My new Touring

122277 Views 876 Replies 71 Participants Last post by Geo31, 4 d ago

yjsaabman

Discussion Starter · Nov 23, 2016 (Edited)

So last weekend a buddy and I flew out to St Louis to pick up my latest Touring. After having 2 pre-facelift titanium silver cars taken away from me by other drivers, I searched for weeks to find my next one and tried to stack the deck as much in my favor as possible. I located it through the Tourings for sale thread here on Fanatics, and couldn't be happier! Grey Green metallic over sand leatherette, 2003, rwd, 5 speed with sport, preium, and cold weather packages. It has 114,000 miles after the 1100 mile trip back home, and came with a binder full of maintenance history including the original window sticker, customer order sheet, and European delivery paperwork. It also came equipped with an H&R touring cup kit, 18" ASA wheels, and a Racing Dynamics rear muffler section. It needs a few little things addressed, but gave us an uneventful trip home. I'll update as I add a few things to make it mine, but here's a pic of it as I recieved it.

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tbouchard991

· #255 · Jul 14, 2019

I have such a soft spot for the Mini Cooper R53! Rims fit it so well, same with the Tourings! Both very nice rides!

tbouchard991

· #257 · Jul 14, 2019

yjsaabman said:
Thanks! The R53 is really fun and coming together well. The single mass clutch conversion is awesome and makes me look forward to one in the e46. Still some mechanical maintenance items to sort of the MINI, especially a supercharger service. So far it's been treating us well, though.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

My dad had a R50, which he swapped the midlands (they all blow up)(was blown up) to a getrag and its probably one of the cars i had the must fun driving. Such a wonderful chassis!

tbouchard991

· #391 · Sep 5, 2020

yjsaabman said:
So all of you know, this came to be because my wife is the most amazing woman. My friend offered me this engine and I began scheming how to come up with the money. Well, my wife came up with the best scheme and knocked it out of the park. My 40th birthday is coming up in October and she reached out to family and friends for donations and the engine is my 40th birthday present. This just reinforces why I love her as much as I do.

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That is so wholesome! Congrats!

tbouchard991

· #485 · Mar 10, 2021

///Mark_D said:
I'm watching The straight pipes review of the M4 right now on youtube and Doug Demuro just posted his review of the M3.

The launch colors (lime for the M4 with blue interior and dark green for the M3) are so strange... I feel like the bold colors make the giant grille stand out even more than a darker more traditional color like gray or blue.

The reviews are generally positive as far as the driving experience and performance. But that styling though.

The rear looks decent, but like ugh I still can't wrap my head around with how untasteful the front end is.

tbouchard991

· #531 · Aug 11, 2021

VpointVick said:
LCI for lyfe!

-> Pre-LCI better!

But honestly I adore the LCI as-well! Looks great @yjsaabman

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #551 · Nov 21, 2021

Bummer im missing out on this meet, currently in Canada. That exhaust for that mini turned out great! Have any sound clips?

tbouchard991

· #566 · Dec 20, 2021

yjsaabman said:
And there it will sit until I get more time and the right tool/access to the lower starter bolt. I don't have a flex head ratchet at home and it's too tight for the trick of using a 10mm or 3/8" box end wrench. At this time of day I'm not jacking up and crawling under it to try and get it that way, either. I'm not sure I have enough extensions here for that approach. For now I've soaked the dowel pin in PB, stuffed rags in the ports, and put the HVAC filter housing back on to keep any rain away from the cylinder head/open ports.

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Darn if I knew you were doing this I would've come helped you.

tbouchard991

· #573 · Feb 20, 2022

yjsaabman said:
So today this happened...

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Uh-Oh! What happened?

tbouchard991

· #577 · Feb 20, 2022

yjsaabman said:
Updated after posting the pic.

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Oh no! Glad shes okay and hopefully everything turns out ok!

tbouchard991

· #612 · 11 mo ago

yjsaabman said:
Almost time to finally work on this! The parts Mini went away today, so the Touring finally got some covered parking. This was originally purchased to be the Touring's winter shelter.

Those shelters give me anxiety, after seeing one collapse on my wagon many winters ago. I think I must've been 13-14? Was Infront of the shelter shoveling away and I heard a bang, and it collapsed right ontop of the wagon. (roof rails saved the roof ngl) there is a few dents though.

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #614 · 11 mo ago

yjsaabman said:
So far, so good, but it's only been up through one winter. It screwed down to the driveway, so it won't be going anywhere. Curious if you know what actually failed when yours collapsed? I'd like to see about getting second end panel with the door/flap so it can be accessed from ends.

It was a crappy winter with wet heavy snow, and it was over capacity for the shelter. I was too young to realize you have to take the snow off of the top of the shelter lol.

tbouchard991

· #616 · 11 mo ago

Bali said:
I have a similar cover from Shelter Logic. You can buy replacement cloth covers, in more durable materials too. I did that and now have zipper opening on both ends. Another good mod was adding pipe sections at the bottom front and rear. Chain link fence railing fits perfect. It makes the structure much more rigid.

I was about to mention this. 100% recommended.

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #650 · 8 mo ago

Such a tease, Those wheels look great!

tbouchard991

· #667 · 8 mo ago

yjsaabman said:
Good news! The airbag faults cleared with my Autel and did not return after a key cycle! Plan is to call and confirm they will be OK with it not having a headliner for the inspection and get that scheduled.

That's great news! It'll be great to be back on the road.

tbouchard991

· #675 · 7 mo ago

vtwagon said:
Just keep moving forward, baby steps. Sometimes we live the hooptie life!

honestly, facts! Few weeks ago I wacked a deer with my wagon. I already sourced a hood, and fender but they are different colors.. lol!

I'll be rocking a silver hood, and a steel blue fender for a bit.

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #677 · 7 mo ago

vtwagon said:
Yeah I had read (seen) that, what a bummer! I dread that day… Good luck with your repair.

I am very thankful the damage is minimal. Only thing that was damaged was (Hood, Headlight, Corner Light, and Fender). I might have to take a hammer and attempt to move the fender a bit back into place, since the front torx bolt that is holding the fender in place is pinched, and can't be unscrewed without it being stripped. (that's my biggest worry so far)

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #709 · 6 mo ago

How much mileage do you have on your koni's?

tbouchard991

· #721 · 6 mo ago

VpointVick said:
Not terrible, but they did have a few small visible cracks and almost 200k on them.
The monoball RTABs have been a nice improvement.

Im planning to ditch my M3 RTAB's w/ limiters for Monoball. Looking forward to it!

Reactions: 1

tbouchard991

· #727 · 6 mo ago

I did it once, and I won't do it again. Even with a ton of patience, I didn't like how it turned out.

tbouchard991

· #730 · 6 mo ago

George Hill said:
YMMV and IMO and all that jazz lol but I will not install limiters on RTABs unless that is the only option as per a racing class rules.

I hate my limiters, they squeak in the cold.

Someone recommended them to me, when I was doing my bushing refresh on my wagon.

My vert and wagon have identical suspension setup (Vert doesn't have the limiters). Doing some spirited driving in Upstate NY, I didn't notice much difference between the Vert and the Wagon. The only difference was how much I hated the Getrag compared to the ZF.

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