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Take us 6 from golden to central city / Blackhawk which is an old mining town converted to a a casino town. From there you can take peak to peak highway all the way to Estes park which is the gateway to Rocky Mountain national park. Long sweeping turns the entire way.
Canyon drive detours from this big loop would be. ( in order of south to north )
golden gate canyon which brings you back to golden. Dirt on top for a bit. (Baja style)
coal creek canyon which brings you back to Arvada very twisty but traffic thick on peak hours
boulder canyon which brings you back to boulder. Currently closed from Monday through Thursday 9-4:30
left hand canyon. ( my favorite, tight with relatively low traffic. Back to north boulder
I 25 down to Walsenburg (I know, interstates aren't meant for 'motoring', but) 160 W to Durango (3 micro breweries) then North on 550 (the million $ highway) up to Montrose then right on 50 to 285 just short of Salida and back to Denver.
Love these back roads. Denver interstates - not so much. We started out driving I-70 west to 58 to Golden. Coffee and an early morning quick walk thru the main strip. Coffee at the Saddle something to warm up (was like 15 Saturday morning).
Then 6 to 119 to Black Hawk. Awesome roads and scenery! A little gambling and some walking before heading to Central City to Central City Pkwy down to I-70. On to Vail! Awesome idea until we hit snow about 1pm around Silverthorne. Gassed up there and after testing the car out on some snow covered back streets and parking lots pressed on. made to to and walked all over a packed Vail Village. After some food and beverage we finally pulled out of Vail about 3pm or so. Learned this was a really bad idea! Snow kept falling the whole time. Luckily I had put the new set of tires on the week before we drove to CO. 70 east back to Denver was pucker factor to the max! Snow, ice, dirt, and mud all on the interstate. The Mini didn’t skip a beat and traction control worked very well! My left leg was worn out from stop and go, on snow, on the inclines. Horrible idea! We made it back safe and sound to East Denver about 7pm...for what I believe is normally a 2 hour drive.
My wife and I agreed after landing back in the motel that it was an AWESOME trip that we will never forget! Pics below if I can get em to load. Golden strip. Gotta come back next trip over here. Black Hawk Vail. Still a bad idea at this point. East bound just West of Vail Pass, I think. Really really bad idea! Hwy 6.
Bravo Zulu! (that's Navy signals for Well Done). Comparing picture #3 with #4 you can certainly see the advantage of seeking out the roads less traveled.
For another great back road adventure put Eureka Springs on your to do list. You can go to the MITO web site and check out the 20+ day trip maps they've got. We've been down there multiple times and always look forward to the next.
Well, this weekend I was able to drive up to Estes Park, short loop thru RMNP, then back down 7 to 72, thru the crazy roundabout in Ned, to the Boulder Canyon Rd. Minus the road construction and mule deer on Boulder Canyon... that was a great trip.
The bad news is I didn’t bring the Mini to CO this trip over. Brought her Rogue, which has been pretty good in all this snow. And I really like the auto start on that thing.
Next trip we will be back in my Mini to rack up some more CO backroad miles.
Snapped a few non-car pics. Denver during the storm. Estes Park, Stanley Hotel Quick bite at Trailhead Restaurant outside of RMNP. Historical marker as we headed down 7/72. Beautiful church inside and out.
Who would you take your F60 to for a 100k mi timing chain service, and all else that entails? Dealer or is there a great reliable private shop?
TIA
I'd never bring a car to the dealership unless it was under their warranty. They intentionally price things to keep used cars away. I'm not familiar with the nuances of the F60 platform but most cars, BMW's Audi's certainly the R56 N14, The important piece to change out is the timing tensioner. As long as you change that at proper intervals there is no need to change out the chain, or guides. If the chain has been bouncing / slapping because the tensioner is spent is when guides break, chains skip gears. As long as that hasn't happened, changing the tensioner out will get you another 60-80k which is what I would recommend on N14 / R56 Same for a e39 m5 and many many others.
I'd never bring a car to the dealership unless it was under their warranty. They intentionally price things to keep used cars away. I'm not familiar with the nuances of the F60 platform but most cars, BMW's Audi's certainly the R56 N14, The important piece to change out is the timing tensioner. As long as you change that at proper intervals there is no need to change out the chain, or guides. If the chain has been bouncing / slapping because the tensioner is spent is when guides break, chains skip gears. As long as that hasn't happened, changing the tensioner out will get you another 60-80k which is what I would recommend on N14 / R56 Same for a e39 m5 and many many others.
Understood - sound advice on dealer - why I've done all my own work. Let me tell you about the E36 engine I pulled, shortblocked, had it bored, dropped in a welded crank ground as stroker, dropped in Schrick street race cams, yadda... in my home garage. I machined a cam lock tool to reassemble and replace the chain/tensioner/rails in that one. But alas, no garage anymore.
