I'll just throw this up here. Thought it was cool so I snapped a pic. Not much going on with mods/maintenance. Just driving it. I bought this car April of 2020 with 82k on it, racking up the miles pretty quick.




With the recent gas prices I decided to experiment with mpg based on driving habits. I may or may not have a heavy foot so I typically average 33.6 mpg based on the dash. Thats months of city/highway combined with long stretches on the open highway and gridlocked in NYC. I noticed that anything over 60-62 mph and the mpg starts to fall out fast. Keeping it at or under 60 mph the last week has increased my mpg to 37.9 average. I got stuck behind a tractor trailer that refused to go over 44 mph and about 12 cars that wouldn't pass him on a 2 lane for 30 something miles and the dash was reading over 41 mpg by the time he pulled off. Obviously never exceeding 45 mph isn't realistic but it's crazy how much the aero of these cars hurt the fuel mileage.

 

The Mini required new front tires at 166k. I bought 4 Dexteros from Walmart. But only mounted 2 for now. Swapped the "Falkens" that still had decent tread from rear to front and put the new tires on the rear. The Falkens only made 30k something miles, the Crosswinds I ran last time made it to 45k before needing replacement. I ran the Dexteros on my old work truck and manged 70k some odd miles out of them iirc. So I'll give them a shot. We're building a Corvette for our fun car, the mini is shifting more towards strictly dd use so sticky tires are not as much concern as tread life. The Dexteros are noticeably heavier. I haven't weighed them yet but since I only mounted two I can still throw one on a scale when I get a chance.

I've hit some large road debris and massive pot holes. One of which I was certain should have bent the rim. Rims are all OK but it really jacked up the alignment. Used the string method and the front left was toed in by 3/8", front right was toed in by 1/4". Of course due to my schedule I drove like that for a few thousand miles and destroyed the front tires before I had a chance to do anything with it. That being said the mileage of the Falkens vs Crosswind isn't apples to apples. I changed the oil and fixed yet another exhaust leak while I had it up on jack stands. Got sick of messing with these crap 2 bolt flanges because the gaskets keep blowing so I cut the last one off and used a quality v-band in its place.
No pictures to post because maintenance is kind of boring.
I dug out the R53 head I picked up awhile back and started porting it. I think I have at least one burnt valve. Meant to do a leak down test while I had it in the shop but completely forgot and went on to other projects.

 

I still haven't had a chance to weigh the new tires but I did finally finish the R53 head I picked up forever ago. I did a mild port job. Gasket matched the intake and smoothed the mismatched casting seams. Thats it for the intake side. On the exhaust side I opened up the runners a little being careful not to change the shape. I also opened up the bowls below (above) the valve seats. Then I bead blasted the entire head.

I may go back and polish the exhaust side. Haven't decided if it's worth the effort....

 

Got the valves lapped today and put the new valve seals in. I ordered a Fel-Pro head gasket kit and Mahle head bolts. The plan is to put the new head on Memorial day weekend. We'll see if it pans out. I'm contemplating installing the bigger injectors and tuning it at the same time. I haven't decided yet. I may see how (if lol) it runs with the new head and go from there. I usually like to change one thing at a time and see how the car responds.

 

Valves before and after lapping. They weren't terrible so they cleaned up fairly easily.





All the valves are back in along with the rockers. Just making sure I didn't lose anything at this point. Once the head is on the car I can torque everything down. I honestly dont even know if you can put an assembled head in this car. The rockers may have to come back out to even be able to get to the head bolts. I didn't look and don't care at this point lol. Its late (for me) and I need sleep!

 

I incorrectly stated in a previous post that I ordered a Fel-Pro gasket kit, I had actually ordered the Erling kit. Not sure if its better but it did come with everything but the t-stat gasket.

