Today I de-ironed the body paint and Mini S-lites.
*Satisfaction*

I also attempted to clay bar out an annoying 15y/o water stain on my hood with no success.
I've been washing and detailing my Mini every weekend since then but somehow always managed to forget about that annoying water stain.
~not so satisfaction~

However, the clay bar did work wonders on the interior window tint that was beginning to degrade and had been impossible to clean by conventional means.(vinigar+soap & water, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl+water, citrus, ect...)
*Satisfaction*

After having to return 3 Amazon purchases for what was listed as "silicone" windshield wiper refills - a simple burn test showed they were all nothing more than cheap rubber and NOT silicone. Silicone doesn't burn or melt.
Today I finally received and replaced my rubber wiper blades.
*Satisfaction*

 

Diagnosed (finally) my wife's r53 evap system leak (P0455 code). Used a ebay smoke machine with the smoke hose stuck into the lower (charcoal filter) line from the vapor line solenoid in the engine bay. Smoke started billowing from the top front of the charcoal canister (exactly where you can't see). I was surprised - thought that it may have been the new design filler cap that was replaced last year that was the source of the leak. Will be back under the car tomorrow to remove that and see what the crack is like. If it's not bad, it'll be epoxied I think. No vacuum leaks though - tested for that as well. Smoke machine will definitely come in handy down the road...

 

try the baby blue chemical guys correction compound wax and a buffer , even a drill buffer...itle do wonders on any imperfections

 

I tell you what - Those smoke testers are a sanity saver!
I cobbled my own from a glass jar, hosing and my 12v tire compressor/infflator and burned some old denim (smolders and smokes for a long time).
Congrats for finding the problem!

Thanks for the tip/info!
Given how nice your "rice" project turned out - I trust your recommendation and give it another shot

 

PSS they call it, it’s very gentle. Too gentle to me. I used it several times on the f31 and wound up discarding it... I use now p32 and a red pad. It breaks down and gets progressively finer and finer as you work it, as long as you have/keep a damp pad so it doesn’t dry out.

your effective total coarseness is actually a combo of the pad coarseness and compound coarseness, as well as if the compound breaks down to finer “grit” as worked or not.

im also that oddball (old school?) guy that instinctively can use a rotary polisher to perfection, but have to really work at using an orbital worth a damn, lol.


FYI, DGs headlight polish is actually quite good, both on headlights, and it does wonders for restoring the r50/53 black fender /bumper trims. I then work in their Hydro shield, lasted about 9 months outside 8n the weather and the desert sun before I had to reapply to get back to like new black again.


DG have some really good products, but also a lot of products in search of a problem… or which are redundant with different color or smell.

DG hard water spot remover, is just jellied vinegar. But it does actually work really to take calcium off my glass shower door every few months because unlike using actual vinegar, it doesn’t run. You can spread it on and let it sit and work for a few minutes.


Sorry for. OT:

what I did today was get the donor S out of garage, take son to practice driving stick, the put it up on ramps and while hot, spray down exhaust bolts /studs with pb blaster to hopefully make them easier to remove when time comes.

I then cleaned with simple green plus pressure washer the engine, trans, undercarriage/suspension, wheels etc, basically got all the gunk, oil residue, PS residue, etc off everything so it isn’t a PITA when time comes to gut it.


then used mothers metal polish and a tapered powerball on my cordless drill to polish the milled 22” Alcoas on the dually again as they were looking dullish, amd repolished the Denali headlights. Their OEM so 23 years old and need it every few months to stay totally clear now.

 

Today i decided to tackle the new injectors. I scored a set of Bosch 0280156063's, which are the Audi TT 380's everyone raves about, off FB for $120 shipped. Everything was pretty straightforward, had a couple that wanted to stay in the cylinders, little wiggly and twist and they all came out. The O-rings, in the block, where cracking and showing their age, the ones in the fuel rail looked fine. I have heard that others have used the o-rings from the injectors with no issues, but i went ahead and swapped out all 8 of them for OEM o-rings, JIC. Everything back together, fired right up, and no leaks. Just need this rain to pass so i can go for a test drive.

