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Is that strut brace "a thing?" I had a similar one on mine, but it was kind of pitted and stained, and frankly, a PITA to work around when doing any kind of maintenance. I swapped it out for a set of reinforcement plates. But if it's some kind of rare JCW part or something, I might get to work on polishing it up and rethinking things.
Yes, it looks like an actual JCW strut brace, but the pic isn’t clear and the bar is really dirty so I can’t see the logo in the middle of the brace. If you have one and don’t like it you could probably sell it easily here on NAM.
Jacktown, do you have pics of the interior? Curious to see if it has any rare JCW items in there.
Yes, it looks like an actual JCW strut brace, but the pic isn’t clear and the bar is really dirty so I can’t see the logo in the middle of the brace. If you have one and don’t like it you could probably sell it easily here on NAM. Jacktown, do you have pics of the interior? Curious to see if it has any rare JCW items in there.
please forgive the dirty engine bay. It was filthy when I got it and I’ve only given it a quick rinse with a water spray bottle and some shop rags. Yes it does indeed seem to be the official John Cooper Works strut brace. I thought that was stock with factory works kits, no?
theres nothing special on the interior but the original owner was an audio/technophile and drove it straight off the lot to have the best early 2006 could offer in the way of audio, satellite navigation and radio. I’m guessing he dropped 5g’s on it out of the box. It was a really good install and I think I’ll keep it all in the car as it’s hilariously period correct, sounds fantastic and even works with the latest iPhone, 14 years later!
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:53 AM.
Not stock, but with that and the MiNI aero kit, I thought there might be some cool or rare JCW interior bits like a steering wheel, shift light, or even the JCW leather dash and downtubes.
Was the paint dry under the hood in that pic? It looks shinier than normal and it almost looks like it has a clear coat or has been polished. They normally look very flat and it’s obvious they didn’t clear coat under there, especially on the metallic cars.
Today I continued work on various visual imperfections. I decided to repaint all four corners of the aerokit and finished off the rear bumper this morning. I taped off and sanded down 3 stress cracks in the front aero bumper. Once they were properly prepped I gave them a couple of coats of paint. I’m going to add one more tonight and I’m hoping that’ll be done. If not, I may have to sand down one of the areas and prime before restarting. I’m an amateur painter at best so I’ll be happy if I can get it 9/10. During some gaps in the paint work I sanded down the headlights with a 4000/3000/2000 grit and followed it with a polish, to get rid of many years of built up hazing. My wife was missing me as I’ve spent the last few days in the garage, so I removed the exhaust tips and brought them inside for a good cleaning with a wire brush and some acetone. I got them 90% but they could do with some wire wool to finish them off.
Tomorrow I might take a rest day as my back is a little sore, but I’d like to remove each wheel and examine the suspension. I’ve got some red caliper paint so I’ll probably sand them down and repaint before fitting the new wheels on Monday.
The more time I spend with this car, the more I love it. I’m so excited for my wife to drive it when i’m done this first wave of work.
Take out curry and beers for me tonight!
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:53 AM.
Not stock, but with that and the MiNI aero kit, I thought there might be some cool or rare JCW interior bits like a steering wheel, shift light, or even the JCW leather dash and downtubes.
Was the paint dry under the hood in that pic? It looks shinier than normal and it almost looks like it has a clear coat or has been polished. They normally look very flat and it’s obvious they didn’t clear coat under there, especially on the metallic cars.
There seems to be clear on the Strut towers and a few other areas. In other spots there is no clear. Someone earlier mentioned I should be careful when cleaning up the engine mount spooge as it’s easy to remove paint in those areas.
Not stock, but with that and the MiNI aero kit, I thought there might be some cool or rare JCW interior bits like a steering wheel, shift light, or even the JCW leather dash and downtubes.
Was the paint dry under the hood in that pic? It looks shinier than normal and it almost looks like it has a clear coat or has been polished. They normally look very flat and it’s obvious they didn’t clear coat under there, especially on the metallic cars.
and here’s the interior... none of the goodies you mention. I wish! I’d love to track the Alcantara ones down. Anyone recognize these mats? I don’t think they’re oem.
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:52 AM.
Before and after of the crack in the lip of my aero kit. (The discoloration on the black trim wipes right off) so pleased with how this came out! If you look carefully you’ll see the seam where I masked off. I’ll wet sand this once the paint has had a few day’s to cure.
There didn’t seem to be any cause for the cracks other than age. I think it’s a high stress point where the plastic has shrunk. I assume this is probably a common issue.
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:52 AM.
