Hi I’m Richard
“I was looking for a project. I always wanted to do a chop top but was not prepared to cut up a perfectly good car, and this car had been fire damaged at the front and was on Copart. Every week I bid on the car and won, but it never hit the reserve, and after five weeks of auctions the owner and I agreed on a price, which at the time was cheap. Now it would be considered high, as back then minis were typically £7k-£14k, and my JCW was sold to make funds available for this car,”
Exterior
The bodywork was done first, and while the body was being painted, I built the engine. The work was carried out in any spare time I had, so the build took 10 years of a few hours here and there.
All the work on the car was carried out by myself, and nothing was done quickly. The front bumper I made to fit the R53, and they are now sold through Orranje, same for the skirts, which are like those on the GP but do what the originals should have done and have the arch line follow them round. The G-Wing is modified to fit the car, but I am the original designer of the wing and had to have one with all the work and effort.
The styling on the exterior is simple, it had to look like it came from the factory, and it is designed to be a second-glance car. There is minimal use of the red accent colour splashed about, used to give accents where needed, items such as the bonnet vents aren’t just stuck on the top of the bonnet but recessed into it as it would have been if the factory did it,”
This R53’s top sits 4.5” lower than it did originally. The roof skin is made of aluminium and was hand-rolled on an English wheel as it is 6” longer and 4” wider than the stock item.
The A-pillars and scuttle have been welded together to remove the split line, and added vents which are moulded in to look pressed. The windscreen is the standard item, but it’s been cut down to size, while the side windows and rear screen are all plastic, and the rear bumper inserts were made by Richard and are now available from Orranje.
At the rear, meanwhile, you will find a drop-down R52 Mini tailgate that’s been added as a throwback to the classic Minis, and the whole lot is finished off with that full colour-change respray in Glacier White, the perfect finishing touch for what is a truly astonishing one-off build.
In addition to the above, it also has recessed Jag-style bonnet vents, front F56 bumper modified, adjusted and moulded to fit, aluminium undertray protection, full R56 plastic under trays, modified headlights with RGB LEDs in the globe area, custom-made GP-style skirts, custom-made rear bumper inserts, GP rear bumper trim, passenger door handle fitted to the driver’s side to hide the lock barrel and modified to be removed if the key is needed, UK LED rear lights, R52 drop-down tailgate, removable tow bar for bike carrier and tow bar box.
Engine
The engine build took a few weeks’-worth of weekends, but it had everything, starting with the block, which was sleeved to take the power, the pistons, rods, and the flywheel were sent off for balancing. It has a set of King main and big-end bearings, K1 rods, Wossner pistons and rings, a port-matched and upsized head, a Newman 250/400 fast-road cam, an Airtec oil cooler with Mocal thermostat, coolant thermostat set for early opening at 82°C, 40mm alloy oversize radiator core with stock fan controlled via ECU, Sidewinder exhaust manifold and then, of course, you’ve got the turbo conversion.
An Owen Developments GBT5463 turbo with a Turbosmart Comp Gate 40 external wastegate and Vee Port BOV. There’s also a bar and plate front-mount intercooler, along with a 3” downpipe hooked up to a 200-cell cat and a 3” exhaust all the way back from that with two resonators.
A Nuke fuel rail and FPR feeding 1000cc Bosch injectors, and the whole setup is overseen by an Ecumaster EMU Black standalone engine management system. The result of all that engine work, is a seriously impressive 360hp on the 16 psi low-boost setting, and a monstrous 420hp when cranked up to high boost at 23 psi.
The transmission has been upgraded with the addition of a Clutch Masters lightened flywheel, a six-speed manual gearbox, Clutch Masters lightened flywheel and FX400 nine-pad clutch, there’s also a Quaife LSD to help put the power down to the tarmac.
Suspension
Meister Rs adjustable coilovers, all the arms are adjustable, and all purple poly bushes and anti-roll bars have been uprated along with upper GTT and lower OMP braces, Cabrio braces welded in place
The brakes have also been uprated, with a set of R56 four-pot front and rear calipers, which were stripped and painted to have the Brembo logo instead of the Mini one on them, and they are joined by braided lines. It has 17” BBS RC336 wheels with Federal 595RS tyres.
Interior
The interior has to be simple, uncluttered, clean and a comfortable place to be, a double-DIN surround adapter, again designed by myself, to hold the Sony XAV5500 head unit, GP-style rear panels and a cage.
Single-piece Motamec Evo-One seats on stock sliding rails with OMP four-point harnesses, a Coolerworx shifter, custom flat-bottom sculpted steering wheel trimmed in Alcantara and leather with red stitching and centre stripe to match the numerous red interior details, which include the Chilli red trims, and both the gear knob and handbrake handle.
Custom-painted stalks, custom gauge faces with a microcontroller running a screen for engine information, toggle switches amended to add DRL and turbo boost buttons and red door pulls.
Then there’s the rear seat delete and half roll-cage, The sound system consists of Hertz speakers and the F10 5 Series under-seat subs with Vibe replacement cones that have been sunk into the floor.
