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2004 Mini Cooper S JCW - For Free

316K views 458 replies 170 participants last post by  percymon 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all,

I spent a lot of time following various people's projects in this part of Detailing World. So it only seemed fitting that I would begin my own! This will be a rather wordy and picture heavy project blog of my slightly crusty, non-running 2004 MINI Cooper S Works which I have fondly named "Stouffer" after Harry Hill's blue cat puppet (Seen here)

Background

It's worth making clear that i'm a big MINI fan, although I have never owned one. My Mum has had a 2004 Cooper S for over 9 years which i've always been very fond of - however she is also very fond of it, so i'm rarely lucky enough to drive it! I usually need an excuse - such as "I've just changed the coolant, but I need to test drive it to make sure everything is ok ... BYE". I love the way they drive - a real hoot at (relatively) legal speeds.
In the past when i've looked to change car, the MINI has never been quite suitable as I used to do a lot more miles (mainly motorway) which dictated a slightly larger and less bone-shaking car with an auto box (Golf GTI DSG and BMW M135i). However, as i'm looking to work close to home - a MINI makes a lot more sense now.
After selling my M135i, I have used my Land Rover Discovery 300TDI as my 'daily' since last year - it's comfy(ish) and relaxed, but you simply cannot have any fun behind the wheel - it takes at least 18 seconds to get to 60mph.

I was recently helping a family friend to resurrect her Audi TT which had a flat battery. Coversation turned to her MINI which had suffered head gasket failure in September 2016. She had not had the time to get it repaired, and so it had sat there ever since - gradually turning green under some large trees.
We had talked about putting it up for sale as spares/repairs - but I think the look of genuine horror in my face lead her to say "Why don't you have it?" I was quick to explain that I couldn't really afford to buy a car at the moment as I don't have a permanent job, so I would have to 'pass' on it. However, what she actually meant was that I could have the car for free if I wanted it. Like a kid at christmas, I jumped in my Land Rover and began to formulate the plans in my head!
Here are a few pictures of the car as it stood:




I think we need to address the elephant in the room - yes, that Audi TT is pink.


Picture taken through the window due to missing key (more on that later). Note the mouldy seat!






The car

To the best of my knowledge, the car is as follows (and i'm happy to be corrected here):
2004 R53 MINI Cooper S with the John Cooper Works pack.
It is a 1.6 supercharged inline-4 with 6 speed manual gearbox.
The colour is Hyper Blue, with white roof, mirror caps and bonnet stripes.
From what I understand, the cars left the factory as a standard Cooper S and would have the JCW kit fitted at the dealer which raises power to roughly 200-210bhp as opposed to the standard 170bhp. It comprises of:
  • Ported head
  • Uprated injectors
  • 11% Supercharger reduction pulley
  • Different ECU map
  • Different airbox and filter
  • Larger diameter cat back exhaust

In addition to this, I believe my car has the Chili Pack (including full leather) and ****pit Chrono Pack (extra dials).
It also has some sort of dealer fit sat nav (although the head unit has since been changed) which scared me half to death. There is a button (pictured above) which rings through to something like "MINI SmartNav", you tell them where you want to go and they send the directions to your car! I was very surprised when I pressed it at 11:30 last night and it started calling somebody! I'll stick to using google maps on my phone!

The button for the obscure sat nav. Don't worry, i've cleaned it since.


As you can probably tell, it has been fitted with Works GP type wheels (I'm not sure if they're genuine or replicas) but I really like the look of them so they will be staying.

Getting it home

The first issue was the key (or lack thereof!). In the time the car had been sitting - the only key had gone missing. After a bit of hunting, the V5 document was unearthed. I went with the current owner and ordered a new non-remote key from the BMW/MINI dealer for the surprisingly reasonable sum of £42! This arrived a couple of days later. It does the job, although I should mention that it is the single most cheap feeling, hollow piece of plastic I have ever come across!