I couldn’t work on sanding and polishing yesterday’s paint to blend the seem as it was too cool here overnight and there’s a chance the paint hasn’t quite cured enough yet. Decided to get to work on changing the wheels but only managed one as I decided to degrease and clean the wheel wells and suspension - this takes time! About 3 hours were spent on the front passenger well. It came out really nice - I cannot believe how clean this car is! Alberta is a very dry climate which is a great place to find rust free well preserved cars - contrary to popular belief that everything here is in a terrible state because it’s cold and snowy in the winter. It seems this Mini has spent most of its life as a summer ride. Before mounting the first R112 I decided to sand down and repaint the calliper. Unfortunately I’ve lost my JCW logo in the process - I’ll look around online to see if I can find a transfer to buy. Could anyone point me in the right direction?
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:51 AM.
Those weren’t Factory installed so either the dealer loaded the car up, or one of the previous owners wanted all of the JCW performance items that were available.
There are references for decal sources in some of the Poor mans JCW brake threads. Make sure you get the correct 1st gen JCW logo with “John Cooper” overlapping “Works”. Also, they should be silver, not white.
I sanded and clear coated the headlights today as they were very hazy.
I went 800/2000/3000/4000 grit with a water spray bottle followed by a clear primer and then 2 coats of clear. I’m happy with the results.
After this I finished cleaning all of the wheel wells and went back around them all to give the fender liners and suspension components a coat of wax. I was a bad boy yesterday and didn’t clean my brush, so although I’ve prepped the remaining 3 calipers for paint, they’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get the treatment. I’ve ordered the correct Gen1 JCW caliper stickers from Acromann and can’t wait for them to arrive!
I also lightly sanded the seam in my bumper patch paintwork with a 320 grit, then blended the paint with some white spirit before clear coating over. I won’t see the final results of that until tomorrow but the initial results were promising.
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 08:50 AM.
Project “initial cleanup” is all but complete. My wife took me for a spin this evening and we stopped to take a couple of pics. I’ve said it before but - wow! I cannot believe I paid so little for this Mini. With what I spent on the wheels and the bodywork shop supplies that I bought, I’m all in to the car for around $6,350CDN - hilarious! I did spend 4 digits at Out Motoring today though - amongst those items are a new hood scoop, spoiler, JCW door sills and a sway bar. accounting for shipping and prepping/painting the scoop and spoiler, it’ll probably be late June before there are any significant updates. Until then - I’m wishing my wife happy motoring! Thanks to the community for all the attaboys and suggestions in this thread so far.
Last edited by jacktown; May 13, 2020 at 09:38 PM.
Been tidying up lots of little things in the mini this past few days but have also enjoyed driving it 200kms. What a blast!
I have a check engine light which is almost certainly cat related. I’d like to put a spacer in the system for the second o2 sensor to attach to (probably) clear the code. Can anyone let me know which spacer other mini owners are using to solve emissions codes?
Been tidying up lots of little things in the mini this past few days but have also enjoyed driving it 200kms. What a blast!
I have a check engine light which is almost certainly cat related. I’d like to put a spacer in the system for the second o2 sensor to attach to (probably) clear the code. Can anyone let me know which spacer other mini owners are using to solve emissions codes?
solved. Found the part on outmotoring.
My wife took me for coffee and donuts this morning.
Haven’t done anything to the mini except drive it quickly around corners for the last few weeks
I did prep the drivers side mirror cap for paint but am waiting for the hood scoop and spoiler extension to arrive so I can paint/clear all at once - hence the primer grey mirror cap in the pic. Hoping things start to show up before the weekend.
Little update. I’ve done a few little jobs on the car whenever I can get 15 mins here and there the past couple of weeks.
- prepped, painted and installed Omicron scoop. (Love this mod. I went with pepper white rather than a contrasting colour and I’m glad with the decision. It really does seem
tomgrab a lot more air and feeds the intercooler enough to stave off heat soak in moderate driving, during some 20c weather we’ve been having here. I feel like it’s relatively OEM+ looking which was my hope)
- Installed the JCW Alcantara / Leather wheel. (Yay! Used to have this in the Checkmate 10 years ago and had to have it again)
- Installed the Official Mini cup holder - wow! Exciting! I had an aftermarket one before and it was kind of an eye sore.
- Installed JCW door sill trims - a weird box not to check when the car was ordered. Seemed incomplete without them.
- Installed rear bumper Zunsport grilles. (Any thoughts on these? Love them? Hate them? Think they’d look better if I paint the bumper black, immediately behind them?)
- replaced passenger side exterior A Pillar cover as the original was cracked from a windshield replacement
thanks! Just trying to keep the budget in check and have fun while doing it. My mantra on this car is, if it’s a 9/10 it’s good enough. So far I’m
there or there abouts 😊
As for the paint, I went to the body shop and picked up a few things. 240 grit to sand down pieces. 320 to refinish them. Sanding pad to smooth. Then I hit them with a primer and combined adhesive agent. Then sanding pad to smooth. Then paint (3-4 passes) then sanding pad again, then 3 coats of clear coat (about 10mins apart)
I’ll take some pictures of the bottles tomorrow but for now, I have this one handy on my phone as I asked my wife to text it to me last week when I was back at the body shop for a second can.
Congrats on finding such a good looking bargain!
