Well, most of the oil leak was at the back of the engine below the filter housing. But, all the pretty painted parts outboard, springs, dust shields, shocks, etc... are pretty dirty. Like I said, they're only [almost] perfect once, the day they roll out the door.
I did buy a few cans of "Evap-Foam" which is used in the HVAC industry to clean evaporator coils. It foams up then drips off without the need to rinse. Works good for light grease. Probably pull the wheels and put some cardboard under everything and do a dose while it's on jack stands, then a trip to the "Quarter Car Wash". [Def. showing my age with that one.]




Wow, that got big! Wish I was smart enough to resize! I like the "Pleasant Lemon Scent!"

I looked at the oil leak again and there is the possibility it's coming from the valve cover although it could be coming from there and the oil filter base.
I ordered a filter kit, and the base gasket as well as valve cover gasket and plug hole rings.

I splurged and ordered new cover bolts as I recalled mine were a little funky when I last replaced the cover gasket and to be honest I'm wondering if it's not the seals on the bolts that were leaking.
Anyway, I pretty much ordered everything.I figured I would take a break on metal working the door skins on the MG and start disassembly on the Mini while waiting on parts.

So I start "uncovering" the valve cover. Step # whatever. Remove the Fuel Rail.
Well, despite pulling and wiggling [at first], then gentle and even prying, then more [slightly] forceful prying...No love.

Pried each injector up slightly and gave it a shot of BP Blaster and waited a bit. Still no love..
Tried some heat gun... Nada.
More wiggling...
BP Blaster.
Heat.
Wiggle.
More gentle prying...
Blaster
Heat.
Less gentle prying.... And BINGO! The fuel rail separated from the injectors.

Well that sucks. Looked up "Fuel Injector Removal Tool". The ones that looked decent were like $250.
More BP Blaster.
Wiggle.
Heat.
Finally, by prying at the base,, AND prying on the plastic where the connector clips on to the point where I thought I was going to break it, the first one came out.
It was not a pretty sight. and neither was the hole it went into. I finally got them all out and it was no wonder they were stuck like a bad tooth...



[Despite the fact that it's not pictured, I'm 99.9% sure I did get that missing O-ring. But that was last night at 1am, and this is today and I don't see it anywhere. I'm going to have to borescope it just to make sure. Now it REALLY will look like a colonoscopy...]

I was quite concerned on how to clean up the rust and crud from the manifold without getting any crap inside. I found that an internal wire brush, [used for cleaning 1/2" copper pipe prior to solder] was the perfect size. But was super paranoid about a wire bristle getting inside. I put a shop vac right next to the opening, "screwed" the brush in a tiny amount then quickly pulled it out. Did that a number of time going in a little further each time. The brush was almost new and I'm very confident no bristles were lost and no rust bits in the manifold.



I think they ended up clean enough. Some silicone grease should seal it up.



I had bought some 380cc injectors, [blue #0391511] a while back but never installed them so I'm thinking now is the time.

For some reason I was thinking I had the old injectors out but maybe not. So after almost 20 years and 169K miles, no wonder they were stuck!

At the same time I bought OEM O-rings as I recalled reading the blue injector o-rings were a little larger. I checked the and that is the case.
[For those interested a rubber o-ring is pretty hard the measure with a caliper. What I do is lay them flat, tighten the flat part of the caliper to the o-ring enough to pick it up, then open the caliper very slowly until it drops and that's your measurement. That's what I do, your results may vary...]


Not much of a difference but maybe enough to give you a fight...

I think I also read somewhere that adaptors are needed for connection but maybe that was for some other injector. I had bought them but the connection looks identical to me. Then I read last night these were the injectors used on the Works Minis.



I did have some small corks left over from something. Can't be too careful!





We'll see what new adventure tonight's work brings,
robj

 

Nice “little” workshop.

VW Bus - I owned one, but I don’t remember the engine on mine having twin webbers…

That TC is quite a find. I am impressed with you for taking on that project. My first car was an MGA. It really wasn’t much of a refinement from the TC you have. Leaf springs and plywood floors, but it had a really modern look for the day. It was registered as a 1960, but when I pulled the engine and based on the lack of styling changes that the “60 model had, I figured that it was a ‘59. I got it from my brother who was amazingly bad at having cars survive his ownership. The engine had broken off a valve head that went through a piston. I rebuilt the engine and drove it for a few year as my DD here in the NE. The salt did it no good. Like a lot of cars people had back in the ‘60, like the Z28 I thought hard about buying, who would have thought that they would be worth anything today. Back then it was buy it, run it for 3 years, then junk it.

Looking forward to your car (all of them) updates.

 

You guys are making me feel young! 😆 I started driving in the '90s in late '70s and '80s cars.

 

The VW is a bit of a one off. Originally 1700cc now a new/used 2000cc block, new pistons and barrels, cam, balanced, blueprinted and of course those beautiful Dellorto's. A guy in California, "Steve Noll" did the balance and blueprint on the block. Might be able to actually pass 1 or 2 people. Shame it's all going to be hidden under the back of a bus.

The MG. Spent probably 70-80 hours getting the door skins straight enough for pretty much no filler. And still working on door #2. Some patch panel work as well of course in areas it was the most difficult.




Ended up making a "Slapper" from a piece of leaf spring when I couldn't find one I liked.



That, along with various dollys and a "Shrinking disk" made for some long but interesting evenings.



To be honest, It was nice to get to work on the Mini where things are just bolted together and not as much "artwork" is involved...