I next needed to work out how to get the car home. I was reluctant to tow it with a rope as the journey is around 30 minutes on B-roads with a lot of stopping and starting - and I knew that the MINI would have little to no brakes as the engine obviously wouldn't be running. I found that Screwfix sell a fixed tow bar with spring damper for under £20. It's pretty good, although (as per all the reviews) the cotter pins which hold the 3 pieces of the bar together are rubbish, I could visualize them coming loose very quickly - so I substituted them for some split pins.


I started by removing all of the previous owner's stuff and wiping down the mould from the passenger seat to make things a little less of a health hazard on the way home. The handbrake had been firmly applied all the time it was laid up, so predictably the car did not want to budge. Luckily a couple of quick yanks with my Discovery and it rolled freely.The battery was totally dead (no surprise really!) but no matter how hard I tried, wouldn't accept a charge. As I wanted to be able to have the hazard lights on during the journey home, I popped to Halfords on the way home and picked up a suitable battery for £55 on my trade card.

My Disco and the MINI after getting the brakes freed off


My Dad had agreed to tow me back with his Defender whilst I sat in the MINI, so that evening we went over to collect it. I'm pleased to report that this went without a hitch! (That was a towing joke, by the way...)
The fixed bar attached easily to the MINI's front towing eye, having anticipated that the Defender doesn't have a towing eye on the back - but does have a tow ball, we found a suitable shackle to attach it with. I hooked up the new battery on the MINI and all the electrics came to life.






Part 2 coming shortly :car:
 
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16
#147 ·
Part 10 - Getting nearer

Hi all,

I popped out yesterday to pick up some goodies. It was absolutely horrendous weather all day long, but on the bright side (for a Land Rover owner) - there were plenty of puddles to splash through... You've got to find the positives!

First stop was the BMW garage to collect my water pump flange. The beached Mercedes had been removed, however the flattened barrier remained. The chap at the parts desk said there had been a fire engine there at one point working on shifting the C-Class (the fire station is directly opposite).
Then, a motorway jaunt to Halfords (which is never massively enjoyable in a vehicle that doesn't go much faster than the lorries!) where I collected my reservation from Carol - the miserable cow that's always on the tills - I've complained about her attitude twice. She begins every transaction with a very sarcastic "YES?..". Anyway, I picked up the following (all prices are with trade discount):

5 litres of Petronas Fully Synthetic 5W30 - £23.99

2x Comma G48 concentrate coolant 2L - £25.48

Another can of brake cleaner - £5.25

2 metres of 27amp cable (the thickest cable they sell) - £2.72

When I got home, I found that my poor neighbours had signed for yet more parcels whilst I was out. There was also a card from DPD saying that they would call back tomorrow, but I got lucky whilst driving up to my Dad's house and spotted the driver who was able to give me the parcel.

Here's a picture of the day's goodies:



In addition to the previously mentioned things, you are seeing:

5L of MTF94 gearbox oil

Fuel filter & new seals

11% KAVS Motorsport supercharger reduction pulley

NGK spark plugs - one step colder than standard, to work alongside the new pulley

New HT leads

Since the last update, I've also received my replacement side light - one of mine had a cracked lens and then the housing fell to pieces when I removed the indicator bulb! And the resistor for the radiator fan repair had also come.



The fuel filter was the first job I did. I've never done it before, but the filter is accessed from inside the car, under the back seat. The back seat bottom just pulls up and out, revealing a metal cover which is removed by undoing about 5 10mm bolts. You can then see this (Yes, I shamelessly stole this picture from the internet):



The tube unplugs, then the metal outer ring can be undone by tapping the ridges with a hammer and screwdriver - it can quite quickly be unscrewed by hand after this. The white canister within can then be lifted out.

At this point, you can see directly down into the petrol tank and the smell of fuel is incredibly strong. I got very scared and to avoid exploding, opened the garage door, the boot of the car and the driver's door. I was also afraid that my work light or my phone might in some way cause me to blow up as well (perhaps slightly irrational).

