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So the prior owner, [from here forward known as P.O., or more affectionally, Dumb *ss], put a dumb sticker of the inner fender where the Vin sticker is located. [correction; paint code] I'm big on stickers but only on my shop beer fridge so I pulled it off. [In an effort of transparency it was a "Pelican Parts" sticker. Love them but now hate their stickers.]
The sticker left the glue behind and using what I thought was the weakest solvent, [alcohol] I tried to remove the residue and it took the paint off! I have never seen this before. Lacquer thinner, sure but never alcohol!
So, be careful. Probably should have gone with simple orange or whatever it is but live and learn As to me under the hood is just as important as above, I taped it off, scuffed it up and painted. I used touch-up spray from www.theautopaintdepot.com and I have to say it was a nice match and sprayed in a nice atomized mist. I'm not sure I would want to do a fender or hood with a rattle can but it worked well here.
Anyone else have issues with what seemed to be mild solvents and Mini paint?
Oh well, all's well that ends well. Just another well spent evening in the shop.
robj
PS As the area where the sticker was turned out so well I also painted the frame horns as they were pretty dinged up and "grungy" and are actually visible when the hood is raised.
Edit; So a shout out to "The Paint Depot ". Although pricy and I wouldn't want to paint a hood or a door, but for little stuff it sure beats mixing then cleaning the gun. I had a can that sprayed a little "funny". I was ably to use it as I was painting the disc brake dust shields which laid flat, but I had to use it in short bursts. I wrote to them for suggestions as I knew I had shook it up well, and cleaned the tip, etc.... They asked me a few questions, yes, it was a new can and yes I shook it up well and they sent me a new can without me asking. Like I said pricy but good customer service, that's for sure!
I ended up getting carried away cleaning with alcohol as well, and did the exact same thing you did and lost paint right there as well. That paint looks AMAZING btw. You're gonna end up costing me money!
So, I almost never subject my self to deadlines. and if it's a quickie deadline, like an appointment, I leave really early so I'm not rushed.
I'm at the stage of life where this isn't terribly difficult. Kids are grown, have kids of their own, decent jobs, etc...To be honest, at 68, I'm in the very best part of life. [believe it or not- what is it? Youth is wasted on the young?
So of course I'm breaking my own rule. My brother-in-law that owns a small body shop where he does most of the actual work himself is having his 70th birthday party on Saturday, One of the hardest working guys I know.
For some reason that I can't fully explain, I find it important to be able to drive the Mini to his house for his birthday. Probably as he's "been there, done that and will appreciate the work involved.
So, progress.
Got the bumper cover on and it looks ok. Gaps are "decent". Not perfect but decent. plus or minus 1/16". Close enough.
Got the hood scoop and the inner part on, [after a bit of fiddling]
Got the plastic mesh, [or whatever] at the base of the W/S installed.
Sanded and painted the wiper blades, [gloss black-why not?] It may take 2-3 days to get really hard] Also painted the little plastic covers at the base. I used the "plastic adhesion promoter" first so we'll see how that turns out.
[the mirror covers, brackets and headlight trim ring could probably use some compound and polish, but that probably needs to Harden for a week or so. From 5' they look great.]
I did get the rear wheel arches on despite one missing clip on the passenger side. At the rear there's a "different" black clip but I cut the end off one of the gray clips, pushed it in and it worked fine.
First thing tomorrow is the rockers, then I'm referring to my "punch out list'. It's going to be busy, and close...
Notice one thing crossed off already. Didn't leave the shop until 2a
Glossy black wipers arms. Don't see that much.
We'll see how the "adhesion promotor" works. Plastic is tough to paint on a good day...
Looks decent. All shined up. Ignore the saggy headliner. It's on the list.
The last Mini-bit before the playhouse.
I had read where the OEM plastic radiator overflow container was prone to splitting. Not good.The ones I looked at seemed to be in the $150 range then I saw a post where someone bought on off Amazon for like $100 and he happened to have both and said he couldn't tell the difference. But there was a complaint that the bottom bolts were nearly impossible to attach through the OEM bracket into the bracket on the housing. Despite removing the coil for a little more working room I could see it was going to be pretty tricky. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
In the photo below you can see, [sort of] where the screws go up from the bottom into the bracket. Socket head screws at that, [but that was probably better then hex bolts]
The screwdriver is pointing to the threaded lug on the bracket.
I figured getting a nut on a stud would be a lot easier then trying to screw a bolt in there. I had some S.S. bolts long enough so I screwed them in with a little loctite.
Worked out pretty well and getting a thick washer and a locknut on the stud was pretty easy compared to trying to get a screw in there!
