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yeah I saw that coolant on the front of the motor and I knew what was up, oh well live and learn.
I’m in central mass, are you local? I don’t see too many r53s on the road
Albany area in NY (of course). I get down to Lime Rock Park a few times during the non-snow season to do track events with one of my MINIs. There used to be a bunch of us doing that with MINIs, but it is now down to just me. That is, with a MINI; some have moved one to other cars. Fun place to meet up if it isn’t too far for you. No cost to just hang out. And you never know what you might see in the way of cars there.
I got tired of the worn out crashy suspension this car had on it, so I decided to do something about it.
I went with Koni Orange STR.T, I wanted to keep cost down without totally losing performance. The car had Koni Yellows on it but I felt that the adjustability was not worth the extra cost for me. Especially considering how difficult it is to reach the rear adjustments. I purchased new spring perches all around, all new bump stops, front dust boots, Lemförder strut bearings, and Powerflex poly rear strut top bushings. Alarmingly I found that the front had no bump stops at all and was using some kind of non-mini dust boot. The front dust boost were serving as bump stops for a long time 🫣
smashed non OE style dust boot.
Because there was no bump stops the strut tops were a bit mushroomed and honestly kinda squashed too. This car has an M7 strut brace and it seems to have not done much to help prevent the mushrooming.
Rubber isolator in this strut bearing has flattened from years of being pummeled with no bump stop. Honestly I think it was just never installed, maybe someone got confused and thought these yellow Konis didn’t require a bump stop.
This car had previously had its strut tower mushrooming “fixed”. It seems that when that was done someone replaced these studs with bolts. The M7 strut tower defenders didn’t really fit well which made them hard to bolt down onto the stock bolts. So these longer bolts enabled it to bolt down again. They also used some washers to help improve the fit a bit more. This was a bad choice though as it improved the fitment of the strut tower plates but made them not work for their intended purpose. Since the plates weren’t pressed into the strut tower sandwiching the strut tower between the bearing and plate they didn’t strengthen the stack up.
I don’t have a photo but they definitely started mushrooming again, likely from being slammed over and over every time the suspension bottomed out and the poor installation. So I beat the strut towers into submission with a hammer and properly installed the M7 strut tower defenders with no washers and no weird bolts. This pressed the plate down onto the strut top which should lend more strength.
Someone installed these spring stiffeners in the rear. I’m throwing them in the trash, this is not my style at all. I view this as a cheap low quality mod. I have zero need for this.
I took the car for a quick ride and it’s way better than before, I’ll see how the car handles on my ride to work tomorrow and give to a few days to settle in. The car is sitting higher which I like.
Last edited by junits15; Feb 17, 2025 at 07:13 PM.
Also I reused the springs this car came with which are Vogtland.
They’re fine, starting to rust but not a big deal. I just didn’t wannna spend $200-$300 on new springs to raise the car .2” and have the same performance.
The KONIs look good in there. A popular replacement for the the MINI shocks.
It looks like someone went through “conventional wisdom handling up grades”; big rear sway bar and after market springs. If i remember correctly, MINIs had about 3” of suspension travel (maybe less?) at the stock ride height. It has been a while since I last saw that number so not exactly sure, but it is surprisingly little. From what I could find those springs you have lower the car by about 1.2”, which would put the car pretty close to the top of the shock if the shocks are OEM size in their length. The KONI sports should have been able to handle those springs (shorter shock body), but I don’t know about the STR-t shocks. If those are made for stock OEM springs and ride height, you may want to consider changing the springs.
Wow the stiffeners. How tight was that suspension in the rear. I have seen people cut the front bump stops (lowered cars) but never remove them. It really beat up the front suspension. Glad you are fixing everything.
The KONIs look good in there. A popular replacement for the the MINI shocks.
It looks like someone went through “conventional wisdom handling up grades”; big rear sway bar and after market springs. If i remember correctly, MINIs had about 3” of suspension travel (maybe less?) at the stock ride height. It has been a while since I last saw that number so not exactly sure, but it is surprisingly little. From what I could find those springs you have lower the car by about 1.2”, which would put the car pretty close to the top of the shock if the shocks are OEM size in their length. The KONI sports should have been able to handle those springs (shorter shock body), but I don’t know about the STR-t shocks. If those are made for stock OEM springs and ride height, you may want to consider changing the springs.