Once i'd stopped being scared, I removed the top of the canister, which reveals the fuel filter. Mine was totally gross. I also soaked up all the dirty petrol which builds up around the filter (I guess that means it's doing its job).



There are 3 or maybe 4 o-rings to replace (I think the fumes had made me slightly delirious), then in true Haynes Manual style - reassembly is the reverse of removal.

Next, I did a much less frightening job. I poured in the new oil (after making sure I'd reinstalled the drain plug!!). It took a bit over 4 litres, but it'll want some more when I turn it over for the first time and it fills up the oil filter.

I then installed the new spark plugs - this is something I love doing. It was the first mechanical thing I learnt to do on my first car. I was worried that the threads inside the head might be a bit messed up after how difficult it was to remove the old plugs, but they all went in very easily.

After this, I checked the length of each of the HT leads against the old ones and installed them. They look so much better. I actually found that one of the old ones had worn (or been chewed) right through!



The radiator fan fix was next. I wasn't looking forward to it, as it involved soldering and using logic (two things I don't really like doing). Anyhow, I thought that I'd better make a good job of it, so that I hopefully don't have to do it again! That meant no Scotchlocks and no twisting wires together and gobbing some tape over it!
Basically, there is one radiator fan which should run on low or high speed. The resistor for the low speed side fails, which means you are left with a high speed only. The fix means cutting the wire for the low speed fan, taking the end which comes from the car and sticking that into a big resistor, and then taking the wire from the other end of the resistor and splicing it into the wire for the high speed fan. This reinstates the low speed function of the fan, meaning it acts just like it originally did.
I soldered all connections, covered them in heat shrink and then black electrical tape just to make doubly sure! I think I made quite a good job of it, especially given my lack of soldering ability!





As the resistor gets hot, it needs to be installed using thermal paste to dissipate the heat. There is apparently an unused threaded hole right near the connector for the fan on the car, so I made a mounting bracket from a piece of 4mm aluminium. I cut it out with the angle grinder (not very straight, admittedly), filed down the edges and drilled a couple of holes to help mount the resistor. I will bend the bracket appropriately when I put everything back together and finally fit it to the car.



I then did a few general housekeeping jobs - I cleaned out the throttle body, checked and cleaned the diverter valve (they can become weak) and then prepared the mounting face for when it gets reattached to the inlet manifold, and finally tidied the garage up.

One other very quick job I did, was installing the new side light. It looks so much better, but now it looks much nicer than the other side - so it looks like i'll have to buy another to match!



I've ordered a new engine mount bracket, as I have managed to snap off the little piece which the main engine-to-body earthing strap bolts into. I can see that causing loads of issues if I try to bodge it back together. Luckily the replacement is only £15 and should be here relatively soon.

I've also changed the gearbox oil. There aren't any pictures here, as the oil goes straight into my drain pan - so there isn't much to show you! It's a fairly standard change - drain plug at the bottom of the gearbox and fill plug about half way up. I've got a hand pump which makes this much easier, as you don't have to try and get the bottle up there to pour the new oil in (which would be totally impossible in this situation).
Unfortunately the user was the biggest problem in this job, I had put a large plastic bag on the floor to catch any oil that spilled (as you just keep filling until it begins to drip back out of the filler plug). I was merrily pumping the oil in suprised at how much oil it was taking, not realising that I couldn't see the oil pouring back out because the plastic bag was in the way! I then had to stage a clean-up, similar to that of the Torrey Canyon, but contained entirely within my garage.

I'm just waiting now for the supercharger pulley to be changed, as nothing else can go back together until this is done. I'm taking it round to the usual mechanic for him to remove it. It seems that the easiest way is just to grind the old one off by cutting a couple of slits in it to release pressure. I've just got to wait until he's free to do it.

Little by little, we're getting there!
 
#154 ·
Great progress - and will be so worth it when the car is on the road. Also, think of the skills you are gaining every time you work on the car.

