Hey all -

Making this post so you don't think I'm a bot...

I've had my '07 R56 for about a year now...I think it's been running well for about half that. I came from a mustang which I did all the repair work to so I figured even a 100k european car wouldn't be too much of a problem. I really didn't know what I was getting myself in to. But I must say, this website has been a gold mine of information for the DIYer.

The current drama - a couple months back it hit heavy hesitation and started to misfire on multiple cylinders. After lots of weekend diagnosing and a few replaced parts, I borescoped my cylinders and found a chunk missing from one of cyl #2's exhaust valve. So I sat on that for a bit - knowing that I was quoted ~$3500 for the fix. This long weekend was my opportunity to pull the head myself, and so now the car looks like it does in the attachments. hah. Honestly I don't know if I could've gotten this far without this community so I wanted to stop in (and make some good use of the used mini parts too).

I'm currently stuck trying to get the cam gears off to get the chain off but I think I've stopped to wait for the locking tool so I don't stretch the chain by holding tension at the crankshaft. Almost got the head off without the Bentley or the tool! I definitely see the need for it going back on now though.

Hopefully I can get this back together in the coming weeks and find some central cali folks to drive around with.

 

Good luck to ya, I just replaced the rear shocks on my 2008 clubman, never did that before but sure learned from the first ones what to make it easier in the second. My job was easy but I don't know if I could tackle what your doing. Again good luck.��

 

Great that you are willing to do that much work. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

 

Welcome to NAM! We picked up an R56 JCW and will be performing a lot of DIY works on it to add to our tech articles here. You should post up your work here for others to see! I'm sure it would be helpful to a few people. Good luck with the repairs!

-Luccia