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The paint looks great. Excellent work, as usual. Where did you source the paint?
Thanks man - couldn't be happier with how great it came out. I used automotivetouchup.com. I bought one can each of their primer, 1K clear, 862 (IB), and 668 (black). It's pretty hard stuff when dried. Took a sanding and buff pretty well when I resprayed my spoiler and mirror caps. Seems to be good quality and a pretty good color match too.
Just a minor niggle fixed today. When I ordered my switches for the aux. lighting (driving lights and fogs, I ordered the illumination and the indicator both to be orange to match the led lighting on the MINI interior. Well, it was hard to see which switch was on because of the low angle the switches make with my line of sight and because it's all orange. So, I ordered some 3w LEDs in an assortment of colors and we-wired the switches so that the indicator part of each switch has either blue (aux lights that come on with the high beams) or green (fogs that I can put on any time the lights are on). SOOOOO much easier to see when each light is active now.
Removing the switch guts was not too bad, but lots of small parts to keep track of. These switches are not available in either of these color combos with orange, so I couldn't just order new rocker bodies. The orange symbols look a bit 'colored' in the photo below. In eyeball color, they still appear orange.
A question for you: how did you remove the speedo trim ring when you converted to chrome? I've seen several descriptions online but am not completely convinced by any of them. All of the other chrome bits are in - the speedo is the only holdout.
@dmath - hmmm, can't 100% recall now. I know I removed the center speedo section for either cleaning crevices or popping the new ring in, but I also know that I bought the plastic trim removal set from Harbor Freight around the same time I was replacing these. I do recall that there are a series of nubs holding it in - one each around 10 o'clock, noon, and 2 o'clock, and a clip at the very bottom at 6 o'clock. I think I used the plastic pry tools to gently pry up on the top of the ring to get those nubs to let go. Wish I had detailed this now in my earlier write up. I just when and looked at the old ring - I didn't break any of the clips... Let me see if I can fins the info I used to remove mine...
Nope, I think this is what I did. Starting around the 2 minute mark in this video shows how to remove the center section dash cover. Then you can get access to that little fork clip from the back and pop it off that way.
Some items that I have deferred and needed to take care of. Got a Board of Regents service award at the end of this AY, and it's paid for these things, so that was nice.
Gates 38404 belt tensioner, and because I have heard not so great things about the Gates (Gates is the OEM maker of these for MINI, but I have heard that the non-MINI bushings they use are crap) bushings, I also ordered a set of Superpro SPF-3434k bushings for the cylinder. I also ordered the standard size ATI Superdamper, the WMW puller tool and a new front main seal. All should be here by next weekend I would imagine.
Interestingly, Amazon has the bushings listed as being for the alternator. Superpro lists this number for the damper though. We'll see what shows up.
Thanks for the video. A lot of what I found online was along the lines of "just pull off the trim ring." I knew that would end in little plastic bits and heartbreak. The upper right corner didn't release nearly as easily for me as the guy in the video but I got it eventually.
My philosophy on tools, dating back to my woodworking days, is 'buy the best and cry only once.' When I installed a Superdamper, I deviated from that philosophy and bought a cheap puller. How well did it work? I'll just say that I'm now the happy owner of a WMW puller. All this to say, good choice.
Got my used right rear lateral trim panel from an 06 today. Not bad. Certainly better than my beaten up one - mountain bike pedal marks and all sort of gouges in my old one. This one is probably 90-95% perfect. It has a couple small scratches in it, but overall I am happy with this panel completing my interior renew. Just a couple of small things now - need a pristine right rear hatch cover, need to source the stickers, need a couple of specialized clips, need to figure out a cover for the seat pivot holes (I think I have a solution for that - stay tuned on that one.
Old one at the top. It's beat up a lot more than it looks from this pic, but look at the back lower part.
Old one - all scratched up.
New (used) one. Some scuffs, but not bad at all!
Just a couple finishing touches on the interior - need to restring the rear 'parcel shelf' cords - they are freyed. Need to fabricate seat pivot covers - these are going to be pretty slick, I think and will completely blend with the interior. And new carpet mats. I like the rubber ones - they have done a great job protecting the carpets, but I am so sick of them looking dirty the second I step on them after I clean them. They literally cannot be kept looking good. I've been looking at some of the mats on cocmats.com after @dmath and @MCS4FUN started looking into them. I am not a fan of the coco mats - they look too thick and too many stray fibers for me, but their sisal mats - now those look pretty good (the check ones look pretty neat too). I was leaning toward the slate color, but may be just a touch too light. I will probably order a swatch of both the black and slate in the sisal to get a better idea of which will work with the interior better.
