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I thought that number was familiar. That is actually SCUBUS on this website trying to sell his car. He has a couple build threads on this website about all the work he did to improve his car.
Yup, that's mine. Right now it is a race to see what wins first: selling the car or getting my savings built back up. I won't regale everyone with full story again, short version is I get really nervous when the savings gets depleted.
Your GP seems like it found itself a great home. They really are a lot of fun to bring back to life
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It looks like I am out of the woods
My bonus has arrived and there are no more major issues on the horizon (although I swear I tore my rotator cuff in my sleep, so there are no guarantees). I also received a fresh set of GP wheels last night, so it can't go anywhere...
If someone wanted #0717 they should have jumped when they had the chance!
Had some time to get out the rear tray cover so i could access the fuel filter. The rear plastics had to be moved around to get the foam tray out. It was a little annoying with the bar still in place, but it all came out. I also found a perfect condition Thunder Blue GP door from a salvaged GP, and thought i could save money and time by replacing the drivers door instead of trying to fix the little bit of rust on the edge of the original door. Well UPS had other plans and dropped the door and bent the edge! So oh well to that... Finally had a little time to get the rest of the interior apart. The foam pad at the back was super awkward to remove with the side plastics still in place, but i got them out. Got access to the fuel filter to change it out Not as rusty as my '03. Had to cut the brake wire as it had rusted itself to the brake Found a GP painted door and had it delivered as the original door had a little rust on the edge. Of course UPS F'd up the shipping and the edge of the door is completely bent. So much for trying to save some money and getting a matching door! So annoyed!
Had some time to get out the rear tray cover so i could access the fuel filter. The rear plastics had to be moved around to get the foam tray out. It was a little annoying with the bar still in place, but it all came out. I also found a perfect condition Thunder Blue GP door from a salvaged GP, and thought i could save money and time by replacing the drivers door instead of trying to fix the little bit of rust on the edge of the original door. Well UPS had other plans and dropped the door and bent the edge! So oh well to that... Finally had a little time to get the rest of the interior apart. The foam pad at the back was super awkward to remove with the side plastics still in place, but i got them out. Got access to the fuel filter to change it out Not as rusty as my '03. Had to cut the brake wire as it had rusted itself to the brake Found a GP painted door and had it delivered as the original door had a little rust on the edge. Of course UPS F'd up the shipping and the edge of the door is completely bent. So much for trying to save some money and getting a matching door! So annoyed!
That bites about the door. Hopefully it matches (or the replacement does) - I picked up a rear bumper cover from a GP and ended up having it refinished because the Thunder Blues didn't match.
Had a little time to finish up painting the block beneath the supercharger. Degreased and prepped the metal and used Por-13 Enamal paint. Will probably do one more coat, but it's a big change from when i pulled it all off!
Had some time over the holidays to get some work in on the GP. I pulled the sill gasket and found a little bit of rust. Ended up sanding it down, putting on rust converter and then hitting it with a couple coats of Por15. Not that the car will be in the rain a lot, but at least I know that the rust won't progress anymore.
Where did the shifter go?
I pulled the shifter and the cables as one unit. So much easier than doing them as two parts. The cables were so badly rusted! I bought a new set of OEM cables, and have the little plastic square in the shifter mechanism on the trans to hopefully improve shift feel! I did the same thing on my '03 and the difference in feel was amazing. Almost felt as good as my S2000... almost... My wife got me a Cravenspeed short shifter and well cover for Christmas, so ill be putting that in over the next couple days.
Ended up dropping the subframe so that I could change out the LCA bushings more easily. Will degrease everything (looks like one of the OEM axle boots tore and slung grease all over the place. At least it kept the rust away!
I ended up ordering all new ball joints as the thing is apart. Will be waiting for those to arrive and then ill start cleaning it all up and hopefully I can start putting everything back together!
Great news! I never had a wife support my car fetish! LOL
It is awful that the rust is so prevalent, in the northeast!
My 06 R53 JCW is virtually rust free! As a matter of fact, 99% of the Minis, I buy are rust free, but I did buy one from NJ a couple years ago and never sold it! I keep it around for parts for gen 2 cars! So, I feel your pain! They don't salt the roads here, in Oregon. I do understand that they are now using some sort of chemical de-icer on the freeways now. (Gotta keeps those truckers, trucking!)
You will have it ready for the nice weather at the pace you are going! Good job!
Great news! I never had a wife support my car fetish! LOL
It is awful that the rust is so prevalent, in the northeast!
My 06 R53 JCW is virtually rust free! As a matter of fact, 99% of the Minis, I buy are rust free, but I did buy one from NJ a couple years ago and never sold it! I keep it around for parts for gen 2 cars! So, I feel your pain! They don't salt the roads here, in Oregon. I do understand that they are now using some sort of chemical de-icer on the freeways now. (Gotta keeps those truckers, trucking!)
You will have it ready for the nice weather at the pace you are going! Good job!
We currently have 5 cars, with 4 of them being mine, so she's been incredibly understanding of my condition. She's a catch!
Yeah, rust is pretty bad, especially if you don't treat the cars during the winter. This car actually is in better condition than my '03 with only 84k miles, which spent most of its life in a garage.
Thanks! I'm trying to get it running before the Mini on the Dragon meet in April. We will see if the wife allows me to road trip it down and be away for the week... fingers crossed.
Got some parts in (lower ball joints, upper ball joints, new shift cables, belt tensioner, among other bits and pieces) so things will actually start to go back on the car now, instead of coming off. I may pick up a front set of Koni Sports for the front, as they're still the original JCW sport shocks and probably badly worn out, but I really don't want a repeat of the broken pinch bolts when I was changing the Koni Special Actives on my '03. Anyway, I swapped out the shifter, and mounted the new shifter cables. Thankfully, all the issues with shifting were from the cables, as the new ones shift like buttah.
Got the LCA bushings off the LCAs. So much easier to do when the subframe is dropped! Have the Powerflex bushings ready to go in Cravenspeed short shifter. Just need to modify the shifter cover box so that it doesn't hit. I've read its a smart idea to keep the shift box covered so you don't let in dirt, hot exhaust and noise into the cabin. New vs. Old Everything mounted up Got replacement tail lights as the originals had some cracking and hazing. Originally was looking for deals on Ebay, but ended up finding brand new Valeo ones on for 85$ shipped from Rockauto, which were only a little bit more money than the ones I was finding on Ebay!
Looking good! Question: How many miles on it, and were the old ball joints (both inner and outer) noticeably worn?
Thanks. No, they were not worn. I didn't really have any recent maintenance records, so it was one of those 'miles welby's'. The only visible damage was one of the lower ball joints had a ripped boot. It's so much easier to pull the inner ball joints with the subframe dropped, so i just bought them and put them in.
Some goodies came in! Excited to start putting things back on the car now! Also, with the aid of heat, I was able to get the two pinch bolts off of the front knuckles, so I can easily swap out the front shocks!
Had some time over the weekend to get out the welder and fix up the damage on the exhaust. The Pre-cat was almost completely cracked, with only had about 1/8 of it still holding on. I cut out the part holding it on and removed the pre-cat before welding it back up. Also fixed the broken exhaust hangers on the cans. I will paint the rest of the exhaust to hopefully stop it from rusting. The precat was barely holding on. Ended up just cutting the rest off. I removed the precat Welded it back up Cleaned up the rear exhaust cans Welded the mounts back on
