Put in my Alta CAI. LOOOOOVVVEEEE that turbo whistle.

 

After 202,683 miles I changed the transmission fluid.

 

Changed out my black front brake ports for nice shiny chrome ones. Next up bonnet scoop.

 

Finally added a wind deflector in the R52. Wow. What a difference. My wife is super happy not to have her hair whipping around her head. Me too. Happy wife is happy life.

 

Auto or manual?

 

Made the successful trip to Massachusetts from Kansas with Barnaby on the uhaul trailer. No issues at all, very happy about that. Took barnaby out on the highway yesterday and I am starting to restore faith and trust back into my car. Considered trading him for a BMW 1 series but couldnt do it. Still love my MINI too much! Life is good!

 

Manual

 

I recently added the $17 pet barrier as a wind deflector I saw mentioned in another thread here. I Love it, it makes such a huge difference. Is the OEM one better? I like still being able to use the rear seat with it in place.

This is the one I bought-
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Glad to hear it! Dare I say it... I wonder if you should have already experienced a "relapse" if the cooling issue was still present.

But being in the summer, if there were any demons left after you exercised them from Barnaby, should they not have already made their presence known? I bet you are in the clear.

 

I don't even want to think about that but honestly I think I am fine. When I was back in Kansas the weather was 105+ all the time and no issues. Drove on the highway 3+ hours yesterday with no issues.

 

Glad to hear it Steffen!

Picking up the final odds and ends for this weekend's job. Brake clean, engine degreaser, paper towels etc. I want to see if I can get the block, pan and transmission cleaned up some more.

Ready for Friday.

Also picked up another torque wrench so I have wrenches that handle up to 21 lbs/ft, up to 80 lbs/ft, up to 160 lbs/ft and up to 240 lbs/ft.

 

Promius do you live in california? I'm in cali and worried about that as well. I bought my MINI with already-tinted windows from Seattle, around 35% all the way around. I wouldn't think the CHP cares much about a MINI cooper with tints vs an older impala with tints, for example.

Oh, and I installed the aFe Pro Dry S panel filter in 10 minutes. I want to say I get better gas mileage but it's hard to be sure...

 

Today I put checkered stripes on my Mini! Took me some time but I got it, with only a few messed checkered pieces. I got a heart badge coming in Friday also

 

Tired of my bumper trim coming off so... DRIFT STITCHES!!

 

Steffen-
If you're still looking for a good local shop, check out Roundel Motor Werks in Sandwich, on the Cape....might be a little out of your way, but Pat has done some great work on our Mini's.
-Steve

 

Spending some time on the MINI this weekend.

Current status pic. Working on cleaning up the motor and removing the 114k miles of garbage on it before pursuing the preventative maintenance work on him. More pics in my thread…

 

Productive day today...

- Replaced the leaking power steering lines. (not as bad as I thought)
- New fluid in P/S system. Bled the P/S system.
- Replaced the power steering fan with new unit
- Oil pan gasket and dip stick o-ring
- Oil change
- Transmission mount
- Thermostat, housing, upper and lower hoses
- Crankshaft position sensor

Im tired... punting on swapping out the passenger axle due to the driver side axle weeping now. Might as well knock them both out at the same time. Plan on doing the inner ball joints as well with the axles out.

Tomorrow includes putting everything back together and buttoning him out. Coolant fluid, power steering fluid and oil are all sitting in their respective systems... Letting it sit overnight and we will see if any leaks present themselves.

 

Big day.
All I did was bolt on new hoops

 

They look good!


Finished up working on him today… More pics in the thread.

 

Today I sat glaring at my armrest, and Bentley manual, because, like everyone ever, I don't have special tool 00 9 323 (trim panel wedge, nonexistent).

I busted the arm rest on my R50 last time I had to do this, and my new S is so perfect I can't bear the idea of screwing it up. Since my body panel kit -- the 5 piece plastic pry bars everyone has -- isn't even close to what tool 00 9 323 must be, I was running out of ideas.

