dark silver car had film on the lights until recently, and it still looks like new. Definitely going to re-apply some on that car in the near future, because I don't want to ever have to sand it down like this car and then deal with the reduced durability. You can't just put film on the lens without applying the chemical, because even at 7000 grid and then followed with plastic polish on a buffer, it just never gets as clear as it was before. The liquid stuff does fill in all imperfections like a wax does to paint swirls.