Hey all! I’m back after a long time away. A few years ago my wife and I bought an 03 Mini Cooper S. We loved it but had to sell it due to having a baby and needed more room and my WRX wasn’t going anywhere. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when i was driving home and my beloved WRX bit the big one. (Prematurely but I won’t go there) I decided since I didn’t have time to pull the motor and rebuild it I would search for another. In my searching I came across a 2008 Mini Cooper S with 140k on the clock for 2600! This thing was beautiful, it’s got a vynyl wrap (but looks professionally done and you can’t tell until you pop the hood) and the color is perfect for me.. like green! It was just the “excitement” I needed to get me away from Subaru. So i did some research and immediately bought a bunch of parts to make sure everything was covered and I have a long lasting mini! ots a good thing I did because I opened her up and sure enough, the timing chain was on it’s last legs. Today I spent the afternoon putting in a new chain set, vacuum pump and valve cover. Tomorrow I’m installing an oil catch can. Next weekend is going to be the water pump, thermostat, and walnut blasting the intake valves. That should set her up for a nice long life.

Anyway its good to be back. I’m attaching a picture of the car, and a crying-worthy picture of what I found in my oil pan haha.

For sure.. but I was expecting it haha.