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TLDR of 1st gear intro: Had an '04 MCS 5 years ago, sold it after a year. Have wanted another ever since. Already have 3 cars, but found another '04 MCS locally that needs some TLC and a clutch, drove it home for $800. 107k miles. Some rust in the usual places.
Some background on me: I'm a fairly experienced homegrown mechanic. Taught myself everything I know (good and bad), I learned on my old GTI and 300ZX. There isn't a project I wouldn't attempt on my own in my garage. I've been racing a (currently) RWD VR6 GTI in the 24 hours of lemons for the past 4 years.
At the end of the day the goal is to turn this into a fun daily and track day car at minimal expense. The only mods planned are a 15% pulley and IE camber plates (these were bought for the previous Mini but were never installed) and some sticky tires. I'll be doing all of the work at home.
The Mini as it was when I brought it home: The tall goofy guy is me.
As the car had standing water in it when purchased, my first priority was to dry out the interior. I sopped up as much as I could with some towels the night it came home, and left a fan in the car 24/7 over the weekend. Last night I finished removing all the seats to allow myself room to work and clean properly. Lower rear seats are moldy, but aside from that they're in good condition. The drivers side seat rails are VERY rusty, and I'll either blast them and repaint them, or get spares from a partout if the price is right. I want to keep costs to an absolute minimum so my wife doesn't kill me :-)
Rusty rails
Pretty clean, considering
While replacing the clutch and determining what else needs to be replaced; I need to determine where the water is coming from. The previous owners were convinced it was coming from the windshield after it had been replaced. My money is on the sunroof drain tubes being clogged. The only thing that confuses me is there appears to be staining towards the inside of the car. Any thoughts?
Progress will be mostly slow, as we've got a busy summer lined up. Hopefully I can get the basics addressed quickly to get the car back on the road and sort out any other potential issues. Immediate hit list is the following, as I have no maintenance history:
OEM clutch kit (hopefully don't need a new flywheel)
15% pulley + belt
NGK 7 range plugs
Tensioner
Water pump
SC oil change
Rotors, pads, and fluid (any suggestions on a good street/track day pad? EBC Red?)
IE camber plates
The suspension felt great on the drive home, but I'll investigate when I get the car up on stands. More to come as I find time. Thanks for reading!
Water is going to wick up the carpet/pad. In construction we water tested leaks and as you have the car interior somewhat apart suggest you do the same. I am thinking you get some dye that is visible under black light. Should be able to tell real quick where the water is coming from.
While replacing the clutch and determining what else needs to be replaced; I need to determine where the water is coming from. The previous owners were convinced it was coming from the windshield after it had been replaced. My money is on the sunroof drain tubes being clogged. The only thing that confuses me is there appears to be staining towards the inside of the car. Any thoughts?
My wife's Volvo had similar staining on the floor towards the center. It was a leaking heater core. I haven't had any experience with the MCS heater core, so I don't know if that's a possibility with your car.
could be heater core,, but youd smell coolant. the heater core is to the right of the throttle pedal behind that plastic cover. and they suck to change, not hard, but they do suck
My wife's Volvo had similar staining on the floor towards the center. It was a leaking heater core. I haven't had any experience with the MCS heater core, so I don't know if that's a possibility with your car.
Originally Posted by one73ronin
could be heater core,, but youd smell coolant. the heater core is to the right of the throttle pedal behind that plastic cover. and they suck to change, not hard, but they do suck
I appreciate the feedback! I've done a handful of heater cores, definitely not a fan of the job. I did test the AC and heat during the test drive and did not notice the telltale coolant smell.
Hopefully it's just an oddly placed discoloration. I wasn't sure if for some reason water found its way down there in the event of a clogged sunroof drain tube. Within the next week or so I should have the car up on stands and leak tested. Busy 4th of July weekend unfortunately. Probably no time at all to touch it.
I've been reading up on the clutch job and making sure my list of parts is correct. Apparently axle nuts are 1 time use only. Any other odd quirks I should be wary of? I don't plan on ordering any parts until the car is in pieces. I didn't realize the mini had a dual mass flywheel, so I want to understand the condition of mine before ordering the clutch kit and associated parts. My TDI had one and lasted a good 230k miles. If the same is true for the mini I'll probably leave it be.
