Hey everyone, first post here. Long time VW fanatic & have been wanting a MCS for a while. For many reasons Gen 1 was the best choice for me, 2005-2006 ideally. Well I quickly realized that there were lots of high mileage cars with mods I wanted, and then some "low" mileage cars, usually less altered. So I ended up buying 3 cars in a week. One garage queen & two higher mileage cars with some mods I wanted. Going to swap parts, sell the two donors and keep the queen. Here they are:

Mini 1 - The Queen: Royal grey 2006 with 92k miles
- Color matched interior with chrono package and center dash carbon fiber-ish large weave finish?
- Black & tan heated leather front seats (anyone know what these are from?) & black pleather rear seats
- H/K stereo with telephony buttons on wheel but bluetooth features not actually installed?
- 17” R98 web spoke wheels
- JCW exhaust
- Silicone? Alta intake with foam Alta filter & box
- Alta SC intake air diverter
- LSD (BONUS! - wasn't listed in the VIN report?)
- Strut tower caps
- AC coil dented & jammed into the radiator
- Bad yo-yo, helped a lot with ECU reset, but still there, tried the VGS mod but that introduced other issues
- Stiff clutch (Valeo on the bench ready for install)
- Metal scraping noise from belt area like dry bearings or something, louder when cold
- Scoop is black with poor paint so looks like a replacement & all parts behind it are missing. Not sure why this would be. Hood really looks like the original.


This car is faster than black mini below with new cyclinder head, intake, exhaust, & 17% pulley so there are some secrets here (bought this from a small-time dealer who got it at auction so they don't know).




Mini 2 – Black w/white roof 2004 with 135k miles
- Mint black leather seats (owner said they had heaters in them but car doesn't have cold weather package.
- Boost gauge, close match to OEM look
- New headlights, or lenses anyway – crystal clear
- JVC stereo with amp, small sub & bluetooth with mic & telephony
- One ball mod with added resonator
- Silver powdercoated 3” intake with k&n filter but no box. This thing is long, with filter sticking into hole cut through back wall. Definitely much louder SC whine trhan the grey car when on the throttle (don't really car for that, sounds like a bad tranny to me – LOL!) and air whistle (like that part)
- 17% pulley
- New cylinder head
- Strut caps with cross brace
- Light clutch so assuming recent
- Hein lowering springs
- 10mm wheel spacers
- New R56 brakes, steel lines, aluminum RR trailing arms with adjustable links (this guy was the lead tech at a Mini dealership)
- 17” black JCW challenge wheels (nice wheels but don't really dig black)


Super smooth & quiet running (hoping for an ATI pulley), nearly as fast as the grey car but for sure less responsive at lower throttle openings. Pictures in the ad were not good so I didn't expect this thing to be so clean. With tinted windows, lowered, & with black paint & wheels & spacers, it really has the race car thing going.




Mini 3 – Blue with white roof (no sunroof) 2006 with 155k miles
- Chrono package
- Base stereo and rotary-**** climate controls
- Worn pleather seats
- Two ball mod with added resonator (loud)
- New (last 15k miles) passenger side motor mount
- New coolant tank
- New power steering hose
- New clutch slave cylinder
- New front control arm bushings
- New adjustable rear control arms
- Oiled supercharger
- Megan coilovers
- Alta tensioner stop
- 16” R84 V-Spoke wheels
- Bad compression on number 3 cylinder, reported to be sticking valve (gets better as it warms up)


Really got this car for the coilovers, coolant tank & a few other things. Not sure if I want to try and blast the intake valve or just pull the head for a refresh. Maybe do that & then install the head form the grey car on this one?




So I'm about to pull these things apart. With this many miles no telling what's been replaced so I'm kind of thinking of just taking a close look at everything on each car and keeping what looks best for the grey one. I'm going to check the oil in all three superchargers, pulling a bunch of stuff off the black car (obviously), replacing the crank position sensor on all, maybe there is a DTBV on one?


I'm also thinking it might be fun to strip the blue car, sell the removed parts and make it a track car. Don't see a lot of these with no sun roof.


Any advice on other things I should be looking for, what not to overlook, etc. eould be appreciated. I'll post some pictures here if I find some interesting gems.

 

Welcome to NAM,

Question: All three cars are running and in good shape and you purchased them to take the best parts to create one car?

 

Where are you?

 

The grey and black cars both are very clean and run great. The blue caris in ok shape and doesn't run well due to the issue with cyl 3.

I'm in coastal NC.

Oh forgot! Did top speed runs in the black and grey cars. Black one topped out at about 128 and I know the speedo is optimistic so maybe low/mid 120's. Seemed to be pulling hard up to that point though so almost like it's limited. Only did one run so didn't really confirm that. The grey car was at 140 and still pulling when I shut it down. I did a speedo check with Android gps & 60 mph indicated was 58.3 on my phone.

 

The grey mini. Purchased for $7600. Time to tear it down!



