Long post warning! Trying to get the hang of this.
I hope you can all benefit from the trajectory of my R55 restoration which I bought last summer from a very nasty owner. It suffered from the known timing chain tensioner; or so I thought. I won't include process steps since this forum has a lot on that but you can equally ask away.

Observing the engine bay, I noticed a few parts missing; airbox, lower intake hose, lots of clips...

I proceeded to remove the oily valve cover and find that it was not the tensioner but an unkempt brake pump that siezed and destroyed the engine. It took the HPFP, exhaust camshaft bolt & gear, chain rails, oil pump gear and oil dipstick + it mauled the engine block .




So far, it was pretty scary but nothing new to me. Two exhaust valves were seriously bent and some intake valves had a wierd clearance so I decided to changed them all as it comes out cheaper than having to work on the engine again. Plus the gunk on them was beyond awful. Carbon build up on the engine was removed also.



Moving on, I changed the head gasket because I was there already. And changed all leaking oil gaskets which it's ex-owner "fixed" with black silicone. He even managed to clog the oil line bolts and oil cooler with what seemed like some radiator leak sealant and silicone. O-rings all around were horribly covered in silicone.




I replaced the water pump, hpfp, brake pump, air intake, fan assembly, thermostat, radiator hoses, all valves, lifters, all gaskets including head gasket, manifold & turbo gasket, head bolts, o-rings, spark plugs, abs sensors, brake pads... All for 1,800 ish.

There's a lot I left out, so feel free to ask any questions you might have about the process or parts. I'm still on the process of clearing the "trifecta" and tracing a fuse that keeps blowing (F04). I'll include some other random pics for references.


Carbon build up on the pistons

Oil leaks all over block

Another view of carbon build up

Debris in the oil pan

That looks promising, this f***ing dude!



Be careful for these things falling off of the valve cover

Blown F04 fuse

Abs warning before I removed the black tape covering the teifecta.

Stripped cat :(

Opened and cleaned to remove roaches and excess electrical grease causing moisture.

Removed corroded led.


Debris removed from oil pump cover

Rpm counter

Tape covering brake warning lights

Car turns and runs perfectly except for abs warning lights and those horrible 20" wheels :(

 

I hope you got LiL orphan MINI for good price.

 

Nice to read about another r55 being saved. My engine didn't have any bent valves so I got lucky. I ended up doing a complete restoration. Still in the process or rebuilding

 

I was about to part it out and sell but happy I decided to restore instead. Good luck restoring yours