Today I accomplished cleaning the interior and depleting any cleaner that I was running low- stain remover, glass cleaner, plastic restoration dressing for hard plastics, plast-x on the gauge faces, and diluted Simple Green. The Mytee vac doesn't get used too often (usually for cleaning up after dog accidents in the house), but when it does it's the MVP. Sure beats the heck out of bucket, stiff brush, & towels.

One thing has me stumped. . . the removable panel for accessing the rear of the heater controls and radio is covered in some black, sticky toxic goobage. Tub o' towels, full strength Simple Green, liquid dish soap, WD-40, nor carb & choke cleaner were up to task for cutting through this stuff. I'll try acetone or mineral spirits next. The strange thing is that this stuff is only on that panel. It doesn't have a distinct smell- I was expecting a coolant smell- and it's not on any of the other surfaces in the area.

 

Great job so far! Keep it up.

 

WOW just found this thread! Whats your address I will send you my R53! good job.

 

I'll gladly accept your R53 donation, don't forget to sign the title and leave it in the glovebox.


The valve cover bolts arrived and the productivity dam broke loose. Valve cover on. Intercooler on. Oil added. PS fluid topped off. Coolant added- filled as much as possible through the tank, then filled the rest through the bleeder screw using a syringe. By this point it was only ~8:30PM. So, figured what the heck. Slapped on the wheels and took 'er for a test drive around the neighborhood. Didn't get out of 2nd gear and no aggressive shifts from 1-2, but everything worked as expected. . . except the brakes. The brakes totally suck, but I have SS lines, parking cables, and fresh fluid to install. I'm pleasantly surprised that everything worked and all the diagnostic lights remained off. The first impression is overwhelmingly positive. . . the exhaust note might be a bit too aggressive for our taste, but we'll see how it goes.

Aside from the brake work, the next tasks are to install the bumper cover, align the rear hatch, fix the battery hold-down, replace the windshield, detail the exterior, get insurance & plates, then terrorize the local cloverleafs.

 

Keep up the great work!

 

Work commitments interrupted progress, and yet progress was made. I'm officially out of front end service mode! No pics, but it's nice to see the car as a whole again instead of looking like a science experiment. I installed new spark plug wires and took the car for another shakedown run. The brakes felt totally normal compared to the initial run. With my 13yo son riding shotgun, I enthusiastically ran the car though 1-2-3 gears, each shift at ~5500rpm. The car responded perfectly. The Eaton-Borla harmony produced a beautiful song- at least from the cockpit, the couple enjoying the summer evening on their deck might disagree. An hour or so later, my son and I are still grinning ear-to-ear. It'll be more exciting when the car gets plated and insured this week. *innocent whistle*. . . .

 

Looking good

 

Thanks!

Last night I replaced both parking brake cables. While under there I discovered crusty brake pipes. Looks like I'll add that task to the winter projects, including a possible chassis refresh as the suspension is factory original.

The wife got plates and insurance, so we're street legal. Took the MINI (the scooch-mobile as it's being called) for 40mi shake-down run. Had to top 'er off with fuel to verify gauge accuracy= gauge good, no pushin' the car any time soon. I just put miles on it waiting for things to leak, rattle, shimmy, shake, or what have you. Again, everything worked as expected. Freeway driving was pleasant.

I slathered the exterior trim in Mother's Back-to-Black, which is sufficient until I clear a weekend to tackle the exterior finish. For the most part we get to (hopefully) just put fair-weather miles on it and perform preventative maintenance as needed. Winter upgrades aside, the next expenses are replacing the windshield and getting a 2nd key made.

 

Well, the first week of being street legal was a success. Over 200 miles have been accumulated, only minor glitch was the tire pressure warning light came on. The first visit to the dealer was met with joy and pain. The joy was learning the PS pump and fan was replaced in July 2016 under the factory recall. The pain was paying $302 for a second key ($177 parts & tax, $125 labor). At least they washed and vacuumed the car during the key service.

 

Turning out to be a really SHARP looking MINI. Great job!

 

You might be my long lost brother! I think we both suffer from similar OCD.
I don't have a blast cabinet (yet) but I follow the same protocols. And I found the mini to be a pleasure to work on as well. I'm on my 3rd mini project!

Great work on yours!! Looks fantastic.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

The corroded brake pipe sprung a leak earlier than predicted. So, I'll add that to the to-do list for September.

 

Looking great! Youve inspired me to update thread i started when got wifes car. Ive been swamped with work but working every free minute on mini cooper stuff. Im as ocd as you! Painted Supercharger too.

 

Old lines v. new lines




M12 plug trying to fit M10 socket




Lifesaver tool




Finished result, need to re-coat line.


I decided to tackle the brake pipes this weekend. Of course there were ups and downs and a surprise twist cliffhanger leaving the car helplessly stranded on jackstands. I should mention the car has the DSC option.

Both main brake line sections (aka brake pipes) broken in the upward bends under the rear seat. I bought two of ECS Tuning's ES#61518 brake pipe sections. While I'm at it, I'm installing Detroit Tuned's stainless brake lines at all corners. Each brake pipe is outfitted with M10-Male and M12-M fittings. The Detroit Tuned rear line fittings are AN male in to the caliper, M10-F to the body. The brake pipes connect to the forward section via couplers/union- one M10-F, the other is M12-F.

The connections in the left/American Driver side main brake pipe are: Left rear brake hose M10-F to main brake pipe M10-M to main brake pipe M12-M to front brake pipe coupling M12-F.
The connections in the right/American Driver side main brake pipe are: Left rear brake hose M10-F to main brake pipe M10-M to main brake pipe M10-M to front brake pipe coupling M10-F.

