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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.
Worked on red mini for a bit. Went to muffler shop to see if they could change out the 02 on Kicks for me, they wanted $90 to chang3 an o2. Keep in mind I’m supplying the 02.
said no thanks, amd went to junkyard where they used to have about 8-10 r53s last year to see if I could find a broken cup holder to make another phone mount.
they only had 2 but one had anthracite which matches my cars interior, so I pulled the mount, and the holes crumbled to dust. Worthless.
Grabbed the silver one from the other car, and saw the airbox from the first one sitting in the floor of the car.
flipped it over: Dinan. Looked inside opening and it still had the Dinan filter element too. Took the lid off it with the dirty filter and took my two items to the front, leaving the base which is jsut a normal base there. So I got both the Dinan box, filter and cup holder base for my phone mount for $50. Dropped by Lowes amd got some paint to see if I can at least get a semi close approximation to anthracite, and then came hom3 and started pulling the Alta airbox and filter off the PW, amd the rear cubby wall from the parts car since the Alta install didn’t have one.
cleaned everything, massively cleaned the filter, and once it seemed clean I dunked it back and forth in a full 5 gallon bucket to make sure I really did get all the dust out of it before giving it a recharge with a K&N recharge kit.
and painted the Dinan Lid too for that bit of subtle bling, plus it hid the scratches pretty well.
Since I got this car (2006 r53), the driver's seat height would only go up, not down. I couldn't find anything on how to fix/replace it, other than a random YouTube video that wasn't a Mini. So, I took on the challenge to fix it myself (I would consider myself an intermediate level DIYer) and it actually worked!! 🤩 We'll see how long the repair holds up but for now, it's doing great. If anyone needs this done, I can walk u thru the steps and what you'll need... or make a post about it.
...., amd went to junkyard where they used to have about 8-10 r53s last year to see if I could find a broken cup holder to make another phone mount.
That looks pretty awesome. Damn! -- 8 - 10 R53's you say??? That's a goldmine from where I am!
Good score!!!
Did something similar many, many years ago with my pre-facelift cupholder bracket as well. After my wife had left latte residue in the bottom of the cup holder - With the exception of bottled water; we banned all food & drink from entering the Mini.
The cup holder bracket made a logical improvised solution to a much needed phone holder we both could agree upon
I had that same left over cupholder bracket in the PW, but liked the one I built last year for Alex’s JCW with the other style much better.
$10 for the vent mount at Walmart, rip the vent clip off and use just ball shaft with threaded end and the (shaved down) wingnut inside the mount.
color is not an exact match but it also isn’t a stark eye searing contrast like the original silver was against the anthracite.
It will do for now!
At least till I respray both cars sets of down tubes!
Took mini to Rides n Coffee at DG this am, a few people noticed the Dinan, mostly former Mini owners.
I do like it in that color, amd am glad I decided to paint it.
while it isn’t the same color as the IC core (that one is dusted with non metallic grey), they look enough alike when contrasted with the black and silver that it works cohesively to my eyes.
Enjoy!
Last edited by Onizukachan; Aug 20, 2023 at 11:53 AM.
CravenSpeed Strut Tower Defenders out, In with the WMW Front Strut Brace. Picked it up on her 18th birthday, 8/18, and installed it today in the 90+ degree heat.
Had to do a thorough undercarriage inspection and clean. I really do need to invest in a lift for my garage, but I thought this worked out really well.
Since I got this car (2006 r53), the driver's seat height would only go up, not down. I couldn't find anything on how to fix/replace it, other than a random YouTube video that wasn't a Mini. So, I took on the challenge to fix it myself (I would consider myself an intermediate level DIYer) and it actually worked!! 🤩 We'll see how long the repair holds up but for now, it's doing great. If anyone needs this done, I can walk u thru the steps and what you'll need... or make a post about it.
Please consider doing a write-up in an appropriate forum so it can be found. The height adjustment on my driver seat works but catches sometimes. I may need to service this mechanism at some point. Thanks!
Not much of an update, but my GP had been slow to hit operating temperature - especially in cooler weather - and occasionally would throw a code for low coolant temp. This had been happening since I did the rebuild on my GP, which included an aftermarket thermostat. I wondered if maybe the thermostat was always a little open, preventing the car from fully warming up. Anyway, I bought a new OEM thermostat and installed it over the weekend. The car now warms up very quickly and hasn't thrown a code! I think it drives better too, but that might just be my mind.
