Some may be familiar with the phrase “shaving a yak” and some may not. For those who aren’t familiar with it, I shall explain. Yak shaving refers to a task, that leads you to perform another related task and so on, and so on — all distracting you from your original goal. I think we’ve all been there at one point or another. How hasn’t uttered the slipperiest phrase in car wrenching, “well, while I’m in here”? This is my approach to car maintenance. I start with something that morphs into 20 side projects that ultimately results in the resolution of the original 30-minute job in approximately 3 months’ time. I am a yak shaver. I’m not proud of that, but I accept that is what I am. Apparently, that’s the first step to recovery. Too bad that I am a procrastinator and will probably not move on to the next step.

I’ve owned many cars over the years (50+) and have always like Coopers but was hesitant to pull the trigger by the horror stories I’d heard from others. About two years ago, I bought an R55 Clubman that I did way too much work to and ultimately sold to buy my 2006 R53 Cooper S. The R53 has all the bells and whistles I want, but (sad trombone) it is an automatic. That is why I bought it. The previous owner had already done sacrifices to multiple deities and yet it had a persistent issue with a hard shift from 1st to 2nd. I think his next step was to offer the car to Regin, but I intervened and bought it for 3 figures. Not a low 3 figures, but still less than $1,000. Here she is, my BRG 2006 in all her glory.

 

I took the car for a test ride and got to experience the possessed tranny but was certain I could beat it into submission. It also made a weird sound from the passenger rear that I knew was a bad wheel bearing and the tires were old and crusty, but nothing money couldn’t solve. I make great financial decisions.

You’ll also note the peeling clear coat and the one bit of rust on the hood. I will address those in good time, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and honestly, I don’t care about the paint at this point. I want a mechanically sound car more than anything else. To do this I devised a plan. Dig a hole and throw money in it? No, that would be a much more sound choice and not help make the car reliable. I would toss money at the car and make it blush as I “made it rain”. Yeah, that’s the better choice.

To date I have replaced all 4 struts with new B4 Billies, two new tires, Milltek resonated cat-back exhaust, battery heat shield, serviced the supercharger, 17% Way Motor Works (WMW) pulley, new belt, new water pump, new hoses, fresh filters and fluids, LED bulbs for the interior, two new rear hubs, new rotors and pads, convertible braces, strut tower brace, ball joints, lower engine dog bone mount, new transmission valve body, and lots of elbow grease. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few items. Now, you might be screaming, “DUDE!! You should have changed the timing belt!!!” Well, I didn’t have to as the car had a new engine installed by BMW 14,000 miles ago. I figured the existing timing belt was good to go.






New exhaust from Miltek

Old rusty stock exhaust

Mmmm, rust.

My first service mode.

 

With all of that out of the way let’s get to more recent things I have been up to. Things were going great until September when my son’s car broke. It was ready for pick up from the shop and I told him that I’d drive him to get it. On the way I told him that he really needed to take better care of his stuff. He had lost his only key and it was an expensive lesson on why you put stuff the same place every time. Apparently 2020 decided it was a “hold my beer” moment and punished me with a no-go transmission as we exited the interstate and coasted into a parking lot. Note, crow tastes terrible. I had to get a tow home and the car has been on jack stands since then. Haven’t even looked at what the root cause was on the tranny yet. I’ll be honest – it scares the crap out of me. Instead I ordered an R56 trailing arm kit from WMW because why accept reality.

Now as a professional yak shaver (previously mentioned) I decided I should replace the rear anti-sway bar while I was down there. I also knew that the rear subframe had a bit of rust on it and since I was there it might be a good idea to clean that up as well. And since I also had to disconnect the brake lines I might as well bite the bullet and put in new stainless brake lines and new brake fluid. Oh yeah, I like my yaks baby butt smooth.

