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this is not a comment on you proposed list but rather a question about how the plastic dipped door handles are holding up?
I would give the passenger side handle a 9 and the drivers side handle a 7.
The top edge of the plasti dip is just starting to peel back from the inside. Looks good from 10 feet away but it's not going to make it another year.
Started in on the next project:.Front End Service mode and drop the sub frame:
1- Change the o-ring for the crank positions sensor. > DONE.
2- Control Arm Bushings > WIP
3- Front Sway bar bushings > WIP
4- Steering rack bushing > WIP
5- Lower Engine mount bushings (both the small and large) > HMMMM not sure.
6- Inspect the CV boots > ALL GOOD.
I also found some power steering fluid running down one of the lines... need to inspect that further.
BTW MOD MINI now has a video on the sub frame and the Control Arm Bushings. BOOOM!
AND You can now leave a tip... which I think is 100% worth $10-$20 a project..... for sure!
Mod MINI Tip jar: https://fundly.com/mod-mini-tip-jar#
Sub Frame down.
Couple notes:
I did this with a regular floor jack but it's kinda schetchy. I uses straps on each side and some wood support along with some help lowered it with out it slipping off... which would suck!
Go slow and remember to get the wires on the top of the power steering pump about 1/3 way down.... (blue tape in the picture)
Once I go it down, I slid it onto some plywood with roller/wheels... got it out from under the car, even on floor jacks.
This is a long slow process that just takes time and cutting and I found it helpful to cut it out in pieces and then take your time on the last metal sleve. Here are the pieces as they come out and you can see I knicked the sleeve just a little bit. Both of old bushings had tears in the rubber and they were pretty soft to wiggle by hand. We'll see how much stiffer the PowerFlex bushings are.
I just finished installing the Power Flex front sway bar bushings and here are my opinions.
The Power Flex bushings just don't fit that well. They seam to be overly squished/crushed as the bolts are torqued down.
I went back to make sure I order the correct bushings and yup these are the 22mm sway bar bushings.
I did some digging and and found some other bushings.... pnwR53S had the SuperPro bushings look much closer in size and shape to the OEM bushings. I wish I would have followed his lead. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4434266
Anyway... I ended up leaving the PowerFlex bushings installed, although I thought about putting the originals back in but couldn't do it knowing they were 12+ year old.
I don't like the fit and I think I would try the SuperPro bushings if I had it to do over again. (The sub frame has been down for a week+ and my wife wants her garage back)
Anybody else have this same issue???
I've been scrounging for lighter 17x7 wheels for awhile now and finally found some. Next step: Find some better tires.
Konig "Hurry" 17x7 15.2 pounds each.
I've been scrounging for lighter 17x7 wheels for awhile now and finally found some. Next step: Find some better tires.
Konig "Hurry" 17x7 15.2 pounds each and they came with TPS!
Konig Hurry wheels 4x100
Hay Mr. Bump32. Good to hear you are getting your car more track oriented. I have some ORP guest passes if you want to come out and drive with us one day. All you can eat driving from 9 to 5 except one hour lunch break. The cost is $200 for a one time club day trial for scheduled day if I not mistaken.
ItsmeWayne: Maybe I'm confused but I believe my Mini does have Tire pressure monitors??? Little button down by the E-brake?
I also learned on this project that the stock lugs are M14 x 1.25 for my R53. Not the M12 lugs.
pnwR53S I'm for sure going to take you up on your offer for ORP. I want to get back out to PIR first and get my @##$%%^$ together. Mini has been sitting in the garage all winter and I've been working to much to drive it.
Anyway... Look what landed in the driveway today!!! Gota get'em mounted up before the next BMW track day!
You are confused. The tire speed is read on each corner. when a tire is low on pressure, the abs signals the rotating difference and sends a code on low tire pressure. It is not measuring real tire pressure, like the one attached to the tire valve. It can not tell you what pressure the tires are at.
It is an earlier design, which is all but useless in my opinion. I look at my tires before taking a trip (with a tire gauge). If you are going to the twisties, you need to have the tires running the correct pressure. One low tire can throw you off the road.
