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Thanks! I've had a lot of fun with this car and its been rock solid this year. I hope that continues!
I've already got the rough shape of 2 of the 3 lines I need pre-bent. I did the entirety of our Lemons car with Ni-Cop years ago and a cheap flaring tool. It's a little bit of a PITA, but once the technique is learned it's pretty easy. My biggest fear is running the ABS/Master Cylinder dry and having to bleed that. I've got a cable on the way and hopefully I can finaggle my way through the software to bleed the ABS. I'm not too worried about installing the actual lines themselves (aside from being able to remove the existing lines from the calipers). I hate rust.
I hate rust too!!!!
I have a foxcon 510 and it was invaluable in bleeding the master cylinder/ABS. I went through a lot of fluid to get out the final bits of air, but you need to keep going. Also, the other thing that really helped was putting a piece of wood between the edge of the seat and the brake pedal, and compressing it as much as you can. Then leaving it over night. Works with the clutch pedal as well!
Thanks! I've had a lot of fun with this car and its been rock solid this year. I hope that continues!
I've already got the rough shape of 2 of the 3 lines I need pre-bent. I did the entirety of our Lemons car with Ni-Cop years ago and a cheap flaring tool. It's a little bit of a PITA, but once the technique is learned it's pretty easy. My biggest fear is running the ABS/Master Cylinder dry and having to bleed that. I've got a cable on the way and hopefully I can finaggle my way through the software to bleed the ABS. I'm not too worried about installing the actual lines themselves (aside from being able to remove the existing lines from the calipers). I hate rust.
I hate rust too!!!!
I have a foxcon 510 and it was invaluable in bleeding the master cylinder/ABS. I went through a lot of fluid to get out the final bits of air, but you need to keep going. Also, the other thing that really helped was putting a piece of wood between the edge of the seat and the brake pedal, and compressing it as much as you can. Then leaving it over night. Works with the clutch pedal as well!
Got my cable and INPA working and was able to activate the vacuum pump. Woo! Immediately began working on removing and routing new lines. I got the DS front and DS rear done which were the "easy" ones.
All I've got left is the passenger rear which will likely have to be done in two pieces as I don't plan on dropping the exhaust or ebrake cables.
None of the removed lines were structurally compromised surprisingly. Some looked pretty nasty but they all held up to the abuse of removal. All the rubber lines were seized to the hard lines so they were cut off with an angle grinder.
Carnage
The front lines will be totally replaced, the rear lines will connect to the existing junction at the firewall.
Done and done. Used the vacuum bleeder to accelerate getting brake fluid into the lines and then solo bled with the pedal using a column of brake fluid coming out of the bleeder into a catch can. Speed bleeders be damned. All connections dry after stomping on the pedal good.
Ready for ~2000 miles with two 60lb dogs over Thanksgiving.
I drove the car to work to verify there would be no surprises with the brakes before my 12 hour drive and there wasn't.......but it felt like it was down on pep a little bit, and like it decelerated just a bit when off-throttle between shifts. It was just barely perceptible, to where I wasn't sure if I was making it up; but when I saw my actual MPG at 22 (versus 26 lifetime average) I realized something was wrong. The wheels were not all the same temperature and had different levels of resistance so I assumed sticking caliper. Naturally I rebuilt the front calipers less than 36 hours before leaving.
Problem still not resolved. 100% highway road trips usually net me high 20s for mpg; I saw 22.9, 24.5, and 25.9 respectively on the way to NC. Yikes. It's definitely not brake related. It seems like its running rich. I did a visual check of all key pre-supercharger vacuum leak areas but saw no major culprits. Pre-cat O2 seems to be bouncing between 0-1v at idle but hard to be 100% sure thanks to low refresh rate of my scanner.
Does anyone have any other suggestions as far as places to look? Won't be doing a boost leak test down here; and if it's O2 related I'm probably looking at a new header thanks to rust. I'm hoping there is something I'm missing....
Either way, I'm not letting the MPG ruin what's otherwise been a great trip so far.
Well, the trip was a blast 1900 miles over 7 days. Traffic was surprisingly minimal in both directions and resulted in relatively stress-free drives. Traffic was also nonexistent on the parkway and the diamondback so I had some excellent joyrides. And of course it was great having the mini while trying to find street parking on a busy black Friday in Asheville.
I experienced no issues aside from the decrease in MPG. I did this same trip in 2018 and saw 28mpg over 2200 miles; this time i saw 24.6. 25mpg if I factor in the slight increase in tire diameter over what I ran then. I hooked up INPA to check O2 performance at one point and noticed that my alternator load was pretty much constantly at 100%. I'm thinking that this might be the source of my issues but I'm not sure how its happening or what it means. This is pretty low on the priority list.
For now, winter tires are back on and I'll take it out on clear days and wait to see if the doors continue to freeze shut.
Turns out my large drop in MPG was a function of finally having a working exhaust and an undisciplined right foot. I've been driving it like it's meant to be driven. I conducted an experiment where I drove my normal routes, but without having fun. Calculated MPG jumped to 32. Woah. Nothing wrong with the car. Carry on.
