@KCinLex what he said above. Don’t get discouraged. It isn’t a guy thing why things don’t come with instructions it is a company thing. Some want to save a few bucks, others like doing videos. I am no mechanic but YouTube seems to be my go to. Usually you have to watch a few different ones. What he said about building the foundation is true. First you need to have the tools. Get you a set. Used to be able to go to Sears and get a nice starter set from Craftsmen. Now Lowe’s carries them and they are often on sale.

Secondly start with the forums (albeit this Mini forum is about as slow as any vehicle forum I have been a part of) and YouTube. Watch several. For example I know how to change the oil. Haven’t done it in years because Jiffy Lube is easy and cheap. However with the Mini needing special oil and a little different filter design plus the fact they only offer 10k oil changes I will be doing my own during the 10k visits. I needed to watch several YT vids to see where the drain and filter were. How the filter was different and there was actually a separate drain plug for it and then the actual torque specs to tighten things back up to. None of that is in the manual but YT got me the answers.

it is there and it can be fun. Just take a breath, tomorrow is a new day. Get back on the horse so to speak. I am also in the area and willing to help if the time allows.

 

I agree 100%!!!
Yesterday, I had the whole family in mine for the first time in a year or so, and we all were cozy and comfortable. Oh, and I had to transport some equipment for work, which was in the back, too!

 

Pulled plugs and looking for expert: how bad or good are these plugs? There’s approximately 20k miles on them. After I run the Seafoam treatment I’ll swap with new and fresh oil change.

PS: have p2300 and p2303 stored codes per scangauge2




also, Ordered a ignition coil from WayMotrorWorks because there’s 110kmiles on the original and I just saw this…”pull the ignition coil and check the bottom if its white it is dead. If its black its good and then if its grey its in between.”
mine is indeed white.


Ran half can Seafoam once far was warmed up into Pcv hose (top left hose near “MINI” in engine bay). Let sit for 15min. Drove it hard. Absolutely no smoke. Nothing. Clean. I wonder…
I did this once on a 3rd gen 4Runner with 200k miles on it and I smoked out the neighborhood. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

 

I waited for the heat and humidity to lower and then installed the John Cooper Works Pro front splitters.

It took about a good hour to install with no jack, not the best lighting and making sure not to damage the PPF on the front bumper.

They really transform the look of the front end

 

Wow, that’s a very clean car. Looks great.

 

Ri Concepts Slotted Rotors front and rear. Ceramic pads. Originals were OK (although noisy) on front, not used much at all out back. Took the electronic parking brake apart, turned the gear to retract the piston as far as it would go, then pushed the piston with my thumb the rest of the way. Locktite was definitely used on the rear caliper bolts, so, I used more during reassembly...these bolts are "star-pattern" type...had to go get the right socket set for that. Glad I did...without the right set, I would have buggered up those screw heads due to the struggle with the Locktite! Did the recommended bedding in procedure. Wow, these brakes are really good. AND now quiet, too! Oh, Re-used the pad wear sensors. Not hard to do if you take care and don't lose that tiny clip!

 

Windows tinted and front done in PPF. I decided to keep the stripes. I was on the fence. PPF over them actually made them look better and not as garbage.

 

Hi Goin2dirt,

Congrats on the new MINI and it’s looking good!

That was one of my biggest concerns about the stripe with Paddy Hopkirk’s signature on my MINI. I was worried that it would wear quickly and look bad after a short time.

When I had PPF installed the stripe stood out more and I don’t have to worry about it.

I’ve seen so many awesome MINIs and the bonnet stripes look like trashed.

Have a great weekend,

Rich

 

x

 

Put in a Wagner Competition Intercooler.
Took a while longer to do than I expected,
as I had trouble getting one of the hoses on,
and had to dremel the back of the lower grill
near both ends for clearance and it was still
hard to squeeze the bumper back on at the
end. Also had to pull the bumper steel bar
forward to sniggle it in during the install.
No leaks, no codes but haven’t had time
for a test drive yet.
2009 JCW Clubman.

 

Yea.... that one and the Forge take some 'fitting' to get it well done and not put stress on the bumper and/or cooler.

