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The OBD cable already shipped.
New leather for the parking brake and shifter shipped
Ball joints are on the way.
New exhaust manifold with cat is on order.
New headliner material is ordered.
New cabin filter is on hand.
New Powerflex bushing are on hand
I have only owned this car for less than 2 weeks and I have spent a bunch already, I can't wait to get it back to the way it should be.
My wife calls the car my new obsession.
Sounds like she is right but nothing wrong with that IMO 🤓
, She should be use to it, I did the same thing with the 07 Escalade ESV I darn near restored, but that is a different story.
Started pulling the front off so I can drop the lower frame and install the new control arm bushings and ball joints this weekend. I think I found part of the reason I had a vibration when I was driving it home. The bolts that hold the rim onto the right front were hand tight. Glad I didn't mess up the rim or loose the whole thing going down the highway.
No work on the mini today, it's raining and I don't have a garage. I need a down day anyway. I am an auto tech and my working partner is out sick so it's been just me at the shop this week. I have been getting it done but I am tired today.
I stopped by the tag office and got my tag and registration. .
The wife came hone after visiting her mother, looked and me and shook her head. I said look I am working on your Mini as fast as I can. She looked at me and said that's not my Mini, That's YOUR Mini.
Lots of progress yesterday after work. Not quite as graceful as Mod Mini's removal video but it is out. Very oily on the passenger side, I think it's mostly coming from the front main seal. Subframe is out !!! Found I had a missing bolt for the passenger CV axle. This is now leaking
Removed the outer ball joints before I dropped out the sub frame. The passenger side went fairly smooth, the drivers side took a while beating and prying to get it out.. The wife helped me lower the subframe down, she is so awesome. Both of the control arm bushing were very bad, so bad the metal pieces fell off after I got it on the ground and the roll bar bolts out. Our Harbor Freight is out of the 12 ton hydraulic presses. I was ready to go buy one this morning to press in the new bushings.
I have new inner and outer ball joints and roll bar bushings ready to go in. The new exhaust manifold has shipped so I think I will get everything done on the frame, clean it up and then wait to put it back in after I get the exhaust installed. I think I will also change the transmission oil too. I need to get a new bolt for that CV axle mount that is missing. I ordered a new plastic piece for the heater hose bleed thingy that is now leaking.
Todays mission is to install the new ball joints and remove what's left of the old control arm bushings.
Thanks! I plan on it.
I got the new ball joints installed and the old bushing cut off. Todays plans have been cut short since I don't have a garage and there is rain on the way.
Headliner material will be delivered this afternoon. If the rain lets up I hope to try and get that done.
What do you do when it's raining and you can't work on the car? You bring in the headliner board and install the new fabric! Not even close to the light grey original color. I recovered it in the new color. Wife and 5 year old son help me install the new fabric. Not show quality but looks great to me.
I see a spot that I need to try and glue down. I think it will look OK even with the light grey visors. We did get 3 little spots of glue on it and I can't get it off. It beats the old one that was really hanging down. I will install it tomorrow if it doesn't rain anymore.
That's a lot of parts on the driveway. Good work. And the headliner looks good. Remember, no one will ever examine it as closely as you did after finishing it.
I started bright and early this morning back on the mini.
New headliner It was past due Old manifold
First thing I did was install the headliner back in the car. I don't think it looks bad with the light color visors.
Next I changed out the fuel filter. With past maintenance being sketchy it was a good thing I did.
Next I vacuumed up stuff that was under the brake booster. Both of the drains were full of leaves/ debris and not draining.
Next I removed the old manifold. I also dropped the rest of the exhaust.
Everything I need to reassemble the car should hopefully be here by the end of the week.
Things I am waiting on.
Decided to just replace the whole exhaust system, manifold with cat, muffler and all new gaskets are on the way.
New CV axle for the drivers side will be in tomorrow, somehow the inside boot was torn dropping the frame.-Received.
New leather for the shifter and the e-brake hopefully will be in this week.-Received
Roll bar bushings coming in tomorrow-Received
Heater tube plastic thingy coming in this week
Ordered redline oil to change the transmission oil
Had to order a new muffler clamp, the old one was broken in half, I wondered why the muffler flopped around
I will stop by my old job and install the control arm bushings.
Thanks!
I think it turned out great.
I got the power flex bushings installed today at work so I can put them on the control arms and install them on the subframe. New CV joint is supposed to arrive today along with the sway bar bushings. Glad I am finally in the install phase. I hope to have everything in and installed so I can take it for a drive Sunday afternoon.
The question of the day is:
Can you watch a video on installing the bushings, read the instruction and still install the bushings backwards. The answer is Yes.
Can you remove them and reinstall them the correct way, Yes but it's a real pain.
The new leather for the shifter and the brake handle came in today.
The new CV axle is also in but I told my son I would take him swimming, so it will wait till tomorrow. Everything installed, cleaned and ready to go back in.
Getting there slowly but surely.
The new header and gaskets will in on Wednesday. Once I get the header installed I will reinstall the lower frame.
Looks familiair, did a full refresh not to long ago. Good luck buddy!
Thanks!
I plan on installing the drivers CV axle today and maybe the new leather boots. It’s 95 with a heat index of 100, I’ll see how it goes when I get home.
A little more progress today.
I installed a new bolt that was missing from the passenger CV axle mount.
I installed a new CV axle on the drivers side. I also added a little bling. Old and Broken New Hotness. Can't really see the red stitching from this angle. Hidden Surprise
The new boot on the parking brake makes the handle really look bad.
The little bit of oil that came out of the trans when I removed the CV axle didn't look all that bad. Still getting changed when my new oil arrives.
I was worried about the harmonic balancer being factory and coming apart, nice surprise it has already been changed.
The new header is supposed to be delivered today by UPS.. Yay!!!
The new exhaust gasket set is in Atlanta, not sure if it will be delivered today. The transmission oil was supposed to be delivered yesterday but it was a no show. Sometimes our post office is really bad at delivering stuff.
This is what the anthracite brake handle looks like in my '06, with black leather/red stitching boot from Redline. Much better than the "chrome" or brushed aluminum effect.
All I need to do now is find a way of making the chrome push button the same anthracite color.
, She should be use to it, I did the same thing with the 07 Escalade ESV I darn near restored, but that is a different story.
Good work. And the headliner looks good. Remember, no one will ever examine it as closely as you did after finishing it.