The head is on. The head I pulled was worse than I thought it was going to be. About 1/3 of the sealing surface on one valve in cylinder 3 was gone. Two other valve mildly burnt. And something I haven't seen before, the valve guide and valve stem on 1 exhaust valve was starting to melt! The head gasket was also starting to fail in the rear of cylinder 4. I can't believe I just drove this thing from NC to Philadelphia and back in the last two days lol! I have to pick up new plugs, a t-stat, and oil/filter and button it up today. Hopefully it all works (never know using a used head).









I made a simple cam tool out of some scrap steel and a couple bolts. Keeping with the budget build theme lol.

 

Car is done. Took between 6 and 7 hours total. It has 172k miles on it. I bought it with 82k and while tearing it apart I noticed signs this head has been messed with before. If the poor quality R50 valves only last 80k or so it would make sense why it failed. Its had some VERY hard use in the mountains and I typically only run 89 octane for normal use.

It has Denso Iridium plugs in it now with a fresh 195° t-stat. Got them local and those were the only plugs available. It runs good. Idles extremely smooth and quiet. No noticeable power increase over stock but WAY better than just before teardown. I haven't got on it yet and don't plan to for a few hundred miles. I figure it won't hurt to let everything wear in a little. It is a used head but its been worked over so I'll err on the cautious side. I would guess the computer will relearn fuel and spark trim with port changes and eliminating valve/exhaust leaks also so it may get a wee bit stronger with some miles. If I keep getting lean codes the bigger injectors will go in with a tune. Otherwise I'm just going to drive it awhile so I can wrap up some other projects I've started and haven't been able to finish

 

Small update. Car is running good. MPG is up by 4 from before the new head. The mileage has steadily declined over the past few months. I was averaging 32.X MPG, its back up to 36.X MPG mixed driving and hit 37.3 highway yesterday afternoon. With mid grade gas prices sitting around $4.80/gallon in my area right now I'm pretty happy about that. No check engine light yet, no pending codes as of this morning. I'll update again if anything comes up. All in all its a pretty easy car to swap a head on. The only concern I have about this particular project is the fact I put a used head on and rebuilt it myself. I usually send them to a machine shop to get checked out but this one I cheaped out on because it looked to be in very good condition when I got it. Here's to hoping it pans out!

 

Still running strong. MPG continues to climb. Pretty sure this is all I'll get though. Power delivery is very different. It has a ton more bottom end to almost midrange power, then its kind of flat until 4500 rpm. Before the ported head it was completely gutless until 3500 rpm, then mildly entertaining until 5500 rpm when it fell on its face. I haven't really wound it out yet to see if the power band is any higher but I'm pretty sure the cam in the new head is the same as the old. I copied the numbers off it but haven't looked it up yet.

 

I'm still driving the wheels off this car. Hit some massive road debris once and 3 different pot holes on separate trips that I was sure should have bent a rim. Rim and tires are fine but I noticed a LOT more camber on the passenger front than the drivers front. I finally got around to pulling it apart to see why. Bent the strut. I had to beat it apart with a hammer. I also noticed grease coming out of the drivers side cv. I have new front struts and a cv shaft on order. The dampners on this car are only about 2.5 years old but they have 96,000 miles on them already. I probably should have ordered new rears too due to mileage but honestly, prior to bending a front strut, the car still rode great. I had contemplated "upgrading" but I don't see the need. The Bilsteins are a good match to the Tein springs I'm running. I replaced the outer ball joint while I had the strut off. May do the inner also.



Bent strut. I tried but the picture doesnt really do justice to how bad it is.


Road debris impact. There is a gouge that starts in front of the oil pan and turns into a massive dent right under the ps fan. I probably would have lost the oil pan without the skid plate.


Not sure its visible in this pic (posting from my phone) but it did damage to the exhaust also.


I wouldnt have a power steering cooler if I didnt have a heavy steel skid plate under there.

 

Struts and cv axle came in so I installed them. The drivers side strut was bent too but not as bad. What was more surprising was the fact it also bent my IE fixed camber plates. They are 3/16" steel plates sandwiched between the strut and strut tower. I guess the impact was harder than I thought lol. I flatened the camber plates back out on my press and put them back in with the new B4's. I also changed the gear oil in the trans when I swapped the cv axle and did an engine oil and filter change while I had it in the air. I still need to flatten my skid plate back out and replace the fuel filter but thats a job for another day....