Took me the better part of a day to do it where I was comfortable that it was a quality install.

I've seen some shops that actually leave some of the screws for the bottom of the bumper off... saying it doesn't fit if you don't ... Argh !!


.

 

On my first intercooler, forge knock off, I had to trim on the passenger side. Then when I put my bumper back on I couldn’t get all of the bottom screws back in. I drove around awhile with it that way then came my next oil change. While it was draining I was looking around double checking stuff and realized it was my bottom grill not allowing the bumper to go all the way back, the part that holds the outside temp sensor was hitting the end tanks. Luckily it was warm out so I gently applied pressure on those tabs and it allowed the bumper to go all the way back and all fasteners back in the bottom. With this new g plus, which I believe is the Wagner knock off, I wouldn’t have had to cut anything, and for me it seemed to fit way better. I did have the thought of cutting those tabs off the grille but no need to since everything has worked itself into place.

 

Got my wife’s bf heading my way this morning with her R60 All4s, going to get a huge jump on some maintenance items. She picked up some Firestone Firehawk AS in 215/55/17 vs the stock 205/55/17 and has been very pleased with the handling and wet performance. I’m going to swap the brake fluid out with pentosin super dot 4, coolant flush w/ new zerex g48, liqui moly engine flush, LiquiMoly special tec ll 5w-30, LiquiMoly jectron, oem oil filter. This just leaves transmission, transfer and rear differential fluids which I can get in another weekend, but I think I’m going to have her change coils and plugs first, so we can be done with the tune up.

 

So I’m not the only one with
intercooler fit issues.
Actually makes me glad I did it myself
and did it right.
I also cut the slot for the temp sensor
back to the grill so it has plenty of room.

 

5.5 hours later and $140 in fluids and an oil filter, and we now have a R60 All4s that is happy and purring. Old brake fluid looked like shrek pee, coolant was green and blue, and the oil with flush, after 1500 miles, came out black like it had 5k on it. I couldn’t get the coolant temp to rise above 218, which is good, it’s blowing hot air and at the full line on reservoir. After engine flush we did LiquiMoly motor oil saver and special tech LL 5w-30, car is much quieter now at idle. It’s like the cars know they have fresh fluids in them.

 

Swamp water?

​​​​​​​

 

Haha, might have been cleaner than this. Don’t understand why it’s so hard to put blue in with blue, green with green, etc. These fers and mixing coolants, mine was mixed with an orange.

 

Installed Rev9 Intercooler with no issues. I did have to remove the metal bumper brace. Bumper not yet installed I am waiting for fog lights to arrive, hoping the bumper easily goes on, let's see! BTW This IC is very nice, better than I expected. Unbelievable how cheap the stock IC is!

 

I didn’t have to remove a number brace, unless yours in a post facelift, which would make sense.

 

Correct JCW post facelift

 

The Wagner Competition is a little
deeper front to back than their
Performance model and most others,
which made it too hard to sneak in
without moving the front bumper brace
forward about an inch.
It looks like it would have gone in
without that if I cut the top tab off
the IC, but I decided not to do that.

 

Oh yes definitely cut the tab ....next time. I cut the tab as it was not going to be used. But even with cutting the tab I still had to move the bumper brace

 

I finally finished my audio system upgrade, got an Alpine UTE-73BT hooked up to Kenwood KFC-1666S's in the doors. Retaining steering wheel controls was a bit tricky but this thread helped me out a lot.
The overall sound quality is a lot better and it's nice to be able to play my own music, will be trying to sell off the oem cd radio soon.

 

2006 R50: R56 Brake upgrade, LED white 3rd brake light with pulsar, JCW Sound kit, Condenser RnR + total evac and refill, Canton expansion + PS steering Black tanks, Wet Okole seats with seat warmer and lumbar support, and finally added driver side Euro cubby tray.

- reset throttle relearn and ECU reset.

 

Did a wash/clay/compound/polish/wax on the car and roof box….and reinstalled my craven speed shifter and custom boot…the paint has much more depth after a deep clean. It’s also raining tomorrow