Dirt Cheap '04 S
 

I was out with a friend who was looking for a used, low-priced pick-up truck to use as a daily driver. We went to see another friend of ours in the used car business. While we were all shooting the breeze I told our sales friend I might be in the market for a MCS that I could pick up on the cheap as a fix'er up'er. Two days later I get a call from the friend and he tells me he just took in an '04 MCS on trade and it's just what I'm looking for. He gave me a run-down on what might be wrong with it.He told me how much money he had in the car and told me I could have it for that. WOW! I couldn't believe what I heard, I had enough money to buy the thing in my wallet!
I got to the lot not expecting much but again I was surprised at the overall condition of the car. Some minor imperfection in the paint, driver's seat that is cracked on the bolsters and it needed a good cleaning. For the price I was paying I know I can haul it to the local Pull-A-Part and make money so I forked over the cash.

So the problems are:

So I cleaned up a bay in the garage and pulled the Mini in. I watched a couple YouTube videos and I'm ready to take a closer look at the water pump. I follow the instructions to put the car in front end service mode. While I'm taking things apart I get a closer look at the bottom of the car. The car has lived it life in the south so there isn't a speck of rust on the underside of the car, WIN! I did get a closer look at the oil leak and it is coming from the passenger side of the engine up at the top of the oil pan gasket. Since it looks to be a heck of a lot easier to change the oil pan gasket than the rear main seal I'm going to try that first. I Googled the part number on the supercharger pulley and it turns out that it is a Dinan piece also. The car has been worked on before because whoever did the servicing didn't put the crush tube front bolts back in. I didn't have any long 8MX1.25 bolts to extend the front end on to so I quit there. Next step is to remove the supercharger to get a good look at the water pump. I figure I'll do an SC oil change while I have the thing off. The Pelican Parts shopping list is starting to grow.
- Strut Mounts
- Crank Sensor O Ring
- Oil Pan Gasket
- Supercharger oil
- Thermostat
- Accessory drive belt
- Various hoses
- Water Pump (maybe)

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You don't need to take the SC out to remove the water pump.

1.) Put in Front Service Mode
2.) Do not disconnect AC Condenser, swing to side and support so you cannot kick it.
3.) Pull radiator
4.) Remove the supercharger horn above the throttle body by loosening the clamps at the BPV.
5.) There are two bolts that hold the 2nd Part of the Water Pump to the block, remove these first. You may need a flashlight to see them.
6.) Now remove the water pump.
7.) Be careful of the tubes leading out of the black plastic airduct running from the throttle body to the SC.

Now depending on the miles you may want to remove the SC anyways so you can check the oil.

Oh, and nice looking Gen1.

Thanks for the info. I want to pull the SC to do the oil change as I don't know when the last real service was done on the car.

I got very little work done on the car this evening before life caught up with me. I did manage to take a few pics of the Dinan parts and my organization method. I learned a long time ago not to rely on my memory when it comes to what parts go to what. So now I bag and tag everything I can. If I can't put a bolt back into the boss that it goes into I put it in a baggie and label it with a sharpie. This is a lifesaver when it come to projects that take more than an evening. So here it is, I cut an X in the box with a hobby knife and stick the sharpie in it so it's always where I need it.
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And a labeled bag:
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Here are the Dinan parts:
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Worked for a few hours on the car. Pulled the intercooler, the radiator the intake and started on the water pump. Every piece has been a pain to work on. Every hose clamp has been in exactly the wrong position and even the dip stick tube wouldn't clear the supercharger housing, the two tubes on the back of the supercharger intake tube wouldn't pop out. I just stuck with it and tackled each problem. I also spent about twenty minutes looking for a forth bolt on the water pump ...... it doesn't exist (unless I'm crazy,) every video I watched said there are 4 bolts. That's were I left off. I'll try to get back to it tomorrow but the WRX needs attention so I'll be working on that.

One thing I did notice is that the throttlebody is a Dinan piece. Did all these Dinan parts come stock on the car or did the previous owner put them on? I'm wondering if the car has a tune on it, did Dinan make an ECU/tuner? Did you have to send the ECU off for a tune?

Here is a pic of the throttlebody:

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With the upper radiator hose disconnected from the water pump I could look into the pump and see the impeller. I rotated the supercharger pulley while looking at the impeller and the impeller didn't move. I stuck a screwdriver into the water pump and rotated the impeller, it rotated too easily and the supercharger pulley didn't rotate. At this point I think the water pump is shot. Tomorrow I'll get the water pump pulled off, confirm the thing is bad and order a replacement. I hope this is all the mechanical problems sorted out, if so all I need is a new set of tires to get on the road for test drive.

