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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.
Started putting the parts car back together so I can get it out of the garage and get both running minis inside where they are easier to work on and keep clean.
Also pulled the old nav drive out from under the floor permanently, and had to go get a new battery for Route 66. The one it came with just wasn’t holding a charge any more, especially since I don’t drive it but a couple times a week and fall has officially arrived, the high temp at 2pm today of around 78 degrees, was about the low temp at 2am last Saturday night.
after checking prices and seeing all the H5 AGM are in the $280 range and the flooded H5 batteries are in the $160 range, I found this AGM H5 at Walmart for $179
seems to be the best deal out there right now for an H5 AGM, and is even less than some flooded h5, so thought I’d share my findings to help others, especially since they seem to go bad when the weather turns colder and days get shorter in the fall.
perfect fit in the tray as expected and even has the correct subtle dimpling on the foot protrusions so it locks into place side to side.
For those who don’t know, there’s only 2-3 brands of batteries, mostly Johnson Controls for aftermarket store brands like everstart, duralast, diehard, interstate, etc etc. ( as well as optima etc etc) and Deka for OEM and some aftermarket. All they do is change the case plastic color for some store brands and put different stickers on them. I chose AGM because I’ve had OEM/ deka agm last over 12 years before, especially on bmws that sit around a lot with current draw for computers etc etc and even the aftermarket branded Deka AGM I put in the e46/3 back when I finally had to replace the original one 7 years ago is still working fine today.
these are unfortunately Johnson Controls, not DEKA/ East Penn, but still, AGM should last a lot longer and if over-discharged (lights or radio left on) be far more recoverable and soldier on no problem.
Last edited by Onizukachan; Oct 8, 2023 at 02:53 AM.
Yes it is. Same one I'm running, picked it up earlier this year. No one comes close for price / CCA / warranty. PSA: Wally World checks batteries now too - free of charge (see how I did that...)
I picked up a Diehard Gold last weekend from Advance for $220. H5 AGM, higher CCA than the original, but a little lower reserve capacity. That's a good deal at Walmart. 3 year warranty? There isn't one really close to me, though.
It doesn’t look like it, but it is back on the ground. Alex and I got the parts car back together as a rolling shell. I still need to swap the rear struts off it onto my PW, so I have a matched set all around on it, but we are 99% ready to push it out to the curb. Hopefully someone will want it for a Kswap/track car. I will be glad to see it gone however as the underside/ engine bay has something I’m seriously allergic to on it (lantana or similar) and I started having a reaction while we were putting it back together.
Chili’s re-engine can now be marked as complete, we are back to where it was 13 months ago or slightly better. The intermittent evap CEL was solved with the new right angle elbow I swapped on, no CELs all week thru over 1/4 tank. It’s ready for inspection and registration.
today rechecked exhaust manifold bolts and they were still tight, so put heat shield back on. Managed to get the headlight clip that popped off last weekend when I stupidly slammed the hood to go back in by turning the adjuster full down to reclip it, then was able to lift it back up to where it was and align it again.
Next weekend is Alex’s 17th, so he will have a few upgrades to install then.
Last edited by Onizukachan; Oct 9, 2023 at 09:25 AM.
Long overdue hatch door emblem replacement is done. Took about half an hour, most of which was spent on cleaning up old adhesive. Now I can smile again when using hatch
Took her on a work trip - about 800 miles without a hiccup, just a bunch of fun! Rolled over 175k.
Also, since I was in Houston, I finally scheduled an appointment at the dealership to verify my P/S pump part number. I already knew it fell under the recall, but i was thinking it would be two trips to the dealership to replace. Turns out, they had the parts in stock so I got a new pump, fan, and hardware. Took a little under 2 hours. SCORE!
Installed the iPod adapter and scorched Passpot in Alex’s JCW. He now has Sirius, iPod (w charging) Bluetooth AUX, and of course radio and CD as sources.
also got the inspection done, so now it’s just getting the registration done again.
the vent gauge mount didn’t show up on time today (thanks USPS), so didn’t get to install boost gauge yet.
Today after washing the Mini; I finished re-modding a TPM reset switch for my rear fog lights.