I've been driving the mini a bit more than expected this winter. My TDI had a few minor issues that I wasn't eager to tackle while getting my wife's new van road-worthy. Despite a few big snows and a few sub-zero days, it hasn't skipped a beat. No frozen door handles, no blown out rear windows. Unfortunately my heater core is plugged, so that is next on the list.
The complete brake line replacement has been a massive success. I'm not missing a drop of fluid and concern is now completely off my radar.
Life with a mid-mileage winter beater mini is great!
What a ride. I've been taking advantage of the hot used car market and had some success cutting down my oversized stable the last few months. Unfortunately including this project. I had it listed for a while at a price that was at the upper end of what the market would bear. After a month of tire kickers I was ready to pull all the mods and go back to stock....literally the day I was going to put it on the lift...it sold. New owner had a blast on the test drive, I'm glad it's going to continue bringing smiles.
Some sad....had a few epic road trips in this car and it got me neck deep back into my attainable dream car....and was the first of 10 or so I've had over the last 5 years.
Some glad....moving on means I can build the JCW exactly how I want it...and do it now. This truly will be my dream mini. Parts have been ordered and it's already in pieces again.
Thanks for reading and all the input these last few years. I'll still be here.
My mini partner in crime @wmcoons found a silver mini being sold for parts at a dealer locally that looked suspiciously like the subject of this thread. I was able to immediately confirm it was my old mini by the location of the rust spots. He found the car Thursday, and we flat towed it home with my Sienna after work on Friday. We have a front crash bar with tow supports mounted from a previous project, so all we needed to do was pop the bumper off and swap crash bars. I think this is going to be a permanent staple in tool kit.
We attempted to start it in the lot, and got no reaction from the starter, but knowing all the aftermarket parts that were on it, I thought the asking price was fair running or not. Gages worked, but that's it. We pulled it into the garage last night and did some very quick investigation. The engine was stuck but came loose with force, #2 spark plug and tube were pretty cooked but intact, and looking down the cylinders the walls didn't look smooth, but my borescope battery was dead so I can't be positive. Oil was overfilled, and the coolant reservoir was empty. And the intercooler diverter is pretty warped. See below. I think this engine got real hot. The sad part is, the odometer only has ~700 more miles on it now than when i sold it.
Uhoh
The plan is to take it apart piece by piece, save most of the suspension for the current project, funnel some upgrades to my dad for his mini, and part out the rest. Let me know if you need anything. I'll have a marketplace thread up shortly.
I'm a little sad that it's not going to live on, but glad it's back and I'm looking forward to a relaxing garage project. I need to load up on rubbermaid totes.
Man that's a beautiful and unique looking car.
I would love to see someone salvage it in its entirety and drop a motor in it.
Bittersweet to see it live out it's final days.
But it's also a comfort to know as a donor might help other Minis live on.
Man that's a beautiful and unique looking car.
I would love to see someone salvage it in its entirety and drop a motor in it.
Bittersweet to see it live out it's final days.
But it's also a comfort to know as a donor might help other Minis live on.
BTW: Welcome back!
I very much understand, and share your sentiments. However, the picture above is just about the only good angle available.
Somewhat worse than when I sold it.
Both taillights are gnarly, as is the hatch. The driver's door is missing a 6"x6" section due to rust. The PO did do an excellent job of removing the packing tape residue that I had no success with. The roof looks great!
Part of the sale included stamping the title as "junk" so that's just another hurdle to saving it. Almost every component will go on to keeping other minis on the road, especially the electric blue project I've briefly mentioned in my other thread.
The car is dead, as is the build....but hopefully my experience will help others on similar endeavors.
We tried to start the car in the lot. No go. Electronics came on, but not even a click from the starter.
We got it home, and did a quick eval. Warped intercooler cover. No coolant in the reservoir. Extra oil in the pan. No froth.
We pulled the plugs and tried to turn it over, and it had considerable resistance. Wuhoh. Then we called it a night and sat on it.
Went over worst case, likely scenarios over and over. Starter fried? maybe. Starter burned out? very possibly, but would still think we'd hear a click. no coolant, warped IC cover? probably got super hot.
We got back to it, and started with INPA to check for codes. Couldn't get it to connect to anything but the ECU. Maybe BCM is bad? Tried BMWscanner and was able to connect to all modules. No red flags. Was suspicious of the key as it wasnt the key that I sold. It worked in the locks, but thats it. Turns out either immobilizer is bad, or never got swapped with the key shell. That explains the no start.
We scoped the cylinders and didnt see anything unusual. Sprayed some WD40 and turned it by hand again. Somethign didn't sound right so we pulled the belt and it turned over super smooth. Turns out the alternator AND the AC compressor were seized. 2nd mini in a row with a seized alternator. Both had likely been sitting for at least 6 months.
Make no assumptions. Guess, estimate, suppose, but test those theories. You never know what the actual problem might be. Especially with these things.
Plan is to drop the drivetrain into the blue mini, as this engine was solid just 700 miles ago when I sold it. Gotta finish taking this one apart to make room in the shop....but first, I'm doing my first autocross in the 06 JCW. Ive always wanted to get it on track, but track days are expensive and I already race Lemons. Road america autocross will have to fill that need for now.
