Love it. Sounds very much like my car. Great driving habits also. Check out my channel - lots of MINI repair vids and a few videos of my MINI at the track as well.
I've been checking out your videos, and loving what you did to your MINI. My first mod will be new wheels and tires on my R53. I'm probably going with pilot super sports with Neuspeed RSe05 wheels. Just curious if you think I'll have rubbing issues with 215 tires when I throw it on coilovers.
Thanks man. I wouldn't worry about 215's at all. Just make sure your wheel is an appropriate offset for the car. If it runs at all, the plastic liners will wear themselves clear very quickly. I have 225's now and am considering going wider.
225's, wow! I really appreciate the feedback. I was concerned about going wider and losing the MINI feel the car does so well. The wheels I'm looking at have a +45mm offset.
+Eric Lightbody Don't worry about it, 215's will feel great and +45 will be fine. If anything you'll need a small spacer for inside clearance but I seriously doubt it.
The only Megan Racing Headers I can find for the R53 include the cat delete test pipe. Did you just not use the test pipe and the OEM cat bolt right up? I was concerned they wouldn't line up same lengths so I haven't purchased one yet. Id prefer to run with my cat for sound and emission purposes. Thanks for the video.
Mike, I've seen you at H2OI before and between you and the other Minis I've been wanting one for a long time. Strongly based off of your videos, I bought an 06 JCW Cabrio the other day with only 30k miles. I am tall (6'5) and the stock seats don't work so well. Mainly because of my long torso. Those look like Corbeau CR-1s, the same seats I was thinking of buying. How have they been? Would you recommend them for someone my height? I'm sure if you go to H2OI again we'll see eachother. Nice car!
0ZROE0 Hey man, these seats are Corbeau FX-1 Pro's and I love them. They fit my body well and were comfortable for the entire drive from Buffalo to Maryland and back. The height is adjustable, right now mine are on the middle setting and they probably sit around the same height as stock or slightly lower. They can still be mounted on the lower setting which brings them down quite a bit. I bet they'd be a nice choice for you. I'll certainly be at H2O next year!
Sounds amazing Own R50 In the coming month Konis with Teins Megan Exhaust all the way down Poly Bushings all the way around Hsport Adjustable Rear Control Arms (This is a must for all ) There is so much fun stuff im going to do You sir have A kick ass fun ride Thanks for the Clip ready for more vids :D
I'm going to get the Billy club shift knob. I have a megan short throw kit installed. I still think it's going to make the travel a little far. Do you know if any linkage spacer/bushing kits that stiffen up the shift cables at the transmission and shifter assembly? I was able to add a couple washers on my previous car and it helped tighten it up. was hoping for the mini there was an actual kit.
superfly1842 As far as I know there is no bushing kit available for the R53 linkage. I know what you're going for though, EF civic's have aftermarket linkage available which eliminates all of the slop in the shifter. I think the best thing you can do for our cars is to upgrade to the CAE shifter system.
I have the resonated milltek cat back now. Thinking about the milltek header of rmw shorty. I know you have other mods, but in your opinion does the milltek design give you any noticable power gains? low range or high? thanks!
+R53Driver The 4-2-1 Milltek header will flow a bit better but I don't believe you will experience a huge difference in horsepower either way. I can say that adding my 4-1 header made a noticeable difference in the top end over the stock manifold.
Dillan Hayden Definitely not a direct bolt on. If you want to use the stock cat, you'll have to do some welding as it will not bolt up. They supply a test pipe which may work, but I already had an aftermarket exhaust so it did not match nicely. Then after a few months of use the flex pipe broke and needed to be replaced. After about a year it is leaking yet again.
Hmm, my exhaust is aftermarket too. I want to go catless. I live in Tennessee and we don’t have emissions here so it wouldn’t be a problem to use the test pipe. I have an aftermarket exhaust as well though so I don’t know if it would bolt up to mine though. I’ll just have to do some more research. Thanks for the insight.
Hey Mike. You still happy with your purchase of the Megan headers? I wss looking in to getting a set and pairing it with the Invidia catback. The headers Ive found for only 200. I also saw the militek ones go for well over 1000 so wasnt sure what was worth it with that price difference.