Now that we are up to date, you can join me on my journey. I’m not saying the journey will be fast. I might not be off of jack stands until 2022, but I promise to do my best to keep you all updated on what I’m doing with lots of pictures, because who doesn’t like pictures?! And who knows, I might even buy a Land Rover and become a masochistic yak shaver. We shall see where this all goes together and I will try and document things as I go, but I will say that lots of times I just knock stuff out and forget to take in progress pictures. I promise to work on that. Now on with the show…

Before I started.


Removed exhaust to get at the subframe.

Dropped the exhaust on my head.

Picture to help rebuild.

Not too crusty.

One last look before we disassemble.

 

Four bolts hold the rear subframe onto the R53. They are torqued to 74 ft lb and should come out without too much drama as they are threaded into the cabin and should be dry and fairly free of rust. The thing is that you also have to remove all four rear control arms, disconnect the anti-sway bar end links, the actual anti-sway bar, both brake lines, the parking brake cables, the immobilizer switch, three heat shields, and the rear section of you exhaust. I don't mind most of those, but the rear section of the exhaust - well, I hate those hangers. I just end up taking them all the way out as it is easier than tearing one and having to wait for a week to get a new one.

There are three heat shields to remove. Two that surround the battery come out first. Then the one below the boot floor.

Next comes the rear section of the exhaust. You can see where the control arms mount to the subframe. I decided to leave these connected to the subframe for removal. I instead disconnected them from the swing arms. Remember, mark the alignment bolts prior to loosening them to aid with reassembly. Since I'm replacing both I didn't do that.

Subframe removed and about to meet my little friend the grinder.

Just a bit crust. Light rust to those in states north of me who enjoy copious dustings of salt by your highway departments. Where I live we use sand, but the air is salty so we still get some rust.

 

After a short battle that I won I continued the assault by bathing the subframe in phosphoric acid to eat the remaining rust.

The paint on the rear subframe came off way too easy. There was no primer that I could see. I like a coarse knotted wire rope wheel to clean parts. I don't have a media blaster so this is the quickest way I know.

It really looks different after the acid bath. Next step is to prep for paint.
Now let's face it. Nobody is ever going to see what I am doing. I realize that, but I love shaving yaks. With the acid treatment done, I wiped down the subframe and shot it with self-etching primer and then two coats of color and two coats of gloss clear. My son laughs at me for how I like to clean my cars, but I hate working on stuff that is filthy. Plus, I zone out when doing these things and try to forget the crap we were all dealt in 2020.

All cleaned up and looking much nicer.

I'll let it sit for a day to allow the paint to harden.
But there are more parts that are filthy. Like the anti-sway bar braces. What will people think if they see them dirty?! Oh the horror! Time to shave that yak.

One done and one to go.

Acid cleaned, primed and painted in the same fashion as the subframe. They do look nice now.

 

Nice start, man. Great work on that rear sub frame, it looks tip top. I have a new one in my basement that I’m also procrastinating on swapping when I install my aluminum trailing arms. (and I just got an alignment like an idiot).

Other than your exhaust canisters, the undercarriage rust situation looks pretty good! Much better than some of the salt belt cars I’ve seen. Love seeing more of these R53s being saved from the parts lot!

Btw “masochistic yak shaver” is a heck of a band name.

 

Nice pictures, GREAT story!
Just saw your new thread this morning while responding to your advice on "Monty's" thread

Although the activity somehow seems familiar. I have to admit, I had not heard the phrase "shaving a Yak" before, but I am sure, like you, I have performed that series of tasks many times throughout my life, just did not know it had a name.
You, however, have elevated it to a new level of professionalism that will be hard to match.

Thanks for the advice about 'Monty". Part of the reason I stared the thread was to get help along the way, so thanks for that.

OH, by the way; I seem to be the "Crew Chief" for 2 Land Rovers in the family. We have had as few as 1 and as many as 4 at various times over the years.
As a professional Yak Shaver, it is only logical that Land Rover ownership will occur at some point in your future.

