The evoloution of my 06 MINI ONE D. (with a lot of pics)

[R99]

Ok guys, this might go on for a bit, but I’m bored and it’s wet outside. I was also meant to be on the Cotswolds MINI event today, but it turned out to be over 220 miles each way so I had to abandon it . So I’m looking for something to do. The pics and descriptions depict the car as it was at each stage of the 'modding process' Hope you all enjot the read.

As some of you may know I bought my car back in December and many people on MINI2 helped me out with my initial questions about the car. It was also this site in conjuction with my first MINI run at the Derek Woodman world record attempt, which inspired me to start adding bits to the car.

The car is a 2006 ONE D (the Euro4 88bhp model) finished in astro black. I was lucky enough to find it for sale at a non MINI dealership so I didn’t pay over the odds. The car also came with the 17” R99 wheels and various other options such as Pepper Pack, Alarm, Harmon/Kardon, Zip roof decal and sports seats. Overall a nicely specc’d car.

Here is the car on the day I picked it up from Harrogate.



Initially I just started with basic things such as clear indicator lenses, stubby aerial and some company stickers.

Then after I started properly posting on M2 and went to the GWR event I got the MINI bug seriously and started to add the ‘bigger’ things. First on my list was spotlights and shortly after that I also upgraded the dipped and main beam bulbs to xenon gas items, which greatly improved night driving, along with the addition of the MINI spots. Not a cheap mod at £250, but I do really like the look of spotlighted MINI’s.

Next came a relatively small mod, body colour mirror caps. BMW wanted £143 for these. Buck luckily TonyRec took these off his brand new sidewalk convertible and I got them for £40. Bargain and I personally think they look much better than the standard matt black plastic ones. Around about the same time I also bought a set of spot lamp covers from Woodman MINI in the group buy section. I don’t use these all the time; just on journeys which might involve stone chips.



After that I managed to get hold of the all important MINI2.COM sticker for the car. 118 posted some pics of his new car and I just had to get one of the stickers he had. It turned out that Phil at MiniPirate had made them and for a £5 donation to the M2 Charity Ball he send me a couple out.




In June I was very kindly given a set of Cooper S bumpers from a fellow MIN2'er. However after enquiring about having them sprayed up in astro black it became obvious that with numerous quotes hitting the £500 mark I might as well go for the full Aero Kit, which also included new side skirts. I also decided to opt for the aero spoiler. So once again the car went off to the folks down at Woodman MINI for the treatment. Thanks to the group buy the value for money was excellent with the full kit plus aero spoiler coming to a few quid over £1k. The spoiler however was on back order so it didn’t go on straight away. This by far the best single mod I have made to the car as it really does improve the look of the car so much. The skirts also make it look lower that it originally did with the standard (Cooper S) items.




One small problem remained however. Those of you who have had a look around a ONE D will notice that unlike any other model MINI make, the rear bumper has no recess for an exhaust. This is because the diesels exhaust is bent downwards and is hidden behind the bumper. Therefore with the big recess on the Aero rear bumper it looked rather stupid, and that’s being polite. The guys at Woodman had originally thought that a Cooper chrome item could have been fitted to the existing back box, but it didn’t work out. To cut a long story short I ended up having a custom back box made up by PowerFlow exhausts, with a 3” slash cut tail pipe. It cost £150 but it improved the rear end so much. As a nice side effect it has also given the car a nice burble, fair enough it’s not as nice sounding as a petrol equivalent, but I wanted a diesel in the first place. Now its bedded in even more it sound so much nicer than the standard ONE D. (my younger brother has a standard ONE D to compare it to)

The pipe as it looked before the custom one:



The new look:



I then decided to add a cherished number plate. I looked at several and even went to a DVLA auction to bid on JAM 1Y which had a reserve of £900, but ended up selling for over £15k . In the end I went with a much more sensible £250 plate which reads R99 JOL. My second name is Jolly so it works well and R99 ties in nicely with the MINI side of things.



The final additions came this week, in fact on Friday. The Aero Spoiler finally came off back order from Germany and I also opted for a chrome Cooper S fuel cap, which was a Birthday present from my parents for my 20th. Once again the work was carried out at Woodman’s. A special mention should be made to Chris who has been very helpful throughout all of this. The aero spoiler has finished the back end off no end, a great improvement. The fuel cap also looks pretty neat and I’m glad I went for it instead of the standard cap. Shame it couldnt be had any cheaper than £150!! Here are some pics of my car as it looks today, I took them up by lake windermere. It was raining all day though, so excuse the dirty car! I know it looks lowerd in some pics, but its not it was just a very steep corner, infact the wheel lifted off the ground at one point on that turn!!



