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Hi all, I love the insights and enthusiasm of folks here and am psyched to be part of the community. I'm new to this board AND to Minis, and figure an intro is in order. Thanks in advance for following along and for your much-appreciated support and guidance, as I'll inevitably stretch my knowledge and mechanical comfort zone! So, here goes:
In the past I started U.S. with a highly (self) modified '86 Mustang 5.0 that - besides tons of speeding tickets and an eventual suspended license - kept me under a hood and at least somewhat out of trouble. In my college years, I ditched the absolute crap build quality of that '80s Ford for a pristine (and then decade old) '93 Mr2 Turbo that spent a good bit of time with me on the autrocross track. I then moved overseas for a few years but my long-term daily driver - a wrecked and self-repaired 1987 Honda Prelude I paid $800 for - was left in the good care of an old friend until I returned. In the years since, it's the only car I've owned and I've racked up around 200 of the 310k miles currently on it. I attribute the mileage to Japanese build quality, familiarity with every part on it, and Lucas oil stabilizer which I swear by.
A couple months back my buddy pulled up in a 146k mile six-speed hyper metallic blue (LOVE this color) 2006 mini cooper s. His friend didn't have a place for it, and "borrowed" space in my friend's driveway for months 'till his wife said enough. It had to go, and his friend would take $2 grand. You can barely find a running car for that price, especially something as clean as this was; I took it for a spin and loved it.
Like my buddy's gal, my wife was less than thrilled and said an extra car that took her spot was a no-go (women are so unreasonable...). So I made a heart-wrenching decision to sell the Prelude and keep the new toy. Crazy part is, turns out the Prelude appreciated! I fetched $3300 for it, meaning the Cooper plus some play money, and I'm ready to go.
At the moment I'm thinking sleeper, with focus on underhood performance. I've connected with @MiniManAdam who lives nearby and has a badass ride that felt like a damn rocket. Between that and loads of ideas from this board, I'm accumulating parts to get started. Rather than ramble on in my intro, I'll share where I am and would like to go in the next thread. In the meantime, here's a quick shot of the car, and the tear-filled end of an era as my Prelude leaves the driveway with its new owner.
Farewell, good friend. Original motor, burns no oil, and never once did it leave me stranded (oh, and that paint job's my own):
And my new project. At my inlaws this weekend but I'll share better pics soon. I'm super psyched!!
Last edited by OutlandishnessDue; Apr 3, 2024 at 09:28 AM.
Nicely done. It’s not Your prelude, but what it lacks in 80s -90s Japanese reliability, it make up for with gumption and fun quotient.
plus like all bmws, and similar to early Hondas, they are basically legos. Easy to take apart and put back together, and quite a bit of parts bin swap ability or commonality from later models or associated nameplates to borrow from.
Thanks! The interior is clean too. As far as records, not much unforuntately. Clean carfax but I did find that the spark plugs were burned down to nothing and the oil was pretty dirtly. Good news is that it pulls strong and has a new clutch and a fresh battery and tires. It also doesn't seem to burn or drip oil but the pan isn't dry - I think its just the oil pan gasket. For better or worse I'm not too concerned, as I intend to get into the block soon for some mods.
Before you change the plugs look and see if it has a pulley swap. If it does you want to go one heat range colder on the plugs, aka the JCW spec plugs.
welcome aboard. I didn’t get near the deal you did on mine a couple weeks ago, nor my sons JCW last year, I’m a bit envious, lol.
Happy to be of any help I can if you ever have a question.
Also imo your first purchase after plugs, should be an old XP laptop and Inpa cable, so you can install DIS v44, ncs expert, etc etc and have factory diagnostics and do your own options coding. Your local mini/bmw dealer probably doesn’t even have full support for these anymore as they’ve moved on to newer machines.
Welcome! Glad to see another local-ish member. @wmcoons also has an 06 Hyper Blue and I have an 06 BRG JCW out in the western Milwaukee suburbs.
@MiniManAdam is a great resource. I've got a garage full of parts and plenty of experience if you ever need some local expertise.
Take some time to look the car over and anything that you can't verify is nearly new, earmark for replacement. For ~$1k you can replace just about all the wear components on the car, and be left with a very capable, like-new toy. Its standard practice for every mini I own and has always done me well. New struts & mounts, poly LCA bushings, inner/outer ball joints, inner/outer tie rods, brake lines, supercharger oil & gasket, brake fluid, crank sensor o-ring, oil cooler o-rings, oil pan gasket, valve cover gasket, oil filter housing to block gasket, all 3 engine mounts, serpentine tensioner, coolant reservoir, front and rear hatch struts, front and rear sway bar end links (toss in an upgraded RSB while you're at it).