Jeff

 

Thank you both for the replies. I enjoy both of your builds and always like new content. I've continued on with the build, but I wanted to take a moment to discuss colors. Since I have a BRG MINI I prefer gold tones to highlight pieces. My color palette is a dark gold, light gold, platinum, cast iron and cast aluminum finish to parts. In visible places I prefer using zinc plated fasteners, but in places like the suspension I am not afraid of using a crusty bolt. This is mainly because it is going to rust there eventually as I doubt I will clean the underside of my car on a regular basis.

Before installing the subframe I went ahead and attached my new Whiteline 19mm anti-swaybar. I made sure to very liberally grease the bushings to try to prevent squeaks. As with everything on the suspension the bolts are only finger tight at this time. That is so that I can torque all of them when the car has weight on the rear end. I will do this by blocking the rear tires, removing the jack stands, torqueing all the fasteners and replacing the stands.

Anti-sway bar installed on subframe and ready to install. That process was pretty easy.

I started with the passenger side long bolt as it worked the easiest for being right handed. Those bolts were final torqued on installation, but not the bar. The blocks are holding the gas tank until I reattach the straps.

 

Next up are the trailing arms and swing arms. I am going to show the process for the driver side only and the final product. I don't want to bore you all with doing the same thing twice and it will allow me to finish quicker.

Here is the old swingarm. Just a bit crusty, but nothing bad. I just wanted the weight reduction of the aluminum.

I cleaned, prepped, etch primed, and painted the control arms yesterday to prep for rebuild today. You might notice I hung them to dry in front of a heater to help speed the cure time. It was 70 outside, so not a bad temp for painting.

I figured it would be easy to installed the swingarm and the mount together. Three bolts to install the mount and they are torqued. The pivot bolt is loose now and will be final torqued when I add the weight to the car.

Next in line was to attach the shock. WMW provides a set of machined spacers to insert into the swingarm to ensure proper alignment.

It is a perfect fit. I can't explain it too well, but the closest thing I can give as an example is the tight tolerance of a rifle bolt being closed.

I then installed the control arms. They were a bit of a pain, but not too terrible. I started at the subframe and then to the control arm. There are many planes that the parts move on, so alignment to install bolts takes a bit of time. I used a big Philips screwdriver to make sure the holes were aligned.

Bottoms are installed. Pro tip - make sure you install the end link before the lower control arm. The bolt is too long to install with the arm in place. I also installed a bracket on the upper arm upside down and need to correct that item. It is were the cutoff switch mounts.

It is starting to look like a car again. It is a bit sad that most people won't have a clue I did all of this. Oh well, it's my own personal **** stash I guess.

Wheel hub installed and brakes back in place. I have to wait on the new brake lines to arrive to finish up, but I have to say that wasn't bad at all. Now to the other side!

 

I love this thread already, it made me chuckle more than once. Also, I love pictures, so kudos on providing them as this is very helpful. I also like to document about everything I do on my Mini

 

Thanks! I was hesitant at first, but I am enjoying doing the thread. I started on the passenger side, but realized one of my control bars needed to be repainted. I will let it dry and finish that side tomorrow. I have the swing arm in, shock installed and end link installed. It should go fairly fast. I was curious what the weight difference was between the steel and aluminum swing arms. In my non-scientific approach I arrived at 16 and 22 pounds respectively. So 6 pounds, or 2.7kg for everyone outside of the US, Liberia and Mayanmar. So 12 pounds total. That's pretty impressive to me.

 

Not too shabby indeed. I also had them on my list, but scrapped for now. The bigger gain for me would be lighter wheels, but that is something for the future. Even with these 18kg wheels I get enough performance and smiles per gallon :D

 

ND, I'm with you on the light wheels. I actually have a new set. That's how yak shaving works. :P

I finished the install, installed my new Imola wheels with there crap tires and rested the weight of the car on the suspension and started torqueing everything down. Luckily all the bolts are 74 ft lb which made it easy. I am not going to lie, the top bolts on the control arms sucked. There just isn't much space to get in between the subframe and the gas tank. If you have a 3/8 breaker bar it will be very helpful when you go to torque it all down. I also had to do the hubs and brake brackets which are all 41 ft lb of torque and I did the lower shock bolts at 95, I was going to do 100, but that just seemed to me to be an invitation for trouble. I agree with Eddie and honestly would have stopped at 90 as I've never had an issue with a lower shock bolt come free.