These have plastic guide-rails and a loose, slapping chain can break off plastic. I've never seen any bits in the oil - do my own oil changes - and the IC motor runs great, so I don't think it has jumped a tooth. Changing the tensioner should be a simple job. I'll check my service manual. It has 104k miles. I'm assuming that the chain tensioner is similar to other BMW versions - spring loaded piston that compresses in on one of the tensioning rails. Do these springs loose their tension over time? Or is there an 'extended' tensioner version that has an extra mm or two for that inevetible timing chain link bearing wear? I've never been inside a Mini engine, but since a BMW product assuming really similar. The F60 is built on the X1 frame...
That said - anybody in Denver have a favorite independent Mini / BMW shop? TIA
Edit: Checking shop manual, first step is Remove Catalytic Converter....
Also, this is a hydraulic tensioner, the oil pressure distends the piston within the tensioner. So unless there's wear on the internal surfaces of the piston/barrell or the seal is shot, just replacing the tensioner may not be a good option. Anyone done this? TIA.
Last edited by ApexF60SE; Apr 19, 2023 at 11:29 AM.
It is likely a spring loaded hydraulic piston tensioner. Same as S52, N14 m52 s52 s50 yada yada. The spring area fills with oil and thus spring and hydraulic combination. They all loose tension over time (spring) and thus the death of many a motor. If it was only hydraulic it would never loose tension. I can't think of any that are only hydraulic. I can't thing of a motor that doesn't have plastic guide rails. M52 S52 N14 m50 m52 yada yada. The way to confirm guide rails are fine is by pulling the valve cover and looking. Changing tensioner is all you really need if done before tensioner has lost too much tension and caused guide problems or you ran it low on oil, continued to run a rough running motor etc.
Now that you mention x1 chassis I know the car you are talking about....... hope to god you never need a new heater core fan.....
I currently have 4 e36s although 1 is a parts car. 1 e39m 1 e46m and a hella fast r56. One e36 I'm building to a 470hp canyon carver. The sedan. vi engineered turbo manifold and on and on. We sound like birds of a feather.
Send a message to euro garage in Denver. You can reach them on facebook / their e mail is on FB. I would trust them to do anything on a BMW manufactured product..... its where I saw what it takes to change out a f60 heater core. Look at guide rails, likely just change out tensioner is what I would be planning. If for some reason they aren't doing Minis, he may be able to get you to a trusted shop. These folks are not schwag or thieves.
It is likely a spring loaded hydraulic piston tensioner. Same as S52, N14 m52 s52 s50 yada yada. The spring area fills with oil and thus spring and hydraulic combination. They all loose tension over time (spring) and thus the death of many a motor. If it was only hydraulic it would never loose tension. I can't think of any that are only hydraulic. I can't thing of a motor that doesn't have plastic guide rails. M52 S52 N14 m50 m52 yada yada. The way to confirm guide rails are fine is by pulling the valve cover and looking. Changing tensioner is all you really need if done before tensioner has lost too much tension and caused guide problems or you ran it low on oil, continued to run a rough running motor etc.
Now that you mention x1 chassis I know the car you are talking about....... hope to god you never need a new heater core fan.....
I currently have 4 e36s although 1 is a parts car. 1 e39m 1 e46m and a hella fast r56. One e36 I'm building to a 470hp canyon carver. The sedan. vi engineered turbo manifold and on and on. We sound like birds of a feather.
Send a message to euro garage in Denver. You can reach them on facebook / their e mail is on FB. I would trust them to do anything on a BMW manufactured product..... its where I saw what it takes to change out a f60 heater core. Look at guide rails, likely just change out tensioner is what I would be planning. If for some reason they aren't doing Minis, he may be able to get you to a trusted shop. These folks are not schwag or thieves.
Kelley
HA! cut from the same cloth indeed! Very cool on your builds in progress.
AMEN on heater / climate fans! I'm pulling the heater fan on my E36, discovered I either need to drop the motor off the mounts or remove the intake manifold to clear the fan....!@#!%. Probably an issue with me putting beefier mounts after the build above. Q - you have need of an E36 325 ERT Supercharger kit? I couldn't bring myself to put it back on after the build, afraid of blowing head gaskets. PM me if interested.
Finally, thank you for the tip on Euro Garage and Zack and the recommendation about decoking the valves - I'll research that, assuming it isn't a simple Seafoam treatment. I'll ping them, let them know they are recommended on the forum. Or is Zack here? Please PM me Zack if you are.
Edit: talked with Euo Garage - seems like a very nice BMW shop. The guy I spoke with was helpful, said they made a decision to not work on Minis but then gave me the name of an independent shop that does. I'll check them out, post back after.
Last edited by ApexF60SE; Apr 20, 2023 at 09:52 PM.
Update... A little research, spoke with a Mini Service advisor. They stated they don't recommend changing or servicing the timing chain unless there appears to be an issue with the engine running that calls for it. I also looked into the difficulty in swapping out the timing chain tensioner....first instruction step states remove the catalytic converter, to do that, remove the o2 sensor and exhaust system and various panels/covers. The tensioner is located on the top rt side (looking from the front into the engine bay) of the block between the firewall and block... i'll look at the amount of space available, but if it *is* blocked by the cat Ima not gonna touch it.
The shop that was recommended was Ferney's Lube and Auto repair of Centennial. A visit to their website indicates they specialize almost exclusively on Minis. I haven't been there, no comment on the recommendation.