Good thought on the sunroof drain tubes. You'll probably find they slipped off instead of being clogged. This is a common issue with the drain tubes and adding a hose clamp or zip tie should prevent it from happening again. While you're eliminating your leaks, the other common items to check are the third brakelight and hatch handle seals.
@megaDan - I literally wrote that at the airport. When I get back I'll give you what nyMinions have done and what helps performance and what's just aesthetics's, options.
Looks like it will be a good project. If you want to come pick up parts in Atlanta I have several carpet sets and seats that are just too big to ship that you could get a great deal on.
Good thought on the sunroof drain tubes. You'll probably find they slipped off instead of being clogged. This is a common issue with the drain tubes and adding a hose clamp or zip tie should prevent it from happening again. While you're eliminating your leaks, the other common items to check are the third brakelight and hatch handle seals.
Part of the wife being somewhat OK with me buying the mini was that I had to have her car in tip-top shape before spending any time on mine. She has a blown rear shock which I attempted to replace Wednesday night. 1 bolt, 1 nut, should be done in an hour. Unfortunately the lower mount bolt had corrosion on the exposed threads, so they wouldn't back out through the captured nut in the beam axle. Foiled. Stuck waiting on replacement bolts in the event I ruin these. Soaking them in vinegar in the short term to remove as much rust as possible.
I still found 5 minutes to sneak into the garage last night and pull back the headliner after I researched how to access the drain tube. Once I got in the car to remove the visor, I was 99.9% sure that was the problem. The headliner was discolored right at the top of the a-pillar.
Look what I found!!!! Drivers side drain tube.
Looks like I found the source of the leak. Shouldn't have to worry about water on the floor anymore.
I am interested in what you mean by hatch handle seals and third brake light. I wasn't aware those were an area of concern. I'll do some searching.
Originally Posted by WayMotorWorks
Looks like it will be a good project. If you want to come pick up parts in Atlanta I have several carpet sets and seats that are just too big to ship that you could get a great deal on.
I really appreciate the offer, but Atlanta is a bit of a drive for me :( I do hope to have the mini down to the in-laws place in Asheville, NC next year. I think with a GOOD vacuuming and steam cleaning the carpet will clean up fairly well. I'm not looking to make this show ready by any means, but I think its definitely going to be a 'while I'm in there' type of project. So while the seats are out I'll clean it as best I can with what I have available. Really need/want to keep the budget to a minimum. The only 'frills' will come from brakes and tires :-)
Good find! Hopefully that's the only loose one, but check the other three and clamp or zip tie them too. The passenger side drain is right above the module that controls most of the the cars electronics and causes all kinds of issues if it gets wet.
The problem with the hatch handle/license plate light trim piece and the third brake light are the seals shrink and you end up with a wet cargo area and flooded battery compartment. It also can short out the trunk release switch and the hatch will open by itself. I just had this happen while washing my car and trunk solenoid started popping constantly like a kid was playing with the switch. I'm not sure why, but MINI only used thin foam on the hatch handle instead of rubber for the seal.
Good find! Hopefully that's the only loose one, but check the other three and clamp or zip tie them too. The passenger side drain is right above the module that controls most of the the cars electronics.
There are 4 drains?! Ugh. Didn't even know about the other two. I'm assuming they go down the B pillar.
No major update. Placed an order for shock mount bolts for the wifes versa 8am Thursday, still haven't shipped.
Spent a little time this weekend cleaning the garage to allow myself to easily work on the mini when the time comes. The garage was getting pretty uncomfortable with the interior of the mini strewn about. I hit all the rusted bolts I could find with PB blaster, and I'll probably do that daily until I start to wrench. Also, hunted down my spare parts bin with hopes my mini mods were in there. Found my 15% WMW pulley and IE camber plates!
Anyone recognize these?
Yesterday was a TSD road rally leaving from Lake Mills Cars & Coffee put on by the Cheese Wheel guys. This is the 2nd rally we've done with their group and it was a TON of fun. Super organized and a great route to drive (approx 120 miles over 5 hours). The wife navigated and I drove my 300ZX to a first place overall finish! We ran what we thought was pretty decently, until the last 5 turns. The wife gave me a right instead of a left and we lost some time and at that point I was just hoping we wouldn't be last with the competition we had. If you are in the Wisconsin area I can't recommend their rallies enough, and all entry fees go to a good cause. Check them out at www.cheesewheelinc.com. They typically do 2-3 a year. Winter, summer, and fall.
