Hey guys, first off, I never came back and posted pictures of my car, so...

http://imgur.com/a/uo87o

Second of all...

I have an 04 S, as you can probably see, with less than 50k/mi on it, I think its around 41,500 if I remember right, and I have some things I want to address on the car.

I took the Mini to the local dealer to have it totally checked over, they had it all day long and all they could come up with was the front A-Arm bushings were bad, and the valve cover was leaking but "possibly covering up another oil leak" so they wanted to fix both those issues, and flush the brake fluid, was around $1,200 quoted which was just silly.

So, here is what I've got planned instead as 50k maintenance,

Alta's Mini Ignition Upgrade Pack (210.49)
Alta's Supercharger Pulley Belt ( 36.99 )
Alta's Pulley Tensioner Stop ( 19.99 )
Powerflex a-arm bushings ( 78.99 )
Valve Cover Gasket ( 12.99 )
Possibly Powerflex tensioner bushing, or, possibly a new tensioner? ( 43.95-127.95 )
And probably the Aluminum Coolant Tank as well. ( 139ish? )

Or around 549.40-626.40

And according to time estimates on Pelican, around

1 hour, ignition
2 hour belt/tensioner related
2 hours? for the bushings (4 if ball joints added?)
2 hours for the valve cover gasket ( this seems excessive!? )
30min for the coolant tank.

7.5hr labor

I really doubt I can afford the local Mini dealer's rate given their quote on just the bushings and valve cover gasket, I think they're 160-190/hr

There is a BMW shop down the street that I'm going to see about, their rate is $90/hr which is very reasonable I think, I mostly see them working on very euro'd out E30-E36's and such, and I'm willing to spend the extra $50 or so to buy them the tensioner tool if they need it, and I can't see a /lot/ that they could really not do or really screw up in the above list since it all seems to be pretty common items, its bushings, gaskets, and belts really.

That'd be another $675 or so

My budget here is $1,200, really, upper end is likely to be $1,500 flat, I'm not a well off guy the car is something I try to drive 2 days a week at most and enjoy sparingly, motorcycle the rest of the time to torture myself so its that much better to enjoy on the weekends and such.

But here I am, and I want to know if maybe I'm going a little overboard, or maybe I'm missing something, maybe I should get this instead of that and so on.

Tell me, I just want to do what I need to do so I don't have any real trouble for the next 50k miles what do I do?

This is an 04, do I need to replace the crank pulley due to certain death, or am I ok with an 04?

I can't see any issues with my coolant tank, should I just skip it since its a bit expensive to add in on all this right now? If I skip this, I could easily make up the cost in having them drain and replace the fluid in the transmission which seems very worthwhile to me.

Is there a better, cheaper place to get the parts I need? Which belt is likely to be the longest lived?

What are honest time estimates, and what does BWM's book say it should take?

You guys know your stuff, so, tell me, what do I need to do, am I going about this right, give me your insight please?

 

Hey -- so i am relatively new to the MINI but have spoken to a few different shops about some of the things you list.

1) A-Arm bushings are actually a pretty involved job. Read this:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...g-install.html

You can do it by "Bending" down the subframe but the best way and the way to ensure its done without damaging anything else is to DROP the entire sub frame assembly. I recently had this done and it cost me a total of $700 including labor. The dealer you are talking to isn't too far off the mark; however they would just replace the bushings with stock ones that are highly likely to fail again at 40k miles. Get the Powerflex for sure.

If you want to do the belt and supercharger pulley -- figure about an hours worth of work PLUS all the materials -- so roughly $350 is a fair amount.

Aluminum coolant tank from Forge is $150. Install is pretty easy if you know how to turn a wrench. If it isn't leaking at the seam then you probably dont need to worry about it.

Flush and bleed brake fluid = $150 roughly including good quality fluid.

Where are you located?

 

Go for the WMW pulley pack. $199 for a reduced pulley, belt, tensioner stop, and colder plugs.
http://www.waymotorworks.com/wmw-pulley-package.html

 

I thought about a few packages like that, but I really don't need to get a reduction pulley or the cost associated with changing it out, I'm more concerned about some rubbing on the plug wires I've got and the usual issue of one of the pegs on the stock coil always being a bit corroded.

Might be a cheap upgrade in the future though!?


Located in Sacramento California,

$700 does seem reasonable as a dealer cost if its billed at about 4 hours then, but adding that along with everything else that looks like it really should be done makes it a bit out of my range. Is this a job that an independent shop should be able to take care of easily, or is there a really good reason to stick to the dealer for it?

Is there a good independent Mini shop here in Sacramento that has a reasonable rate?

 

Judging by the list of parts you're going to buy, save yourself some money and call Waymotorworks.

You don't need an entirely upgraded ignition, the OEM coil works just fine. Call Way, get some New plugs, Kingsborne wires, tensioner stop, and he will have every other part you need at good prices and superfast shipping.

As pointed out, if you want a new pulley too, you can get his pulley package.

 

Yup -- there is a good shop right down from you that did my work. Mini Werks in San Carlos.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mini-werks-san-carlos

Don is the owner -- he is an old military guy and Mini enthusiast (both him and Andy drive minis of varying degrees of modification). Give him a call or send him an email through the contact section of his website. You can tell him the Louis and Clark expedition sent you -- he nicknames every job and since mine was being prepped for a cross country drive -- thats how I got my name. Its a bit of a drive ~2 hours. But they are very reasonably priced and the Yelp is very true -- careful if you don't like dogs though Barbie (the shop pitbull) will lick you to death.

If I recall his price is $105 per hour but he throws in a bit of extra things here and there for free.

 

No one needs a smaller pulley but in time, everyone WANTS one

 

I know the OEM is AOK for just about every application, but the price difference between the MSD and stock seemed pretty minimal last I looked, I'm not looking for more power or anything, just looking for something very durable.

I will take a look at Way's selection there too!


They'll get an email most likely though I don't know how I'd manage to get down there and.. back I guess, that would be an issue for sure.


I have a hard enough time putting down the power it already makes coming out of a corner :P it has a nice Borla exhaust and shark tune applied, possibly already has a pulley, I have not checked really.

 

Jealous of the exhaust...I want one, but just can't justify paying $900 for a cat-back.

Checking the pulley isn't hard, just pop the hood, if there is more than one bolt securing the pulley, its aftermarket. The OEM pulley is press-fit onto the shaft and only has one bolt securing it in the center.

 

I tried to buy a car with all the things I wanted already on it, most expensive damn thing I have ever purchased, cost more than my student loans and it feels like I'll never pay it off :P

I will check pulley, I need to check the ignition coil for flat/round pins tonight too, noticed the OEM coil is more expensive than the MSD where I can find it though, ouch!

 

When I bought mine, I thought I wanted a stock exhaust, and every car I've owned has come with a stock exhaust and within a year ended up with a cat-back...every time I like the quiet for a week and then realize how boring it is...