On a sad note, I discovered that part of my headliner is starting to sag. I was able to touch it, and it would stick back on it's backing, but I assume it will continue to droop. Any easy fixes? Or does this mean I need to remove the entire headliner?
On a sad note, I discovered that part of my headliner is starting to sag. I was able to touch it, and it would stick back on it's backing, but I assume it will continue to droop. Any easy fixes? Or does this mean I need to remove the entire headliner?
The foam breaks down turning to mush. No way to put it back up. There are some small screw-in pins that people have used to hold the fabric up as a temp band aide. The right way is to remove the headliner, scrub off the mush, then adhere new foam backed headliner material.
Isn't that a Countryman, the CUV/SUV of the Mini family?
(When I first parked next to one, I was also shocked by the size.)
countryman has split doors, this had a hatch, amd was badged Cooper S.
since modern minis are jsut a restyled x1 platform it shouldn’t have been a surprise, since an x1 is about as big as As a modern 3 series wagon, but still.
to see it in person, the roofline was a good 1-2” taller than my roof racks were! Enormous. Basically the size (or more) of an 80s midsize sedan.
guess this is how classic mini fans felt when gen 1 came out, lol.
It was a hot start to the day this morning reaching 98° by 11:30am.
It's only been 3,200 mi since my last oil change.
The OD rolled over to 98k today.
Since I had planned to get under the car to re-check some previous work, ( R side axle carrier bolts), I decided to go ahead of my regular 3,500 mi oil change schedule since the car was up in the air anyway.
4.75 qts Mobil1 5w30 after 3,200 mi
Always checking for little golden *sparklies*. At least what the earth magnet can't pick up.
Changed the oil filter and switched back to Castrol GTX 5w30 full synthetic.
Akebono pads front and rear, LiquiMoly 0w-16, hengst oil filter…Oh that’s what the RAV4 got today, Mini got a new power steering fan since I didn’t want her to feel left out, she honestly didn’t need a thing 😉😁.
Not much of an update, but my GP had been slow to hit operating temperature - especially in cooler weather - and occasionally would throw a code for low coolant temp. This had been happening since I did the rebuild on my GP, which included an aftermarket thermostat. I wondered if maybe the thermostat was always a little open, preventing the car from fully warming up. Anyway, I bought a new OEM thermostat and installed it over the weekend. The car now warms up very quickly and hasn't thrown a code! I think it drives better too, but that might just be my mind.
On a sad note, I discovered that part of my headliner is starting to sag. I was able to touch it, and it would stick back on it's backing, but I assume it will continue to droop. Any easy fixes? Or does this mean I need to remove the entire headliner?
Have to replace it, it will start and then work its way around.
If it is the yellow warning light, that looks to be the “low tire pressure” monitor. There is a button on the center console in back of the shifter and ahead of the e-brake. This resets the monitor. Check all of the tire pressures, then press that and drive off to reset things. On the Gen 1 MINIs the “low tire pressure” monitor does not measure actual pressure. It measures tire rotation. When driving, if one tire is rotating faster than the others it assumes that the faster rotating tire is low in pressure and triggers an alarm. This works through the ABS system. However, typically if that lights up on our R50 it is because I bumped that button and triggered the alarm. It has, also, warned us of a low tire pressure. A bit of a Rube Goldberg design.
If it is the yellow warning light, that looks to be the “low tire pressure” monitor. There is a button on the center console in back of the shifter and ahead of the e-brake. This resets the monitor. Check all of the tire pressures, then press that and drive off to reset things. On the Gen 1 MINIs the “low tire pressure” monitor does not measure actual pressure. It measures tire rotation. When driving, if one tire is rotating faster than the others it assumes that the faster rotating tire is low in pressure and triggers an alarm. This works through the ABS system. However, typically if that lights up on our R50 it is because I bumped that button and triggered the alarm. It has, also, warned us of a low tire pressure. A bit of a Rube Goldberg design.
oh i thought he was just showing what the dash conversion result looks like
oh i thought he was just showing what the dash conversion result looks like
That came to me after writing the above and reading the caption for the video…. Then, I wasn’t sure as that warning light isn’t usually on when the engine is running.
As for the chrono package… I really like it and impressed that he did the conversion. That was one thing I wished we had ordered on our R50 when we spec’s it out.
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