Huge surprise!
4th of July party tomorrow, so no progress will be made. Soon! I'm starting to get real antsy. I've broken all the lug nuts loose and cleared space around the car, it's ready to go up on stands.
Definitely plan on replacing the crank pulley. I'm assuming the one on there is OEM. I'll find out for sure soon. Lots of good things regarding the ATI pulley, but remember: budget build. The cravenspeed 2% is much more in the area of what I would expect and should go nicely with my 15% SC pulley. Unfortunately search is pretty useless when looking for feedback. Anyone have any objective evidence supporting staying away from the cravenspeed 2%? I've replaced OEM harmonic balancers on other vehicles with no issue, including 90k+ miles on my old VR6 with the last 10k being track only. Why would the mini be any different?
The cravenspeed is an un dampened pulley. It's fine for track cars but not really recommended for a street driven car.
As a matter of fact a lot of the guys on here racing them will tell you to go with the AID anyways. Well worth the extra. Keep an eagle eye on the classifieds and you can find them used for the price of a lightweight pulley as well.
Alta had a 10% off sale over independence day so I used the opportunity to order up a 0% lightweight crank pulley. I verified my car still has the OEM pulley, and while I'm in there I may as well replace it based on all the horror stories I've seen. Budget build or not, it's hard to justify 300+ for an aftermarket crank pulley or 200+ for a factory one. Couldn't find any reason not to go undampened, so I have no problems being a guinea pig. I didn't go 2% because I didn't want the additional (albeit minor) parasitic drain from my accessories and I saw plenty of concern regarding 17% reduction with factory injectors at WOT. 15% will have to do.
Yesterday brought some good and some bad. We'll start with the good. Goodwood that is. Our revival tickets came in the mail!!!
2 months to go!!!!
After seeing the detail they put into the tickets and information brochure; this is going to be a hell of an experience. CANNOT WAIT! I'm not big on stickers or decals, but it came with a Goodwood 2017 window vinyl. It's definitely going on the mini.
Now for the bad. We had a pool party this weekend so the house was clean and chores were done. I had some free time to work in the garage. My goal for this evening was just to get the mini up on stands. When I went to slide the jack under the crossmember behind the PS pump, I was greeted with a maggot infested mouse. The car has only been in the garage for about 10 days now, so it must have come in with the car. How it stayed put over the 50 mile drive home but fell out as soon as the jacked touched the car I'll never know. I don't do dead things. I managed to dispose of it, but barf. I'm a bit terrified of what else I'm going to find. I'm going to have to tread lightly and not stick my hand where I can't see it.
Once I got past that ordeal I got the car lifted, with a jack stand under each rocker block. It seems sturdy, but it also seems sketchy. Is there a better way to do this?
Off the floor. With the mini a foot up in the air, its about the same height as its neighbor, a 2010 Versa hatchback.
Got the front wheels off, poked around a little bit. Still no fluid under the car aside from mouse guts. Mostly a good sign I guess. Now that I could actually see under the car there is sign of wetness on the oilpan. I'll check closer when the front end is off, but I should probably plan on an oilpan gasket and crank position o-ring.
Dry under the car.
Boring shot of DS knuckle assembly
Dampness on the DS inner CV boot. Any guesses?
After dealing with a both FWD and RWD VR6 GTI for the past 10 years or so, I am SHOCKED at how accessible the drivetrain related items are, even with the fender liners still in place. I'm thrilled to not have to deal with inner axle cups/bolts anymore. There is some dampness on the inner CV boot on the drivers side. Any idea what could be contributing to this?
I've got plans for the weekend, so I won't get much done. Hopefully I can get the fender liners off both sides and start to pull the front bumper off. Looks like I have plenty of fasteners that will need PB blaster. A little disappoint at the uncleanliness of everything, but its also no different than any other mini I've seen in the north. I HATE SALT.
And not to be harbinger of negativity but you won't be the guinea pig. Plenty of people have run un dampened pulleys on street driven cars and regretted it. The majority of our vendors that build motors hate seeing them because they wear out everything related to the crank pretty fast.
I know 300 plus is pretty expensive but I just consider it 200ish dollar insurance for my motor, especially since it's over 100k miles already anyhow.