WRT those mats, agreed sisal presents a more refined look than do coco. Also noteworthy that solid color sisal are same $200 + shipping vs more spendy versions at $250 + shipping, which IMO stretches budget practicality. Also agreed its best to order color swatches since pigment hue variations often don't play well with existing interiors such as blues and reds. At this point, I'm just watching and pondering after WMW's email notification that they'll no longer carry that brand. Not really surprised, since cocomats.com's website doesn't include list of authorized dealers which suggests to me, they prefer selling directly to end user customers. In any case, I do like the sisal slate...
Somewhere I saw a list of resellers. I'm sure it was on cocomats.com but I can't find it now. At any rate, WMW wasn't listed so I assumed it was a partial list.
The checker mats are $75 more than the coco or monochrome sisal. It does get pricey but as stated in a previous post, I'm amortizing the cost over many years. I plan to keep the R53 for as long as I'm able to drive and can keep it running. I hope that's a long time on both counts.
^^^ Unsure where you saw that reseller list or retail pricing. Just now looked again and no list found. Also, coco is $199.85, sisal mono same and sisal checkered $249.95 (all 2 piece sets) - plus shipping to your zip. Also noting forum sponsor Aaron of @OutMotoring lists some of those mats here. In any case, small specialty shops often seem better suited ordered direct vs through distribution when made to order.
I understand your assumption re backseat. My backseat will remain unused. In fact, I've toyed with doing the delete but don't think it's likely. I plan to buy the front mats first. Will add the rears if I don't like the "asymmetry".
The rear seats in an R53 really are next to useless. Unless you have some small children or very small adults. When I had reclining front seats and had to get back there to work on something it was exceptionally uncomfortable not only getting in and out, but just sitting there.
Today I replaced some parts - none of which needed replacement it turns out. I did the harmonic balancer, the belt tensioner and the front main seal. I also put poly bushings on the tensioner before installing it. I did not jack up the engine - there is enough space to replace the tensioner once the balancer has been removed, so that is the way I did it. Took a couple of hours, but I had to go out for tools a couple of times, so probably a bit less than that.
No oil around the old front main seal, but it got replaced just so I know it won't need to be done anytime soon.
Pulley was a bit tough getting on. I think the threads in the crank end had quite a bit of old thread locker in them or something. Had to use a couple of extra washers to get the new one to seat with the long bolt, then it got a bit easier. Put the new bolt on and tightened it down and that did it. I have to give it the final torque up tomorrow - didn't have anyone to step on the brake. Tightened up with the impact gun for now.
None of the parts were bad. Tensioner was fine, the crank pulley looked brand new - and I never had that replaced (as far as I know). But, I suppose having the insurance of knowing that it won't fail down the road is nice. Took it for a short drive when I get the wheel back on, and it does seem a bit smoother.
Anyhow, that's my preventative maintenance done. I think mats will be the next item for the interior. I did order samples of both the black and the slate blue sisal material from cocomats - will post up some photos of those in my interior when they get here. Will probably do the 4 pot brake upgrade on the front later this summer or this fall and then over the winter, the plan is to drop the front subframe and refresh that. Hopefully some paint this summer too!
For torquing the crank pulley bolt, I put a long pry bar (with square cross section) between a couple of the 12 pt bolts on the ATI pulley and then put the rearward end under a subframe member. I continue to hold it in place with one hand while using the torque wrench with the other. Works well and keeps me from bugging my wife.
Great pics! No need to put the front end in service mode for sufficient access?
My own small project this afternoon was prepping for injector R&R. Only moved the W-2-A IC out of the way (determined no need to disconnect coolant lines) and unclipped the injector harnesses but should finish tomorrow and then be ready for Adrian's remote tune.
Great pics! No need to put the front end in service mode for sufficient access?
My own small project this afternoon was prepping for injector R&R. Only moved the W-2-A IC out of the way (determined no need to disconnect coolant lines) and unclipped the injector harnesses but should finish tomorrow and then be ready for Adrian's remote tune.
Nope, for this work just remove the passenger wheel and wheel liner. The pulley is a straight shot as it's right in front of you. Have to remove the pulley first then you have enough access to do the tensioner. It's tight, for sure, but once I had the old tensioner out, the new one was back in and torqued down within 10 minutes.
Should have taken a picture, but having the liner off let me do a nice deep cleaning on those areas of the right front that haven't seen sun in nearly 20 years. Nice and spiffy now in areas only bugs will ever see!
Couple of small projects - finishing details for RSD and new parcel shelf chord
I am bothered by details that are just not right.
One of those things that has bothered me for a long time is looking at the rusty, unprimed metal behind the rear lateral trim panels when the seats are removed. These two holes are associated with the pivot mechanism for the rear seat backs. With the seat backs and bottoms gone and my RSD (not Record Store Day) in place, those two holes one each side glare at me like an angry badger. So, last week, in the early hours of the morning, I resolved to find some sort of body cap or clip that could fit these. Standard body caps can't work in this application because these are not 'just' holes. They are holes in the plastic trim pieces, behind which there are metal cross members and those cross members have holes in them. One is slightly larger than the other, but both (on each side) are eyesores. The larger one is 1 1/4" with approximately a 1/2" hole in the metal and the smaller one is approximately 7/8" in diameter with a 3/8" hole.