Buy a good tire gauge. I need to do the same as I just ran over mine, with my truck! Still looks ok, but does not work!
Wayne is right that R53 has no real TMPS support. It's tire pressure monitor is all based on the 4 wheel speed sensors and software algorithm. It is a synthesized tire pressure monitor if you will. The algorithm monitors the rotational speed of the 4 wheels and thru some software magic, when it detects relatively abrupt drop in the rotational speed of one wheel it flags it as a puncture or excessive low pressure. Of course it has a lot of limitations. You should remove the TPS transmitters from the wheel before mounting the new tires as they will just be dead weights when used on R53.
Do take your time as to when you feel you are ready for ORP. It is a harder track over PIR, but that does not mean you can't drive it when you are still have a lot to gain at PIR. We all learn at our own pace and when you are ready you are ready.
Thanks guys for clearing that up. I had no idea that is how the mini worked with regards to the tire monitoring system.
I had the new tires mounted up today. And what do you know, there were no sensors in the wheels so the kid I bought them from and myself were both confused and wrong. All is good now and Mini will now have some legit tires.
Next up: I'm going to try the middle setting on the 22mm rear sway bar in conjunction with the new Falken tires. Hmmmmm
I would change one variable at a time if it were me. Do you need more rotation or oversteer? May be someone with much more experience can chime in. I have 22mm bar too and it is still set to the softest holes, and I have not find the tendency to understeer. It is rather neutral if I drive it properly. Strange it may sound, Since I installed the Koni Yellow, Swift springs, and RSB I have not even re-adjusted the rebound damping on any dampers nor the sway bar setting. I did set the rebound fairly strong but not crazy high.
pnwR53S thanks for the tips... I agree. ONE STEP AT A TIME.
Thoughts on Tire Pressure for HPDE??
Current Suspension:
Koni FSD shocks / stock Springs
Stock front bar / 22mm rear bar on the lightest of 3 settings. 215/45R-17 FALKEN AZENIS No Camber plates and I have a full sun roof which would make the top of the car heavier and more prone to body roll, correct?
From what I can find a good starting place would be 37-39PSI Cold. Possibly a little more pressure in the rear?? What PSI should I be looking for after the sessions?
pnwR53S thanks for the tips... I agree. ONE STEP AT A TIME.
Thoughts on Tire Pressure for HPDE??
Current Suspension:
Koni FSD shocks / stock Springs
Stock front bar / 22mm rear bar on the lightest of 3 settings. 215/45R-17 FALKEN AZENIS No Camber plates and I have a full sun roof which would make the top of the car heavier and more prone to body roll, correct?
From what I can find a good starting place would be 37-39PSI Cold. Possibly a little more pressure in the rear?? What PSI should I be looking for after the sessions?
The truth is I think no one can tell you what pressure setting are best for your car/tire, and most important your driving. When I had had the Azenis I set my pressure a bit low in retrospect. I think most people place too much emphasis on the accuracy of the tire pressure gauge. I would learnt in time that tire temperatures are much more telling but that is only one of many equations WRT your car's setup and your driving.
I would just share the experience of my personal journey. When I used to do a one day quickie at PIR I didn't want to bring too many things to the track including an air pump. This has been what I did in 2017 and 2018.
I set all my 4 tires at 32 psi before heading to the event.
I brought a toy plastic pressure gauge with me (one came with my Suzuki motorcycle which I subsequently adjust the reading to match my bigger gauge).
I would check the tire pressures after the first session which then to be a cool morning. I would bleed off the excess pressure on all four tires. Typically the front would jump more than 10 PSI and the rear about 6 PSI.
I had experimented with the front at around 32 and rear 29, but soon I found 34-36 and rear 30-32 seems to work well for 100 - 200 wear rating tires.
As typically the day gets warmer and my driving gets faster I never find the need to put in pressure into the tires.
I used to use an IR thermometer to check the tire temperature as soon as I got off the track. It worked well as long as I note the limitation that tire surface temperature drop off very fast. This would eventually led me to acquired a pyrometer which is something that I am just begun to learn.
