Spent some time recovering the old disgusting headliner with some nice gray microsuede from the local fabric store. Some pics for your enjoyment:

 

Looks great! What adhesive did you use? That's on my list as well, but I need to find a donor. Mine had been destroyed my mice and a sunroof drain leak. Turns out the sunroof drain had detached all on its own. When I took the old one down, I zip tied the drain hoses on. There is a junk yard about a hundred miles away that has a couple Minis - taking the drive on Friday.

 

We've had really good luck with the 3M headliner adhesive. So far 2 R53s have turned out great with it. Just follow the instructions on the can and you should be good to go!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/3M-Headli...RoCjC0QAvD_BwE

 

Had a trip up to Deals Gap recently with family and had a great time. The car performed very well and could hold its own with modified E36 M3s and a Z3M, but I do think some more front negative camber is on order when I need front strut mounts . Some pics from the trip with the E36s mixed in:








A few weeks later I swapped out the old belt tensioner. It was long overdue and was likely the original unit. Also swapped the plugs out for a fresh set of NGK BKR7EQUP. Next up is the coil pack as I chase down an intermittent hesitation.

 

tej,
Been to Deals gap 2-3 times starting about 15 years ago but on motorcycles, mostly vintage, and some not quire as vintage, ['93 K75S] Is the Tree of Shame still there? [at the motel with lots of broken M.C. parts nailed up]

Def. a fun road that tests your nerve as well as your skill.

robj

 

Nice work! Seems like Stabilus is the goto brand for the dampers.

I bought an INA brand not too long ago, also fitted with Stabilus damper

 

Yeap, the tree of shame is still there. It's a great drive that I'll only be doing in a car. But I'm sure it's lots of fun on a bike!

 

Thanks! I got the same INA brand from FCPEuro.

 

Been to the dragon twice, i know that stopping place at the bottom of the hill.

 

Yup! Great place to cool down a bit

 

I'm still learning stuff here; are those the standard non-Xenon post-facelift headlights? (if so, are they an improvement over the pre-facelift version?)

 

Yep! These are the standard halogen facelift lights. I'm not sure if they are an improvement functionality wise over pre-facelift but when I got the car the light output was not good. After adjusting them a bit they are perfect for my needs for now.

 

I like the blue color on the mini. The contrast with the white stripes makes for a special appearance. Keep giving it love

 

thanks, I like it! It's my semi-daily that gets washed sometimes multiple times a week and ceramic coated

 

sold!

 

What was supposed to be an easy swap turned into a little project. 2 of the 4 coil pack bolts were stripped on the valve cover side and just kept turning. Unfortunately this means the entire valve cover will need to be swapped out at some point but for now we were able to cut the bolt heads and pull the coil off. It still mounts up fine since 2 bolts work as they should. Ended up swapping my 7 year old Screamin' Demon coil with an fairly new OE Beru unit from the family beater R53. The hesitation seems to be gone now, and is also not present in the other car. My guess is that since my car is running a 15% pulley the extra boost under load makes it hard for the old demon coil to keep up but works just fine on a full stock car. Time will tell

 

OEM is fine

 

On the way to visit some family over Thanksgiving the starter died on the Mini about 300 miles from home. Luckily some employees at a restaurant I had stopped at for dinner were kind enough to push start the car. I double checked battery and alternator voltage before continuing the trip.

I finished the trip by push starting the car where necessary since I didn't want to take it apart away from home. I suspect either the starter or ignition switch is the culprit, but leaning towards the starter as I can clearly hear the starter relay clicking when the ignition is turned to start the car. Video for reference:

With finals going on I won't have time to swap the starter until the weekend, but I ordered a remanufactured Bosch unit from O'Reilly's during their Thanksgiving sale. It comes with a lifetime warranty and is ~$100 cheaper than most of the competitors as well. We'll see how the install goes

 

bummer. do post updates. following

 

Swapped the starter out last week in time for the local Caffeine and Octane show. The bottom bolt of the starter was very tight, likely just torqued down over time. My dad and I made a short video showing exactly how to swap it out for future reference, hopefully it helps someone!


Really the job wasn't too bad, I could probably do the job again in about 2 hours. The car has been running great and I've just been enjoying it through the holiday season. Happy motoring!

 

Well, I listed the Mini up for sale in mid December and honestly did not expect any activity. But an enthusiast drove down from Charlotte and bought the car this past weekend! I just decided it was time for something a little different as I finish up college since I had knocked out all the projects that the Mini needed. I really enjoyed bringing the car back to its former glory and know the car went to a great home where it will be loved and cared for as it deserves. Not to worry, I'll be around with the family beater R53 for a while (no plans to sell that one any time soon).

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this thread! A few of the last photos I took of the car, I used our SLR camera for these:

 

Looks fantastic. You will miss it. What will you replace it with?

 

Thanks! I will, but having another R53 eases the feeling a bit

I’m thinking an E36 M3 or Z3 coupe. A special 90s BMW with a straight 6 will be nice. I’m in no rush, and will likely wait a few months to straighten out a few things. Maybe in that time the used car market will cool down a bit. E36 M3s that were 7-8k cars last year are now 12k! The same goes for really any enthusiast car right now.