All in all after a little figuring, all went well. And I saved $50. I don't have a shot of the completed installation but I'll fix that.
Next up installing the one ball exhaust, [after my granddaughters playhouse that is...]
Robj
What size bolts and washers are these? this was a ***** to get in, and I ended up losing one during installation into the 'never gonna see it again' heatshield maze...
I'm pretty sure it was a 6mm. Ran the bolt through the threaded bung with loc-tite, then a washer and a nylon lock nut from the bottom. Not easy, but sooo much easier than trying to screw a bolt up through the bung.
Update.
I think I'm too tired to update, I have last nights meeting with fellow NAM member, "Andrew" to cover, and tonight.
Got out of work at 130p and was at the shop by 2p. Mini is now on 4 wheels, and I did a whole bunch of stuff and I'm bushed! 2pm to 4am, a long day for an old guy.
I'll catch up in the next few days.
robj
Last thing tonight. Taped off the roof, 3000 then 5000 grit, then compound. Tomorrow, polish #2 and #3. Vacuum the interior, wipe the seats, installl the wipers and blades clean the glass, and test drive, Towing company is on speed dial...
Oh, and installed the shock tower strut. Looks good. Polished aluminum. A little bling never hurts...
Update.
I think I'm too tired to update, I have last nights meeting with fellow NAM member, "Andrew" to cover, and tonight.
Got out of work at 130p and was at the shop by 2p. Mini is now on 4 wheels, and I did a whole bunch of stuff and I'm bushed! 2pm to 4am, a long day for an old guy.
I'll catch up in the next few days.
robj
Last thing tonight. Taped off the roof, 3000 then 5000 grit, then compound. Tomorrow, polish #2 and #3. Vacuum the interior, wipe the seats, installl the wipers and blades clean the glass, and test drive, Towing company is on speed dial...
Oh, and installed the shock tower strut. Looks good. Polished aluminum. A little bling never hurts...
You left off a task: full outdoor photo shoot. We need pics of, the finished product.
Us sitting around shooting the sh*t for 2 hours Thursday night didn't help your progress! Lol! It was great meeting and chatting with you, and thanks for the exhaust. I need to get on rounding up that middle hanger so I can get it on the car. What time does the party start today?
And don't forget a tally of the cost! I wanna know how much this '$500' mini cost you.
Ha! I'm not sure I actually want to add that up. I'm guessing 4-5K. A rough guess but probably not far off. I've saved all the receipts so I could have a full accounting. Basically I fixed everything that was currently wrong, and with 165K miles it was not a short list. Plus I fixed everything that wasn't wrong yet but would/could go wrong.
Like, It's all apart, why not, right? And I probably went a little over the top with the detailing part so the added some cost, but it keeps me out of the bars right?
So after Andy's visit, I got a little more done that night, then got off work at 2p Friday and put in a 13 hour day, and to be honest It kicked my a**.
My. garage buddies showed up about 730-8p Friday, and I had been busting butt until then. While they were there I kept working but at a slower pace. They usually give me sh*t for working while they're there but at least igot the roof taped off.
They left about 1230-1a and I said F-it.
I had taped off the body to cut down the mess when sanding and compounding the roof.
When they were gone I sanded the roof with 3000, then 5000 then compound. By that time it was about 3am and I was done! 13 hours kicked this old guys a**.
I was back this morning by 10am, finished polish 1 and 2 on the roof, took all the plastic down, cleaned the roof and the spots on the body from splatter. then waxed the roof, cleaned the windows, Vac'ed the floors, wiped the dash and the interior/seats down, and started it up.
Ran fine but a EML light was on and I was worried as I didn't hear the fan coming on. Eventually the fan came on, I guess It just wasn't hot enough. On the second start, no EML light. [came on again later but the engine is running strong and sounds great!
Loaded up some polish stuff and a bag of tools. I figured if I took them I wouldn't need them.
Drove home about 10-12 miles.
THIS IS THE FUNNEST EFFING CAR EVER! The exhaust sounds just PERFECT and the supercharger whine is just the icing on the cake,
It ran PERFECT, didn't miss a beat and sounds like a million bucks! [did I mention how great the exhaust sounds? I cannot recommend the Borla "aggressive" highly enough!!! Steered straight, no funny noises, brakes worked, all around a perfect outing,
With a 15% pulley, the Borla and the cold air intake it makes noises that are just so right, I can't express it in words. Throttle response, and the sh*t and git factor just makes my shorts tight. Feels like I'm 21 again!!!!
Tomorrow is 5 months exactly since I started. Pretty much 7 days a week so about 600 hours plus or minus.
AND IT WAS WORTH EVERY MINUTE!!!!
