Yes- They are on me, anyway.
Then again I'm still only tippin' the scale @147-150lbs even after all these years.

Edit: Actually - 62mm is ok on me as long as they wrap. The issue for me is mainly lens size/height.

 

I’ve had cheap sunglasses in the past, but then switched to a pair of Oakley’s and never looked back. Kudos to you for the modifications.

 

Disclaimer: The flowing is not a paid advertisement. I am not a professional body shop technician. I only play one on TV....

Back in 2010 after washing and detailing my Mini, I pulled up the rubber door sill seal to dry up some residual water. To my surprise I found a 1.5" area of rust under each of the lower door seals.
Being accustom to bodywork; I took the proactive approach and went to work on rust mitigation and repair.
I used an angle grinder to gently remove the abscess rust, treated with Ospho, Apoxie'd/filled and re-formed the offending area(s), primed and painted. My work was done! So I thought. Until today - 12 years later.....

I actually started this process last week and finally finished up today...You'll see why if you read to the end.

With the exception to my previous repair.- Rust had spread everywhere along the sills! The driver side was worse than the passenger's.

Unfortunately; I had used up my last few oz of Ospho on my Mini wheel refurbishing, so I ended up finding a "similar" rust neutralizing product 'Evapo-Rust' from my local Advance Auto crap store.


I gathered up a few items: Small spray bottle, 40grit sanding disc, wire brush, a couple of small brushes and a 2" high powered magnet.

After 40grit grinding on the affected areas, I treated the steel and I ran the circular magnet in the inner canal between the sill and the plastic interior to pick up any vestige metal (rust).



The magnet did a fine job picking up all fragments in lieu of a vacuum.

I applied more coats of Evapo-Rust by spray and by brush.
*on a side note: I find Evapo to be less viscid than Ospho. Had I had some cabosil on hand, I would have mixed in a little with the Evapo to give it more body/clinging character. I have used Navel jelly in other situations with little to no results.
So I decided to improvise by emulsifying the Evapo with baking soda. It couldn't hurt.


I replaced the rubber seal to keep the product from evaporating and let it sit overnight.
After allowing Evapo do it's thing- the rust barely turned black. Even after several applications and over a period of 96 ridiculously long hours. Fed up - I reground the sills to bare metal and applied an additional coat. AND again, let it sit overnight.

The next day (yesterday), I prepped the surface and began the cosmetic/structural repairs on the sills.


I reformed affected sills with Apoxie sculpting medium. Although, I would have preferred to use aluminum fortified epoxy (JB weld would work too). Apoxie Sculpt is impervious and cures rock hard.
It is by far my favorite and most versatile product in my fabrication arsenal.

Cured, sanded, primed and painted.





As much as a perfectionist as I like to be - at this point OEM color matching wasn't as important as dealing with the problem at hand.


I will sum up by saying that Evapo-Rust sucks and doesn't even come close to the rust inhibiting/destroying performance of Ospho. Accept no substitute - Use Ospho.

I even took the time to freshen up the paint on my hood scooptoday...

 

I do use EvapoRust to treat small parts that can soak in it. Yeah, I have to leave it sit there for days, but it does clean up these parts well.

But, for your situation on the door sill, I can see how it wouldn't perform as needed.

 

Yes - you are right. To be fair - I definitely figured out and could see how Evapo was more conducive for soaking parts.
I haven't yet used it in that manner, yet I imagine it would be a fine product for that application.
However - I will say; Ospho works in minutes. Not days

 

I've had good results using Rust Kutter and have found YouTube videos that support my experience of being one of the best over the counter rust converters.

 

Possibly the highest horsepower through the OEM untouched head ports?

404whp

 

Here2go,
I am WAY impressed...you are an artist! Or....you just have waaay too much time on your hands.
I can only imagine how you detail your Mini.

Steve

 

Here2go,
I am WAY impressed...you are an artist! Or....you just have waaay too much time on your hands.
I can only imagine how you detail your Mini.

Steve

 

Thanks.​​​​
Yeah - I guess you could say; a little bit of both.
Interesting you should mention "detailing"....
On my way home from work yesterday, a paint crew had just recently dumped about 3gal of white paint off the back of their truck. Of course I had to be traveling in that particular lane aterward. Try as I might I couldn't avoid that big splat and wound up with white paint all over the sides of my Mini. Fortunately, I had polymer treated my Mini just a couple of weeks bfore. It was raining today - so the paint just wiped off.
That's "what I did to my Mini today".

 

WOW...you were lucky indeed. That would have been a tragedy had you not used the polymer. I had that same thing happen to me fifty years ago while driving my cherry black Olds 442 except the road crew spilled some yellow paint off the truck in the middle of an Interstate. It made a huge mess of my car and ultimately the state of NY paid me for it. But it was hassle on every level.
Best,
Steve

 

Put the “winter” tires on the JCW. These are the teeth rattling, horrific all season run flat Hankook “sports car” (not) tires that came on the car. Why would MINI have these as the OEM tires and why would I keep them? Well, the car is used little during the winter, much less than 1000 miles and not in the snow. So, why not use them for props for a car that is standing still for most of the time and save the summer tires for the 3 season use they are intend for.. That is not to say I don’t have fun with these tires. They set the traction control light ablaze with anything more than a slight bit of throttle and will drift a rain slick corner with only a slight bit of provocation. Joking aside, I have my winter time “sports car” for this season... Linus the Wrangler...

