Ok cam is in and torqued along with the rockers. It's all assembled with royal purple synthetic assembly lube. It went back together flawlessly. The hardest part was the cam chain tentioner cap that required blind turning with a short socket and a ball joint attachment. I would say it is very doable for you kahnfucious

 

Awesome - thanks catch_me. One additional question build related but not cam related. How did you release the airbag? I know about the two holes - but what did you insert in there and at what angle etc to get it to actually pop off and release the two safety pin looking clips. Thanks.

 

What I did was make a tiny x in the dimple where the hole in the wheel is with a exacto knife so it wouldn't show after I was done and then used a 2 mm Allen wrench to go in there with the long ball end. I kinda just "felt" around till I thought I had it, it should go about straight to it if you insert it about a 30 degree angle from the horizontal. You will be able to feel it compress if you put a little pressure on it and I just realeased one side and then the other and then pulled to bag off.

 

Been a while since I updated the thread. The farthest I got was getting the header put in before the semester got crazy, but finals start tomorrow so after getting done Wednesday afternoon the nights in the shop will begin again. I have to mod the DDM intake to fit under my GTT strut brace without rubbing, as well as get my injectors and intercooler back in. Then it is just a good spring detail, new alignment and some vinyl accents I have planned and I will be flying all over again even badder than last year.

 

Kind of resurrecting this thread because I was recently thinking about those fluid tanks you installed awhile back. How are they holding up? Is there a reason you got the 22psi billet caps? M7 offers like 3 other caps, not really sure what I should go with or if they're even necessary.

These are what I'm talking about.

 

Yeah sorry for not keeping the thread up to date, put about 1500 miles on since the middle of May and its been a blast so far. The power steering fluid tank as well as the coolant expansion tank are both holding up well. I got the billet cap purely because it looks better than the other caps offered I thought. The tanks are kinda a pain to install i thought as they were not as "Exact fit" as marketed to be. The coolant tank was especially hard to get in with its width and length. Once mounted though they work well, and I like the look. I have had not problems with the expansion tank not holding pressure or anything and it is nice to have the outlet tube if it does have to release fluid that runs down toward the ground rather than spraying all over the engine bay.

 

Well I will have some new pictures this weekend of the MINI after I get my new custom stripes done... Should be a perfect final touch to the exterior.

 

Any updates?

 

Been busy but do have updates :P. Been spending a lot of time just flying around in the MINI whenever I can. I cannot rave more about the setup I have it is literally all I wished for and more in a street daily driver car. plenty of zip to have lots of fun. I did get new stripes done and they look awesome love it so much. I literally have just been spending all summer finding reasons to drive as many places as I can. Here are some pics I've got of the exterior with the new stripes.

 

Well done. Super clean.

 

I'm so jealous.

 

Wow that's a beauty

 

I am jealous also. Wish my R52 was that clean and well optioned.

 

Thanks guys. I have an issue with my air conditioning that started this spring, it wasn't working when I got the MINI out of winter mode, so I first tried to recharge it, which initially seemed like it was fixed, but over the summer it started not working as well again and yesterday it was very hot and humid and on the way home from school it noticed a whining noise that matched the RPMs of the motor and would go away once I turned the air off and come back when I turned it on along with a major power loss and extra load on the motor. I pulled my from bumper off and will be having it looked at hopefully at the end of this week or next week by a local shop that is known for their service of European cars. I would figure it out by myself had I had the tools but the A/C system is one of those things I will just let a professional do. I will keep you updated on what they find out.

 

Sounds like maybe the compressor or the compressor clutch ?

 

That is what I believe it is, I am just going to have it professionally done so that it does get properly done and I don't have to worry about getting the right tools to dispose of the refrigerant properly as well as they know how to make sure everything else in the system is right too, such as no leaks by doing a UV test with UV dyed refrigerant.

 

Not to mention it's actually illegal to open the A/C system if you don't have the proper certification. You made the right choice!

 

Checkmate Cheers

 

That looks good, aero kit, R56 JCW brakes...very nice.

 

I am puzzled. Where are you? The photos suggest this Mini is in Taiwan. Yet your classified shows you are in Mid West. I like photo puzzles as they are fun.

NAMers. You can too join the fun as why I think the photos are in Taiwan. There are at least 2 clues.

 

Midwest part of Taiwan

 

I'm about to buy a R53 checkmate here in the UK , so scanned the web for inspiration and stumbled across your amazing Checkmate in Michigan. You have built an amazing machine , looks absolutely stunning.

I know it's been some years now since the build but have there been any further improvements and happy with your final build from a few years back .

Great photos and great record of work , really inspiring. Thank you
Lee

 

Hey Lee,
Thanks, sorry for a late response, been kinda inactive on the forum for a while. The checkmate is still around, and has remained pretty much unchanged, as it was built to the point where anything more would just be excessive on a street car. I have not had to do anything but routine maintenance since building it, really only gets around 3,500 miles on it a year of summer/fair weather driving. Possibly going to part with it this year after alot of thought since I picked up a new classic cooper pickup project that will require some significant effort. Hopefully your checkmate is treating you well!

 

Nice clean build!

I see you have the Vibra-Technics motor mounts. I'm definitely going to replace my worn upper and lower mounts with Vibra-Technics street mounts. I'm curious if you also replaced the gearbox mount and what your experience was with that.

 

Wow, super clean build! I picked up a Checkmate in February and have been tinkering with it over in the build thread section. Definitely some good motivation in this thread!