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.

 

Could someone enlighten me on the use and purpose of a 15% pulley? I just bought my first Mini Cooper, a 2002 170,000 mile I think.
It was abandoned and sitting 2 years and Auctioned. so far $400 for 2 keys and for $300 to transport to my driveway. Seems to have a good amount of dirt and oil underneath the engine.

 

The 15% pulley spins the supercharger a bit faster generating more horsepower, and slightly better response. A very inexpensive gain.

robj

 

First post - Welcome to NAM and the wonderful wacky world of MINIs.

It sounds like you have a project car there. It would be interesting to the community if you started your own restoration thread. There is a lot of info here, especially about the Gen 1 MINIs like yours. An easy way to find info is to use Google with a lead in with “North American Motoring”. Hope the restoration goes well. These are great, fun cars!

 

Just scrolled backwards through 21 pages of this thread looking for pics of the Chris Craft. I couldn't remember much about it. Mainly for an excuse to show you my new toy that will soon displace the Mini in the garage.




I was working the Mini toward full track car status when I realized that would be another hobby that took me away all weekend, and that my wife would not enjoy.

We moved about a year ago to an island, and the boat launch is literally 5 minutes from my house. I can be cruising 30 minutes from hooking up the trailer. I've always loved the old CC runabouts so I started researching.

She is not a Chris Craft, and she's not really that old. She was built in 1993 by a gentleman named Simon Fletcher in Port Angeles WA. He custom built 2 boats/year for about 30 years, with the idea of creating classic looks, with modern tech. She's full mahogany, but put together with epoxy, so no-soak.

We are loving it. This winter she'll get a complete Beaty treatment. The wood is, in excellent shape but needs to be revarnished.

@robj I'd welcome your OCD if you want to come help!

 

Hey Rob nice you got to finish the project and is on the road now, I am on the same not like you before, just got an 02 S R53 and I started doing the rusted brake lines like you did but this morning I went to get the new M10 fittings and for some reason I put the m12 and M10 in a napkin inside my pocket and I couldn’t find it, now the store was asking me for the pitch on those fittings, will you know what spec they are so I can order new ones? So I orden the 3/16 roll brake lines like you used on yours, what type of flare I have to use on the new fittings? Can I just go with all of them double bubble flare?
please thank you for your help!

 

Wow, How did I miss this? That there is one very cool looking boat! What engine?

Varnishing is a fun wintertime project. I can sometimes be challenging but that's the fun, [I guess]. What I used to do, [on pieces, not an entire boat] is keep doing coats until one looked really good then stopped.
You're not going to bare wood are you?

robj

 

Are you just replacing the rear section like I did?
Yes, you definitely need the bubble flare. I would get some extra brake line and practice the flares before working on the piece you've bent to fit.

As far as the pitch, I'm not really sure. I had trouble finding one of the fittings, [I think the 12 mm ] so I reused the old one. If you just doing the back half the connectors between the new and old lines don't matter that much as long as they're correct for the tubing.

I'm not sure how many different pitches they would have. Can't be more than 2. I would just get one of each pitch.

Here's the thread just about the brake lines.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...es-really.html

Just take your time and good luck,
robj

 

Hey, Rob! Just popping by to say "hi!" We let Grumpy go earlier this year because my wife picked an R55 S. He went to my oldest friend and will go to one of his kids, so he's still being used and appreciated. Hope you're still enjoying driving yours. I know a large part of the fun for you is the tinkering!

I was lucky to have a low mileage parts car around when I needed to do the brake lines on Grumpy. Just swapping made it pretty nice. Honestly the fittings can often be saved and reused, it's the lines themselves that rust out. The nickel/copper line is fabulous stuff to work with. I still need to do lines on my 82 VW Rabbit Convertible.

Sadly it looks like I lost the E46 I was driving when I got that exhaust from you. A young kid (17) ran a stop sign Thursday and clipped me in the RR. It's going to be a fight with the insurance getting it valued well. Last April I installed a 3.0L and 6 speed combo that really woke the car up. They just don't understand the value of the labor of love people like us put into these cars.

 

They just don't understand the value of the labor of love people like us put into these cars.[/QUOTE]

Well that sucks. Good luck with fighting the insurance companies. One of our work vans got whacked and I got 1500 additional by doing my own comps.
They totaled it saying repairs would be over 20K. I looked at it and thought no way. I retained it and had it repaired for half that. We owed more on it than they gave us but we had GAP coverage. [Through CarMax]
What a pain that was but it was like $5000. They made it so difficult I swear they were trying to get me to give up. But being retired, I had the time. From Feb to Aug I made 26 phone calls to them, each lasting at least an hour. [they don't do email-WTF?, and there's not an assigned adjuster so I think I was almost on a first name basis with half the employees.

But persistence paid off and I finally got a check but it felt like a part-time job!

rj

 

thank you rob! I ended up at the junk yard today and remove the 2 rear lines out of a country cooper and I cut the rear end to make it fit and I installed it today so 1 down and 1 more to go.
I am so excited to finish these lines so I can test drive it.
i know my coolant reservoir is empty why? I have no idea so I guess I will fill it with water to test drive the car and then I can start the engine project like you did 😁😁😁
should I get a new water pump and T-stat and do the oil pan gasket if I remove all the front bumper and rad right?

 

I'm also not sure why your reservoir is dry. I do know the original tanks are prone to cracking. I wouldn't jump to a water pump. The coolest systems on these can be the devil to bleed of air. There's a bleeder screw in the top hose but I had good success using a shop vac on the top of the tank a few seconds at a time and the air bubbles right out.
If I can suggest doing some searches in the forums, there's very few questions that have not been covered by someone..
Also, Pelican Motors has many "how to's" on their site. These were a big help to me.

robj

 

Ok rob thanks for the input, I will tackle the coolant and SC after I replace the passenger side brake line this week.

 

Sorry to hear about the E46. But as Rob noted, it might be worth it to push to keep it. A friend recently had something similar happen to his BMW (hit in the rear) with 160k-ish miles on it and was able to keep it and get it fixed.

 

I'm retaining the salvage if it gets totalled. Right now I'm assembling my ammo for a proper valuation. I don't want to muck up Rob's thread too much, but the entire rear end is swayed to the left side, the hatch doesn't close right, and the rear bumper was literally ripped off of the car. Space to keep it is also a concern, but I will manage for a little bit.