Everything That’s Wrong With UK’s Cheapest Mini Cooper S R53

[@saftevand]

As a former Mini R50-owner, I absolute love this and will watch the entire playlist - it's so much more involving to follow a determined amateur vs. a pro. Cheers from Denmark!

[@enginca]

Nino, if you read this. I've said it before & I say it again. You are bloody marvelous. You never get mad. I have far less experience than you. I would have shot holes in the car long ago.

[@TheCurlyP]

When I get in my wife's car, I keep glancing at the stereo to check the speed, but the odd central speedo does leave the rev counter nice and easy to see while you are driving, great for learning

[@davebalaam]

I had one of these once upon a time. It was an absolute money-pit in the end, and there was always something going wrong or leaking. I'd traded in a Land Rover Disco 3 for it and you know a car is bad when it makes an LR look reliable!

[@daxmcguinness4529]

i loved mine for a while then it was never ever out of the garage. The parting moment being charged £800 for a belt and pump change!!!!!!!!!!!! - the labour costs on these things is monumental!!

[@mcspooney]

i feel for you bud. the rabbit hole that is preventative maintenance... i have a habit of swapping in a full new suspension set up and painting/undersealing cars that i buy that are over 10 years old. ive done it with all 5 out of 6 in my small collection. i like my cars to drive like new. good luck with the channel bud. subscribed to support your youtube journey. done a major service and the electric power steering pump on one of these for a close friend cos it ate its own power cable. one of the worst cars ive had the pleasure of working on. also bleeding the cooling system was a absolute c*** of a job. never again. glad he got rid.

[@brianbeale528]

Your left front suspension has been bodged. There shouldn’t be a nut an bolt through the strut pinch clamp - just a bolt screwed in from the rear into the front of the clamp. I would say the original bolt head has snapped off. The bolt then needed to be drilled out to get the shock absorber out. This has either been done badly and the drill has slipped off the side of the original bolt into the softer hub metal or it’s just not been drilled straight - hence the gap under the nut. The head of the bolt isn’t factored for in the design - hence why it it’s catching the subframe. Ideally, you would need a replacement hub assembly and a new bolt. This bolt snapped on my son’s R53 and it took me over 2 hours to drill that bolt out to get the shock absorber out.

[@Worthers199]

Pretty easy to change the tensioner from going through the top once you remove the heat shield

[@brianbeale528]

With regard to the bolt catching the subframe. It appears to have a nut and bolt through the pinch clamp on the shock absorber. The original set up has just a bolt going from the back forwards and screws into the front half of the pinch clamp. The head of these bolts can break off. That then means a replacement hub assembly. It appears, as a bodged repair, the an attempt to drill the remainder of the existing bolt out (which would needed to have been done anyway to get the shock absorber locating tab out) has gone wrong. The gap you can see on the nut is where the drill has either gone off the side of the broken bolt into the softer clamp metal, or it’s not been drilled straight. The head of the replacement bolt shouldn’t be there in the design of the suspension and coupled with the bodged repair, means it’s hitting the subframe as in your case.

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Thanks for that, Brian. Yeah you nailed it. Glad you’ve confirmed what I thought. Funnily enough I just worked this out yesterday. In tomorrow’s video I show the extent of the bodge and how I’m fixing it 👍🏻

[@brianbeale528]

@@NotEconomicallyViable Oddly enough, the broken bolt on my son’s R53 was on the same side🤔

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

It’s either a common problem, or the same person has worked on both our cars 😅🧐

[@acecin]

Well done, reminded me how I fixed my car on the driveway

[@mansonnanson8294]

Had one of these, when I came to this country. Mybfirst car, lended to me by a friend. That one had all the issues mentioned, including the rattle underneath. It was red with union jack on top 😊. Nice car overall, but I think they get abused a lot.

[@MrByrneyboy]

Great vids. Ignore any “know it all” comments from idiots. Great that you are learning as you go and honest about it. Top work, keep the vids coming!

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Appreciate that 🙌🏻

[@alexmartin7365]

Great video and content mate, just bought a copper s r53 myself and need a few bits and bobs doing, I am a rookie and look forward to the same journey….I will be subbing , good luck pal.

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Thanks, Alex 🙏🏻 Good luck with it - although I’m always running into problems and look like I’m having a horrible time I’m actually having the time of my life. It’s great fun

[@anthonydevono8833]

I’ve owned 2 minis both convertible both have had various electrical gremlins also roof issues they love put a sensor light on the dash.mechanically they have both been ok but I would never buy another as they are designed to fail in set time frames good luck you will need it

[@broomad]

Loving your series and the have a go approach !! I've subscribed 🙂

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Great to have you on board! 🙌🏻

[@leeopenshaw9302]

Yeah change the serpentine belt/super charger belt I’ve stripped so many minis and fixed the they are quite easy to work on 👍👍

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Yeah gonna change it. Took a close look at it and it's all cracked and worn. Might as well do the job properly if I'm going to do it. Working on this Mini hasn't been too bad so far I'll be honest.

[@ianopenshaw8643]

try pelican parts for new parts, x8r limited for a supercharger service kit which includes crank position o ring. flush the clutch fluid and brake fluid, that improved my sons clutch pedal immediately.

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Cheers Ian, will check Pelican out. I came across xlr8 the other day and saw that one of their supercharger kits comes with the correct tensioner lever, which looks perfect for me. The trouble with all this work is that I could essentially end up rebuilding the whole car - where do I stop?? 😅

[@ianopenshaw8643]

@@NotEconomicallyViable all part of the learning process other than the subframe nothing else are big jobs

[@strategicthinker8899]

filter the coolant with a rag and funnel and re-use it.