After hours of looking for something that would work, I found hood liner clips. These are used to affix hood blankets to the holes in the bottom side of the hood. There are a dizzying array of different sizes, both in terms of the diameter of the plastic 'head' and the size of the hole that the triangular clip part will pop into. The shape of the cap/head part also differs from flat to domed to semi-triangular in cross-section, and the finish of the plastic varies from smooth to bumpy to typical vinyl grain. I did not want smooth - but the typical sort of rough finish typical of black plastic parts. So I looked... and looked. And looked.
Finally, I found parts from two separate hood blankets that appeared to be what I wanted. One is from a Toyota (90467-09050, 25mm diameter) and the other is from a Honda Accord (91501S1K003, 30mm).
Honda one.
I got the larger (30mm) Honda ones today, and they fit like they were made for this applicatipon. Unfortunately, they fit perfectly in the smaller hole - the diameter is not large enough for the larger hole - not because of my measurements, but because the central hole is not actually in the center. So, I need to find a slightly larger plug with a clip part large enough for a 1/2" diameter hole. Progress though!
Lower plug in. Need to source a ~35mm plug for the upper.
I also had a freyed string on my light side rear parcel shelf. The string that MINI uses is as far as I can tell 275 weight black paracord. So, liking to customize small things like this, I went to paracordplanet.com and looked at what I could get in #275 that maybe had some blue in it. This is the one I settled on a colorway called Jedi...
Pretty simple job - cut the old cords off and retain to make the lengths the same. The cord retainer is the little plug looking thing on the bottom of the rubber weights. This can be pried off with a fingernail and the chord cut off. I then cut a length of cord to slightly longer than the original, and using a loop of strong thread or string, I pulled a loop of string through the small opening (top) of the rubber weight, looped it around the new cord, and pulled it up through the weight.
With one end of the cord through the weight, I next burned the ends a bit with a lighter to stop freying. While still hot, I rolled the rope between my fingers to make it smooth. The end of cord on the bottom of the weight (the end with the larger hole) then had the new chord put through the opening on the retainer clip, and then I burned the new chord again with the lighter and then pushed the melted blob onto a flat surface, making the blob a 'stopper' for the cord.
At this point, just pull the chord from the top side and reseat the retainer in the rubber weight. I then strung the cord assembly up from the bottom through the grommet in the parcel shelf. For the loop end, I just used some of my strong string (this is thick cotton poly blend for leather work) to tie a simple half hitch knot, then pulled very tight and double knotted. One end of the string was laid parallel to the two ends of the new cord, and the other end was carefully wrapped around the whole bundle creating a sort of noose-like binding. When I was happy with the length of the wrapped part, I simply tied the looped end with the other end and triple-knotted it and trimmed off most of the excess string. This arrangement should be more than strong enough.
Prior to tying the ends together.
From this point it was just a couple pieces of heat shrink tubing. The first piece covered just the spiral part. The second piece covered the entire part of the cord that was doubled up so as to give it a finished look. Came out great... and the blue is a perfect match to the interior and to the exterior paint color as well!
Fun little projects like this give me such a sense of accomplishment!
Found the last clip I need for the larger, second hole from seat removal. Called 'fir tree clips'. Ordered some in black in 36mm diameter and 11mm hole size from the UK. Couldn't find large enough diameter ones here.
Totally not MINI related, but... there was a bird screaming outside of my window this afternoon for like two hours. I finally looked out the window and the bird was actually a 4 week old baby squirrel that was almost dead. Fell out of a tree on that side of the house and no one came down to get him. Ran outside and scooped him up - could barely move when I did. I think he was nearly frozen to death (60ish here today and he only has a bit of hair). Made up a plastic tote home with pieces of fleece in it and a lid with lots of holes in it - added a mitten warmer under his house for a couple of hours and hes's come back up to temp. He wasn't dehydrated or injured - he crawls around just fine. He's got one little abrasion on the inside of one leg, but otherwise not too bad for falling out of a tree. There was no squirrel looking for him and, again, he was out there crying for help for at least 2 hours before I went and grabbed him. Help was not coming.
He's eaten a couple ml of slightly diluted puppy formula earlier this evening, and is sleeping a lot. Hopefully, he will make a full recovery. About an hour ago, he had his first positive feeding response - actually going after the formula, and then had a bath in nice warm water when I saw a flea on him. Now he's nice and clean and has some food in his belly. My neighborhood kids all raised an orphaned baby squirrel back when I was like 12, and have dug in to the research, and the prognosis seems to be positive for now.
