Hahah damn that was filthy af

 

New tires & wheels arrived today.




and I thought I’d swap the rear brakes real quick before putting them on, then this happened.




I guess someone else has had issues with the rotor retention screws getting stuck on this car.

I just wish that person had taken time to put on glasses before drilling it out. 🤦‍♂️

That little screw is important when the holes in the rotors are 14.6mm and the bolts are 12mm.




I got lucky drilling out what was left of the bolt - just enough material remained to retap the hub (managed to keep it centered as well!)










so far, so good.

Then I realized my piston screw back tool is too big for the little Mini caliper. 🤦‍♂️

I was going to use the damaged hub as an excuse to upgrade the rears to 14mm also, but for the price of new hubs I can almost fund used R56 trailing arm assemblies (so I’m off to eBay right now.)

 

You did good

 

So the late rear hubs were going to cost me $300; but I rolled the dice on a set of trailing arms with the hub assemblies for $330 delivered from eBay (plus $40 for the WMW shock adapters.) If I'm lucky and the hubs are usable as-is, I guess I can justify the R56 arms as a $70 upgrade...

 

As it turns out, the cabin filter wasn’t the only squirrel’s nest.




I found that while replacing the intake boot and spark plugs. (I also gave up on trying to use the factory clamps and used Norma clamps on the intake boot.)




and I’m guessing this is the clutch hydraulic line that is almost rubbed through?



All in all, with the new brakes & tires I was able to clear all of the idiot lights. In fact, the engine service light is out now as well - is it possible that was related to the intake boot?

Also, Detroit Tuned got the NOS upper aero grille to me before the holiday so I was able to install that today as well. I’m very excited about it.
I think I’ve sourced a good used lower aero grille on FB, too. Fingers-crossed!

On the short drive home I heard & felt clunking from the driver’s front control arm, passenger strut bushing (its torn), and a lot of clunking in the rear which I think is probably upper shock mounts. So still lots to do in addition to the clutch replacement.

I’m pretty pleased that I was able to drive it home though.

 

FYI if you have the R56 wheel bearing hubs they use 14mm bolts, your old R53 hubs were 12mm bolts. So you will need new lug bolts or studs.

We also sell the entire conversion with the spacers from our wrecks we part out just without the hubs as we reuse the old ones:
https://www.waymotorworks.com/alumin...rsion-kit.html

 

Thanks - I'm all squared away on the trailing arms and hubs, but I ordered the shock mount adapters from you guys this weekend (got the shipping notification from you today, in fact - thanks.) I'm converting over to 14mm all around, but am running 14 up front and 12 in the rear at the moment.

 

I've had some aluminum arms sitting on the shelf for a couple of years waiting to be installed and this info on the 14mm hubs and trailing arm conversion is very helpful.

eimkeith, where did you get the front hubs from, and did you have any issues using the R53 sensors in them?

Way, I've read a lot of how to's on the rear trailing arm conversion, but some things are still unclear. There have been conflicting posts on which wheel speed sensors work with the conversion. I know the 1st gen sensors are physically smaller than the 2nd gen, but there some posts say the 2nd gen sensors work, and others say they needed to use the 1st gen sensors with a mounting adapter for the trailing arm. What is your experience with this?

Also, I've seen posts where the fuel filler hose rubs on the trailing arm and had to replaced or shortened slightly to pull it away from the arm. Is this a common problem, or is this an installation issue they are making?

Another question is what is the torque value for the lower shock mount and front bushing mount when using used arms? I've read around 120 ft. pounds, but some say this is only for new arms with uncut threads and the torque for used arms should be similar to the 14mm wheel bolts at 103 ft. pounds or else you'll strip the arms. Which is correct?

 

I ordered them from one of my vendors, SSF - for late 2006 (07/2006 on) r53. No issues.

I'll get the part number for you.
[ EDIT - it's 31-22-6-776-162 ]

 

Hmm; thought I posted this, but it’s disappeared.

I’ve got a profuse oil leak (sat for almost 24hrs):

 

Looks like it could be comming from the oil filter housing.

 

Check oil filter housing, cam position sensor, oil pan gasket

 

thanks, guys, I'll check all those areas out when I get a chance.

since I need to do the clutch & flywheel, I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and knock everything out under the hood at one time. While I'm researching all this stuff, what would you advise me to check/replace while I'm in there? (I'd like to not be in there again for some time after this)

So far I'm aware of:
cam position sensor O-ring
drive belt stuff (tensioner and pulleys)
timing chain tensioner
(inspect the timing chain & ramps?)
supercharger oil
water pump
??

do I need to drop the pan and do the rod bearings?
LSD?

 

Your initiation as a new Mini owner is complete, welcome!

 

While you are at it, renew water hoses. The rest of the list looks complete to me (I just did the same thing)

 

Front main seal
vacuum lines
suppercharger oil change
crankshaft position sensor o-ring

have you done a coolant system refresh yet?

 

Ow, I forgot some:

-Dipstick O-ring
-O-ring water flange
-Thermostat + thermostat housing
-Coolant temp sensor

 

ok, I'm going to start a spreadsheet!

 

so that oil leak.

- remember the goofy self-tapping non-factory drain plug?








the nuclear option, of course, would be to replace the oil pan? looks like a good excuse to service the rod bearings...

also, I got some fun stuff in today:

 

and, since I was enjoying @tej98's thread and saw what my headlights would have looked like 3months later (I have an 04/04 build date) - I kinda had to have them.

to me, this -



looks like this -



and this -





- so I ordered some. (Mine are really hazed over anyway)

 

Is the bolt torqued to spec?

The oil pan seal is known to leak, same goes for the rocker cover.

 

not certain I got the full 18 ft.lbs. on it - I was afraid of the threads...

 

well, that’s better.




and I’m pretty excited about these:

 

Nice!

 

Nice gauges ? I love having a boost gauge hooked up.
I prefer the ones with a less of a max reading so its easier to read and the needle then swings more..