[@kimisdaman]

Yeah, neglect a car for twenty years and it will have some problems. I have 145k miles on mine, and it's been as reliable/durable as any car I've owned.

[@goosejohnson3197]

I know this is a couple of years old but I gotta give a huge shout out to Kurt over at Mod Mini! His vids helped me loads as well!

[@joshmerrick4716]

Those wheels are off an mg zr if I’m not mistaken

[@gdot5179]

100% bro

[@allseeingeye1]

Get urself a creeper trolley. Save ur clothes. Alternatively, a rugged boiler suit/ overall

[@risengaming4044]

As a mini s owner id def change the chain along with the tentioner

[@brianbeale528]

Sorry for the double post. The first reply didn’t show up immediately, so naturally I thought it didn’t get sent.

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

No worries 👍🏻

[@teamangie2051]

Omg I just got to the cake box part 😭. She's definitely disliking this video

[@derekga6973]

Great video, what is it about the R50s series minis and certain BMWs that brings out the know it all geeks that normally spend their life on forums criticising new comers to the forums, ignore the tools keep plugging away lad

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

Haha cheers bud 👍🏻

[@daneguy9373]

They are mg zr straights alloy wheels btw

[@johnmorrison9072]

Just like to say I have discovered your channel today so far I’m having a great laugh just how bad can one man’s Luck get I have decided to try and work my way through most of your videos I have started One or two before getting the MOT on the mini is it time to bring back the Audi A6 V8

[@Aurora22586]

The first thing I've seen is that the VIN number on the strut mounting looks to be tampered with. Very odd, like it was ground away and draw-on. You could remove the hanger from the exhaust, if you have any welding experience, you can re-weld it into a more appropriate place, as there wasn't already a hanger for them to go, I assume the exhaust was for a different model. It looks to be fairly secure without the extra hanger, just give it more room to do its thing. Looks like someone thrown a random nut and bolt into the strut, it isn't correct at all. All those zip ties, half a$$ jobs. Good luck with this, I hope at least you'll get a good learning experience and so fun. Working on the engine and taking it apart: If it's your own car, your own money, I hope you have fun, there's nothing like taking apart your first. It gets really expensive later on if you need to folk out for all the speciality tools. The belt needs to be replaced as it looks like it is going to soon rip in the middle, and it's also shiny. Also investigate where the belt has been rubbing. Mini's are really unreliable cars with really weak engines: why people buy them, I have no idea. They aren't even a British car and that clock in the middle is so damn ugly

[@ThorMotorWerks]

You know you want another one now. You’ve got over your last one. 😂

[@stephencrowther524]

You paid well over the odds for the car. Interesting video though.

[@craighammond2676]

Just came across this channel as someone of a similar age, in a dead end job wanting to tinker around with cars maybe as a hobby or as a job (lol). What I’ve learned so far is, you’re not as brave, patient or as persistent this guy on the tube so move on 😢. Anyway I’m starting from this video and making my way through so I’ll see how it goes for you instead.

[@JacobRusty-Clogg]

I usually get rid of used coolant in the local duck pond. Quack.

[@daxmcguinness4529]

PS Send me 50K in used notes or i tell the wife about the cake box! 😁

[@jusueavila4968]

Raking yard of mini cooper r53 easy solution 💶

[@johnmurray3324]

Change the belt and any Dodgey hose's

[@shaundubai8941]

No whistling noise?

[@paulplumb9820]

I bought a 04 cabrio with less faults for 900 ,did I buy the cheapest cooper s in the country ?

[@steveduffy1013]

£900 I paid £450 for mine. I wish I had the time to make the video but it is on TikTok. Nice vid tho

[@michaelflesh4361]

Should of put it through a mot let them tell you what needs doing

[@huggybear1639]

So how cheap was this? Ive bought 50 + R53 over the years for braking, and ive bought some for proper dirt cheap, like a round of drinks cheap. Got one donated to me and it had 4 months mot on it too. Not being finny but this would have been taken apart as it looks to have done the rounds with yhe cowboys 😅

[@teamangie2051]

I want to click dislike because I'm so jealous of your impact wrench 😭😭😭

[@longbar2344]

better ones out there😂

[@johnmartin1849]

I think all modern cars now adays are junk.need to be I T exspect to fix them now

[@leeopenshaw9302]

Are you selling it would be interested as it’s is 👍👍

[@NotEconomicallyViable]

I'll probably sell it when I'm finished mate, but I'm going the distance with this project. Got the engine coming out this week 😀

[@paulhammond3590]

I paid £550 for mine

[@osolvang]

You have way to nice clothes for working on cars 😄

[@alanbatson8859]

Mine I just bought with 68k on was £250 sorry😂🤣🤪

[@liampaulmcguinness]

Great videos, but mini's are just garbage. I'd rather walk than have one of those.

[@samoa360able]

Basically get a Toyota init. Over engineered German crap ys

[@arthurwhitelam6591]

BMW have made a total mess of the mini, bring back the original mini, that is a mini it looks massive now and so ugly, i seen one of these minis with a union jack on the roof 😅😅 why would you put a union jack on a German car lol

[@johnnytenjobs]

They're surprisingly good. Even feel a bit like the original to drive strangely and I've driven both recently. Agree with you about the Union Jack.

[@pauljeffries]

The R53 mini was british designed by rover and built in Britain......so your comment makes no sense whatsoever.

[@arthurwhitelam6591]

@@pauljeffries ok fair enough but they are still imo 💩💩💩 the word mini means small, the 💩💩 so called mini is incredibly massive and looks like it's on steroids. Bit like marmite and I hate marmite