 

First let me say getting it out was easy.
no messing with A B or C pillar trim.

getting the old foam of with wire brush. Easy.

gluing on new form backed fabric (Amazon) - not too bad. I suggest using 3m headliner glue and get 2 cans.

getting it back in…not for the faint hearted.

here are some pics…


Get it out

It’s out

Peal the old droopy bastard

Brush off old glue with wire brush (not too hard or you’ll damaged card) and blow with shop air

Line up the new stuff

Glue press and cut

It’s in. Not factory perfect but way better than the 18 yo old fabric

Over all happy with outcome

 

Fel-Pro valve cover gasket replacement, 2012 S Hardtop, 74k. A pick tool will greatly help removing the plug hole gaskets. Spent the same time removing those with a screwdriver and needle nose pliers as the whole rest of the job as the plastic is thin and I didn't want to break any of them. Used MAF cleaner since that's all I had, no scraping of old gasket needed to get surface clean.

 

These R53s are reminding me of the 55,56,and 57 Chevies. Until recently the old Chevies were cheap and all kinds of aftermarket parts were available(especially engines). Hopefully this could happen with the R53 models.👍🏻

 

Last of the front end panels (cowl) sanded, dings and scratches filled and sanded to 600. Getting close to being ready for sealer. Will get a light coat of etch primer on the bare metal spots tomorrow. Decided on black for the sealer. My wing panels are the only perfect panels on the car - going to do my own design blackjack on those panels in the same matte black vinyl I use for my stripes.

 

Laid out my Union Jack scuttle panel pattern. Ordered the matte black vvivid vinyl yesterday. The roll I have on hand is only 12" wide, so had to order something a bit wider to be able to get the cross part out of.

 

And in vinyl...

 

Moved the battery to the JCW so I could fire it up and put it up on ramps in the driveway and get the exhaust hot so I could soak the o2 sensors and manifold bolts with pb blaster.

moved the 04 S center reverse light over to it and activated in inpa the rear fog just to see if the JCWs rear fog wiring worked. It did but only stayed on for 2 seconds each time before it turned back off. I know if that is normal and It will be fine once the actual switch bank with the rear fog is acquired and installed.


I also acted on an idea I proposed to someone else and painted just the rear of the JCW exhaust cans black where they hang down under the bumper to minimize their appearance from behind.


will try to get a pic tomorrow, didn’t think about it at the time.

 

Ordered some Golf Clark plaid to make some bolster protectors for my Nogaros. Same material in the strips on my seats. Probably just going to do the outer bolsters on both driver's and passenger side.




Same fabric Cobra used when they built the covers for these.




Love these seats, but the bolster on the driver's side is already showing wear. Not sure what the bolster cover design is going to be yet, but need to get those outer bolsters covered!

 

Finally stopped waffling on wheels and pulled the trigger on a set of 17x7 SSR GTX01's in dark silver. Should look awesome with the indi blue! Not as light as what I was initially looking for (17lbs), but a LOT lighter than the R112's on there now.

 

Those are beautiful wheels!

 

I did the rear brakes last night. New rotors, pads, and wear sensor. Say what you will about the wear sensor, but it saved me this time. Outer pad still had visible life, but I couldn’t see the inner pad until I took them all apart. Inner pad was worn down almost to the backing plate.

All good now!

 

So last night i had some free time and i thought i heard an exhaust leak so up in the air she went. Crawl under her to find that my test pipe between header and exhaust was missing 2 nuts and bolts, off to Advance Auto for new bolts, lock washer and nuts. Got them all replaced and she is back to somewhat quiet, if it happens again high temp red loctite is going to be used.