In the meantime be careful of potholes
No need to be careful the STRt is rated for lowering springs. Its funny you're not the first person to say that to me though, did that not used to be the case?
it does have all the "best practices" handling mods on it, it was just really worn out and horrible to drive. Much better now!
Originally Posted by ECSTuning
Wow the stiffeners. How tight was that suspension in the rear. I have seen people cut the front bump stops (lowered cars) but never remove them. It really beat up the front suspension. Glad you are fixing everything.
it was absolutely awful, one of the most harsh cars I've ever driven. I can't understand why the front bump stops were missing, I know some shocks have them integrated, maybe it was a misunderstanding.
No need to be careful the STRt is rated for lowering springs. Its funny you're not the first person to say that to me though, did that not used to be the case?
it does have all the "best practices" handling mods on it, it was just really worn out and horrible to drive. Much better now!
I know they are not the same, but the KONI FSD shocks could not be used with any lowering springs. That also would be the case most other OEM-like replacements. I wasn’t sure about those shock. Still, watch out for pot holes…
In a lot of cases those “best practices” were less than the best for handling or ride.
Two things
1, the car was hitting the bump stops constantly, so I trimmed them down a bit to accommodate the lowered suspension. I cut off about a half inch from all four.
2. the stock rear struts use a taper and a special tapered washer to lock the top assembly together. The yellow Konis I removed used a circlip. This meant I didn’t have the right washer to put in the OEM form factor Koni oranges. I used some regular washers to hold the car over for a week and replaced them with the right part yesterday. The washers would have been fine but it didn’t feel right, better to have the correct part in there.
also now you can see my power flex bushings
special washers in the bag from FCP, regular hardware shown on the bench.
before cutting
After cutting
assembled rear strut
Front bumps trimmed
I'm still getting a lot of clunking from the rear end of the car even after rebuilding the rear shocks.
Only real things it could be are the control arms or the bushings. The car has alta control arms and the bearings on them are totally rusted, thats likely my issue.
Now that I think about it, the sway bar end links were all pretty trashed, Rock Auto had some TRW ones on clearance for only $4 each. At that price its worth trying to parts cannon it.
It was a balmy 20 degrees yesterday so I fired up the garage heater and decided it was the perfect time to get some stuff done on the mini.
I got all four endlinks for a steal off rock auto. The fronts were torn and I thought the rears may have been noisy. The rears seemed fine so I suspect the noise in the rear end is from the rusty Alta control arms. I didn’t replace the rear endlinks yet.
The front passenger side link was bent (???) I don’t even know how that happens. I went with TRW because they were $4 each.
went in without issue.
After that I turned my attention to the header test pipe. I’ve been dealing with exhaust leaks and with no cat the fumes are headache inducing. So I needed to seal it all up. I borrowed my brothers smoke machine to locate the issue. I found the leak was from the front exhaust flange. I could have just tightened it but rather than mess around with chance I added some high temp RTV to fully seal it up. Also while in there I swapped the orifice on the non-fouler to the larger one as I’ve had an intermittent code for the downstream sensor being “stuck lean”. This $100 header was a great buy but I wish the flange was a bit easier to get to. I guess you get what you pay for.