I drove it about 50 miles, parked it an hour ago and I'm still smiling!
Some additional things to do, including rear sear delete but tomorrow I'm going to do my best to use up a tank of 1.5 year old gas.
Too effing cool!!!!!
I'm hooked!
robj
First glimpse of the light of day!
Had to re-arrange the truck to get the Mini out ot the shop.Clhoe is like WTF do you think you're going? Not without me! Her eyes were on me!
I was wondering if you were still too exhausted to post, you were still just enjoying/driving it, or in jail from hooning it up in it!
Well for the second half of the day, the trip to my brother-in laws birthday party my wife was with me so I was a little better behaved,
Tomorrow I'm going to visit my buddy Larry so I could end up with my first citation in 35 years.
I might just frame it...
So, a few questions: is that antenna blue??? (where'd ya get it if it is) Did you cut the plastic divider behind the intake for extra air/sound? Its kind of what they did with the JCW https://www.waymotorworks.com/john-c...ks-intake.html except JCW only opens at 4500+RPM.
You plan on customizing the headliner (black, blue, or checker pattern maybe?) and painting all the silver areas of the door and dash near your legs? That'd be something to see! Love to see it with the blue.
Wow. What a journey. So glad it worked out. Never driving it and doing all that work before you did was a big risk but paid off. Welcome to the good side of Mini ownership.
As you can see, Blue car hit the road yesterday. And it was pretty trouble free. Only issue it the EML light came on, then went away then later came on again, but the car is running fine, no limp mode etc... So I'm going to ignore it until it decides if it really wants to be on of off.
So today is exactly 5 months, [Oct.15] since I started on Blue Car. And it was a pretty solid 7 days a week. Well, evenings during the week and weekends during the day, [and into the evening].
So I figure an average of 4-5 hours a day. So 22 weeks x 7 days x 5 hours, about 750 hours or so. Even considering beer time. But I was and am having fun.
The antenna is blue. It's from Amazon and seems to work ok. I'm undecided as I think it might look a little hokey so I might get a black one. I went with the Mini Madness cold air intake along with the rear panel with the hole in it. The same one they detailed the installation on Pelican Motors. [and I LOVE the supercharger whine!]
I did succumb to the silver "track mats". They have a clutch foot rest and they just look "all business". With them being silver I think it'll tie in with the silver door trim so that will stay.
Ah, Headliner. I do have to do something with that. Wonder how big a PIA it is to take down? As to what to cover it with? Not sure there either, Checker board sounds a little busy. Was thinking a perforated leather look like Mercedes and older VW's had. And If I had to guess right now I'm thinking black. I assume all the old foam needs to come off the board as that's what's failing.
I did order a new rear wiper motor. The nut for the blade was really stuck. After 2-3 days of BP Blaster that came off but the metal insert from the blade is stuck worse and I messed up the shaft working on that. I would have got a delete plug but I had already bought the new blade and arm. And, that's actually useful unlike the stupid headlight washers.
And speaking of delete, what's the easiest way to deactivate the headlight washers? Pull fuse #15?, [I think that's what it was...]
I'm also going to build a rear seat delete with left and right hatches in the front and a full width hatch in the rear. Aluminum trim and probably ribbed rubber covering.
That might be the first thing I start on, after cleaning up the shop which is a real mess after the marathon of the last 3 days. My truck is still parked there so after I'm convinced the mini is somewhat issue free, I need to retrieve that.
I need to do quite a bit of running around to use up a full tank of year old plus gas.
Today I'm making a 30-40 mile ride to my buddies place to check out his new/old sailboat. I told him I / we would wet sand and polish to hull to bring it back to life. But not today! I think my arms and shoulders need a rest from as the sanding, compounding and polish on Blue Car. I'n not as young as I used to be. [68 in 3 weeks, YIKES!]
And I can't say enough about the sound of the Borla "Aggressive" exhaust. Not "too" loud but no drone, it just sounds perfect! Pricey at $800 but worth every single penny! It just "makes" the car.
Maybe I'll do some "Art Shots" of "Blue Car" today. If I can stop driving it long enough that is...
robj
Mini Madness CAI with rear panel.
Just couldn't resist. The excuse was the clutch foot rest...
Hmm, think ill just go with an antenna from WMW, unless someone has a link to those go-kart flags i could put on top of the antenna. I have that same cold air intake, should probably get around to cleaning it...
My headliners been falling since i bought it, but want to get everything mechanically good first, then prob do the headliner and pull all the black trim and paint it like you did! Any suggestions on getting somewhat deep scratches out of the plastic? Some people just dont care when they scratch up your stuff :/
Apparently Joanns fabric has headliner fabric you can buy as well, with and without the padding, so if you wanted to wrap your pillars in the same material, you could!
