Hi all,

I'm really happy to have found this forum, as I have been searching far and wide for some answers in regards to a job I am doing on an '03 Coop S for a friend of mine. First, a little background;

My name is Aaron Greenberg, I am the proprietor of MB Classic, LLC, a small, independent Ferrari service shop in Cincinnati. A very good friend and college classmate of mine has an '03 Coop S as well as a vintage 911SC (which he purchased from me a few years ago) and recently brought the Mini over to me for some work. I R&R'd the right strut mount, as the original one had torn after he drove over a deep pot hole (which also necessitated a new rim), and also R&R'd the lower ball joint. But one other problem he has with the car is that the oil pan gasket is leaking pretty badly, and from my readings across the 'net, I see it's not an uncommon occurence. So, we have a new oil pan gasket in hand, as well as the Bentley service manual, but I'm a little foggy on some of the job details in regards to having to remove the front end and use special tools on the crush tubes, etc...

Obviously, since we work on Ferrari, I don't have anything in the way of Mini/BMW special tools so I was wondering if this job can be accomplished in any other fashion, or if someone here has tips/recommendations on tackling it.

Thanks much for any help and/or insight anyone here may be able to provide! My friend is really sick of the service quality at the local dealership so I hope I can help him out.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

Hi Aaron, I am also from Cinci. I am sure you will get the answers you seek, I am sorry that I don't have any. I do have a ? for you, are you able to do a rolling tune on a classic Mini or know of anyone in the area that can? Thought it couldn't hurt to ask.

 

Hmm, I wish we had a dyno, and if so, I'd be happy to do it for you but we used to take our cars over to a shop in Walnut Hills called German Motor Cars (Porsche specialist) to have dyno runs done. But they've since closed up shop so I have no idea where you would find someone here who has one. Although there also used to be a place near us in West Chester called Zero Lift. I'm not sure if they're still around, but if so, I bet they could help you out, as I think they have a dyno.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

welcome to NAM. good luck with your question, i'm no help!

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...xtensions.html
might help

 

Yes, the oil pan gasket leak is a common one. I replaced min a year or so a ago, and didn't use any special tools. In the thread linked in the above post I think you may be talking about the 8 x 100mm stud (available at any hardware store) that help keeps the front (radiator and misc attached things) up as you pull the radiator forward. I used these when doing my supercharger, but did not when doing the oil pan gasket. The crush tubes just unbolt (16mm I believe).

Good luck,

Nik