Sean set it to middle setting for me, will see how I get on with it once I get it back
Big Jim’s modded chilli red R53 (225bhp)
As you may know I’ve decided to sell up the R50 convertible and blue 03 cooper S to fund a newer 06 plate cooper S supplied by carsorbikes
the blue car was starting to become a money pit and I’ll be honest I didn’t really want to sell the convertible but I needed to find the new car, the convertible has (or will be soon be) going to a forum member as a summer car
as for the my new one, it’s an 06 facelift R53 with factory fit LSD, Sean has taken a few bits off the blue car and refitted the to the new one for me, i went over and ‘helped’ last Sunday with things like the exhaust, I’m sure I was a helpful 2nd set of hands!
![101734]()
so off came the bilstein coilovers, miltek exhaust, janspeed manifold and wheels, all of which Sean refitted in the day, it then went back later in the week for the airtek intercooler, MSD coil pack, magnecor leads and catcam to be swapped as well as having a vibratechnics engine mount and my powerflex mounts fitted
![101735]()
![101736]()
![101737]()
This was it at the weekend before I returned it to Sean while I was experimenting with dechroming it, used the black door handle covers off the blue car and a piece of belt line tape I had left over, you can see it covering the door chrome, also put black scuttle vents on too, I like the look of it so have ordered a new roll from kill all chrome to do the job properly when I pick the car up
![101738]()
cosmetically I’ve got the carbon G-wing to go on, got to remove the cooper spoiler though, the atomspeed scoop needs to be fitted too but I may get that professionally painted red to match the car before I refit it (or run it black for a bit), just going to put 2 black LED spotlights on this one as opposed to 4 on the old car I recon, keep this car a bit stealthy!
Internally it will be just the headunit swap for now, putting the double din front/single din rear pioneer unit in it so I don’t need to start cutting the centre console up like I did for the Sony in the blue car, I’ll also upgrade the speakers and fit an so and sub box, again going to see about going stealthy in the front and using the original grilles, mount the speakers behind the door card
performance wise as well as the stuff already swapped over I picked up a pipercross panel filter new off eBay for £13 and last night grabbed me a new 15% Kavs pulley and belt this evening for £70 plus postage, that can be fitted by carsorbikes when I get it back to him in the new year for a supercharger service
Not going to add the superchip bluefin to this one but put the money toward a proper dyno tune/map at 1320 as well as getting them to fit the 550 injectors I had in stock for the blue car
the other major thing I need is the decat removing and a tomcat putting in its place as it’s a bit to noisy for my liking at the minute
so there we have it, just need to pay for it fully on payday and it’s mine, hopefully this thread won’t be like the blue one where I describe how it’s broken again or somethings snapped or gone pop on me in every other post!
And there we have it, new car, new thread, when I collect it, watch this space
the blue car was starting to become a money pit and I’ll be honest I didn’t really want to sell the convertible but I needed to find the new car, the convertible has (or will be soon be) going to a forum member as a summer car
as for the my new one, it’s an 06 facelift R53 with factory fit LSD, Sean has taken a few bits off the blue car and refitted the to the new one for me, i went over and ‘helped’ last Sunday with things like the exhaust, I’m sure I was a helpful 2nd set of hands!
so off came the bilstein coilovers, miltek exhaust, janspeed manifold and wheels, all of which Sean refitted in the day, it then went back later in the week for the airtek intercooler, MSD coil pack, magnecor leads and catcam to be swapped as well as having a vibratechnics engine mount and my powerflex mounts fitted
This was it at the weekend before I returned it to Sean while I was experimenting with dechroming it, used the black door handle covers off the blue car and a piece of belt line tape I had left over, you can see it covering the door chrome, also put black scuttle vents on too, I like the look of it so have ordered a new roll from kill all chrome to do the job properly when I pick the car up
cosmetically I’ve got the carbon G-wing to go on, got to remove the cooper spoiler though, the atomspeed scoop needs to be fitted too but I may get that professionally painted red to match the car before I refit it (or run it black for a bit), just going to put 2 black LED spotlights on this one as opposed to 4 on the old car I recon, keep this car a bit stealthy!