Wheels on and the weight of the car on the suspension. New wheels with tires will weigh in at 30 pounds, or 13.6kg for the metrically inclined.

It is nice to have it all going back in.
If you ever questioned the strength of a R53 chassis, I had to take a cool picture.

The only thing supporting the back of the car is one wheel. Both jack stands are in place, but have 2 inches of space between them and the body.

 

Following. Great stuff.

 

I also drove around a bit with the R87 wheels (15.4kg / 33.95 pounds ), they were light as well. I need 16 inch as minimum as I have the 294mm discs.

 

Well, I'm alive. We had a brush with Covid and dealing with the aftermath of it. My main issue is on going fatigue. It sucks. I've finished up the rear of the car, but sorry, no photos of me doing the work. I just did it in 5-10 minute spurts over the course of a month. Torque two bolts and then stop. It is absolutely pathetic. I do still have my humor, sorry, it just isn't showing at the moment. I also built some dunnage to set the car on that I'll share later. Basically it is 2x4 lumber cut at 14 and 10 inch lengths and screwed to each other. I've got enough to lift the car about 10 inches, so lots of room for activities. I'll post pics of them in use in a little while. I'd say why, but then you might skip the rest of this post. I can't have that.

I also installed new braided brake lines, because yak shaving. With that I also changed the brake fluid. That was the nastiest brake fluid I ever saw. It looked like burnt coffee. I replaced it with Pentosin DOT4 LV fluid. That is the bomb as far as I am concerned. I started at the drivers rear and worked around the car. By the time I did the drivers front I could hardly move the pedal. I'd like to say that I was able to road test the car, but oh no, not my car. My car is a )*&)^)!! pain in the ***.

I previously mentioned the transmission issue I had. I thought I might get away with adding new fluid. Ahhh, I was such a naïve person in my youth of two weeks ago. It will only go in reverse, but if you slap it into manual mode and get to 5th gear, you can go about 2 mph and smell the wonderful smell of burnt clutch packs. I knew that I'd been beat, so I did what any self-respecting yak shaver does - I decided to do a manual transmission swap! Of course that means not only a transmission, but a computer mod, engine harness swap, interior mods, rebuild the front subframe, New hoses for everyone and a chicken in every pot!

I got very lucky and found a transmission locally. I paid $200 for it and got an engine and most of the parts I need. I am pumped and thankful for the find. Of course I know there will have to be karma involved as I paid so little. I'll handle that when the time comes. I also bought a Valeo solid flywheel kit and new CV axles. Oh, and a new to me manual transmission engine harness. I am getting my energy back, but we'll see how long it takes to complete this task. I'm guessing a few months as it is cold and I don't like laying on cold concrete and painting is subpar in cold weather.

So bear with me. This yak is about to get shaved closer and cleaner than it has to date.

 

Ah bummer to hear. My girlfriend was infected april last year and hasn't been able to work till this day. Fatigue plays a big role, also loss of muscle tissue and stamina and being overstimulated (mentally & physically). I hope your recovery will go better!

Makes me angry if people dont take this seriously, because the impact can be huge (ranging from death to long term illness).

 

It seems inescapable that in the process of shaving the yak there may be a gumption trap.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Why yes, yes there are.

 

I know nothing about shaving a yak. But there was this girl in college....

 

“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” – Voltaire

And thus, I shall begin a new round of foolish folly on the car that I revere. Revere means a masochistic relationship, right? I kid. I do love the car, but so far it has only shown me love via whips, chains, and broken promises. I need to break that cycle. To do so will require me doing many uncomfortable things to Monty, but sometimes love is hard.

I immediately (7-8 months later?) broke into tearing off the front end to put the car in “maintenance mode”. The most beloved mode of my little masochistic car.

