I'm bringing the R50 to Fontana in late April. I drove it the first time I came to the Dragon in 2004 and this will be its last time there. It's an early '03 ['09/'02 build]...Silk Green with a Welsh flag roof cover, white accents and green/black leather interior. It will have some new Generals, a cleaned braking system and hi temp brake fluid so I don't toast the pads this time...LOL. I'm hoping for a trouble-free ride down and back home again...the R50's last long Dragon-slaying trip. I'll be doing the15th and last Cigar Salon [for me] Wednesday night [April 28] on the Porch, from around 7:30 or so for anyone wanting to attend. Free cigars to smoke, but NO VAPES or E-cigarettes, PLEASE. Jeff
Thanks. It was the first MINI I bought since selling my classic in 1966. I love the car, although it's not an S, so I bought a new S in 2006, too, to keep the R50 company. Both cars have seen a lot of the Dragon.
It's 1983. My wife and I went to estate sale. the couple that owned it were moving to Florida and didn't want to have it shipped down. Well I got the feeling the husband did but not the wife. The car is decent shape. It does need a new soft top they said I have not seen it yet. I need to get a new dash cover. It had a miss and some other little things wrong with it all are fixed. All I have left is; installing the steering coupler, top, figure out what I need to get the AC system to move from flow to vents, and convert it to R124a. The AC is the only thing I am a little concerned about, I hope the seals in the compressor are not bad. I just thought it would be a fun project then sale it this spring. These were taken at the estate sale.
I had an 84 380SL (wife's car) it was a. nice car. The only thing that was hard for me to get used to was the steering wheel position. It never felt right ,but the wife loved it so who cares. You know that made me think about how many cars my wife has had.
For a sec there, I thought you had your tires jacked. Even while rule #1'd (parked next to another MINI).
Nice! This site has a lot of cool stuff if you’re looking for any resto parts or upgrades like Euro bumpers, lights, interior, wheels, etc. https://macarbon.com/mercedes-84794/r107-sl-280sl-380sl-450sl-500sl-560sl/r107-sl-products/r107-sl-products If I still had an SL I would have done the Euro bumpers, Euro lights, and probably a larger set of replica wheels.
So, just to follow up, I believe I have solved the problem, no more P1498. I replaced the Intercooler boots, Throttle Body gasket and tightened the bolts that hold the right hand Intercooler horn to the Intake manifold since I had it off recently to replace the bypass valve. After a long test drive yesterday, no code, no lights! I'm glad it wasn't the Supercharger inlet pipe, because that's not an easy replacement!
Good job. R53 MINIs are all over 15 years old now. This is uncharted territory for most of us because growing up, the rule of thumb has always been if your car lasts 10 years and/or 100,000 miles, it was a good car. At 15 years old and (some of us) closing in on, or already over 200,000 miles with only routine maintenance, we never know what will go next. With all the plastics of modern cars, there will be parts cracking and leaking and whatnot. A forum like this will be more and more a valuable resource as our older gen MINIs age. I believe there is a thread on M/A that asked who was planning on keeping their R53 forever. I wonder how many of those who are on that thread are still here. It will be interesting to see if the R56 gen and F56 gen MINIs turn out to be just as, or even more durable in spite of all the complaints of unreliability of our (all 3 generations) cars. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have documented details, I just need to write it up and post it somewhere. I think the R53 is not so bad to work on. Like anything, you have to learn the systems. I guess I'm used to it though as I grew up in cars that were older than me. Today I researched engine mounts. Mine has just started leaking - must be all the newfound power - HAHA. I've decided to stay OEM though since I really don't like the compromise of increased cabin noise and vibration that many have reported with the aftermarket mounts.
Well that was a right pain in the ass, but it's done. lol I can't believe I didn't notice when taking pictures of the panels together, but the arch on the passenger side is off a wee bit to the trim, where the drives side is uniform to the trim. I'm not going to get into a remedy immediately, it just irks me knowing it's "off". Good thing you can't see both sides at the same time. the fitment was a bit fiddly, and this is the best we could do, but I can live with it. It looks more exaggerated up close in the pic I think. I honestly can't see how these are installed even with modifying the washer fluid tanks. I tried for 2 hours to get it sorted and said screw it and gutted them. It's going to move to a weekend toy car status soon enough, and I can live without the washing. Vented the wheel liner insert so that there is actually some venting happening...can't speak to it's efficiency, but it is at least a proper vent now. Still toying with the LED neon behind the panel to give a green glow when lights are on. New sill plates in as well. Cleaning the VHB from the old ones was the stuff nightmares are made of.