 

I figured I'd pop in here since I haven't post anything in several months. I had replaced the drivers CV shaft for the first time (first time I've done it anyway) and the passenger side started with a humming noise immediately. I thought that was rather strange. I replaced the passenger side once already and not all that long ago either. Well the hum turned into a violent shaking within a few hundred miles so I had to DD the Vette for a week while I waited for the replacement to be delivered. I ordered a new one this time around. The first passenger side axle was a reman. Since it didn't last very long I decided I'd try a brand new part this time. We'll see if it lasts any longer.

 

I have skateboard grip tape on my brake and clutch pedal, apparently its hard on shoes lol. I drive a **** ton of miles but still found this amusing lol.

 

Hit the Back of the Dragon again last week. Great fun as always. First mountain was wet and covered in wet leaves so it was SLIPPERY! Still a good time. That was the first time we've been back since I rebuilt the top end. The torque it has now was VERY noticeable on the mountain. I had to run 4000 plus rpm with a full car to even make some of the grades without losing speed before. Now it'll pull from 2800 and is much easier to drive. Still lots of understeer in the wet but thats not surprising especially since I went back to cheap tires.




I picked up some new wall art for the shop while we were there. Its the first time I've seen any Mini specific merch at the shop in Tazewell.

 

I had to do a little maintenance on the Mini so I took advantage of the holiday weekend (time off) and did a little extra while I was at it.
Rotated the tires and set the pressure, topped off the coolant (radiator was damaged for the 4th time from animal impact), changed engine oil and filter, checked all suspension for wear/damage, checked the brakes, and washed the car for the first time in about 3 weeks.
I have some minor front end damage from 3 different impacts, 1 hit and run and 2 suicidal animals. The most recent was a racoon that took out the lower grill, again, and cracked the bottom lip off the bumper. Removed the bumper to fix that and finally remembered to replace the running light/turn light that has been on my bench for over a year. Repainted the lower grill while I had it out, that thing takes a beating. Shes still running strong at just under 198,000 miles but the clutch is close to the end of its life, engages all the way out. She's nowhere near as strong as the day we brought it home either but thats not the least bit surprising. I'm still trying to get her to a quarter million miles before I replace the entire drive train. Still leaning towards a Honda engine/trans swap. I think I can do it for about the same money as replacing the existing engine/trans/clutch/radiator and whatever else I'd find in the process of tearing it down. We shall see.

Pic of the damage repair:

 

Well its been awhile since I posted on this topic. I started a new job this past Monday (4/24/23) and not only will my daily commute drop from 160 miles/day to 50 miles/day I won't be traveling for work anymore so I should be dropping to about 13k a year as opposed to 43k on average.

All that being said, I'm seriously considering selling the R50. Its been a GREAT car but I'm up to 6 vehicles and I've always been a truck guy anyway. I recently picked up a 1998 Nascar edition F150. They only made 3000 of them and have some pretty cool and unique options. The plan is to dd the F150 instead.

I did have a new windshield put in the Mini on Monday. It had 4 large cracks and no less than 7 chips. In addition to the damage the entire windshield looked as if it had been sandblasted and was almost dangerous to drive anytime the sun was right on the horizon. SafeLite did an awesome job and brought and installed new A pillar trim and wipers with the new glass. Part of me wants to keep it and tune it but if I was to do that I really need to sell 1 or 2 other vehicles. It is already listed locally so I guess I'll see if it sells or not and reevaluate in a few weeks.

 

Congrats on the new job 👍🏻 I’m sure getting so much of that commute time back will really change things.

As sad as it would be to sell such a unique MINI with great adventures, best of luck! It’s been a great time following along.

