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General MINI TalkShared experiences, motoring minutes, and other general MINI-related discussion that applies to all MINIs, regardless of model, year or trim.
New powerflex PFF5 -122 gearbox bushing inserts installed
Even though I had thought about it at the time of installation - After reviewing these pictures in my post, it seems to me that the orientation of the pf bushings are backwards.
Although I'm not blaming powerflex....However, I did install them according to the image on their website.
The orientation as shown just doesn't seem right to me.
Anyone else agree???
Last edited by Here2Go; Jun 6, 2023 at 11:23 AM.
Reason: Part number correction
Finished bleeding the new R56 Brembo brakes - the upgrade in stopping power is pretty extreme. Anyone considering going to the 4-pot Brembo R56 JCW brakes - there is a rebuilt caliper version from Europe that is much more affordable that you might think. Details are somewhere in my build thread linked in my sig.
Also removed the front bumper cover and light bar, popped the bumper cover itself out of the trim to start getting that ready for paint. It's rough, but it will live again. One small piece is cracked, so will have to do a bit of plastic welding, and some glazing putty to get rid of 20 years of chips. Then, ordered a new front lip spolier, the lower and both side trim pieces and a full set of new hardware for the reinstall - all OEM. I continue to be surprised by how affordable some of the OEM pieces are.
But, this month marks the 20th birthday of my Mini. Production date of 6/2003. Picked it up and drove off with it from Keeler Mini in NY just a few weeks later. LOVE this car.
Picture from a few days after I brought her home. Look how nice that front bumper looks! It will look new again...
For those like me, who haven't upgraded to LED tag lights...When was the last time you cleaned your factory lenses?
Driving down the expressway before dawn, one cannot help but notice some of the newer cars (or upgraded), cars with their intensely lit (nearly blinding), LED license plate lights. I never really took much notice of mine until this morning.
Man; Where they yellow and barely emitting light across my plate! So, I thought I might upgrade to LEDs?
While doing a search on Amazon for Mini Cooper aftermarket LED license plate lights, I read a review from one person that had remarked at how bright they were. So much brighter that they were almost blinding and out shined their tail lights.
That didn't seem very appealing to me.
This afternoon I pulled my license plate lights to have a look.
The images speak for themselves...
Left: The nearly 19years of dirt and caked on crud on the inside lens may have had something to do with it.
Left: Original pulled from the car. ___Right: Original, after a thorough cleaning with a toothbrush.
Yes these were my bulbs. Original to the car and had never been changed!
Polished with 3M rubbing compound.
Nothing crazy or bright. While I didn't go "full upgrade" to LED aftermarket replacements.- I do like the look of the Sylvania 6418 soft white LED replacement bulbs as a subtle option.
I’ve cleaned more than an 1/4 inch of dirt of of ours, they’re still yellowed after a good cleaning with an old toothbrush and toothpaste, but not nearly as bad as they were,.. but still not nearly as good as yours are now!
I cleaned out my lenses last year too. I have no idea how light was still even coming through those lenses! Looks great!.
I just replaced the whole damn thing. My Button would decide when it wanted to work and when not. Ordered up a new one, came with bulbs and gasket, and button works now all the time.
This morning I reinstalled/flipped the Powerflex (PFF5-122) transmission/gearbox support bushing inserts I had installed last week.
As I had posted earlier; The way the website pictured the orientation of the inserts/bushings made little sense to me after installing them on the car.
They just didn't look right.
So I decided to reinstall them the way I saw fit...
Now it makes sense!
BTW: For anyone intending to install these powerflex gearbox support bushing inserts - YES - the little factory plastic "cradle" is suppose to stay in there. The PF bushing inserts will fit just fine with this "cradle" in place.
While I was in there...
Without being overly paranoid, I felt the wiring harness leading to/from the engine bay fuse box could stand a little more protection...
I added a protective rubber sheath around the wires.
Any noticeable increase in NVH? I was considering getting those but decided to skip it for now.
Glad you asked.
I forgot to mention that after initially installing the inserts (the first way), I did notice a mild/slight vibration after driving the car for a week.
My Mini had absolutely no vibration before the initial installation. I just wanted every accessible bushing on the car powerflex.
Having swapped/reorienting the bushings (per my post above), My Mini was back to having no vibration whatsoever.
In fact I'm sure it's even smoother than before I had decided to preform the upgrade. But as I had mentioned my car never even had any discernible vibration to begin with.
I would highly recommend doing these inserts nonetheless. It's a piece of cake!
It's been nearly 8k mi since my last super charger fluid change. I'll be preforming that task again tomorrow.
Although I often keep several 4oz bottles of fluid on hand for future changes; I just came across (what I thought) a pretty good price @ $8.61 for
It's been nearly 8k mi since my last super charger fluid change. I'll be preforming that task again tomorrow.