 

Replaced the charcoal canister on her R53 to put to bed once and for all that P0455. Traced it down to the weld at the front top edge of the old canister with a smoke tester - that was the only leak in the evap system. A good place to check if you ever have the P0455. Took it for a 20 mile ride afterward. Blissfully light and code free.

 

Helped install the New gloss black - JCW Aero and Wheel Arch trim kits in our shop on my R58 JCW.

 

Today’s adventures, an 09 R55s, no it wasn’t my old one, but a gentleman that bought some of the goodies off mine. He reached out asking if I could change his pads, rotors, and brake fluid, me thinking easy money, agreed to do it for a buck fifty. I started last Saturday at 9 am, yep here comes the story, we get the clubby up in the air and all 4 wheels off. I try to break the damn set screws first, get them lose, and remove once I’m ready to pull the rotor, well we break the driver’s front, got it drilled out, and didn’t replace it, I should have walked away right here but nope, empty fluid out of reservoir, use a flat had to push rear pad against piston to push it in, pull the bolts into the slide pins, hang caliper, pull bracket and rotor, go to replace shims in bracket and clean and grease slide pins, one came out the other didn’t, so one slide pin frozen not coming out, he decides just replace whole caliper, so while he is hunting for one, which there aren’t in within an hours drive, I decided to go ahead and check the passenger side. Yep same thing one frozen solid. So we put everything back together enough to put wheels on her and get her out of the sky. We got her on the ground, chocked the wheels JIC, and called it a Saturday. Fast forwarding to today, he brings me 4 new calipers, and asked if I could change oil and plugs, again thinking easy money, I go ahead get it back up in the air, wheels off and oil draining. Start to break the line from old calipers and that took a bit longer than it needed to, and again I should have to walked away, but nope let’s just be stubborn and get it done. Go to the passenger side and that hose, completely seized to caliper, and we need to find a replacement. We find one and he gets a ride in my r53 and pays for the gas, so I’m not mad here at all. Get back get all of that replaced, those damn hard lines scare me, I’ve had to replace the rears on my old clubby so I know the pain, my 05 R53 was easy peasy but lived a florida/Tennessee life so no rust belt issues for me 😉 Anyway, we got the rest of the brakes finished without much fuss, oil filter change and double check torque on everything. Had him fill the oil while I changed plugs, yeah 2 and 3 covered in oil, so valve cover is leaking, and will not be my problem. I get the plugs swapped, and get the power bleeder filled up, bled the new calipers with no issues. Get in and press the brake pedal til she’s firm, start it up, reset all maintenance. He takes it out for a spin comes back says everything is great, I’ve got everything cleaned up and put away, and he pretty much is one his way. So he paid only $150 for me to do all that, so I feel I have done my good deed for the year, and most likely won’t be touching anyone else’s Mini, not wife’s best friend’s R60s, not this clubby, just mine. Not trying to sound rude but my knowledge, labor, and time just shouldn’t be this cheap or free. I know he shelled out a lot for new calipers, rotors, pads, fluid, all the tools he needed but i still used mine, plugs, filter, a new line and anything else I’m missing, but a little extra would have gone a long way and possibly made this not as bad.

 

Yikes! Sorry to hear things turned out that way! I work on mine and my wife's - and I have enough headaches with those at times!

 

It’s all good, I’m working on the beers. I’m not saying I have a perfect R53, but I found one that’s rust free and I’m trying to keep her that way. All the bs I have encountered with the clubbies and the R60, just not for me anymore.

 

Put the R50 on the trailer and hauled it to the shop, with suspected failure of AC pulley. It suddenly had a very disturbing rattling noise, voltage dropped (it has the factory optional extra oil pressure and voltage gauges at the bottom of the center pillars), and puff of smoke from the right front. 298k miles, original AC compressor and alternator, so it was about time. Turns out to be the crank pulley/harmonic balancer. Back in action tomorrow.

 

Huge miles.👍🏻