Installed my boost gauge this past weekend and found I'm only boosting up to 10 PSI with a 17% reduction pulley. Got ready to order a new BPV, when, during a drive on Lower Wacker, I got the dreaded "death rattle" while on boost, coming from what seems to be the supercharger PTO gearbox. The underside of the front end was absolutely coated in what smelled like gear oil.

So, another grand to spend ... Now all those horror stories about MINI ownership are starting to ring true.

 

how many miles on the car? I've been considering a 17%.. might go with a 15% instead.. or just keep stock. sorry to hear about it... maybe time for a Sprintex??

 

Time to upgrade.... I've got an awesome rebuilder for supercharger's, although they do use YOUR supercharger, so the car could be down for 2 weeks.

Otherwise, if you can find the eaton M45?, you can use it, and an aftermarket electric waterpump from a 93 camaro LT1, and you'll be top dog in the neighborhood!

I use to have 2 of them I bought off ebay, they were collecting dust faster than miles, I sold them off cheap... needed the garage floor room.

 

82k. It seems ridiculous how many problems I've had with my MINI, considering my hand-me-down '92 Honda Accord had 220k+ and the only thing I replaced throughout my ownership was the ignition coil and igniter.

I was thinking about a Sprintex as well, but I would have to sell one of my bikes to do it. I'm going to have to blow $5k on a bar prep course over the next few months.

I think I'm going to just let it sit for awhile and eventually, I'll pull the S/C out and send it to Stiegemeier for a rebuild and some porting.

And I'll still need to get a BPV afterwards.

 

Aaaand, now I'm getting the dreaded clutch vibration ... It seems the throwout bearing and/or clutch and flywheel are on their way out.

 

What A weird place to be cruising around!
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong but Lower Wacker is Vampire territory.
I used to run deliveries down there.

 

true!! especially now with wacker under construction... nice way to avoid Chicago traffic if you know your way around though.

82k and the clutch is just now going out.. I'd say that's not too bad for a clutch life. Pretty good considering my buddies STi needed a clutch after 35k. I guess just bad timing with supercharger and clutch work going out together.. or good timing depending how you look at it, only have to bring it in the shop once??

 

Eh, I guess. I'm lucky enough to have a father who's been a mechanic for 25 years, that's for sure. I've done clutch jobs before, but the most frustrating thing about all this is I'm presented with either shelling out buku bucks to get someone to do the work for me, or be stuck without a car for the next month or so. When I was in undergrad, I'd just skip a few classes and call my buddies over to work on the car over some beers and pizza. Now that I'm a "baby lawyer" I have other non-car things eating up my life. :(

She's probably going to sit tight under a car cover at my parents' driveway until I can drum up the scratch for some S/C gasket kit and a single-mass valeo clutch kit. I'm thinking I'll sell off some stuff like my completely unused (read: useless considering the mild winter we had) snow wheels/tires so I can throw a Quaife in there as well.

Lower Wacker is awesome. Hardly any cops, and a nice, approximately quarter-mile-long stretch before the new construction zone. Good place to take a car with a nice-sounding motor!