My advise is not to place to great concern on the precise tire pressure but concentrate on your track driving techniques. The time will come and you would naturally want to be more precisely control these many variables.
I have more thought on the RSB setting with your suspension. It is possible with the stock springs the better set up might be to set for a stiffer setting. With my Swift Sprint in which the rear springs are 10% stiffer than front it is the equivalent of setting the RSB to a stiffer setting. But still I would want to determine if my driving is causing too much front end plowing or just the setup of the car (too prone to understeer) first.
Thank you for all the great info and reflections. I'm probably over thinking the tire pressure, but I do want a place to start. I went out and drove some country roads yesterday to get a feel for the new tires, bed in the brake pads and just get some time behind the wheel. With the old tires: I was out driving the tires, I could feel them start to slip and squeal. The new tires are out driving me. I didn't once feel them start to give way. *Granted I was not pushing them to hard and I don't know #$%^&*&^%$ but as a first impression, they feel great.
Konig "Hurry" wheels and Falken Azenis RT615K+ 215/45 R17
Went to PIR yesterday for the BMW Club HPDE day. The MINI ran well and we had an great day... even driving session 4 on a very wet track was interesting.
Summary:
New Falken tires were great. Started the day with 37/38PSI in the tires, based off the little yellow sticker in the MINI door fame that said 39PSI for going over 100MPH. Talked the the guys at AR Auto Service and dropped to 28PSI front and 33PSI in the rear cold. In my opinion... they were better with the lower pressure. Should have listened to pnwR53S.
I need bigger brakes. Going in to Turn 1 is still a handful and I'm very inconsistent.
Suspension could use some help.. Maybe stiffer springs. But not before brakes.
Even though there were a ton of High HP cars out there that passed me on the straights....I'm not doing any power upgrades at this point, that will only make the Mini go faster....then I will have to brake even harder.
ABS light came on a couple of times. Need to take a look in to the wheel speed sensors.
Mini got a little coolant blowoff. Need to figure out how hot the coolant is actually getting since the gauge looked fine the whole day.
This was probably my favorite car out there yesterday.
I’m on “The Slippery Slope”.
I now have 4 HPDE days and my last purchase was lighter Konig 17 inch wheels and Falken Azenistires. The tires are remarkably better than my old street tires but have revealed other limitations. I say that I’m not looking to make this a track car just a “fun to drive” car, but that is the slippery slope.
Suspension or Brakes next?
My take away from the last HPDE day was that I want more control under heavy braking. I am most uncomfortable coming out of the front straight into the hard right turn at PIR. The ABS light was on/off throughout the day which didn’t help my situation. (Turned out it was the front left wheel speed sensor which I cleaned and inspected a few days after and has not since activated the ABS light…. Need to watch it though) Anyway, under heavy braking, the Mini and I both, are inconsistent and uncertain. I need tons more experience but also looking to inject some more conviction into the Mini.
I have not done much research on my suspension options. Right now the Mini is stock plus a 22mm RSB and Koni FSD shocks. My first inclination is camber plates and/or springs? Any input here would be great.
For brakes I have the stock R53 setup with HP+ pads on the front for the HPDE days. I can’t afford a BBK right now, thus I’m looking into the R56s (poor man’s JCW) conversion combined with better pads on the rear. Is this a significant upgrade? I’m looking at the rotor difference and it seems significant?
294mm x 22mm on R56S vs 276mm x 22mm on R53S
Any thoughts on my situation would be gladly received.
After much research and deliberation, The best solution for my current situation is putting together the R56S front brake setup.
I think I have a pretty good plan... but I will soon find out.
Power Stop S3320A - rebuilt R56s front calipers.... and they are red!!!! I couldn't find any used calipers that weren't a total project and these were totally reasonable as far as cost. Upon first impression they seem to really well put together rebuilds.
Found some lightly used 294mm Centric rotors and Carbotech XP10 pads (pads will be for the track days) from favino1006. Thank you!!!