It sounds like a lot, but pretty much every one of these components is guaranteed to fail, and they're really not that expensive to replace. I'm a big fan of doing everything at once and driving without fear, instead of having a constant stream of failures that are replaced one at a time.
Like my buddy's gal, my wife was less than thrilled and said an extra car that took her spot was a no-go (women are so unreasonable...).
Ruining everything, as per normal. Wait 'til you have to start buying parts...
In the mean time, as Adam has no doubt already informed you, bullet-proof 40-year old Hondas these are not; some basic reliability day ruiners to consider addressing sooner rather than later:
crank shaft pulley
cooling fan resistor
coolant expansion tank
supercharger oil service
oil leaks - a BMW tradition. Look for valve cover, crank shaft position sensor o-ring; oil filter housing, pan, and timing cover gaskets as most common sources. Also power steering reservoir hoses.
Easy to take apart and put back together,
especially after you've done it a few times, which you most certainly will...
Speaking of that grab a copy of this:
Great advice Dan! Thanks a lot. I may hit you u on parts as I keep going. Starting with the basics but the maintence components are great advice - and with this kind of mileage I'd rather do it all at once instead of piece meal as things wear.
Dug up my old Laptop but it's Windows 7 - XP required I'll need to find software. @MiniManAdam also has the software and will share as a loaner for the invevitable tune.
Thanks so much for the early advice - some takeaways include, now's as good a time as ever for preventative maintenance (bought the Bentley manual) check for a pulley (it has a 15%, so I installed cooler plugs), and there's gonna be more to keep me busy than the Honda - inevitable headaches aside, good thing I love this stuff!
In the meantime, I've been busy. I started with the basics - exhaust, and intake. Tons of forum reads landed on an Invidia exhaust, Xforce header (tough fit - finally took the valve cover off, and still with a lot of wrestling it went in from the top), and for now just a drop in replacement K&N filter. Given this is a Chicago car, I also spent a full weekend with an old serrated steak knife (which works wonders), steel brushes, and wire wheels to remove as much underbody rust as I could. Rust converter, paint, then underbody coating on top. Thankfully for the most part it was light surface rust. Next, with the exhaust already off it worked well to replace the rusted out and broken emergency brake cable, which became an adventure as the cables were permanently rust welded to the rear calipers. After an angle grinder, drill bits, and profanity I gave up and had to replace. THEN, once I got them in I stripped the damn bleeder screw on the driver's side and have another coming in the mail.
Here's some photos:
Wish I'd taken a before shot, but a rusty mess now treated and protected
Rust protected using caliper paint. Love the cross-drilled rotors that came with the car and plenty of life left on the pads. Used the same paint on the old lug nuts (actually bolts? - weird), we'll see if it sticks when I tighten them down
Cat attached to the new header and exhaust. Broke four drill bits, but salvaged the rear flange. Took the cat to a shop with markings to weld the front flange and it's a nice fit. I had small leaks at the fittings unfortunately, and used some orange copper gasket maker that I hope will resolve (stuff worked great on the prelude) - impatiently waiting for it to cure!! BTW - those are Honda Prelude 8mm bolts from my giant bin of hardware that snugged nicely over the rusty studs to hold the heat shield down
Last edited by OutlandishnessDue; Oct 23, 2023 at 07:20 AM.
I wish you luck with your build buddy !
Was nice meeting up and chatting with ya...
It was my pleasure to take you out for a quick rip in "project rice".. there's a few on here who doubt that cars capabilities.
Last edited by MiniManAdam; Aug 20, 2023 at 02:34 PM.
I wish you luck with your build buddy !
Was nice meeting up and chatting with ya...
It was my pleasure to take you out for a quick rip in "project rice".. there's a few on here who doubt that cars capabilities.
Haters gonna hate but that thing about pulled my face off! Ran the quarter? Guessing high 11s..
Haters gonna hate but that thing about pulled my face off! Ran the quarter? Guessing high 11s..
that's what I'm hoping for but will get it back to the track abit later in the season.. i gotta stop going there on 95'F days with 30mph winds.. lol..last time I ran it it had stock head , cam and sc yet and only ran a best of 13.8 at 103mph. So with all I've done now I'm hooping it knocked off that 2 seconds. It feels fast enough now..
have you decided on which cam you wanted to go with yet ?