So the Mini. It looks like the oil leak is in fact the oil filter housing base, which you pretty much can't see from the top or the bottom. I was hoping it was the valve cover gasket so I bought one of those as well but although there were some tiny leaks at the bolts, that wasn't it.

However, I do have to say removing the vale cover gave a tiny bit more viewing and working room and every little bit counts with this job. What a PIA!

This video helped but to be honest I couldn't get the lower of the 3 bolts from the bottom like he did. I got them all from the top and I "think" removing the valve cover is what made that possible.


Of course I haven't got the parts yet so reinstall is still up for grabs. It seems to me that BMW is not so great when it comes to their "sealing practices". It took about an hour to get the bolts out even after everything was removed.

It's down there somewhere...






We'll see how it goes once the parts arrive...
robj

 

I went in from underneath/the RF wheel well when I resealed Grumpy's. Doing it at work on a lift was a big help, though. Mini is thinking the same thing as parent BMW: job security for their technicians! 🤣 Oil leaks help me pay the bills!

 

Got my license in '67 so that was when I "officially" started driving. There were, however, a number of times when my parents were out or out of town when the second car, a '60 Corvair, was left unattended. Glad dad never checked the mileage... First actually car that was mine was a '57 Chevy Belair in '69. My brother-in-law snagged it for me minus an engine. My dad said if I can get it running he'd pay for a years insurance. Oh ye of little faith. Had it running in a month.

rj

 

Well this has been fun.
The parts came and after making sure the gasket for the oil filter base was fully seated, and checking that about 4 times I was finally satisfied it wouldn't pop off.
Started installing the 3 bolts and I don't know if it's FFS, [fat finger syndrome] or what but it was a task. Did it all from the top and the easiest one was the off side that most say is the hardest and only accessible from below.
Three bolts in about 2 hours. A new record for me I believe. I think I had every 13mm wrench, socket, extension, swivel, 3/8" and 1/4" drive, I owned out.

Did an oil and filter change while I was there. Finally get everything back together, start it up, check underneath and there's about 1/4 of a quart on the ground and growing fast.
Well ****.
Shut it off and with a light and a mirror try to see if it's coming from the base, [please Lord no] not the base gasket, please be the filter housing.... I figured easiest first so I removed the filter housing and the large O-ring was cut in half. Bummed and flogging myself but at least it wasn't the base gasket!

Dug through the trash and found the old O-ring, wiped it off, looked at it closely and it looked good enough to me.

Back together, add a tiny bit of oil and let's try this again. Test drive, Definitely more seat-of-the-pants power with the 380cc injectors!

Then, what's that smell. ****, it's gas. The sensible thing would have been to shut it off but it was 1am and I hadn't gone far, maybe 1 mile or so. Copped a U-turn and back to the shop. Luckily, no bomb.
Pop the hood and the injector rail was askew. Must not have had the clips full seated. Went back today, removed the injectors and rail. Cleaned up the hole bores again, [they were a little hard going in] installed the injectors on the rails first then installed the rail.
Put everything back together, again... Key on, no leaks. Start engine, no leaks. Test drive, everything seemed fine until the dreaded, "Service Engine Soon Light".

Came back, and read the codes.
1498/Not present "Unmetered air after compressor"
172/ Not present "Mixture control- System too rich"

Back in the shop. I did have a little bit of a fight installing the cooler boots, but they are fairly new silicone. Looked at that, seemed ok-ish but pulled it off. Check the vacuum line under the fuel rail, that's ok. Check the vacuum line under the right side horn of the supercharger, that's good. Has a fairly new Detroit Tuned by pass valve and a new intake hose. I didn't mess with anything on that side and no other lines seem amiss so I'm thinking it's the cooler bellows as that's really the only thing I messed with. So we'll try that again.

The "172/ Not present "Mixture control- System too rich". Is it possible the computer will figure that out on its own after some driving?

Doesn't Blue Car realize I have other projects to attend to? It's starting to look a little too comfortable...






robj

r

 

So, 130am.
Test ride #2. Reinstalled the cooler, being very meticulous about boots and clamps. About a 5 mile test ride, mostly be civilized but a bit of hooligan where there were less houses.Sounds really travel out here in the country so I'm not sure anyone appreciated my restraint.
Ran great and so far no codes so we'll see.
It is now way faster than I really need or will probably use. But we shall see. And we'll also see if any codes rear their ugly heads. So far so good.

Tomorrow a bath and maybe some wax. It needs it...
And about 2-3 hours of putting tools away.
robj

 

Sometimes things just don't go our way, do they? One of the guys at work just had the same issue with cutting the filter cap o-ring on install on an R50. Much easier to do on the metal housings on than on the later plastic housings. IIRC I did a lot of the filter housing work on Grumpy through the wheel well. I'd still rather do one an R50/52/53 than the newer turbo cars (R55/56). Glad you got it all sorted out and no boom with the fuel leak. Resetting the adaptations may help get things learning a little faster.

 

Another drive yesterday and after a few miles the SES light came on again. Checked the codes and the air leak code was gone but the "Too Rich" code was back. I'm guessing the Adaption Resetting requires a laptop, program and cord?
I have a Schwaben Scanner and the instructions mention Adaption but there wasn't a lot of information and it wasn't very clear how it's done. What I would really like to due is a tune by the guy mentioned here all the time but have absolutely no clue how that's done or the process/equipment needed. [but I can fine tune jets in a carburetor]

Otherwise, if I do nothing but drive it will it eventually re-learn on it's own?

robj

 

​​​Pm @adriancl he'll let you know what you need. A couple of cables and a laptop. Then he logs in remotely and talks you through the process as he does it.