The bold font highlights a problem as the pre-terminated pipe has M12-M thread. To overcome the fitting issue on the right side of the car, I lopped off the flare, removed the M12-M fitting, slid on on old M10-M fitting, and re-flared the line. I had to remove some of the protective pipe coating to slip the OEM M10 fitting over the tube. I flared the tube using Eastwood's professional brake flare tool. After a couple hours the new pipes were on the car.

With the pipes installed, it was time to begin the bleeding process. The ruptured lines and subsequent "do the brakes work" checks drained the master cylinder. I used a Phoenix Systems bleeder in the pressurized connection type (pushes fluid through the caliper to the master cylinder. Working from RR, LR, RF, LF. . . The first attempts revealed leaks at fittings which were remedied by more tightening torque. After going through the process at all corners. . . no pedal. Then I tried the ABS ventilation program using the scan tool. . . no pedal. No fresh fluid either. Great. So, I go back to the master cylinder and then I notice fluid dripping off the brake booster. More awesomeness. It appears the fluid had been leaking for some time due to a rusty drip trail. So, looks like I'll be swapping in a MC very soon.

 

Just did my rear right hand side on the R52 and followed the bends with the bending tool we have. Took some time but once done all good.

 

I mostly used the brake tube pliers for bending. I only used the compound bender once. Did you hit the same snag as I did on the front fitting?

 

Yesterday I began removing the master cylinder and reservoir. When I looked at the brake booster check valve line, it broke. I didn't give it a menacing or stern look, just eye contact and a head nod. The damn thing fell off and went running for the hills. It's time to shake the money tree. For extra pain and credit card points I've decided to replace the booster while I'm there. . just because. Good times.

 

Awesome little project you got going here - great attention to detail. You weren't kidding about a 'resurrection'....my little project looks like a bit of 'day surgery' in comparison.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I haven't been to Ras Laffan in several years, maybe some day I'll go back.

 

 

I've been twice in a span of a couple months while the safety college was under construction. During the 2nd trip I almost got lost/turned around on the way to the college because so much construction occurred near the college that the landmarks I used for navigation had been moved.

In MINI news, the car is being a jerk. The wife reported a front end wobble while driving on the highway. It was completely fine on the highway when I drove it the day before. . . anyways, I take it for a test drive and hear an unusual grinding noise coming from the front driver corner. The noise didn't change with vehicle speed, engine speed, or bumps in the road. The noise didn't have any consistent pattern, it happened twice at speeds under 40mph and within 300' driving distance. I was able to get the car home. When I popped the hood, a light, oily-smelling smoke was rising from somewhere under the front of the engine. Then I noticed the new coolant reservoir was almost empty. The oil crankcase is full as expected. This happened over the weekend. I haven't done anything further to investigate the problem other than scribbling these thoughts on the interwebs. To be continued. . .

 

Last night I spent a few minutes investigating this problem. I'm confident in eliminating steering and chassis from the suspect list. I have to get the car on stands and have a look underneath. The oily-smelling smoke is engine oil. The only seals I didn't replace were the rear main and the camshaft sensor. The smoke emits from under the car, so rear main would be the leading candidate assuming everything else I replaced is good (oil pan, crank position, oil heat exchanger). I was able to reproduce the noise, which I can manipulate with engine speed while in neutral. The sound is "tinny" like rattling sheet metal instead of a low growl like worn-out bearings. The sound doesn't distinctly sound like something is grinding. To me it sounds like something is loose, but I need to dig more in to the problem. At this point my hypothesis is a leaky rear main seal and a rattle in the clutch flex plate. To be continued. . .

 

I nested the car on jack stands, knocked off the front tires and the passenger side wheel well lining and then went looking for trouble. Thankfully my previous hypothesis was waaay off.

While the car was cold, I went under the car and looked for the source of the oil leak. I found it at the green inlet gasket in the supercharger intake duct. The thru-bolt hole on my duct was weak looking. I replaced the green profile gasket and thought the bolt hole would hold. Maybe it did and the fill plug loosened up. I don't know how much SC oil escaped, or the exact path it took across the engine and collecting on the passenger rear corner of the oil pan and AC compressor. I didn't hear the SC making any weird noises, so hopefully all is good, but we shall see.

The weird tinny noise is the dang AC compressor clutch. I witnessed the clutch stop and the belt slip which caused one of the weird noises. The poorly described tinny sound seems like a bearing in the compressor unit. The compressor was very hot to touch and likely caused the SC oil to burn off.

So, it appears that I have a date with ripping the face off the car again. Before I do that, I'm going to finally do a cylinder compression test and leak-down test. The results will influence my appetite for project "investment" as they say. . .

 

I was able to do a compression test but ran out of time for a leak-down test. The compression test showed 175psi across all cylinders, so I'm quite please with this especially considering the vehicle has 150k. Hopefully I'll get around to the leak test next weekend. I'm also considering buying the threaded adapter for my coolant pressure test kit, just for some more data points.

I let the car come up to operating temp before running the comp test, so ~5-10min of idling. After I shut off the car, I used the laser thermometer device and checked over the engine. Most everything was ~120* including the AC clutch, but the AC compressor body was ~325*. The water pump housing measured ~154* a few minutes after shutting off the car. I watched the engine coolant temp rise to 190* on the scan tool at which time I shut off the car. I couldn't get a clear shot at the back of the supercharger to measure the temp.

The revised shopping list, so far, is an AC compressor, SC inlet duct, and an inlet duct green gasket.

 

The leak-down test proved successful. It held 90psi across all cylinders, so that's a relief. Up next is getting at the AC compressor, replacing the SC inlet duct, and having a look at the SC oil leak. . .