Motor on and have fun!

 

I've always thought black and yellow went well together....BUT not splattered against a cherry black (yum), 442!
Lucky/fortunate for me indeed. The white paint had dried a little by the time I got home and just wiped right off the body paint.
I was really concerned about the black abs trim. However, I did something unconventional to them beforehand - I applied Meguiar's instant shine protectant to the trim. I am aware It is intended/ formulated for interior PU, rubber & plastic. The main thing I recognized is, it doesn't appear to be a wax/petroleum derived product. The white paint easily rubbed/wiped right off the black trim as well!
Oh - BTW, Steve - I'm glad to hear the city made good on fessing up to the mess they made of your 442.
That often seems rare from my experience having been in a similar situation with my house.

Smart move for hanging on to those all seasons for the winter.
It has been over 40 years since I've had to put any kind of all season tires on a car.
I just had Continental Extreme 06 DWS mounted on my Mini about a month ago. Just in case we get snow here. This is a first for my Mini. It's been shoe'd with sport tires all it's life.
I just hope we don't get snow this year. These drivers out here are dangerous enough all year 'round.

Stay safe this season, guys & girls!

 

I should comment or emphasize on my previous reply regarding the use of Mequiar's interior protectant on my black trim.
Although I have no problems using it in this manner - I am not suggesting or condoning it to be used on your exterior trim.
I personally felt confident and was willing to take that chance.

 

No offense...but shoot, from my experience I think just owning and driving a MINI is taking a chance.

 

You could look at it that way, or you could look at it the way a Ducati owner does - an opportunity to learn. I could do anything on my 748 - most things in less than 10 minutes. Mini is the same way, IME.

 

Great poster and yes....Italian bikes will make mechanics out of their owners. Or paupers perhaps. And I've always wanted a Yellow 748.

 

Mine (was)...

 

I thought that was just a saying for British sports cars.... Or Harley motorcycles...

Nice bike...

 

Lovely, thanks.

 

Had a Borla Cat-back exhaust installed on my 2013 Mini Coupe S. Now it sounds fierce.

 

Nice! I have had a Borla on my 2003 since 2004 or 05. They have a unique, very deep sound. Love it. Keep that receipt. I had mine replaced in 2020 under the million mile warranty. Took some effort, but got it done.

 

Perhaps not as cool as installing a Borla.......

Having purchased a few new expansion tank caps a few months ago; even though there was no evidence of failure,
I decided to replace it with a new one anyway. The tank itself is only 8ght months old. I felt it could use a little refresh as well.



I prefer the plastic OEM. Regardless of integrity; I never cared much for the aluminum/metal tanks with those (MO),obnoxious welds....

On the otherhand, I really detest seeing that yellowing OEM tank jumping out at me when I open the hood. Kind of an incongruous eyesore.





Ascetically pleasing as it may appear - I am aware that the downside to having a DIY painted black OEM maybe that - I may never see it turn brown.
Whichis a good indication that the tank is nearing the end of it's life/imminent failure.

 

I replaced a broken switch to my spots when I inadvertently broke it yesterday.
I actually preformed this mod to the center switch console almost 2wo years ago when I added my grille mounted spot lamps. I didn't bother purchasing the wiring kit.
I opted to wire them independently from the headlights, (the traditional hot, ground, relay and switch). Today I replaced the broken switch.


Originally - With the blank being available on the switch panel; I opted to wire my spots to an added OEM toggle on the panel.
I never really understood the rationale of having a separate switch to turn on rear fog lights anyway;(new switch panel, programming and $$ = ???).
Jumping my rear brake lights to the non activated rear fogs made more sense to me.



I wired up and improvised/made use of a new micro switch to fit inside and behind an OEM toggle I scrounged from a Pull-'Em-Apart yard.



As you can see the micro switch slides in perfectly into the back side of the "blank", switch panel/toggle recess.




All that was needed to snug it in place - was a little bit of Apoxie putty.
Side note: In lieu of Apoxie, you can substitute with 5min JB weld, or *hot glue (*as long as you have the wiring connected to a relay*).



Switch & toggle repaired and replaced. Switch panel reinstalled.

Addendum: While this was not intended to be a "How To" - I did not document the necessary steps required to modify a used OEM toggle - However, it is an important aspect of this task in order to make it fit, function and appear factory.
It requires a little patience, finesse and a Dremel.
Tools I suggest: a 3/32" spiral saw bit (or burr rotary bit), Dremel cut off wheel, small horizontal Dremel grinding wheel, exacto knife.

 

There was a big rust warranty back in the day for this part ^^ Nice job on the clean up and fix

And the tailgate, Taillights: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-warranty.html




I would check those other locations also.