Keep up the good work.
Brilliant update mate. You must be getting a huge amount of satisfaction from seeing the wee car slowly taking shape.

Keep them coming!

Cooks

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
To answer you all collectively - yeah, it's such a great sense of achievement. There is added excitement from the fact that I've never heard it run or driven it, so I still have that 'new car' experience to look forward to!

I've learnt to be more methodical and patient (that may be hard to believe, given the mount of things I've broken!). Also, I don't need the car to get around, there's no pressure on getting it done.

It'll be nice to take the pressure off my Discovery too, it's really not suited to being a daily driver! It's far too cumbersome!

Ah, thought it looked familiar - I had to pop in and noticed the bent metal fence lol

Following this thread with interest as I have just picked up a Cooper as a project :thumb:
There had better be a project thread on the way!!!
 
G
#157 · (Edited)
Regarding the oil filter, leave it on the last thread and go have some tea coz it takes a few mins to drain to the sump lol

Also Gearbox oil is a topic of huge debade with minis!

MTF94 is a bit uhh stone age lol

redline mtl is a much superior oil in terms of high heat stability service life and its safer for cars with an LSD i don't know if your 210 has one.


Good news is The gearbox code will tell you if you have the 6spd with lsd
(last letters of the gearbox code):

TBKL - Facelift gearbox with LSD
TBKE - Facelift gearbox-- standard
 
#158 ·
Regarding the oil filter, leave it on the last thread and go have some tea coz it takes a few mins to drain to the sump lol

Also Gearbox oil is a topic of huge debade with minis!

MTF94 is a bit uhh stone age lol

redline mtl is a much superior oil in terms of high heat stability service life and its safer for cars with an LSD i don't know if your 210 has one.

Good news is The gearbox code will tell you if you have the 6spd with lsd
(last letters of the gearbox code):

TBKL - Facelift gearbox with LSD
TBKE - Facelift gearbox-- standard
Thanks for this, I googled it and spent about an hour trying to find an answer. I got very bored and confused with all the conflicting information!

I read that MTF 94 wouldn't dissolve the brass bits in the gearbox so I figured that some of that would be better than unknown oil with potentially 142,000 miles on it.

Once the car is running I'll have to swap it for some better oil in view of what you've said.
 
#161 · (Edited)
Part 11 - The First Start

Hi all,

Strap yourselves in. I've been busy!

We set about the supercharger pulley during the week. The original pulley sat almost flush with the casting of the supercharger, we cut about 1/3 of the pulley off from the back. This enabled us to get a puller in behind - it wasn't the traditional 3 arm puller, but rather one that almost wrapped around the whole of the back of the pulley - meaning much less chance for breaking bits off the pulley. Happily, it came off with relative ease.

Old pulley removed:



New pulley on (don't worry, the oily marks are just from me spraying WD-40 on it in vain, it's not leaking!):



Now, I got a little carried away - so there aren't that many pictures of the final reassembly.
The first job was to fit the supercharger - this went on fairly easily as it's just a case of putting bolts back in. We hadn't fully tightened the new pulley, as I wanted to be sure it was lining up with the rest of the pulleys. Once I was satisfied, I applied a bit of Loctite to the bolts and tightened fully.
I then had to reattach the supercharger inlet tube. It also combines the diverter valve. There is a green seal which connects the tube to the supercharger - when I initially removed it, it was missing the gasket and full of silicone. I made sure to buy a new green seal and to ensure there would be no boost leaks - I ran a bead of RTV gasket maker around it.

This is the new seal:



After this, I put the throttle body back on (this attaches to the aforementioned supercharger inlet tube) and then put the various intake hoses back on.

Then, the radiator and carrier can be bolted on and the radiator hoses reattached. Even with my fancy spring clip tool, they're still an absolute b**** to reattach. I'm all for regular jubilee clips! I then plugged the fan (and my resistor fix) in.