Your XForce install looks a bit strange to me, they have an old school ball socket exhaust fitting with sprung bolts and a thick tapered gasket, instead of the more common metal flex joint and flange to flange fit.
btw, The UK guys call that kind of recycle main cat to header install a TomCat.
but if it works, it works.
btw, hope you’ll do an audio sample vid since the invidia sounds great on stock dp, but seems to be hit or miss on harshness with headers.
I was considering a similar setup this personal interest.
Last edited by Onizukachan; Aug 20, 2023 at 05:07 PM.
Your XForce install looks a bit strange to me, they have an old school ball socket exhaust fitting with sprung bolts and a thick tapered gasket, instead of the more common metal flex joint and flange to flange fit.
btw, The UK guys call that kind of recycle main cat to header install a TomCat.
but if it works, it works.
btw, hope you’ll do an audio sample vid since the invidia sounds great on stock dp, but seems to be hit or miss on harshness with headers.
I was considering a similar setup this personal interest.
Ha, I built a Tomcat without knowing what a Tomcat was - and as an update I just cranked it up and the small bead of copper orange sealant fixed the leak. The header came with all the parts you mention I just changed it to a flush fit by cutting the excess pipe after the flange.
I HATED bottlenecking the 2.5" header with the stock cat, but then again there's not much of a drop to the 2.36" Invidia given the cat (I believe) is 2.25". I did look into a "high flow" cat and scoured boards, but the consensus seems to be they're kinda junk and the cat we have is as good as you'll find. If you've seen differently feedback is welcome.
Regarding the sound, that's discouraging. It's still in my garage on jackstands so naturally loud but nice burble at idle. Once I get the brakes bled and get it on the road I'll share my take and record it. The one thing I dread is if there's a drone on the highway - fingers crossed.
Last edited by OutlandishnessDue; Aug 20, 2023 at 07:14 PM.
that's what I'm hoping for but will get it back to the track abit later in the season.. i gotta stop going there on 95'F days with 30mph winds.. lol..last time I ran it it had stock head , cam and sc yet and only ran a best of 13.8 at 103mph. So with all I've done now I'm hooping it knocked off that 2 seconds. It feels fast enough now..
have you decided on which cam you wanted to go with yet ?
Went with that PH1/2 Newman Camshaft from Orranje! Piling up my inventory to share with board next post, and here's where I'll have questions.
Your XForce install looks a bit strange to me, they have an old school ball socket exhaust fitting with sprung bolts and a thick tapered gasket, instead of the more common metal flex joint and flange to flange fit.
Damn - your comment made me realize with my flange to flange I likely need a flex pipe.... Real idiot moment not using the sprung system that came with it. Just came in the mail, hope it's an easy weld-in at the exhaust shop Friday - hate wasting money 🤦♂️
Last edited by OutlandishnessDue; Aug 23, 2023 at 02:32 PM.
Reason: Flex pipe arrival
First, take a look at how beautiful those Invidia blue tips are with the blue on my car.
@Onizukachan - I don't believe I can do much justice recording the sound, but with the Invidia, factory cat, and header it is pretty loud when accelerating. But it's not buzzy or ricey at all - wonderful low growl and my favorite is letting off the throttle - there are all kinds of brilliant crackles and pops. And for a daily driver, if you stay in low revs or are just driving down the highway it's drone-free and not much noisier than factory. For me, it's perfect.
Now for another project, the decal hood stripes that came with were dried out and cracked in a thousand little pieces. It looked terrible close up. Removing them started off as a pain - a rubber wheel was super tedious and heat and peeling only allowed a tiny piece at a time b/c of the cracks. I ended up using a hair dryer to soften the decals, then the rubber wheel took them right off. Once I figured it out it was easy.
Now, I love the split stripes of the original decals, but apparently, you can't get a read-made fit for the R53. What you CAN get are the split stripes from an F60 Mini Countryman, with the bonus of being tapered as well - to me this looks even better. Using a sharp razor to match the edges with the hood of my car, here's the finished product. I'm very happy with it!
So that's all for now. Plenty more planned or in the works here, so I'll check back in later and check out the rides of those who have posted here for ideas as well.
Last edited by OutlandishnessDue; Oct 23, 2023 at 07:19 AM.