 

I had a lot of interest early on then it dropped off after that. I may be asking too much with the mileage it has but knowing what has been done and the condition its in I'd rather keep it then sell it cheap. I started using it for my daily commute again (until it sells) as it gets close to twice the mpg of any of my trucks, and started rethinking parting with it. New front seats and a tune would probably make me happy again for quite some time. Who knows. Maybe I'll just fix up the Nascar edition and sell that for a huge profit...

 

I decided to keep the mini. I sold one of the trucks instead. Since its sticking around I've started doing a little maintenance on it again. Nothing major, just a few little wear items. The shock mounts are shot and replacements are on the way. The headliner on this car started sagging shortly after buying it but I've been ignoring it for the last 3 years. Had enough and removed the headliner today. I have an idea that will either be epic or a total fail lol. I'll post pics when its done, should only take a few days. I also plan to get longer bolts and spacers for the fuel rail this week so I can have Adrian tune it in the near future. Thought I'd be able to get it done this spring but it didn't work out. We've been talking about doing another mountain run this fall and I really don't want to push it that hard again with it so underfueled.

Some pics:


Headliner removed.


Cleaning the sticky foam residue off.


Rear shock with weight of car on it. Notice no gap at the foam insert.


Rear shock with car on jackstands (weight off wheels/suspension) You can clearly see the gap under whats left of the foam insert.

 

Finished the headliner. Don't look half bad IMHO. Wasn't hard to remove but it was a bit of a pita to get back in. Found some spacers and bolts for the bigger injectors too so hopefully that will happen sometime soon. Still waiting on the shock bushings to be delivered.

 

Rear shock mounts lasted all of 2 months and started disintegrating. Noticed bits of the white foam they're made of all over the garage floor. I ordered a set of red poly bushings for it.
Tires are shot. They were cheap Walmart tires I put on at 166k, 222k on it now so I think they served me well lol. Hopefully I'll have time to get a new set mounted in February. Trying to decide between the set I ran before thats made by Falken and Accelera phi R. Also have to pick between 195/60 and 205/50. Would love thoughts from anyone thats tried either tire or size. I have Konig Helium rims, 15x6.5"

Last but not least, I looked at the speedo on the way to work the other day and saw this so I snagged a pic.

 

Put the white bushings on in November IIRC. They held up great 🙄

Got me some red poly replacements this time. Hopefully they last a little longer.

 

Wow never saw a rear one that bad, seen them muchroomed a bit. That one was coming apart!

Good upgrade to the PSB

 

Got the new tires on. Old ones were worse than I thought. Had Walmart mount them since they're the only game in town that works with my schedule (open weekends). They have a new crew in there and they are TERRIBLE!!! Customer service SUCKED and they didn't do a good job. I asked them to line up the red dots with the valve stems, they said that was no problem...and didn't do it. They charged me for new valve stems and didn't replace them. And they didn't remove the original weights, they just added more. Really not sure if I should take them back and make them redo it, or give up and drive somewhere to get it done right. If I could afford it I'd buy a tire machine and balancer and do it myself. Tires are literally the only thing I don't do myself and even at that I pull the wheels and drop them off. I don't trust them to properly torque anything. I've never actually seen ANY mechanic use a torque wrench or torque stick to tighten lug nuts, its always socket right on the gun and blast it til it don't move no more!

Oh well. Can't find good help anymore.






I ended up going with Federal Formosa in 195/60-15.
I ran Federal 555's on the old Mustang and they were great tires. These have a 320 A treadware rating so I'm curious to see how they handle on some twisty NC back roads.

 

Well its time to say goodbye to the mighty little R50.
Its been a great car and a fun ride but it has been replaced by a 2005 R53.
I'll probably start a new thread to log the maintenance and upgrades done to it but I'll end this thread with a parting shot of the R50 and the new R53 as they both sit today.
I swapped my Konigs to the new car already and pulled the 19mm sway bar and skid plate off the R50 to be put on the R53 next time I have it on jackstands. I put the original wheels that came with the R53 on the R50 as someone plasti-dipped them and I've never really been a fan of that wheel style.