Although I often keep several 4oz bottles of fluid on hand for future changes; I just came across (what I thought) a pretty good price @ $8.61 for ACDelco off Amazon.
I think I paid around $12 - $14/per bottle a couple of years ago.
8k miles? Dang I was hoping to do at least 30k lol.
Replaced the cooling fan today. Resistor went bad, and I just decided to do the whole thing. Maaaaan I wish I would have just done this when I had the whole car apart. I didn’t realize I had to open up the cooling system in order to replace the fan assembly…I couldn’t gain enough clearance to remove the fan with the upper radiator hose attached, and I just ended up removing the entire radiator to make it easier. Still only took about an hour and a half including bleeding the coolant, but ugh.
...in my case it would seem to be: "Here comes the rain again".
The Long Version:
It looked a little over cast this morning but I had intended to preform a quick super charger oil change anyway before any impending rain set in.
As usual, I moved the Mini into a less congested parking spot as I routinely do when planning on working on the car. When I rolled down the driver's window; I suddenly heard that sound of a cable grind that no one ever wants to hear.
Sure enough my window got stuck in the halfway down position. So the plan for my day was ultimately side tracked by a failing window. Shortly after removing the door panel/card, the sky opened up and it began to downpour.
I threw a small tarp over the driver's side and waited for the skies to clear.
An hour and a half later - back out to the car...
I stuck my head inside the door panel and felt around but could not find anything binding, shredded or what might be the cause for the grinding sound or the window to seize. When I tried to raise and lower the window again (at east 20 times) it was quiet and worked perfectly!?!
While still investigating and cleaning the inside of the door panel, I decided to pull the lower front speaker for a better view from underneath.
The Short Of It: "What I did to my Mini today"...
Stumped and distracted - I couldn't help noticing my old (19y/o),factory front, speakers and how antiquated they appeared.
Although they still worked and sounded ok (???), I decided to pull and replace them with a pair of speakers that I've had laying around for several years.
I'm kind of a 20th century music geek. I don't know much about stereos or sound tech... but boy what an improvement - These speakers sound quite impressive!
This morning I met up with some other Phoenix area MINI drivers. First stop in Tempe, drove to a coffee shop in Peoria 50mins away, then 16 of us attempted to go to Lake Pleasant. We ended up getting seperated, 6 of us made it to the Discovery Center together. Always fun to take a little drive with other MINIs!
Got my aero minis suspension all equally adjusted and evenly set..lol what a pita , it also got all new steering and balljoints ect so now it just needs an alignment and it can be played with once again.. here's a update video on my car , I listed their mods in comments section pinned.
...now it just needs an alignment and it can be played with once again...
A suggestion...get a Lifetime Alignment at Firestone, and then you can bring it in for a check/tweak any time you make further suspension mods/repairs. If you do it at a corporate-owned Firestone, then it is valid at any similar corporate-owned store across the country. I do this for all my long-term ownership vehicles so that I don't hesitate to make a repair due to worrying about needing an alignment afterwards.
A suggestion...get a Lifetime Alignment at Firestone, and then you can bring it in for a check/tweak any time you make further suspension mods/repairs. If you do it at a corporate-owned Firestone, then it is valid at any similar corporate-owned store across the country. I do this for all my long-term ownership vehicles so that I don't hesitate to make a repair due to worrying about needing an alignment afterwards.
nope, ille never go in another Firestone or midas or big chain like that again in my life , not after they destroyed my wifes rims on her brabd new honda crv ny using an angle grinder to renove the old wheel weights, admitted to doing so abd refused to even give me an apology, noneless fix or replace her rims.
Im going to look for a shop that specializes in performance suspension..
Last time Firestone on my other mini, , I took in back 4x times abd they just couldn't get it correct, , the car always pulled hard oneway or the other and they refused to adjust ANY aftermarket suspension ( coilovers , endlinks ect )..
I finally got it set perfect my self by toeing in BOTH sides but one more than the other with the steering end link.. lol they couldnt figure that out ? Then they give me that print out showing befor and after setting... funny , their befor setting NEVER matched what their last ending setting said..lol Nooooooooooooo thaaaaaaaaaaaank you.. Ile avoid them like aids..
I actually have a post on this forum showing the damage the day it happened and my claim I filed ,tgat not once they ever called me back thogh I called 5x... if i could afford a lawyer I woulda went after them just for principal... I shoulda learned my lesson when they couldn't even get my car aligned correctly but I didn't.. now look what they've gone and did..
^^ find a local place that works on euros. Otherwise with a coupon (from the service side) most of the time the MINI dealer is about the same price and if you call ahead they give you a loaner for the day.
Done right + new MINI to drive for the day = happy MINI
I do that all the time if our rack here is being serviced or down.
