MINI Project (again)

Hey Everyone. As most of you know my 2005 Cooper S was recently totaled. Right after the accident I really wasn’t sure what I wanted for a replacement. I began to search for different vehicles, trying to find something that I would enjoy as much as my old R53. It wasn’t long before I made the realization that nothing was going to compete with how much fun I had daily driving my Mini. At the same time @HallockR told me that one of the the techs at Towne MINI recently bought and fixed up a 2005 Cooper S. His asking price was so low that I had absolutely no choice but to buy the car despite the bright red paint and red interior.

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2005 Cooper S with almost no options other than an LSD. It’s a pretty big difference compared to my old car which was practically fully loaded.

Since I was buying basically the exact same car I had before, it made sense to buy the old one back from the insurance company. I would be able to reuse a ton of stuff like the rotors and pads, supercharger pulley, motor mount, gearbox bushings, boost gauge, and short shifter. Plus I would have a spare motor/transmission/LSD.

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So after everything was out of it, we got it ready for the scrap yard

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While all of that was going on I was spending way too much money on parts for the new car. Go big or go home, right?

Corbeau fixed back seats in suede and Schroth 4pt. harnesses with ASM
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Trak Lite 15x8 +35 bronze wheels (12.4lbs each)
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BFGoodrich Rival’s 225/45/15
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Megan coilovers with adjustable dampening and front camber adjustment, H-sport hollow 25.5mm RSB, H-sport adjustable lower control arms
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I still have a TON of parts ready to go that I don’t have pictures of. @BREETIME is building another exhaust as well as a rear cage for the car in the next couple weeks. I’ll continue to post pictures as things begin to be installed. Stay tuned!

Nice man :tup:

Nice, bigger and better :slight_smile: Glad this worked out for you.

Awesome man!!

can’t wait to see this once its finished :tup:

Glad to see you back in a car that makes you happy…you can always plasti dip it if you arent in to the red.

:snky:

Mike! Your spending too much money! Dude can’t wait to see this build thread! Best of luck buddy!

Oh snap…bringing the :snky: to the mini…dang son!

Haha just wait!

Battle of the go-karts if I finish my pile. Looks good dude! :tup:

Oh god please don’t dip it. All the other stuff thats going in looks sweet though!

:tup:

Good stuff. Let us know how you like the Rivals once you start driving around with them on.

looks really promising, although that red is fairly hideous…

pirate on the front? Uncle bens?

i like the red interior, exterior though…

:tup:

I’ve decided I really only like the red with the JCW kit and black roof… I’m okay with your decision :snky:

This thing is going to rip.

Very nice…

Thanks everyone.

Will do. They were recommended to me by a few people who autox their Mini’s so I decided to give them a try. They are the widest tires I’ve had so far so they should be fun.

It’ll be taken care of soon enough…

Ha the sticker came with the car. The stripes are coming off soon though. I actually hate the red interior but fortunately I removed the grey panels from my old car so those will be replacing the red bits.