r/R53

Got one of the first of many jobs done to my new to me mini cooper s r53, had new rear tyres put on the other week in a garage in Colchester, and they were out of alignment after, negative camber.

So, I took her to Tyre Smart in witham, and they fixed the issues with the front and rear.

Now I have good alignment and no more pulling to one side.

I like their waiting room seats 😆 bucket seats.

Next, I need to get a new front bumper and fix the crack on the back bumper, get the alloys fixed up, and the whole car resprayed.

If anyone knows of somewhere I can get these things done, please let me know, I live near colchester Essex.

2003-slicktop, headlights, taillights, turn signals don’t work outside the car-but they do on the dash. The hatch doesn’t open, the windows roll up occasionally and everything else seems to work. Otherwise it starts and drives great.

I’ve checked all fuses and relays-aswell as the k-bus. I also know the lights work because they come on at startup then turn off. Ordered a new BCM and I think my autel scanner can program it. But I’m wondering if I’ve overlooked something silly. I haven’t looked to close at the can bus but I’m not getting fault codes for it-I get a lot of GM unit failure codes, and blower motor short to ground (but it works)

Spent a few days in the garage for a new clutch, rear main, tyres, rocker gasket, oil cooler gasket, coil pack, slave cylinder, gearbox service and a few other bits. Then I have Spent the last few days sorting a few other bits like painting the discs and calipers and then spent a few hours today hand polishing her up. For a 22 year old car she ain’t looking too shabby.

Now I should preface I didn’t get this for the condition. Just mechanically it’s good and was cheap. But curiosity now makes me want to sort the car out and wondered if this was salty air? Have tried sanding with 120 and it does seem to make a slight difference but not a lot.

broke another clip today testing a vin change/immobilizer delete for another customer..

first time I've used my pop4 scanner, and first with a blue laser, it did a good job getting the shape, not a printable part by any means but enough to model around the scan in fusion 360

details here.

https://mrblahhhh.github.io/car/tech/2026/06/30/r53-mini-ecu-cover.html

Installed a reman Bosch alternator the other day and it was putting out 9v at the b+ in the engine bay. Car died so I’m assuming I got a bad alternator, replaced it again and I broke the mounting bracket for the engine grounded. I’m going to mount it at the spot in the pic. Stop me if this is bad. Sleepy dog included.

Update: it works

So, the body shop messed up my right lamp.

is this a generic plug on the wiring side?

would I have to source some other dead Xenon light body to disassemble and get 1 healthy lamp out of both?

Any pointers are appreciated.

Just did the long overdue supercharger service on this guy and am enjoying the heck out of it!

I have plenty to do on my car - but every time I walk past it I notice this gap between the bumper and the bonnet is just too big.

Can anyone point me to where I can raise this without having to redrill? Feels like I am missing something

What a great start, travelled 140 miles to pick it up based on its great service history and recent engine rebuild and this happens! hopefully no damage to the engine as soon as the temp light came on pulled it straight over. coolant tank was completely empty so chucked some more in and it came straight back out the bottom.

My brother always says that if you're gonna drive an old car, it's best to have two of them so you will always have one available when the other one needs work.

Well, everyone is feeling better and it was a very happy reunion (and they never get to park this way at home). 💜

Changed my rear pads and even purchased new slider bolts and they won’t get tight. I noticed a very small amount of metal thread when removing the old bolts. Could this mean I need to replace the bracket on the hub? The other side went well without issue.

So I installed this oil cooler when I did a full rebuild with forged and balanced internals. I track the car quite often, and it's only driven during the summer, so I didn't even consider putting a thermostat on it.

I think that might have been a mistake, as it takes over 15min of driving (on the road) before the oil temp hits 90deg C with a length of duct tape covering the grill where the cooler sits. Water temp sits around 90-92deg C and gets there pretty fast.

Anyone else having similar issues with an oil cooler, or is it even an issue? I think an inline thermostat could fit in there somewhe...