Hi there. I've recently purchased a dark silver and black 2005 MCS. I haven't been able to drive it much since driving the 5 hours from Tacoma to Spokane with it. But that drive was great! The car had a lot of work done to it by its previous owners and I've had a lot of fun tracking down its history. It's a little like I'm my own private investigator! It's been a week since I bought the car and I'm still learning little bits here and there. One interesting item I'm trying to figure out is if it was chipped or reflashed. I read in one of the previous owners postings on this and another site, that the car had been tuned by Mynes Performance. I'm still trying to figure out what that actually means. The site mynesperformance.forumotion.com doesn't provide any information about their products or services. I've read that a lot of people have had their Minis tuned by them. Modificaitons (and this is just what I know): Wilwood big brakes 18" Koneg wheels Brake ducts 15% pulley Alta CAI with some custom work done to it Carbon fiber hood scoop that looks larger than the stock M7 intercooler with in cockpit digital read out of intake and output temps Ceramic coated header Custom straight pipe exhaust (this is the loudest exhaust I've heard in a while) with some custom resonator. M7 oil catch can M7 coilovers Ireland Engineering camber plates (these are broken and will be fixed/replaced) M7 strut tower plates Custom rear control arms Lots of under body braces and x braces The whole car has been blacked out. The interior is stock except for the a pair of Sparco race seats and some 3M carbon look laminate everywhere. I'm not a big fan of all of this and I'll likely remove it since a lot of it is begining to peel. The rear wiper has been removed. I'll be looking for a replacement as it's pretty important to have one in Spokane. Lastly the battery has been moved into the cargo area to make room for the exhaust. That was almost a deal breaker when I bought it. I'll be dropping the exhaust for another cat-back system and putting the battery back where it belongs. Other than that I'm loving the car and I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun with it. Oh, here's a picture of it after I got it home. Unfortunely my garage is full so it has to sit outside until I sell one of my cars to make room. Anyway, hi there!
:cornut: Welcome to MA and congratulations on getting your R53 MINI. Yeah someone did a lot of mods on that car and I could see why that you would like to have some of them changed back. That car is ready for autocross and HPDE(high performance driving experience) and probably already has done them. Some new buyers would think that,"I'm all set for racing!" Unfortunately she's way over modified for that and some mods would actually have to be removed. The good side, you can save all of your money for regular maintainence. Jason
Welcome and you're certainly now in the right place . . You are now supported by some of the best of the best when it comes to Mini . . . So ask away and know that advice comes from some of the most skilled people wanting to give the best advice possible . . . . Show us photos of the progression . . . You're in a safe place now . . . Glad you found us
Welcome to M/A. That is a nice MINI you have there. Once you peel all that black off your MINI will really shine. That black stuff isn't my favorite either. Lots of folks do like it though.
Thanks for all the welcomes! After spending just a couple hours browsing through the posts on this site I'm sure I've found the right place. Now it's time to start having some fun with it!
Nice MINI! Welcome. :beer 'New here myself. You'll find that the folks here are absolutely easy to talk to and never make you feel like you're asking dumb questions. Oh, and if you haven't already, take some time to really look over the site and dig through the library. There's a metric butt ton of great info that has, without a doubt, been painstakingly compiled.
Well, sold my other small car...my '67 bug. So, now I've got the Mini in the garage where it's safe and warm!