Do your feet slide much on those mats? (Assuming they are straight metal, as they look it.) Bought OEM ones and love em! they're cushy and dont slide around.
Headliner is stupid simple to remove and install. Don't waste your time pulling the A/B/C pillars. Mine came out and went back in without removing any of them. I did a writeup on here somewhere.
I also did the seat delete and wrote it up, but your fab skills +OCD will put my work to shame.
Husky,
Not so sure about that! we'll see. All of a sudden I seem to be more interested in driving than fixing...
So between Saturday and tonight I've put about 250 miles on it. Tiny issues. One of the driving light bolts F-ed up a spot on the top of my prerfectly painted bumper. Oh well. The first scratch.
Like I always say, They're only perfect the day you roll them out the door!
The EML light has come on here and there but no change in performance. And now it's pretty much out. Tonight when I left the shop I noticed the air bag light was lit. First time I saw that.
Any Ideas??? I did put the dog in first before starting the car and her seat belt wasn't hooked, but I'll just see if it's still on tomorrow.
Have to say, it really hauls A**! Most fun I've had with my pants on! And the sound between the Borla and the supercharger is just perfect. I doubt I'll change a thing. Plenty of performance for me. I haven't had a ticket in 30 years, but I don't think I can rule that out!
I went to my buddy Larry's on Sunday and we took a 25 mile or so cruise around a big reservoir out in the country. Almost no traffic. He was squealing like a little girl! In a good way...
Then stopped at my oldest son's house and told him I'll watch the grandkid for a few, take it for a spin.
That's when I figured out that maybe I'm irritating the neighbors more than I intended. We live in the country but I could pretty much tell exactly where he was just about the entire time... I thought he would be gone 5-10 minutes but he didn't show up for 15 minutes at least, maybe 20. Although I could tell he really wasn't pushing it he had a big smile and I could tell he was impressed. And 4 months ago he had a GTI Turbo before getting his F-150.
Then it was a stop at my son-in laws who is sort-of "my truck it bigger than your truck" kinda guy, but definitely a motor head. But I think he thought people that drove Minis were a little "funny", with lots of dog stickers on the back.
He came back with a big "sh*t eating grin and just said "Wow"! He might be a convert. I stopped at my youngest sons today and he was equally impressed.
So all in all it's gone pretty well.
I'll have to get Md. State inspection soon, but the guy at the tag place screwed up my title with a typo, I went to see them but that's an "in person" correction at MVA and right now MVA is closed due to the "Bug". They're going to check to see what can be done. It's their issue to fix. Right now I have a 45 day temp. tag and insurance, so I'm good.
I spent most of last night cleaning up the shop from my "marathon" and figuring out what tools and stuff I can take back to the shop at home.
I did start on the "Rear Seat Delete" some and worked on it tonight as well. It's one of those "engineer as you go " sort of things but now I think I have at least a plan.
I'll save the pic's on that until it taking a little more shape.
I have the feeling my truck will get very limited use. I might get it detailed and buy a cover...
robj
Ok, if you insist, one pic..
Some carpentry skills getting the board on the mid-brace cut at the correct angle to lay flat. Screwed down with construction adhesive. 1" Aluminum angle riveted across the back.
More to come. Pretty much level but I have it tilted ever so slightly toward the rear to keep things from sliding forward, a degree or 3. The front 2x4 is just a spacer.
It's fun to watch how everyone does the delete. Lots of different approaches.
I personally enjoy shutting up MINI-mockers. It's funny--every single one of them tries out the "oh-crap" handle, but no one ever comments on how sturdy it is. 🤣
It's fun to watch how everyone does the delete. Lots of different approaches.
I personally enjoy shutting up MINI-mockers. It's funny--every single one of them tries out the "oh-crap" handle, but no one ever comments on how sturdy it is. 🤣
I did forget to mention the solid feel. It doesn't hurt that is has new LCA bushing, ball joints, shocks, tie rods etc...
A slight annoying squeak/rattle from the dash that I push on the left center vent goes away. I think there's a post about removing the top of the dash and padding to fix that but that's further down on the list.
Any clue on the airbag light suddenly being lit?
Office Depot today for some tagboard for patterns for the floor. I ran out of pieces big enough.
I did find some rubber mat that looks a little different than the standard ribbed rain mat.
Unfortunately this is a common issue with the first gens. My 2008 needed the passenger seat sensor replaced twice, both under warranty. There are some threads on how to jumper the sensor to get rid of the light. IIRC there are also some things on ebay to jumper them also.
