Just a night shot. Loving the new wheel colours!

 

Gorgeous!

 

Oopppsss. Just did the cowl mod!
Now my CAI has a 4inch hole to keep it company!

 

Ahhh, no more stuffy nose, finally! Now, off to the rear end?

 

Got the JCW Style grill.

Ahh, freshly washed.







A look at the gaping wheel gap.

 

This one is way overdue for an update!!!!!!

 

So I was gone for 7 months and "Chili" was left to the care of the family.

Got back and the wheels had curb rashes all over the place and there was clunking coming from the front suspension.

So I ordered the likely suspects, the inner and outer ball joints. This was the start of what was going to be an exciting few months for Chili.



Naturally, after getting back, I checked all fluids. I noticed that oil was on the low side so I topped it up only to discover the valve cover gasket was seeping. So I hit up ECS Tuning and Pelican Parts for the few things I needed and had them ship the parts I need all the way to The Philippines.



I DIY'ed the Valve cover gasket and got into a hiccup. One of the bolts was too tight and almost rounded off while trying to take it off. So I ordered the Valve Cover bolts from ECS as I find they act on orders way more quickly than Pelican. Also, their INTERNATIONAL shipping is a tad bit cheaper.

The head of the bolt is in bad condition and there was no way I'm torquing that thing up on a new valve cover gasket.


Because Chili was due for an Oil change, I picked up some oil from the local BMW Stealership which had surprisingly good prices for their oil and swapped out the Oil Pan Gasket before changing the oil with the one I got from Pelicanparts.

Messy, messy job. The Bentley was not so useful with the oil pan gasket change. So much had to be actually removed than what was said in the manual.


After 5 days of downtime because of the bad valve cover bolt, the new ones, all the way from ECS (Ohio), arrived while the mechs were working on the oil pan and oil change.


I was relieved/happy that the valves were in good shape.


So I finally got around to having the mechs install those ball joints and immediately, the steering feel was lighter. However, there was still one annoying clunk that remained. My control arms were in tip-top shape and quite new, so I ruled them out. The hunt begins for the mystery clunk.

Also, I had the sagging headliner re-upholstered with leatherette and DIY'ed the removal and install.





I forgot to mention that while all of the above was happening, I was draining and flushing the AUTOMATIC Transmission Oil with Toyota Type-IV ATF from the local Toyota Dealer. I did this three times with noticeable improvement after the second flush and fill. After the last drain and fill, the tranny has had a new leash on life. Such a relief that the tranny seems to be acting fine now and the slipping is next to gone.

More coming up.

 

Chili's back in good hands now!

 

As Chili was now running and seemingly in awesome shape, I had the tires re-balanced as I was noticing slight vibrations at 50miles+.

Well, the wheel was bent.


And the shopping for new wheels started. As my options were limited being all the way here in the Philippines, I just looked and looked. With the help of our local MINI Guru, Minsanity. Some of you might even know him.

In the meantime, a pair of H&R Rears and Vogtland Front Springs fell from MINI heaven. Thank you to you, secret donor!

Chili got lowered.



And because she's lower, it was about time she got some lip surgery.


Thanks to Minsanity's help, again (), I came across a brand new set of Kazera KZ-Z's in Manila.


The wheel as shown in tirerack.


In a matter of days, the Kazera's were shipped from our capital, Manila, to Cebu and was inside Chili's hatch.


And here it is.




Went out to get decals made. I tried to replicate the OEM centre cap as much as I could. They are bit too big but will have to do for now.


The wheel is a bit dirty.


Chili, now happy and mean.

 

Yippie! Another Pinoy!

Lemon

 

Not only have you nursed it back to shape w/ enviable DIY skills, it's now lookin' better than ever! Great work, bro!!!!!

 

I wish i could do that :( All that mods and fixes must of costed a fortune! Good job for restoring it..

Good thing mechanics don't cost a lot in your country, as they cost $60-100 a hour over here..

 

True!

Labor is relatively cheaper here. However, I still save a lot by doing some work on my own IF it is DIY'able.

Actually, the mods I have are the "cheaper" ones, if you may. The big buck mods have yet to be done.

 

So I got a few things done which I've been wanting to do for so long.

Took out the side scuttles and disassembled them. I wanted to black out the grill but retain the "S" in chrome to make it stand out.


Sprayed on some non-gloss acrylic spray paint. Was very careful to ensure a good result. So far, so good.


Here it is all done! Looks like a tiny bit of imperfection had to happen though.



Here it is mounted. I know, the orange looks bad.


And since I got lowered, I wanted to take control of the rear cambers to compliment my already installed front Eibach/SPC camber plates from way back.

Megan Racing Rear Camber links.


Got it set to -1.6 in fronts and -1.5 in the rears and got toe settings as near to zero as possible.


Driving like a dream!!!

 

migs,

try this set up...

front 2.5 neg camber
toe out 1/16 each tire and total of 1/8
rear 1.5 neg camber..

you will be cornering a lot better...for street is the 0 is the best


regards and ingats
Lemon

 

Awesome , glad you got it. Nice DIY thread.