I was looking in my parts cabinet and ran across some VDO gauges and adapters off of my '93 Nissan SER. I'll figure out a place to put them in the mini when I get the time.

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NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

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My unheard-of Super Awesome Steal of a Deal just got downgraded to a Really-Really-Good deal. The PTO that drives the water pump is shot. So I have to get the supercharger rebuilt. Has anyone dealt with AutoXCooper or Stigmeier Porting?

Could go with a rebuilt, AutoXCooper was noted in a another recent post as they were doing some warranty work of a unit they rebuilt, or, you could try a used unit from either a yard, ebay or even a You Pull-it place.

So how much did you pay for the car?

You can tell us as will not tell your wife . . . . . . .

Yea, I thought about a used unit from somewhere but since I'm going to be keeping it I want the peace of mind. AutoXCooper offers a 2 year unlimited mile warranty (implied quality?) and I want to keep this level of repair to a minimum. I paid $618 for the car all-in knowing that it was a pig in a poke but I wasn't expecting a supercharger rebuild, maybe a short block with the overheating. So while I'm waiting for the supercharger I'll tidy up the interior and paint. I've got a bunch of plastic clips coming in to replace broken/missing ones and I have a huge order for hoses, belt and seals that should keep me busy for a while.

Nice find with the dinan stuff, all i can think of is go with the JCW superchager, it on sale and we have them in stock. It comes with the JCW pulley so you can keep that or just swap to the other pulley. So it also has the updated Teflon coated rotors.
Then you just need the correct serpentine belt for your set up. If you decide to go this route otherwise you have the rebuild.
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...w/11657556981/

Keep up the great work like seeing this rebuild. On my R52 i finally just replaced the A/C compressor at 283K. Dang thing locked up solid with rust.

I'll be calling sales on the 2nd to get more info. Thanks!!

You are welcome. :)

AutoXCooper.com and ECSTuning.com to the rescue!
 

I want to give a shout out to AutoXCooper.com, I emailed them and I spoke to Dustin about the many options I had when rebuilding/replacing my supercharger. Dustin was very straight forward with his recommendation, which was to buy a new supercharger (given the price I could get one at) rather than rebuild my existing unit. If I were going to race the MINI full time or if the cost of the supercharger wasn't where it was at I would have had Dustin rebuild it. It isn't very often that someone in a business will tell you not to buy their product, that says a lot about Dustin and AutoXCooper.com! That being said, I placed an order for the new supercharger with ECSTuning. I have been recovering form a terrible cold this week but as soon as I do some more work on the car I'll post up some pictures.Let the fun continue!!

10 pounds of crud
 

Man, a couple years of neglecting oil leaks and you get about a pound of oily crud built up on the front of the engine.I scrubbed at it with Simple Green, Scrubbing Bubbles and warm soapy water, none of them were working well. I broke out a set of plastic scrappers and started scraping the bulk of the crud off and then I went out and bought a can of Gunk engine degreaser ..... that did the trick! The Gunk cut right through the crud and I helped it out by scrubbing the crud off various stiff bristle brushes. The front of the engine is now acceptable and I can get on with the oil pan gasket replacement.


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This is probably the door lock actuator. These will fail and fool you- they still make noise but don't actually have enough power to lock or unlock, whatever it is trying to do. Get a new one from MINI, the replacement ones are better built than the OEM ones. This isn't the place to cheap out and get a used one.

I don't work on the actuators (although there are some how-to-fix-them threads out there) but I do work on keys- what shape are they in?

Val

Yep, Talks about it here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-t-unlock.html

I had mine do this like it was weak on the actuator.

While you have it torn down, I recommend that you also replace the front engine seal (behind the crankshaft pulley). It's a common oil leak on MINIs. See YouTube for ModMini who details an easy way to remove it using a screw. Replacement is easy and cheap.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look into it.

New Part Goodness!!
 

Got a package from ECS Tuning!! Ordered Sunday Evening, arrived early on Wednesday.

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Awesome, here comes that SC whine.

That's sexy!

Congratulations! Good looking car and a lot of fun projects. Great score on the new supercharger.

Have you considered white covers for the rally lights, to match the mirror covers and roof?

Didn't even think about it but you are right. If I run across a pair in the u-pull-it yard I'll snag them.

TDC - No, not top-dead-center!
 

TDC - Too Damn Cold! it's in the 30's and it's just TDC to work in an unheated garage. I think later in the week it's supposed to warm up a bit.