Internally it will be just the headunit swap for now, putting the double din front/single din rear pioneer unit in it so I don’t need to start cutting the centre console up like I did for the Sony in the blue car, I’ll also upgrade the speakers and fit an so and sub box, again going to see about going stealthy in the front and using the original grilles, mount the speakers behind the door card
performance wise as well as the stuff already swapped over I picked up a pipercross panel filter new off eBay for £13 and last night grabbed me a new 15% Kavs pulley and belt this evening for £70 plus postage, that can be fitted by carsorbikes when I get it back to him in the new year for a supercharger service
Not going to add the superchip bluefin to this one but put the money toward a proper dyno tune/map at 1320 as well as getting them to fit the 550 injectors I had in stock for the blue car
the other major thing I need is the decat removing and a tomcat putting in its place as it’s a bit to noisy for my liking at the minute
so there we have it, just need to pay for it fully on payday and it’s mine, hopefully this thread won’t be like the blue one where I describe how it’s broken again or somethings snapped or gone pop on me in every other post!
And there we have it, new car, new thread, when I collect it, watch this space
421 - 435 of 435 Posts
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Nice afternoon so gave it a run through the car wash and fitted the alpine stereo once I got home
The stereo was an Amazon special, full price was £170 but it was in the warehouse for £80 saying ‘cosmetic scratches to the front, sides and top’ so I took a chance on it, when it arrived it looked to have never been fitted and there wasn’t a scratch on it, just had to buy a new handsfree mic for it
cracking unit, USB and aux inputs, Bluetooth and DAB, luckily I’d left the DAB Ariel in and still had the wiring loom, BMW to FM Ariel adapter and steering wheel control unit after I removed the Sony h/u so it was just plug and play
Hands free mic
I’ve also connected the remote amp wire and plugged the subwoofer RCAs in, again i’d left them in, so if I decide to get a sub fitted again it’s just a case of wiring it in the boot to the existing quick release connector
while it was out I also fitted the correct switch unit with the ASC button
The stereo was an Amazon special, full price was £170 but it was in the warehouse for £80 saying ‘cosmetic scratches to the front, sides and top’ so I took a chance on it, when it arrived it looked to have never been fitted and there wasn’t a scratch on it, just had to buy a new handsfree mic for it
cracking unit, USB and aux inputs, Bluetooth and DAB, luckily I’d left the DAB Ariel in and still had the wiring loom, BMW to FM Ariel adapter and steering wheel control unit after I removed the Sony h/u so it was just plug and play
Hands free mic
I’ve also connected the remote amp wire and plugged the subwoofer RCAs in, again i’d left them in, so if I decide to get a sub fitted again it’s just a case of wiring it in the boot to the existing quick release connector
while it was out I also fitted the correct switch unit with the ASC button
Mot on the skoda today, feared the worst but it only failed on a tyre and the airbag light being on
the light came on when I took the stereo out and unplugged the facia which had the passenger airbag status light on, hoping it will clear when It’s plugged into a diagnostic machine
decided to take the bass box and amp out of the skoda and put it back in the mini as the sound is a bit lost in the big estate, 5 minute job and it was back in and running thanks to the quick release connections I’d left in!
Still need to de-trebus the rest of the car though!
the light came on when I took the stereo out and unplugged the facia which had the passenger airbag status light on, hoping it will clear when It’s plugged into a diagnostic machine
decided to take the bass box and amp out of the skoda and put it back in the mini as the sound is a bit lost in the big estate, 5 minute job and it was back in and running thanks to the quick release connections I’d left in!
Still need to de-trebus the rest of the car though!
Had to use the car today for work, my wife has taken the skoda to the caravan, I don’t like her Mazda CX7 and I didn’t fancy using the MX5!
When I got to the yard there was a new JCW cooper s hire car there, amazing how much bigger it is than mine!
I’m going to have to get it back in for the tracking/wheel alignment again, it’s still pulling to one side, I only had the fronts aligned last time but I’m going to get 4 wheel alignment done next time, Sean suggested slightly dropping front strut before I take it to loosen the 2 Allen bolts on the project silver top mounts that are obscured by the strut top, that way the garage can simply loosen the 2 ‘reachable’ bolts and adjust the camber, then once the tracking is done drop the strut again to retighten the 2 inaccessible bolts, it’s all very complicated!
When I got to the yard there was a new JCW cooper s hire car there, amazing how much bigger it is than mine!
I’m going to have to get it back in for the tracking/wheel alignment again, it’s still pulling to one side, I only had the fronts aligned last time but I’m going to get 4 wheel alignment done next time, Sean suggested slightly dropping front strut before I take it to loosen the 2 Allen bolts on the project silver top mounts that are obscured by the strut top, that way the garage can simply loosen the 2 ‘reachable’ bolts and adjust the camber, then once the tracking is done drop the strut again to retighten the 2 inaccessible bolts, it’s all very complicated!
421 - 435 of 435 Posts
