Sehr schön Kafer!

All my VWs were pretty beat down by the time I got them. The last was a '73. Orange. Had been parked by feel by previous owners, had rear-ended someone in a truck, and hit in the right rear just ahead of the wheel, and had weird camber that chewed up that tire as a result.

I straightened out the hood and spraypainted graffiti all over it. $5 to make it funny. Would've cost thousands to make it straight and boring. Never had any trouble merging in that car. People saw me coming and made room....

 

I've finished a number of other projects to finally make some time to get the Mini ready for this summer. She's on the lift, for starters:


I have to tackle the following items from a small fender-bender the kids had a while back:

• hood replacement (I have a color-matched used one, with the stripes, too!)
• new radiator
• new AC condenser - and get the AC working, finally!
• radiator support replacement (I found a good used one)

Then, there are some other items I've been wanting to tackle, too:

• Bilstein B6 shocks for the rear (I already have them for the front)
• New rear shock upper and lower spring pads (I'm going with Mini OE)
• New rear upper spring plates (also Mini OE)
• New upper shock bushings (I went with the polyurethane Problem Solving Bushings kit)
• New front wheel bearings (the left front is definitely louder than normal, and I might as well replace both as they've never been done)
• New front brake dust shields (I noticed mine are rusting in pieces)

Lastly, in the engine bay I'll take care of:

• New coolant reservoir
• Replace the oil-filter-housing to heat exchanger gaskets (I'm looking to address oil leaks)
• Replace the oil-filter-housing to block gasket (ditto)
• Replace the oil pressure sensor (ditto, since I'm in there anyway)
• Replace the valve cover gasket (ditto)

I think I've spelled it all out here as a means of keeping my to-do list straight! It's going to be a busy couple weeks of evenings and weekends.

 

@Here2Go that buggy looks sick AF!


I finished up wiring and installation of the main part of the meth kit, have hoses and wires ran and now I just need to installed the direct port kit!

 

Today, I removed the front wheel hubs and brake dust shields, the front bumper cover and reinforcement beam and the hood. I removed the headlights, washer nozzles, wiring and hoses, as well, in preparation for swapping them over to the replacement hood.

The right front bearing felt "chunky" when I turned it by hand - certainly more so than the left front's bearing.

I also adjusted the muffler hangers in the rear to try and tuck the tailpipes closer to the bottom of the bumper cover. The tailpipes were hanging too low after I had replaced the exhaust some time ago with a used take-off system I picked up.

 

I finished the Water Meth install today, took over 5 hours just for what's under the hood...nothing wanted to work with me and a bunch of things needed modification...but I got it done.

The Koala Spacer bolt holes and center top all gad to be grinded down for it to install. The spacer also wouldnt allow the ECS Intake to fit as it touched the bulkhead way before it would slide into the grommets, so I cut the bulkhead to allow room. Then I had to drill out holes for the hoses to slide in with grommets, drill and tap the charge pipe...

 

I'm working another areas of our Mini as I'm waiting for the parts for the rear suspension refresh to arrive. Today I got the old coolant reservoir out in preparation for the new one to go in... it sure looks to be about time for that:


And I'm also tackling replacing the valve cover gasket. In removing the old valve cover the bolt heads were so rusted and corroded I had to hammer on smaller size sockets to get 75% of them off. I'll be refreshing all those bolts as part of reinstalling the valve cover. But take a look at the inside of the valve cover - I think it was modified at some point:

Maybe there was a rattle or something that had to be solved by a previous owner/shop?

However, for having 177k miles, I think the valve train and timing chain look pretty good.




I already have a valve cover gasket. I'll have to order up the bolts for the cover. The cover's been working okay like this, and it has the original mini label and engine label, so I'll probably just keep using this cover.

 

@khnitz - Impressive undertaking/amount of work to tackle in one shot/(several weeks). Including the A/C issues you're facing - Kudos to you!

Your internal valve cover appears to look normal - same as my '04 R53.

Looking forward to reading your progress.

 

@knitz and @Raymo2u, awesome work! Start build threads here so it's easy to follow along: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ni-builds-454/

 

Thank you! I didn't even think about that, Ill start one shortly