Since I'd modified the center console switch panel to accommodate a switch for my rally lights, I needed to come up with an alternate placement for the switch for a pair of rear fog lights I've been working on.
I didn't want to start drilling holes in my dash...or other areas on my interior so I decided to make use of the left switch blank on the Ebrake console.
With that in mind I began gutting a spare factory TPM reset switch for this particular purpose.
The factory TPM reset is not a push button type locking 'on/off' switch. I needed to improvise this function by fitting a micro locking push button inside the original housing.
Since the native LED light would not function like I intended (it stayed on indefinitely), I decided to replace/solder in a new LED to indicate the "on/off" position as I'd preferred.
Soldering in the new LED to the corresponding button position worked out well
I also decided to create a different indicia which would coincide with the geometry of the rear fog lights.
Mission accomplished....
This afternoon I R&R'd the rear bumper ran the necessary wiring up into and through the interior of the cabin (PIA ) up to the Ebrake console.
I'm currently waiting/sourcing a piggyback fuse (local parts stores NA), so I can finish running the wires from the relay when I have time next week to finish up the rear fogs and running the power leads behind the dash and over the tunnel.
@Here2Go Beautiful work. Subtle, very OEM+, love it!
Finally got the parts car/shell out of the garage and out to the street, used half a bottle of dish soap and scrubbed the garage floor clean again, pressure washed it, and then washed both cars.
Finally have both in there!
this town is ridiculous for selling anything btw,
posted the parts car (rolling shell) for $300, got well over 100 responses in less than an hour, most of whom hadn’t even bothered reading the post about the engine and trans being gone. Or kept asking the price when the price is clearly posted.
I got tired of it.
Like seriously, you think someone is selling a running & driving r53 with title for $300?
Last edited by Onizukachan; Oct 15, 2023 at 11:15 PM.
Oh and for those who don’t know, the aftermarket “china” led puddle light modules for f30/31/32 etc are a direct PnP replacement for r50/r53 filament bulb puddle lights.
I have a bunch of old “grolish” brand M logo ones I got on Amazon (4 for $17 or similar) left over from my Msport f31 where the logo had faded out from leaving doors open for hours… and it was cheaper to just buy new ones than replacement slides
Take two seconds and pull the slide out from the side of the projector, and voila! plain white and way brighter r53 replacements for less than the cost of replacement bulbs. Or replacement LED bulbs.
sorry for pic quality, was on iPad not iPhone.
Comparing to interior lights, you can see they are whiter (roughly 5k) amd about 2-3x brighter than the stock ones, so you can actually see if you ar3 going to step on gum, doggy do or a puddle when getting out at night!
Started cleaning up the winter wheels and giving them a "quick" refresh before they go on Ziggy. Not perfect, but far better and good enough for winter wheels.
All washed after being stored outside. They look far betrer in pics than in person. Paint is faded inside the spokes and two of them had big curb boogers like this one. One prepped and ready to spray. A little brighter than the original silver, but it will do. I went cheap and grabbed some tall cans of Rustoleum Aluminum colored paint.
Got wheel #2 done today. This one has been refinished before, so there were more layers of old finish. Not that I'm removing it all, it just took a little longer to sand out some of the bigger imperfections. This one also had a fair amount of corrosion around the lug holes which required use of a mini wire cup on the drill.
#2 all painted up. Wheel #1 unmasked, reinflated, and with a well weathered center cap.
Got brand new OEM facelift headlights. Plus I replaced the driver’s door lock actuator. I finally have working power locks and keyless entry! (I say finally - I’ve only had the car since march lol)
#2 all painted up. Wheel #1 unmasked, reinflated, and with a well weathered center cap.
@Yjsaabman - I assume these refreshed/painted S-Lites are your winter tires (?). Since you repainted them with Rustoleum, If you wouldn't mind posting an update as to how well the paint held up over time. I had refinished mine with German brand WURTH genuine silver and over a years time due to braking/heat - the finish (paint) has cracked like a spider web. I am not sure the expense I put into using these laquer base materials was "wurth" it. I plan on refinishing them again with silver VHT ( very high temp).
thanks!