I didn't want to get ahead of myself and reassemble any more of the car than I had to, in case there was a monumental oil/water/fuel leak. Now, I wasn't too far from being able to start it up. I proceeded to fill up the coolant system. There is a bleed screw on the top radiator hose - I decided to begin filling it through this, as it's considerably lower than the expansion tank. I made up a mix of 50/50 coolant and water. It took over 4 litres before it began to over-flow. I then filled the expansion tank, which took about another 2 litres from memory.

The final part to put back was the intercooler, it should be simple but it's a right pain in the backside, it has a rubber seal each side, which is fastened down by two two-part clamps each side. You have to get the seal to fit without pinching, then feed the bottom half of the clips under without dislodging it and finally put the top halves on. I wrestled with it for a while and got there eventually.

Next was the big moment - I put the fully charged battery in, sat in the seat and turned the key to the second position - the fuel pump primed and was accompanied by a loud hissing/spitting sound - the sound of fuel spraying out everywhere! In line with my fear of a fuel based exploding death, I disconnected the battery. The fuel rail is hidden under the god damn intercooler, so that had to come off again, along with the stupid clamps.

Once I got in there, it was obvious that injector 2 was the culprit - it seemed to be leaking from the seal which sits down in the inlet manifold. Luckily, my new inlet manifold came with a set of injectors, so I grabbed one out the shed, removed the fuel rail and swapped over the troublesome injector. I removed all the spilt petrol from the area and filled a watering can - just in case! Then turned the key again and all was well - no leaks at all.

I noticed that a couple of the little metal clips on the injectors weren't fully engaged, so I levered them slightly with a big screwdriver - the first one engaged easily, but the second went flying and clattered off somewhere deep amongst the front of the engine. I grabbed my trusty magnetic pickup tool and had a little poke around - there was another clattering noise ... the magnet fell off my tool and also went missing. I quickly ordered a new injector clip off eBay. It wasn't leaking at all, so I figured it was safe to try to start the car.

I reattached the intercooler (this time without the brackets, just so not to tempt fate).

I turned the engine over a few times by hand to give the oil every chance to begin pumping round a little and then went for take-two!



Success! It fired straight up, inevitably the first few seconds were quite clattery as the oil began to circulate, but it quickly settled down. I was told to expect smoke - and oh my god did it smoke! The rear of the car was out of the garage, but you can see from the video just how much smoke there was! I quickly shut the car off for two reasons - firstly, I wanted to top up the oil now that it the filter had filled up and secondly because the neighbours each side were sitting in the gardens!

After a couple of quick texts to apologise to the neighbours and a top up of oil, I started it up again. The smoke from the exhaust was much less now, but there was still a lot of oil residue to burn off from the engine area. I let it idle for a few minutes, frantically checking round for leaks, checking the temperatures and the oil pressure. I'm pleased to report that there were no leaks to be found and the engine got quieter and more settled with every minute. I kept opening the top radiator hose to let out air and kept the expansion tank topped up.

I even decided to try and move the car - I reversed it out of the garage under its own steam and out into daylight for the first time. It was a brilliant moment, I was still fraught with worry about whether it was running ok - but the sense of achievement was huge. I made this car work!

The teething problems I had noticed were:
- The auxiliary belt squeaked on startup and when maneuvering (such as turning the steering whilst gently raising the revs)
- The low speed radiator fan still didn't seem to be kicking in
- The engine management light was on
- Tha ABS and ASC (stability control) lights were on

I'd been working on the car for 7 hours, so I drove it back into the garage and went inside.

The next morning I was straight out there to begin troubleshooting. My first area for concern was the radiator fan. I got the multimeter out to check that all my soldered joints were making a good connection - they were. Rather confused, I went back to the test I first performed - which was connecting a wire directly to the battery and to ground, and poking the pins on the fan connector. The high speed fan setting was fine, but nothing happened with the low speed.

I then looked at the resistor itself and had a moment of realisation. I'd bought a 330 ohm resistor, not a 0.33 ohm one!!! It was restricting the power so much that it wouldn't even turn the fan!