Stainless steel lines from Way Motor Works are on the way.
I need to get some Carbotech 1521 pads for the street.
More pictures and thoughts to come.
The ABS, Run Flat and whatever that third light is (DSC?? ) have all been on and off the last couple months. I ordered the Creator C310+ OBD to check the codes. As a scan tool it seems pretty basic.... it's the first one I've ever used so I have nothing to compare it to. It did allow me to figure out which wheel speed sensor was (going) bad and looks like you can clear error codes too.
Creator C310+
As I was ordering a new wheel speed sensor, I had a fleeting thought that the problem could be the hub??? So I swapped the Left with the Right sensor.... and boom the code went to the right. Hopefully that's enough confirmation.
Ordering a new sensor today and finishing up the brake job.
Run flat indicator is likely caused by the same wheel speed sensor as ABS, DSC, and "tire pressure monitor" (through SW magic ) all rely on wheel speed sensors.
I learned today this is the “Trifecta”
Good info in here. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ressure-4.html
The only real concern I have now is the fact that this same wheel sensor was replaced in 2012 @37000 miles along with the hub. (Previous owner). Hmmmmm
The bolt that holds the rotor to the hub is a #$%&^%$#. I made a big mess with penetrating oil. Remove the old caliper and shoot some on the backside of the bolt too. My impact drill was not powerful enough for one and I feel like I almost sheered the head off the bolt with my breaker bar. That would have sucked.
My new/used rotors were in really good shape. I measured the thickness of both just to see where I’m starting.
Used 294mm Centric rotors
Centering the rotor on the hub was not as easy as throwing it up and tightening. Every time I tightened the retaining bolt the rotor would shift and be off center (based on the holes for the lug bolts) So eventually I decide to snug the lug bolts to align the rotor, tighten the retaining bolt, then remove the lugs. Not sure if this is the proper way to do it but they seem centered now.
Lastly the brake lines. While the old line was removed and the new line was being tightened there is a brakefluid that runs out. But if there is brake fluid running out then isn’t air going in? And if so, is the air running up the line into the ABS pump or mastercylinder? The reason I ask is after bleeding both front brakes and driving a little, I’m second guessing if the peddle feels soft?? Or is it just me being me?
I read the following on Pelican Parts. There's one caveat to the whole bleeding process: if you run the reservoir dry, you won't be able to bleed the system with a pressure bleeder or by stomping on the pedal as you will have introduced air into the ABS pump. BMW Recommends the use of a specialized computer system to trigger the ABS pump into what is called bleed mode'. This mode cycles the pump to purge the air out. In our case, the AutoEnginuity software was able to access the ABS system and trigger the system.
I did not let the reservoir run dry for sure. Any thoughts on this? Should I go out and tromp on the brakes a few times and bleed again?
UPDATE:
I ended going out with the car on some big decent to give the brakes a good test... then I bleed the brakes again... just to see if there was any noticeable difference. Maybe there was a difference??? Maybe it was all in my head but everything is good to go now.
So I bought the Corteco from Pelican which was listed as the original OEM. And from what I can tell it is the exact same just with a grinder taken to it to remove the text on the bracket. Engine sits up about 1/4 inch higher on the new mount and we are back in business. We'll see how many miles I get out of this one.
Checking out the rear brakes now....The RR brake pad was wearing very uneven. The other three are great with about half the life left. HMMMM
Took me awhile but I finally figured out why. The clip wire that holds the pad to the piston was not clipped. It was in-between the piston and the plate for the pad. This wire was basically a shim on that side of the pad making it wear unevenly. Arg, previous owner.
RR brake pad
1) Just put the pad back on correctly and have the caliper adjust to the bad pad angle?
2) Swap sides to maybe help the wear even out? (even though it has nothing todo with the side, but it's a thought?)
3) Buy new pads? (As far as I can tell, these are Hawk Ceramics, and my plan was to go to a different brand on the rear next time) So do I need to rotors as well? Rotors are at 9.34 & 9.26mm, so not bad.
) all rely on wheel speed sensors.