Possibly a plastic kid's ruler would be skinny enough to slide in there and release the wedge holding the arm rest on, but anything thin enough to get in there is likely to break. You need some thing metal, almost, for this. But metal would scratch the door.

Unless you had a steel yardstick and you de-burred it with a file, and wrapped the end in electrical tape so it can't scratch anything. Turns out, that works.



After that it was easy to replace the door brake, so it won't swing shut and crush my foot like happened last time.

Also put in a left side parcel shelf. Nobody explains how the old panel is hooked in the center. The two outside hinges curve one way, the middle one curves the other. That's how it attaches at the bottom. It's easy once you know that.

 

I had to do surgery on the Copper S by replacing the air duct to the blower manifold and a few vacuum tubes but in order to do the air duct the front end had to be opened up which required the removal of the front bumper etc. in order to get at the blower manifold to replace the o-ring/gasket as well as rebolt the duct in place.The removal of all associated parts---bypass valve ---throttle body etc is necessary in order to replace the air duct----a lot work for one bolt and one o-ring/gasket.

 

Bought some wheels from a NAM member! Can't pick them up for about two weeks but they will look sweet. And a little unusual.......Pictures to follow as it develops.

 

Actually did yesterday but installed OEM JCW rear muffler (version with integrated dual chromed slash tips - P/N 18307646678). Rather than crawl underneath with jack stands supporting, I used hydraulic floor jacks on both rear jacking points in combo with machined aluminum jacking adapters then slipped ramps underneath the raised rear tires. All went well (butt-joined using BMW 55mm exhaust pipe clamp). Only a short drive around town so far but know I'm gonna like the subtle change. No need for video since there are several linked here and on youtube...

 

Replaced the power window motor.

Window wouldn't go down on occasion. Only way to get it to respond was to strike it with the palm of my hand (just below the door handle) where the motor is located. After striking window would work 5 or 6 times but would fail again when trying to get it down.

This tells me something is stuck or that the motor has weakened and can no longer engage the gear after the gear has settled.

Removed door panel and always have to remember to start at the reflector behind the door lock push button. Careful not to force anything.

Detached the window from the window regulator. Used a 5mm hex to remove two odd looking fasteners (look like gears . lol). They screw out- Removed the glass carefully and set it aside in the garage.?

Next had to remove the inside door handle. 3 Phillips head screws.
Then take out the window regulator motor. Remembering to remove the cross cable (runs along the top rail) from the two holding clips - used 10mm for the top regulator arms (located under plastic plugs) then used 10mm for the 2 bottom rails on the bottom side of the door.

Once I had the rails out I hit everything I could with a lubricant and "painted' the rails that the runners run on with grease.

Unscrewed the motor and was careful to keep the cable spool together as I removed the motor from the cable assembly. Sprayed the friction points of the spool with a lubricant. (I just want everything to slip smoothly as to not over stress the motor again)

After installing the motor and installing the regulator rails back in by re affixing the 10mm bolts in the top and bottom as well as the screws in the motor, I noticed that the window went down when I pushed the switch up and vice versa. So I had to remove the rails again and reverse the motor. The motor is encased in metal. It's attached with 4 screws. Removed the screws, carefully pulled out slightly as to not allow everything to fall apart (there are two loose pieces that can be replaced but it's cumbersome), and twisted so the motor is now 180 degrees of the position it was. Replaced the screws and re-attached the rails.

Slid window back into the channel and re-attached using the gear looking brackets. Tightened but allowed for some movement so that I could adjust the window so that it closed properly on top and rear. Once perfect tightened.

Put door handle back on, re-attached door panel and voila - it works! The aftermarket motor is a bit louder than factory. I hope I don't have to do this again. It was an easy job but I needed to be engaged the entire time. Took about an hour.

 

Did plugs n wires this morning. Debating on whether or not I want an msd coil pack.