As a temporary measure, I decided to employ a fix that many MINI owners do, which is to wire the low speed directly into the high speed side, this means that at 106 degrees (the temperature at which the low speed fan kicks in) the high speed will power up instead. This has no detrimental effect, other than the fact that your car sounds like a Boeing 747 on takeoff when the fan kicks in. Until I can get the correct resistor - this will do.

I next checked the tensioner to make sure it was still operating correctly - as far as I could see, it was. It wasn't on 'full stretch'. I thought perhaps I'd got the wrong length belt for the new pulley - but google seems to suggest that 1375mm is the correct one for an 11% pulley.

Then, I started the car and ran it up to temperature. The belt squeak was still present on startup, but seemed to fade away almost completely as the car warmed up. The car was running nicely - still a little smoke out the exhaust and rising up from around the engine, but much less than the previous day.

I had set the gauge cluster into test mode, which can display (amongst other things) the actual coolant temperature, so that I could make sure things were operating correctly. It would rise to around 91, then as the thermostat opened - drop down a little and repeat, so I knew the thermostat was operating correctly. After sitting doing this for some time, the temperature would then begin to rise as the whole engine bay warmed up (this is normal). I anxiously waited for the magic 106 degrees to appear on the screen, and was greeted by the beautiful sound of the cooling fan kicking in.

Now that I was happy it wasn't going to explode, I decided to run it up and down the drive a few times to try and clear the rust off the brake discs. I'm pleased to report that the clutch bites nice and low down, so there should be a lot of life in it. It certainly 'went' a lot better than it stopped!!! I nearly came crashing through the gates! Once I broke the 10mph barrier, the ABS light went out, I think it must ignite after the battery is disconnected and resets itself after the car travels over a certain speed.

I was on such a roll, I even got a few engine sound clips, and my god does it sound good! The reduced pulley gives noticeably more supercharger whine and the stainless JCW exhaust (coupled with the ECU changes made to the face-lift models) means it pops and crackles beautifully!





As I'd already got one light to go out, I thought I'd try the engine light - I got my eBay special OBD2 code reader out. The car showed 2 codes - 1 stored and 1 pending, first was N/A (not sure what that means) and the second was P0107.



I googled this in relation to the R53 MINI, and found that it is linked to one of the MAP sensors (one is mounted on the inlet manifold and the other is to the right of the valve cover). I also found that it triggers the ASC light along with it - I have no idea what that's got to do with the engine though! I tried to erase the codes to see if they would come back, but only the N/A code would go, the P0107 would not. On the next turn of the key, it also brought back the N/A code.

I took both of the MAP sensors out and cleaned them, however this wouldn't shift the code. It was there even before starting the engine, so I imagine the dodgy sensor was giving a crazy reading all the time.



Miraculously, I stumbled across a spare MAP sensor (it may or may not have been attached to my Mum's car) which I swapped with mine mounted in the inlet manifold. I cleared the codes and they went away, and stayed away. I ran the car up to temperature to make sure, but the lights stayed out and no codes came back. I quickly checked ebay for replacement sensors - however they were either used, or from suspiciously cheap looking aftermarket brands, so I decided to ring the BMW garage and ordered a replacement sensor for £72.50. Not cheap, but I've learnt my lesson buying cheap sensors in the past.

With the good sensor in, it settled to a lovely smooth idle



As I put the car away in the garage, I could see oil drips on the drive from where I had run up and down. I thought my luck had been too good! I checked everywhere under the front of the car and couldn't see a single drip, I even put some clean foam mats under the car and revved it up a bit, then left it to sit for 30 minutes, but still not even one drip. I had to assume that maybe it was some sort of oily water residue coming out of the exhaust, as I simply couldn't think of anything else to be dripping.

I then proceeded with reassembling the front end - I reattached the crush tubes and the metal bumper, with every step - it began to look more like a car again. That led me to one of my least favourite jobs on any car - reattaching the bumper and the arch liner. As you may remember, they are held on by those infernal scrivets which I love to hate - I'm so glad that I bought new ones, rather than trying to reuse the ruined old ones.