My plan started in a logical manner. I removed the airbox, computer, radiator and support, intercooler, the whole engine wire harness and all the cooling hoses. I removed the harness as it is no good to me in a manual as it isn’t the same. The harness will not go to a new home. I am going to use it for practice. That practice is for the fuel injector harness. You see, I bought new 380cc injectors that use a different style connecter (EV6) than the old ones (EV1).

The kit has a plug to make the conversion, but it pushes the wires into the bottom of the intercooler.

Now, I am not an electrician, but even I am smart enough to determine that is bad. So, my plan is to modify my harness and remove the old connecters from the harness and replace them with EV6 versions that I “acquired” at a pick-n-pull. For those outside of the US, that is a self-service junk yard. I knew late model Volvo’s had the right part so in addition to getting anything I could off the MINIs in the yard, I was also on the hunt for prancing moose. I found two moose in short order and now have 10 EV6 plugs. That might seem excessive, but hey, I already said I am not an electrician and I know I will break a few learning the skills of depinning a plug. The new plug is the one on the left.

I also bought new seals, pins and a few plastic parts for the process. I got the parts from Ballenger Motorsports. They have lots of Bosch plugs and parts. They shipped the same day I ordered.

 

Since even I recognized this was pretty much yak shaving, I went back to disassembly. I proceeded to pull the automatic from the car and let me tell you – that thing is heavy. Like depleted uranium looks at that transmission and dreams of being that heavy. I don’t have a transmission jack. I removed it the real man way. I dropped it onto my legs and shimmied out from under the car. It sounds easy but looking back I think it would have been easier to just disconnect the front brake lines and pull the front subframe out as an assembly. It was not easy to get the transmission to clear the air conditioning lines. I needed an extra 5mm of space. After I had removed the damn thing, I noticed there was a bracket that was about 10mm thick that I could have removed. Ooops, mea culpa.

I was so excited to get that tranny out of my garage and quickly installed my new Valeo flywheel and clutch. I won’t install the transmission itself for a few days as I need to clean up the engine bay, route new parts, fix some stuff that’s broke. You know, car stuff and awaiting stuff to be delivered.

 

In the interim I decided to work on cleaning the subframe. The subframe is nasty. The power steering reservoir had been leaking for a long time. The nice part is no rust, right? The bad part is I must order two new lines and a new reservoir. I’m still debating on the line on the rack.



I removed the rack and the pump and set them aside. Then I removed the control arms from the subframe to make it somewhat portable.



I then cleaned the subframe and the control arms since I hate working on oily parts. Plus, it would allow me to inspect them for any issues. Of course, one inner ball joint is bad, and the rear bushings are shot. Worry not, parts are on order. Since those parts will not be here too soon, I see subframe painting in my future.



So, this is where I leave it for the evening. A collection of pieces scattered across the floor of my garage in what some would call a disorganized mess. I can only bow my head and agree that it is probably best for me to organize my scene of chaos.

 

You are nuttier than squirrel turds.

 

Thanks? This morning I am organizing the chaos. I've already bagged and tagged all my bolts and now it is time to move all the parts to my shed. It is just too cluttered to even think straight. Oh, I also started tearing apart the interior last night as can be seen by a seat in the previous picture. I've also removed the center console to prep for removal of the automatic shifter.

I thought it unbolted from inside the car. Ha, silly, silly Steve, that would make it easy. No. I now must remove the front exhaust and heat shields to gain access to the 4 M6 bolts that hold in the shifter. That will be part of the schedule for today. I also have to remove the brake pedal assembly and install my new brake/clutch assembly in its place as well as track down where the wiring harness goes for the aftermarket alarm system that I am trying to extricate from my vehicle as alarm systems are persona non grata in my abode. Once those are done I hope to reinstall the interior to mark that off my list. It will be done by the time some parts arrive. I think some don't even ship until the 15th and those are arriving via turtles painted in USPS livery.

Enough dilly-dallying, it is time to press on. Have a great one.