About to head out to meet a buddy and finally get some of my own wrench time in on my MINI! I will keep you all posted with some pics and description later!

 

Installed upper and lower rear Hotchkis control arms and the Cravenspeed Short Shift kit and Well Cover that Jeremy from Cravenspeed was kind enough to put together for my early style shifter box.

That was yesterday and today is alignment time now that the Hotchkis kit, Vorshlag camber plates, and Bilsteins are all installed.

 

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Here's a few pics of the PSS10's, Hotchki's rear arms, and the Cravenspeed Short Shifter.

I think the Cravenspeed SSK is probably the most fun mod to date! Between that and the Sparco Ring wheel the whole feel of the Mini is totally different.

Will post some pics of the alignment later. My friend is a pretty accomplished B-Spec Mini racer so we're doing it with his corner scales.

 

I removed the oil pan again for it's bi-yearly oil pan gasket replacement

Recently the went from leaving oil drops the size of a dime/silver dollar to a leak the size of a large overnight maxipad. The weird part it would only leak if it went from a hot to cold overnight.

Let's just say that the oil pan is pretty much scrap metal. It's boned in more ways than one and it can't be seen with a basic inspection.

I ordered a new pan and drain plug from ECS.

 

I installed my Milltek Cat-back today. Thank you ECS Tuning! It sounds great and those tips look so much better.

 

Nice pick up! You will have NO regrets! Love this setup.

 

Took Barnaby all apart yesterday. This was my first time every really getting in there and it was a good fun day! Dropped the subrame and put in new PS Lines, Ball Joints, Powerflex CAB, and cleaned all the old PS fluid off the subframe. Everything was going together perfect AND THEN we snapped one of the bolts inside the wheel carrier from the ball joint. Tried to use an easyout or tap to get the screw out and snapped that inside the screw..Tried everything so we put it all together I drove it home and now I have to order a new wheel carrier found one at a local junkyard for $25 but it seems something always goes wrong when working on this car :( anyways it was a good fun experience and we learned something. Thats all we can, motor on!

 

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That's gotta be bright!
DO you have an automatic cutoff switch where lights are turned off below a given speed, so you don't start any forest fires or set oncoming cars ablaze?

 

Just a few pics from yesterdays front end refresh, PRIOR to the snapped bolt

 

Street side wash and wax using 2 five gallon buckets of water and a three gallon bucket soap.

 

Some say BRG is the best on a MINI, but black was where it's at. It might be the only car I'd buy in black.

 

Finally got around to doing the headlights. The blacked-out mod looks much cleaner, imo.

 

Finally installed my m7 air intake and alta front end-links

 

Thanks for the order , looks great. Love that milltek sound and look proper on an R53 !

 

Got a new (to me) Thule roof box. Please excuse the fact that the car is currently a dirtball. :(

 

Very nice Clubman Looks good with the box.

 

Finally sourced all the pieces and parts to put a Thule bike rack on my R56 (square bars, towers, clips, locks, and 38" faring). Should all be here next week.

 

That setup with the 4 lights looks great!!!! I've got to get that done on mine.

 

My 2005 R52 S went into storage today before the snow flies and salt is present on Michigan roads. I will miss it, but when my MINI is back on the road in the spring I look forward to the same excitement as the day I bought it.

 

That looks pretty sick, I like it a lot

 

Stripe removal too I see.........

 

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Last night, I put on the yellow wheel caps that finally arrived.

Today, I ordered some custom badges.

Hey, it's the first car I've cared about enough to personalize. I'm dipping my toes in at the moment.