I really wasn't in the mood to scrabble around, trying to put the arch liner back on with the wheel in the way, so I jacked the car up and removed it. Amazingly, with the new scrivets - it was really simple to put the arch liner back on. It attaches to the body of the car and to the radiator carrier at the front. After this was the bumper - the bumper itself is only held on with a few bolts, but the trouble comes when you try to attach the lower skirt which fixes to the car, and to the bumper to firm everything up.



This is one of the manky brake discs, hopefully once it gets driven on the road, the rust will quickly wear off. I don't recognise the yellow circle around the hub. I have never seen that on a MINI before. The front shock also has a yellow bush type thing. Are they some sort of PolyBush?





When I removed it, it was held on mainly by cable ties and seized bolts. I took some time to find the correct size bolts and fit it all properly. It wasn't particularly fun or comfortable to do, but it was definitely worth it, as the bumper doesn't flap around like it used to!



I was up early the next morning, ready to collect my new sensor



Whilst I was at the garage, I decided to call the local MOT centre and get the MINI booked in. They have got it arranged for Monday.

The sensor is now in the car and the light has stayed off (notice the gauges in test mode, showing the coolant temp).



The belt squeak has also faded and i'm tempted to say has gone almost completely now.

The postman brought my replacement injector clip, a towing eye (that really would be tempting fate not to have one of them!) and a set of Bosch AeroTwin front wipers. I removed the much-hated intercooler and clamps yet again and installed the new clip without it going flying this time.

I pulled the car out to see if I could find any evidence of the oil leak. As soon as I got the car out, I could see a puddle on the garage floor, it was just in front of where the back wheels sit. I sniffed it, but the penny still didn't drop. And then who should should stick their ore in but my Mum! Who immediately said "Is that brake fluid?"



OHHHHH yes that explains it! :wall:

I got her to press on the brake, and sure enough - brake fluid streamed out of one of the brake lines. This was excellent news, because it meant I didn't have to disassemble the engine again, I could just ring up my friendly mechanic and book it in for a new brake line!! He was able to fit it in the next day (today).



As I had got the car out of the garage, I started with the big clean up - I'd kept my tools tidy throughout most of the job, so there was relatively little to put away, but I cleared out all the junk parts and tidied a few more bits away, then thoroughly swept the floor - there were several shovels full of bits of tape, broken scrivets, rust and general dirt. This left the garage looking much better (although inevitably still a crap old concrete sectional garage which isn't big enough for all my stuff!).



The car was looking a bit dusty and had a few oily hand marks on, so I gave it a quick wash - my lambswool mitt recently disintegrated in the washing machine - rendering it nearly useless and rendering me nearly murdered, so I had to use an imitation lambswool mitt instead, I used CarChem Luxury 1900:1 http://car-chem.com/store/luxury-car-shampoo-concentrate-5ltr but only one bucket, as my other buckets are full of scrap car parts waiting to go to the tip! And to finish off, I put the new wipers on.





The mechanic is around 3 miles away from my house - I thought it would be pushing it a little to drive the MINI there with no tax, no MOT, no insurance and NO BRAKES!! So I got my Dad to tow me there with the fixed tow line. It was all very simple, as we had already used it once before. I got the call a few hours later to say that it was ready - he's replaced both of the brake lines going to the rear of the car, as the other one was in a similarly bad state.
I returned with a selection of beers as a token of my appreciation for having fitted me in at short notice yet again. He hadn't seen the car apart from the front end in the garage with the bonnet up and said how nice it looked - and I have to agree! I've not had a lot of time to appreciate it. We then towed it home again.



