What had started out to be a routine start of a work week turned out to be anything but routine.
As usual I got up, dressed for work, and headed out on the hwy to a little place I like to call hell. AKA = my job.
Distracted by the sunrise cresting over the horizon behind me, It just so happened that for some reason; I missed my exit.
So I drove. And drove. And drove and kept on driving. 125mi later I found myself far and away from the metro area in what I (a long life city dweller and confirmed suburbanite) would consider the middle of nowhere.



Traveling down desolate 2wo lane roads, taken in by the beauty and serenity of the landscape seemingly devoid of human presence, I was overcome with a feeling of relaxation and utter decompression. I felt free again.
Although I hadn't had the presence of mind to snap off too many scenic shots during my unprecedented excursion; after a few hours on the road I couldn't help but document a couple of points of interest that resonated back to my young adulthood
when I had spent days upon days driving across the country without a destination or even a roadmap.







Knowing that I couldn't keep driving forever...I had to turn around and head back to the only life I've known for the last 10 years.
Upon my return "home", a few hours later, I packed up a few things in the Mini and my dog and I headed down the hwy....bound for nowhere.

My post should not been categorized as "What did you do to your Mini today" but rather "What did my Mini do to me today"....
My Mini set me free.

Goodbye life in the big city.

 

Changed #4 ignition coil due to misfire from local store. Ordered 4 from fcp. Change your coils every 30k is recommended. These Bremis lasted almost 40k. 20/20 hindsight: once the car started driving a little juddery that was a sign as it's a lot smoother now through gears. 2012 Hardtop S auto Manic stage 2

 

My wife took Ziggy through an automatic car wash the other day. :facepalm: apparently the sunroof drains can't handle that on top of the leak in cargo area. She said it was the barn doors themselves leaking. It's supposed to be nice this weekend, I guess I know what I'm doing!

 

Yesterday was a big day for me - I had a lot that needed to get done.

On the list for Mini activities was:
- Replace thermostat
- Brake pads on all four corners
- Rotors in the rear
- Drain and fill on the motor oil
- New exhaust hangers and pipe connector
- Replace spark plugs
- Replace front turn signal bulbs

I got it all done except the plugs and exhaust components. Just ran out of time. Glad I got the thermostat and brakes replace, though. The past week I was looking at a CEL on the dash, and the code was DTC 2947 - Coolant temp sensor stuck at low. From my research, even though it was calling out an issue with the thermostat, seemed like that was the actual problem. So, I bought a new one and swapped it in. Coolant temperature is now normal, and no more code.

After the thermostat, I did a drain and fill on the motor oil. I pulled an oil sample to send off to Blackstone, too. Depending on how it comes back, I'll be making some decisions regarding the future of the car. Stay tuned!

The brakes.... Last week, my parking brake started sticking. Handle had no resistance for the first half of the stroke. It would hold, but way too much draw on the handle. Had a chance to jack of the car and perform a visual, and I saw that the caliper mechanism was sticking. I was able to loosen it up, but when I checked the pads, I noticed they were almost gone. WTF?! I hadn't normally installed the pad sensors in the past, but I did install it the last time I did the rear brakes. For some reason, the rear pad sensor I used never triggered the maintenance counter.

 

I would recommend to replace that rear caliper. We had a sticking parking brake mechanism on my daughter's R52S that prematurely wore out the pads, too. Her symptoms were that the parking brake wouldn't engage correctly, either. With the new (rebuilt) caliper in place, everything is working great! I went with a Duralast caliper from Autozone, just because they have a lifetime warranty and can be replaced locally - that's not a knock on ECS or FCP, as I use them for their lifetime warranty, as well.

 

Yeah, I think my next brake job will include new rear calipers. The parking brake was only sticking on one side, but both pistons were hard to retract.

 

I think you might be on to something. I'm noticing today again that the parking brake isn't releasing completely... Might have to swap them out sooner rather than later.

 

Can you tell if it is the cable or caliper that is sticking?

 

Definitely the caliper. When you look at the caliper, it’s obvious that the cable has let go but the caliper lever is sticking.

 

note on the duralast, when i replaced the brakes on the one clubman, he picked up a set of the duralast. Open the box and they are remanufactured OEM calipers, same markings, part #'s, etc. so you might have an option locally, they usually let you look at the part in store.

 

Ordered more parts for the mini (r53) yesterday, outmotoring filter housing plunger. Had to park it a couple weeks ago, ran hot (really fast too, I keep an eye on the temp and oil pressure) and couple days later oil pressure light started coming on below 2k rpm. Since the electrical demons have seen fit to annoy me with opening the windows overnight, I also disconnected the battery cable so it's not convenient to go play with it now. And, since I have the rear suspension out of my XJ6C and apart for restoration, I have to get that done before I can get back to the mini, but I sure was missing driving it yesterday...

