Great, just wanted to make sure you saw that. Very helpful.

 

After sitting at the port from September 3rd to 14th, my MINI has finally been put on a boat for arrival in Baltimore on the 25th.

 

Thanks, yep.

 

Cleaned the interior and replaced the front leather seat bottom cover.

 

Pics ?

 

This would go under the heading: "What did THEY do to your mini today?"

 

Well, I did track it! I tracked it hard, dammit.

 

Installed the AEM CAI today. Ordered Koni Yellows/H&R Springs, and 17x7 XXR 530 wheels in Chromium Black. Those should all be here tomorrow. Various "blackout" items are on order (grill trim, belt line, etc...), showing up tomorrow as well. Finally got around to getting a stubby antenna put on from OutMotoring. I think that's it for now. Next-exhaust, tune, and FMIC upgrade-along with associated pipes for turbo and intercooler, sway bars, and some new bushings throughout. My Mini is at 100,000 miles, so things creak and knock a bit.

 

Washed it for the first time, she's got some age to her, but still cleans up nice for an '04. Only had it a few days now.

 

Beautiful MINI I like the color, how many miles?

 

Thanks it's electric blue, I'm told it's sort of rare now? 63,000 miles and only paid $3500 :D it's nice when you know people.

 

Great price. My 05 is the same color with a black top. I thought it was called Hyperblue (?)

 

Thats EB and it was the lighter Blue in up til 2005, then hyperblue came out and was darker they continued to use it on the convertibles.

 

That's a really good deal. Enjoy!

 

It's the little things that make me happy. New GoBadge holder and R56S badge, and start button cover. New black grill trim today as well. The first step in the blackout/"unchrome" process of the exterior.

 

I tapped that ***. Replaced stripped bumper bolts.

 

The eject button is cool! Looking good

 

Reminds me... my front bumper is being held on by 2 tabs. There doesnt seem to be anything on the lower part of the bumper to attach to. Is there supposed to be a plate (plastic or otherwise) that covers the bottom part of the engine that attaches to the bumper? Anyone? Lol

 

I needed new rubber and found a deal on rubber and wheels. Upgraded from 17s to 18s and runflats.

 

Swapped out the front brake pads this morning. Old set was down to 3mm. Replaced the old pads with a fresh set of Hawk HPS pads.

Wanted to give him a good scrub and clean but we are expecting rain on Monday/Tuesday here in Phoenix.

So I went to the interior and cleaned the dash up, doors, interior pieces. He is looking good.

While under the car swapping pads, I did some preliminary recon for the upcoming LCA bushing job. Going with the powerflex replacements as I do not want to do this again. And the MINI bushings just fail miserably.

I watched a new video on youtube using the Bergen LCA bushing press (Model Number A6140) and the job looks pretty straight forward with this tool. After watching this video, I tried to hunt down this bushing press kit and it led me to a vendor in England only. So I will need to order that in the future and wait for it to arrive.

My bushings are toast so the LC arms will come right out. But I like the idea of removing the bushing collar without removing the subframe. Excited to get past this hurdle so that I can recover some of the handling that the car has lost. Then I can start to look toward the suspension refresh job in the future. (Koni, springs, mounts, u/l spring pads, endlinks, ball joints and a beefier rear sway bar)

 

Installed a new motor mount and started cleaning off the excessive cosomoline/waxoyl that MINI brushed in random spots in the engine bay.

I also polished and applied paint sealant.

 

I was having electrical troubles to the point my r53 was dead. Lights flashed, beeps beeped the dash reset itself. That happened until she just quit completely. Fiddled and got her going the headed to the dealer and phoned them hands free. Full credit as i described what happened they said it sounded like the battery. Try putting a charger on it and see what happens.

OK went home and put it on a charger things looked good then not so. Battery had volts but car was not seeing them. TERMINALS ! Negative looked good, but there was a voltage drop of several volts between the battery positive and the clamp. Got out the dremel and made the post and clamp shiny.

Now it's looking right. Fweew. Saved a few hundred bucks for dealer and battery. Mini Yaletown in Vancouver got my back.

 

Good job! I always thought the MINI acts really weird when the battery goes south. Lights here, twitchy lights there... Glad to hear it worked out!

 

After dinner I took my girl to a parking lot and started teaching her how to drive a manual. Then we took a lovely drive and enjoyed some curvy roads.

 

Had the MINI stealership install some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 tyres, love them. But a little upset cause all the plastidip on my rims is now peeling off. Also had them change the oil and do a inspection of the whole car. ALOT of stuff was looking like it needed attention so I busted out the checkbook once again.

Ordered from ECS: Camshaft Position Sensor and O ring, PS Line repair kit, and Coolant System kit because I needed to replace the waterpump.

Ordered from WMW: Whole new front end suspension kit, Ball joints Inner and outer, prepressed Powerflex bushings, a DT bypass Valve, and also some sway bar bushings.

I am really excited to see how all of this comes together but in the last week I dropped 2k into Barnaby..hope its worth it! I love this car but damn he can be expensive!!