So A co-worker sold me a mini cooper that was his wife's for waaaay to cheap. But the tranny sounds and feels just like the valve body is going out on it. Very rough shifts and naughty downshifts. The new valve body gasket and filter will be here tomorrow afternoon on the ups truck. As it stand the car runs and drives great with 124k miles on the clock, front end is tight and breaks were just done with tires in the fall of last year.

Detailing question, the front has a large amount of paint chips in it that i would love to fill and fix, any links would be greatly appreciated as my main focus for now is o the tranny. Then maintenance that has been neglected. Things like the supercharger i dont think has ever been serviced, spark plugs may have been done at 75k but he isn't sure, it was just dealer tune up. So when the tranny gets better after the valve body swap and the flash it will be getting some much needed tlc; and maybe even a supercharger overdrive pulley, along with new belt, plugs, oil change and some serious paint correction.


oh and the rims will be getting plasti dipped, tails and windows tinted and all the chrome on the car will be getting blacked out in short fashion. (i have a hatred of chrome in the worst of ways)

 

Congrats on the car!! Hopefully the tranny works out!

 

Good luck buddy I just purchased a mini also for dirt cheap.. With 120k took it all apart and found out my supercharger pully for the water pump is junk.. Make sure your supercharger has oil.. Go thru the whole thing if it's been neglecting maintanance

 

supercharger will be first on the list after tranny fix. Really don't wanna have to pull it but know i should to change oil. May toss a litle oil in it before it move out of garage to get tcm flashed, then do change on it when its pulled. Thinking long and hard about a 15% pulley for it when its out, just to easy a swap for 40 proven hp at the wheels, how can i say no?

 

You might see 15 hp with a 15% pulley, maybe 20hp with a 19% but she will be creating some heat with that.

 

update on progress, got eh new valve body in and only had to drop it out after putting all the bolts in once because i missed a cord on the top of it... Luckily i made a diagram on a piece of cardboard and numbered them all and made it look like the bottom of the valve body so the bolts were a non issue. AMAZINGLY this car had about 2 gallons of atf in it, i have a 9 quart resivior for doing oil changes and it was dry when i started and i had to close off the drain plug as it was overflowing the pan. So whatevfer shop he brought it to when he had it flushed i don't think knew about this car at all, removed the fluid level check plug and didn't get anything out, then filled it will a full new 6 quarts. making around 10 quarts in the transmission, and me dumbfounded as to how this car drove as well as it did at all. Could have actually been a lot of the problem. So thats buttoned up aside from the parts store sold me a ts55 not a torx 55, the s is a security torx and has a hole in the middle and a much larger diameter than regular torx 55 bolt, and its 5 points on the tip not 6, so going back to finish the job today once i have the correct bit in hand. All in all i have about 3 hours of wrenching on the car, and more invested into the tranny than i paid for the car, before the core charge at least.

I also spent a few hours the other day correcting pain and am happy to say that got a lot of the blemished in the paint out, no more scratches or sanding marks on it. Still lots of door dings and i think some hail dents on the roof but all in all a great looking car. Did find the one of the reverse bulbs is missing, and that both rear break lights are burnt out, i have the 3rd working fine and both turn signals but the break bulbs are both not coming on. So gotta run to hardware store fort hat today too.

 

Reference your Paint Chips, if you want to save some $ and DIY, there is this, will let you cover large areas quickly.

http://www.drcolorchip.com/store/squ...ueegee-kit.php

Motor on!