 

Having recently moved, with (currently) no permenent address and essentiaaly living the life of a vagabond hasn't prevented me from doing what I can for my Mini.

Last year I had fabricated, installed, paint match sprayed a duckbill and a pair of cowl scoops. After countless pressure washes, the 1k clear just didn't hold up. No surprise there.
Rather than kicking myself for not refinishing/re-painting these add-on body accents before moving when I had the chance, I spotted a place that might be suitable to facilitate a make-shift paint booth...


This dumpster resided behind a Waffle House next to the motel where I had stayed.

Photo missing: My apologies - I cannot seem to find the photo where my Mini is actually pulled up to the dumpster, masked off with the fence doors open. That was by far the best photo!



But I had to work quickly in order to pull this off to avoid arousing any unwanted attention or being run off by management before the paint had a chance to cure!



I was fortunate to have picked a nice day - 70º, low humidity, no wind and light moderate cloud cover. The paint and clear cured quickly.
Four hours and a few curious looks from passers by later; I pulled the Mini into a secluded parking spot and left it to fully cure undisturbed until the next day.







For re-spray; This time around I decided try VHT gloss Caliper clear. With a claimed temp rating up to 600º F - I've found VHT brand to be a pretty good "off the shelf" product for the the SIY (spray it yourselfer).

I plan to use VHT for/when refinishing my S-Lites (again)...since the German brand $WURTH$ "wheel" paint and clear failed to hold up to the intense heat generated by the brakes the first time I had refinished/painted them 2wo years ago.

On a side note:
The VHT (very high temp) Caliper & Engine clears don't float as nicely and are not as (deep) glossy as traditional rattle can, gloss clears. Not much of a problem. I was more or less looking for durability quality aspects.
A little 1000 grit wet sanding and polish should give it back some pop.

 

I was originally going to title this post: "Somebody's watching me" but...

Today - I had intended to remove and recover my worn driver's seat. My plan was to pull the front seat, bring it into my motel room, strip it and recover it with a perfect one that I had stripped off a salvage yard Mini that I've been holding on to for about a year.
Unfortunately I was caught in the act by the motel office manager before I even had the chance to disconnect the battery = "No working on cars in the parking lot!".
Darn security cameras!

Having a box of small, nice interior replacement parts still in the back seat - I decided to change out my original worn looking turn signal stalk with a good one I had in the box. After all - I figured it's a quick and small enough job that shouldn't arouse too much attention working in a parking lot...


Original, worn and faded




New (-ish)

As I'm admiring the new stalk, while wiping down the interior panels w/Meguire's, the concierges walked up...I thought I was in for it...
He just wanted to say how much he appreciated how nice the car looked and me taking such good care of my Mini....
He had been watching me from the surveillance monitor for the last hour.

Kinda creepy.

 

Today was I’m tired of this damn exhaust leak day, no name header was leaking I think from the flex joint. Picked up a Milltek no cat header from Way. Quality is damn good, fits almost like the stock one, and exhaust leak gone. It isn’t any louder than my other one and if I get tired of how loud it is, just add resonated mid pipe and if that doesn’t do it, then the cat.

 

Drove her to work this morning, got to make a 2-4 pull with the new header. Thank god that exhaust leak is gone, drove me nuts and in all honesty i didnt even try to see where the old one had failed, had enough tossed it. Love the sound and @ 84 mph drone wasnt horrible at all. True test will be with the wife in car, if she can stand it then im good. New Indy 500's mounted to my r98's yesterday, just need to wash and wax before summer tires go on. She's set for summer ripping.

 

There are more pics in my build page, but I've been replacing my rear suspension. Can you tell which subframe is the new one?

New vs. Old subframe.


Subframe has seen better days

 

^^^
Nothing but a little Scotch-brite works wonders on those rusty parts.
Now you know!

Great commitment you've put into that nice looking MIni
(It appears that I also went with the same style rear adjustable control arms. Mine are Dorman (aluminum) ).

 

Spent a few hours on the R98’s yesterday. Wash, wax, and of course line up those center caps. MOTD prep almost complete. Oil change and spring cleaning, should be about all that’s left.

 

How do you like the Firehawks? I am considering them for my summer tires.

 

these will be my second set if that tells you anything, just had them mounted Wednesday. When I picked up these R98’s they had Indy 500’s on them with about 1000 miles. I got 3 solid summers out of the tires. 2 on the clubman and last year on the r53. 1000 miles on dragon in R55s and just 400 last year in R53. For summer tires, 2nd best that Bridgestone/Firestone makes, Potenza Re71’s the best but cost about 60 bucks more and 200 tread. Firestone will match prices you find online, so worth doing some homework.

as of today….https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes

113 a tire

 

Appreciate it. I have time. I am stripping one set of rims to have them powder coated black. I purchased an all season for my other set of rims, once those wear out, I will get them black and have Blizzaks on them for the winter.