Future plans are a little sketchy at the moment, I don’t know where to go next with it? I am almost certainly going to lower it by 20mm before I go back to Uni in September, I think 30mm might be a little too low with the Aero, anyone know differently? MINISport have some 20mm springs for £99 at the moment, so I’m tempted to get those…..

Anyway I hope I haven’t bored people with this post, I just fancied showing everyone what I’ve done so far with the car. Any comments are welcome, and I’d appreciate it if anyone could recommend some more mods, but bear in mind I’m skint now, !!


Regards,

James.

[mikeythemini]

Nice one - nice post

[vickietots]

Excellent! You have a really nice MINI there!

[R99]

Thanks guys, I'm pleased with the look now. There are other things I'd like but they are just silly money to fit, e.g xenon lights.

I think I'll probably go for the Eibach 20mm springs next. Should improve the look.

P.S. mods, it seems I posted this in the wrong section so sorry about that!

[CC07ERS]

Great looking car

[Yellow/Black OneD]

Excellent post James, well done with the car, it really is a credit to you, you have put many hours work (and £££) into that OneD and it shows!

[adams]

Car looks 10/10 mate, very similar to mine apart from you get alot further on a tank ! If you dont mind me asking where abouts did you get your plate from in the end?

[118]

I love your car, it certainly doesn't look like a One D - you're obviously dead chuffed with the results, and you should be!

[R99]

Quote: Originally Posted by adams (original)

Car looks 10/10 mate, very similar to mine apart from you get alot further on a tank ! If you dont mind me asking where abouts did you get your plate from in the end?

Thanks mate.

The plate came from DVLA in the end. £250 included the transfer fee aswell, which most other sites dont include.

James.

[ALD0]

Lovely car, good to see a nice looking ONE D

[Andy V]

I remember you posting pics of your MINI just after you got it, thinking it looked good then - but now, what a transformation. Really smart tasteful mods and it's got a nice aggressive look now, especially with the custom exhaust

Are they the polished R99s? They look great on a black MINI

[humph]

Nice post James. As you know I really like your car. The comments here are testiment to the good a job you have done on her. She will look great on Eibachs and pretty much complete. Still think she needs silver bulbs in those front indicators to get rid of the fried egg look though

Keep enjoying her.

Oh and get some pics to the "your cars" section of Modern MINI, she's definitely a worthy car of the month winner

[adams]

Cheers for that ill have to take a look at the DVLA. You have got me wanting a new back box on my mini now more expense!

[I love MINI, Laura]

So glad you finally got the aero kit spoiler it looks tremendous! great work and looks brilliant!

x

[R99]

Quote: Originally Posted by 118 (original)

I love your car, it certainly doesn't look like a One D - you're obviously dead chuffed with the results, and you should be!

Thanks Ian, the car is now pretty much as I want it.

Quote: Originally Posted by ALD0 (original)

Lovely car, good to see a nice looking ONE D

Cheers mate!

Quote: Originally Posted by andyminiseven (original)

I remember you posting pics of your MINI just after you got it, thinking it looked good then - but now, what a transformation. Really smart tasteful mods and it's got a nice aggressive look now, especially with the custom exhaust

Are they the polished R99s? They look great on a black MINI

Yeh, they are the Polished R99's. Great wheels just a pain to clean! . I'm actually in the process of trying to get BMW to replace all four under warranty due to corrosion. The laquer is bubbling.

Quote: Originally Posted by Humph (original)

Nice post James. As you know I really like your car. The comments here are testiment to the good a job you have done on her. She will look great on Eibachs and pretty much complete. Still think she needs silver bulbs in those front indicators to get rid of the fried egg look though

Keep enjoying her.

Oh and get some pics to the "your cars" section of Modern MINI, she's definitely a worthy car of the month winner

Just fired off an e-mail to the folks at MM. I saw yours in there in the September edition, it looks great. Thanks for the kind words about the car, how much is your car lowerd by and how do you find it with the AeroKit for day to day driving? I dont want to catch the lower lip everywhere! I also agree with the front indicators, I need to get onto that as soon as really.

Quote: Originally Posted by adams (original)

Cheers for that ill have to take a look at the DVLA. You have got me wanting a new back box on my mini now more expense!

Lol, no worries mate. Some of them are quite reasonable. However some are stupid money! You should definatley go for the back box, or even better a full exhuast for even more sound. Not much point on me going for a full system on a diesel though

Quote: Originally Posted by I love MINI, Laura (original)

So glad you finally got the aero kit spoiler it looks tremendous! great work and looks brilliant!

x

Thanks a lot. I am really pleased with the spoiler. The back end didnt quite look right without it. I do fancy a clear third brake light though.... hmmm

Regards,

James.