Test pipe out Medium orifice swapped to large orifice Sealant and gaskets back on Injecting smoke at the tailpipes Smoke leaking from front 2 bolt flange, not from the manifold gasket
I had a code for a small evap leak, I injected smoke from the evap lines to the purge solenoid. The engine side showed no leaks, just smoke coming out of the airbox as normal. The fuel tank side just leaked out of the dust filter above the passenger side rear wheel. So I suspect the issue is just the gas cap seal. One is on order Injecting smoke to the evap lines Checking for leaks, no leaks but old rodent nests were plentiful here Constructed like a giant vape
lastly, my boost gauge always reads wrong. It’s an AEM x-series gauge I got as a trade a few years ago. I got it without the pressure sensor, I bought what I think is the right sensor but I’m unsure. It reads 11PSI with the engine off, it’s supposed to auto calibrate to zero. It also reads like 30PSI on throttle, though that would be neat I know it isn’t real. Lots of online posts and AEMs own troubleshooting say that this is a wiring issue. However I tried it with an external 12V power source and the behavior is exactly the same. I have no clue what’s going on here. I know there are fakes of these out there but this one doesn’t look fake. Maybe I have the wrong sensor. This is too low of a priority to put much effort into. I will likely swap to another brand eventually. External 12V supply still reading 11PSI, this should calibrate to zero automatically
Had a rattle at startup that I eventually realized was the timing chain. It would rattle for a second then go away, only happened if the car was sitting for a few days. One second turned into 2, then 5, then 10 and today it rattled for 30 second straight. So i decided to stop being lazy and put in the new tensioner I had sitting on my bench. Took all of 30 minutes, pulled the fuel pump fuse to prime the new tensioner with oil. Then took it for a ride, no issues and totally quiet on startup.
I've been exclusively driving this car for a month now, yesterday I did take the stang out because the weather was nice. The rear end is still noisy, had an evap code and a front 02 sensor code that popped and mysteriously went away. I'll be watching for that again. The exhaust leak is gone but I desperately need a cat, this car stinks bad. I also have a dead wheelspeed sensor, I need to get ISTA running again to figure out which one it is.
Other than that its been really good, I'm happy with it for the time being! Noticeable wear on the tensioner face Wear on the side too
The squirrels have started stashing nuts in my engine bay, it must still have lingering odor that I can't smell. They haven't damaged anything but it is only a matter of time, right now I'm daily driving the car they only as get in there on days that I leave the car parked in the driveway. This temporarily has stopped them. I've also started leaving the hood open because they seem to avoid the engine if its not covered and dark. I have some ideas on how to combat this, but my first line of defense is a trap, and to rake all the acorns in my yard lol.
Also I feel it prudent to mention that I didn't throw away the JCW intake, nor do I plan on selling it, I'll be keeping it with the car in the event that it should be brought back to stock. I'm fully aware of how rare those things are
Have a similar problem in my detached garage with mice and whomever. so far leaving the hood open (a lot of times with the battery on a charger) does seem to help. Trapping might work. How about mothballs in a bag? You would need to take it out before driving. I’ve had limited success with that.
Thing is, these critters don’t seem to care about much of anything.
Have a similar problem in my detached garage with mice and whomever. so far leaving the hood open (a lot of times with the battery on a charger) does seem to help. Trapping might work. How about mothballs in a bag? You would need to take it out before driving. I’ve had limited success with that.
Thing is, these critters don’t seem to care about much of anything.
Yeah tell me about it! They ate a whole block of rat poison and came back for more lol
I'll give the mothballs a shot, if it works its worth it
No, not really. We have them here from people dumping domestic cats they don’t want and they have a bad life. Why do people do that?
Some people claim the sonic devices work, but I have not tried them. I’m sure you can find an ongoing yes-no debates online about them, which was of no help to me.
I should mention that, for in the garage, I put mothballs in containers with lids and vent holes, and placed them under the cars where they parked. That was the best I could come up with for my critter problem.
Hope you find something that helps.
Oh - if you haven’t checked, pull the cover off where the cabin filter is (in the underside of the dash above passenger footwell) and make sure the critters haven’t gotten in there. That could also be a source of your odor.
I replaced the front passenger side wheel speed sensor. Unfortunately I broke off the old one in the hub. Despite my best efforts to pull it out I ended up having to drill it out. I hit the tone ring on the hub and ruined it.
$180 later the car sits on jacks while I wait for the new one to arrive.
also the first picture has some hints as to what’s in store for this car very soon!
damaged tone ring
this green plastic is magnetic viewing film, available on Amazon for $7 and very useful! You can see the bad segments of the tone ring.
so far leaving the hood open (a lot of times with the battery on a charger) does seem to help. Trapping might work. How about mothballs in a bag? You would need to take it out before driving. I’ve had limited success with that.