 

First and foremost my apologies:
As it seems, I've been lying to the forum for the last 3years praising the PRW fluid filled crank pulley as a replacement as opposed to going with another (sure to fail) rubber core OEM.

Today I (really did) change out my Crank pulley to the PRW, seal, bolt and serpentine belt. <continued below>...


Although I can't debate PRW vs ATI dampers... I went with the PRW SFI fluid crank damper. Either or but not another OEM!

Here's the skinny:
So I'm haulin'- A, yesterday afternoon, windin' up the SC, snakin' through mountainous roads when I start smelling hot/burning rubber. I pulled over. Tires looked fine. All rims & brakes felt slightly warm/normal but not hot. The smell of rubber seemed to emanate from under the hood. Everything looked clean, un-scortched and just fine. Stumped - I decided to change out the belt just for the heck of it.
As I'm rummaging through my box of new/back-up parts; I find the new belt. Underneath it, I see a box, "PRW-SFI harmonic balancer" dated 2021 along with a new seal, bolt and puller tool. I had just assumed I had saved my old OEM pulley and placed it in the PRW box when I (thought) I had done the swap/upgrade years ago. Nope - There in the box was a brand new never installed PRW fluid dampened crank pulley!
WTH???
I jack up the Mini, pull back the liner to find; There staring back at me was the factory crank pulley still bolted to the crank - I now vaguely recall not being able to do the PRW pulley upgrade as I did not have a longer center bolt at that time in order to perform it's installation.
I had no idea I had not installed the PRW pulley. It was now obvious to me that I had just forgot about it.


Moving forward:
Lemme tell you; This should've been a simple job/swap. It wasn't (in my case).
Removing the stock pulley with the Lazer brand OEM BMW (knock-off) pulley removal tool (from Way Motor Works) was a breeze (I highly recommend this puller!).


After having pulled the OEM (left), I came to discover that this last (1 of 4 since 2007) OEM crank pulley that was installed by the dealer was the latter/"better" post '04 version.
It looked surprisingly perfect with no signs of coming apart or signs of wear - but the smell of burnt rubber was hauntingly reminiscent of the previous pulley failures I'd encountered.

Now for the climactic drama:
Pressing on the new PRW was a whole other story/nightmare.
I'll cut to the chase and advise you to acquire a couple of long mm bolts in order to press it on (in my case pre-facelift manual '04 R53 - I needed M12x1.75 thread pitch x100mm and an M12x1.75 tp x90mm), an impact driver, some anti-seize, a stack of large washers and a whole lot of patience. It also helps to have some carb or brake cleaner on hand to flush any remaining anti-seize if you use it to chase the crank threads.
Anyway - Try as I might, I spent hours attempting to drive that damn PRW home to where it needed to seat in line with the other corresponding pulleys. Otherwise the belt would not go on or would walk off the grooves on the SC pulley.
After a few unsuccessful, aggravating failures, I finally found it necessary to gently chase the crank threads with a tap. There was some thread lock in there preventing the bolt(s) to properly thread in.
Success! - I was finally able to drive the pulley home by incrementally stacking a series of large washers on the shank of the long bolt(s) and gingerly "hammered" away with the impact driver.



Whew!


I was happy to call it done. Rewarding myself with a long well deserved soothing shower... but not before my Mini received a little spa treatment at a DIY carwash.

Epilogue:
If there is anything positive to add to my experience:
I was happy to discover that neither the previous crank seal or the timing chain cover were leaking as I had long thought.
The oil pan gasket has now been confirmed as the sole culprit for the small oil spots left behind after every drive.

With that being said; I promise you another longwinded story when I attempt to replace that old leaky oil pan gasket.

I can already tell you folks are just brimming with anticipation

Thanks for your time and patience reading this!

BTW: No more lies. I promise!

 

Just signed up for MOTD, Soul we’ll have to meet up one day.

 

Haha, no amount of scotch-brite would have saved that rear subframe! I would have loved to of had a sand blasting cabinet; a local powder coater was going to charge me 600 to powder coat the trailing arms!
And thanks, this is a labor of love. It's satisfying to get it back to a much newer condition.

 

Congrats on the work! I too had a tough time installing PRW dampener on my old '03. The ATI was much easier for me on the GP.

Yes, we will! You've been to dragon before? I'll be staying in Fontana village, you?

I have a set on my GP and my S2000; they're great tires for the money and not too sticky that they show the inadequacies of the stock springs and dampeners. I'll be looking forward to using them on the dragon!