This I found earlier when I noticed that the lower grill was not in at the bottom and there was a break in it. It looked like someone ran into something pointy that went through the grill and pushed in the AC condenser. I would have thought that something that sharp would have punched a hole in it. Anyway, the system is holding pressure but I'm concerned that this and the radiator jammed up against each other might rub a hole in one of them.


I don't see a reason to replace this dogbone?


Is this hole in the back of the air box for sound or for more air? If it were for air it seams like it would be much larger.


Radiator support broken too. I'm thinking a simple aluminum splint for this...


Ehh, new alternator?

 

For the yo-yo, even a used bypass valve from another car will fix it. I bought one on the marketplace here with like 30k miles for $40 shipped a year or so ago. I'd also check the belt tensioner...a bouncy/worn tensioner can kind of seem like yo-yo, especially when letting off the clutch pedal in 1st/2nd gear.

For the "metal scraping noise from belt area," I'd be willing to bet that's an dirty/old idler pulley. Pull it off, clean it up, and spray some lubricant in it and spin it by hand in both directions until the noise disappears. If it can't be fixed with a little cleaning, a new pulley is $30 or so.

 

Yeah the yoyo is definitely more than the pulley. It will be interesting to see the differences in bpv spring tension between the three cars.

I almost have the tranny out of the grey one. I've never worked so hard to remove a transmission!

 

I have to replace my radiator support. The entire support is gone underneath the radiator. My radiator is suspended by bungee cords! Looks like you can save yours...

Did you have to open up the AC? Or can you just move the AC condenser/dryer out of the way (tough to see in your picture).

 

Nope! Condenser swings out of the way--it sits inside little grooves in front of the radiator in the support. Two bolts on the top of the condenser, and you should be able to shuffle it up out of the grooves, and swing the bottom left corner down and to the right (carefully, mind the refrigerant lines), and set the corner to rest on the ground. Then you can disconnect the radiator, remove it, and pull the support.

Here's a good video. Honestly, his whole channel is great for learning these cars' quirks. Sometimes he takes more steps than necessary, but you'll find your own flow soon enough.

 

Thx Sarom058 - much appreciated!

 

What is this center dash treatment called? I like it but it's not on the glove box or other side. Don't know if I can get those or a rap that matches?


Hmm, writing on the back of the cylinder head. I'm assuming they don't come like this so this is a transplant? Is there any way to tell a JCW head from the outside?


These look like stock injectors?


I pulled the alternator and then found this plastic bushing on the floor. It looks like it may fit between the bolt and larger hole. Two of the four mounting holes are oversized like this, but only found one bushing?


Ah, figured one of these was in there! 55mm measured at the outside of the pulley grooves. What % pulley does it make this?


Is this where a resonator was removed from my JCW exhaust?

 

Black and tan leather seats was listed on my '05 MCS as "Cordoba Beige".

 

Thanks zsqure!

 

Is this power steering pump fan cover aftermarket? Is it better? It doesn't seem too different from the plastic one on the other Mini.

I'm assuming this oil is from oil changes but maybe it's leaking? Is this gasket a typical leak point?

A couple of 2x6's and C-clamps to straighten the AC condenser.

Looks pretty good!

Bummer, the PTO case was dry. So that's the noise, even though it sure sounded like it was coming from the other side. The gears look pretty good in this picture but...

Not so much. I actually started another thread for the S/C stuff https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...orn-gears.html

 

I think MINImania sells that power steering fan cover. It's an aftermarket thing. I put it on my car to shield the fan, mine was missing the OEM cover.

Also I think that there is a gasket between the oil fiter housing and the block that does fail. It's not super common, but I think it has been known to happen.

 

Thanks Racingguy.


With the tranny & clutch out, supercharger & other intake bits off, all four struts and rear trailing arms removed, it's time to move on to the next car.


Bummer though, this oil is dripping from the AC condenser. Oh wall, felt like I didn't really have a choice. the way it was smashed into the radiator I was afraid they would rub holes in each other.


I bought this 2005 for $1,800 with a bad cylinder, but a pulley, some new parts, and a set of Megan coilovers which were the real draw.



The front wheels on this car had lug bolts that were cut off. I am assuming to save weight. Really smart.


Of course one of them stripped because the socket was only on about 1/4". This is what it looked like after I got done heating it and beating on it with a hammer & chisel.


my next idea was to weld the hex half of another lug bolt on to the bolt. Peeled right off. Too much mass for my welder to get the steel hot enough to fuse properly I think.

 

Looks like you got the rare, $$$, and discontinued full leather JCW accessory steering wheel with this car. Got another view of it to confirm?

 

Really? Hmm, I'll check it out.

OK one more image of the lug bolt fiasco:


Finally I drilled the bolt out and inserted an easy-out. But it just had the square end on it & I needed something to put a breaker bar on. a large 1/2" drive Torx went on backwards, then some kind of stripped nut remover hex bit (I think) over that, which gave me something to put the socket on . That sucker was in there tight! I was leaning on the breaker bar chanting at teh easy-out, "Don't break, don't breeeeaaaak!" Finally it broke free. Now I can actually start working on the car! LOL