Should have expected the going to be slow. Plus, working in the garage when its 90F and humid is just plain crappy. I had hoped to get more done but it was hot and I wasn't feeling the greatest.
I can definitely tell the car sat for a while. Spiderwebs everywhere. Great.
I used my harbor freight electric impact to successfully remove all 4 brake disc retaining screws. Wasn't expecting that! Since I'm still afraid of finding dead animals everywhere I went the easy route and started to remove the drivers side fender liner. I only removed about half of the plastic screws successfully, the rest I had to destroy. Is there a trick to removing these? I've found that using the least amount of pressure when reversing is best, but its still fails plenty. I thought there were only 4 screw locations, turns out there were a dozen or so.
Took longer than expected, but got it off.
Pretty clean underneath...if you ignore all the suspension components.
I found a plastic clip attached to the front side of the wheel arch that looks like it is supposed to hold two hoses, but I don't see anything nearby. Anyone know what is missing? Edit: Now that I look at the pic again, is it supposed to the the black and blue cylinders?
What goes here?
Finally, I prepared to remove the axle nuts. Used a punch to release the detent from the axle. Turns out I don't have a 32mm socket. Oh well.
Easy! Rotors have seen better days.
Parts finally showed up for the Versa so I'll be tackling that next. It's kind of frustrating given how slow going everything is, but I'm enjoying the summer and still have my 300ZX to drive. I put about 200 miles on it last weekend in mid/southwest Wisconsin which was an absolute blast. Hopefully I can get this wrapped up before fall. This will get interesting eventually. I hope
The blue connector and the black connector just underneath the black clip (brake wear, and abs or speed sensor connections, I think). Usually held in place with a black zip tie.
And not to be harbinger of negativity but you won't be the guinea pig. Plenty of people have run un dampened pulleys on street driven cars and regretted it. The majority of our vendors that build motors hate seeing them because they wear out everything related to the crank pretty fast.
I keep seeing this warning, but I've NEVER seen one single personal testimony on a ruined motor resulting from a non-dampened, light weight crank pulley. I've looked.........I can't find a single, solitary horror story. Even if I could find one or two, that would be highly insignificant compared to the amount of these pulleys that are in use. I CAN, however, find many testimonies of owners using the lightened, non-dampened pulley with no problems whatsoever. That includes both of my MINIs and a couple couple local to me. I file this under, Urban Lengend Scary Stories
I keep seeing this warning, but I've NEVER seen one single personal testimony on a ruined motor resulting from a non-dampened, light weight crank pulley. I've looked.........I can't find a single, solitary horror story. Even if I could find one or two, that would be highly insignificant compared to the amount of these pulleys that are in use. I CAN, however, find many testimonies of owners using the lightened, non-dampened pulley with no problems whatsoever. That includes both of my MINIs and a couple couple local to me. I file this under, Urban Lengend Scary Stories
Exactly! Thank you! Which is why I asked for 'objective evidence'. SHOW ME where it was an issue. Lots of fear mongering, but despite plenty of searching I saw no failure even remotely associated with a pulley. There has been talk of 'extra wear on bearings' at the time of a motor build, but who's to say what is extra? Also, not a failure.
I have 100k+ miles with a lightweight crank pulley on various other motors, but those don't have the same fear about pullies that the Mini does. Hell, we got at least 5000 track only miles, on a motor with a 170k on it, that had been running a LW pulley for 80k miles prior. And when it finally gave up the ghost it wasn't due to anything remotely pulley or bearing related.
Exactly! Thank you! Which is why I asked for 'objective evidence'. SHOW ME where it was an issue. Lots of fear mongering, but despite plenty of searching I saw no failure even remotely associated with a pulley. There has been talk of 'extra wear on bearings' at the time of a motor build, but who's to say what is extra? Also, not a failure.
I have 100k+ miles with a lightweight crank pulley on various other motors, but those don't have the same fear about pullies that the Mini does. Hell, we got at least 5000 track only miles, on a motor with a 170k on it, that had been running a LW pulley for 80k miles prior. And when it finally gave up the ghost it wasn't due to anything remotely pulley or bearing related.
I'm going to have to tread lightly and not stick my hand where I can't see it.
Urban Lengend Scary Stories
