Another new car (not mine either
)
My OH and I fancied buying a car to tinker with and potentially use on track-days. Amy loves EK9 Civics/DC2 Integras but these aren't exactly cheap! We went through various options but the only one we both agreed on was an R53 Cooper S. Spec/model-wise, it was quite straight-forward - find a post-facelift with no sunroof. Post-facelift brought a few choice upgrades/options, such as a teflon-coated supercharger and the option of an LSD. Allegedly, the body is also slightly lighter than the pre-facelift. However, what we ended up with was a pre-facelift with a sunroof
There was method to this madness - Amy's brother is an ex-mechanic and he knew the car that we purchased. It's got a few miles on it (157k) but looks to have been regularly serviced and was in generally good condition. We got it for £800 however it did need a bit of work - new clutch, steering rack and rocker cover gasket. In addition to this parts list, we also bought a facelift gearbox with the LSD and shorter ratios. Amy's brother carried out this work and we collected the car last weekend.
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mikeyb, on Flickr[/img]
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Untitled by
mikeyb, on Flickr[/img]
The came with S-spoke wheels with an assorted of crap tyres. We'd sourced some other Mini wheels with Goodyear tyres, which we fitted once we got the car home. This is how it sits currently:
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Untitled by
mikeyb, on Flickr[/img]
I've done a popular mod to the airbox to increase the supercharger whine in the cabin. Sounds pretty good:
https://youtu.be/FD_F8hOwAlY
Future plans are:
- Fit better brakes (standard brakes are shocking).
- Look at changing the suspension
- take the rear seats out (or fold them flat
)
- fit bucket seats
- maybe fit a half-cage/harnesses
- lightweight wheels with trackday-friendly tyres