Sam Basmajian Yes, I am still very happy with the Megan header. I definitely wouldn't spend the extra $800 for a 4-2-1 header although it will flow a bit better. Just be prepared to either delete your cat and use their test pipe or weld your stock cat to the new header. The stock cat will not bolt to the header.
Hey man I own an R53 myself love that car to death!!! I’ve got after market cat back exhaust and cold air intake and 17 percent reduction pulley what would you recommend for the next mods?
Hey Mike, been thinking about doing a header. I just received my 2.5 inch catback and was gonna install it, or maybe wait to install either the Megan or OBX 4-2-1 Header with a high flow cat along with my catback. What's the difference between having a catback vs catback and header? You feel a real power difference? Right now I have a ddm works intake, airtec intercooler, alta 17% pulley, and colder plugs. Catback waiting to install.
If you decide to install a header you may want to leave the stock cat or just delete it entirely. In my research I haven't found many aftermarket cat's that perform well for very long. The stock unit performs very well in fact. I ran only a cat back for a long time but now that I have the header I couldn't be happier. It actually decreased the drone while making the exhaust note slightly louder. I didn't necessarily feel a power increase as much as I feel like it made the power band a bit better. I'm happy all around either way.
Thanks for getting back to me, have you heard about the Magnaflow high flow universal cats? Leaning towards the OBX with a magnaflow high flow catalytic converter with o2 sensor. 4-2-1 Header supposed to get more low end torque as opposed to 4-1 in the higher band, either way, I am sure they are both great options. I too am wondering the difference between stock cat and Magnaflow? Don't think I want to delete. What ya think?
D-Nice Grogs I'm sure the Magnafow cats perform just fine. I have been happy with my stock cat but I can understand you wanting to have an entirely new exhaust. I will probably be leaving mine alone unless I opt to delete it entirely.
Hey Mike, I got my mini about 6 months ago and its my first project and I'm loving it. So far I've got an oranjee stealth intake, alta adjustable tensioner combined with a 15% supercharger pulley and 2 percent overdrive crank pulley. I'm leaning toward a catless megan racing header and likely a custom exhaust since I can't find a jcw used for sale, do you have an opinion on resonated vs non resonated exhaust in novice terms? I liked that filthy customs exhaust you had and was looking for something similar and I'd prefer to keep the whole set up under 1000 and I love the amount of torque my car has and would like to keep it. If you read this thanks man, I hope you get back to posting
Hey man, it sounds like your car is pretty set up! If you're going to go the catless route then plan on having the car tuned right after. My car ran great but once we removed the stock cats the tune really struggled. In regards to resonated vs non, I would definitely recommend having at least one resonator in there. It really doesn't make it much quieter if at all but it does improve the sound quality a ton. I have two Vibrant Racing resonators (one on each side) and it's still extremely loud. Good luck with whatever you end up choosing, I'm sure it will sound great either way!
@@MikeBaker___ thanks man! I also forgot to mention im running a one ball right now and that tune might have me hesitant because i know it's going to cost a good bit more. I have a friend who is currently running a 15% with miltek catless header and exhaust non resonated and that thing is loud above 3k but its not tuned yet so maybe itll help him out
@@MikeBaker___ that seems odd that the tune struggled after the cats were removed. I'm guessing because of the other mods took the physical response outside the parameters capable of the base map?
I'm pretty sure it's just some sticky lifters. It goes away after the oil thins out. I'm not worried at all about it. If it becomes a problem I'll just pull the trigger on a big valve head.
Mike Baker It's totally normal. The valve train has automatic hydraulic lash adjustment. After the car has been sitting for a while (typically overnight), oil drains out of the adjusters. The ticking stops when oil makes it back up into the valve rockers after starting the car.
Yes you want to join the r53 owners group m8. Brilliant group with people from all over the world. Loads of mini specialists on there etc too. Good group
Mike Baker Well you are very good at it. I was just curious because I know the new 2015 model has automatic rev matching, wasn't sure if it was a new thing or has been in previous models.
Yeah man, I got one as my first car. Good visibility, they're safe, they're fast enough to not be boring for a car enthusiast, but slow enough not to get you into too much trouble. You can mod them and do most of the work on them yourself with some simple tools and the use of RU-vid videos. They sound good, it's hard to hate on them, plus, with a decat you can get it to spit flames.👌 decently priced for insurance as well.