This afternoon, I swapped the number plate light holder which i've also borrowed from my Mum's car in preparation for the MOT. My number plate lights are badly corroded and want some work, so I've decided to put that one on to get it through the MOT. I'm going to just get a whole new tailgate and bumper when I can find one. It does look a bit ridiculous with a grey bit on it! :lol:



Now it's just the anxious wait for the MOT tomorrow. I'm going to insure it for a couple of hours with Cuvva to get there and back. I'm probably 50/50 on whether it will pass. I think it's really the brake discs and various suspension components which could fail as they're not things I can check. So I won't be too gutted if it fails, but here's hoping!

Anyway, we've come a long way - the end is getting near! :driver:
 
#163 ·
Fantastic update bud. The Supercharger pulley looks like a great job.

Btw - the little yellow ring on the hub is what's called a spigot ring. They're used to make sure after market alloys fit nice and snug on the hub of whatever cars they're going on. Obviously they come in many different sizes.

The wee car is looking brilliant. Keep the updates coming.

Cooks

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
 
#165 ·
The yellow ring on your hub is called a Spigot ring. They are used to fit aftermarket wheels and fill in any difference in centre bore on the alloy wheels so they don't wobble at speed

The other part is called a bump stop and helps cushion your damper if it bottoms out

Hth

Bloody good turnaround on the mini bud!
 
#179 ·
Just to address all the comments over the last couple of days - thanks yet again for all your continued support!

And thanks for identifying the spigot rings, I have heard of them but didn't know that's what one looked like!

Hope it's not too long a list at the MOT

Brakes and suspension i'd guess are your likely worries, but their items you have to expect given the age and the fact it sat idle outside for months

Any plans for the wheels ? Emery / Scotchbrite the polished areas and clear lacquer for a short term solution ?
That tip with the wheels sounds like one to try. I'm going to read up on it, as i'd like them to look a little better for a while until I can get them properly refurbished (I will just get them painted in silver and black, my Mk5 GTI had diamond cut wheels - I never damaged one but I was terrified of it.)

Brilliant news... I've been following the thread all the way. So the big question is, how much does your free Mini owe you now that it's on the road?
That is a very good question. I think that we're looking around £800 including all the parts and the labour for the bits my mechanic has done. If i'd just stuck to the bare bones - replacing the very least possible and not blowing over £100 on a supercharger pulley, the job could have been done very cheaply - maybe for around £350.

I'll add it up when I get chance. I've kept all the receipts for everything I've bought - they'll go into a box file and stay with the car.

I rang my insurer this morning to ask about adding the MINI to my policy. They wouldn't cover it, as it is a 'high performance vehicle' and I am under 25 years of age! They didn't have a problem with my 320bhp, 3 year old M135i last year!

I did some quotes and I've gone with the cheapest on the comparison websites. It's costing me £450 per year for a 24 year old, with 2 years no claims which I have free to use (I have 7 years used on my Land Rover). I don't think this is too bad. My Discovery costs about the same.
 
#174 ·
Part 12 - MOT Day

I woke up anxious today, knowing that my judgement was imminent!

The MOT was booked for 12:55, so I decided to leave at 12:25, just in case I had any incidents along the way! I put some oil and water in the boots just once case. I went on the Cuvva app and purchased 1 hour of insurance.

As soon as I pulled out of the drive, the car immediately felt great - I don't know what I was expecting - but it felt really tight and responsive. The brakes on the other hand did not! I stomped on them in the village before I got any speed up - it stopped quite well but the pedal went quite far down. I drove out of the village and picked up some more speed, then braked the car hard to a near stop several times. The brakes gradually firmed up and settled more towards normal operation.

As it warmed up, I began to give it a few more revs - and I can report, it is RAPID! Particularly coming from a house brick on wheels!

I pulled over on the way to check that nothing was pouring out - the brakes were stinky but no fluids were coming out.

I went down to the petrol station near the MOT centre and put a little bit of petrol in, as there was just under 1/8th of a tank left. Then dropped it off. I couldn't bare to sit there and wait, so I walked to Waitrose to distract myself.

When I returned, it was still inside the garage - so I went and sat down. Quite soon after, he pulled the car out and began tapping away on the computer - he was on the computer for a good 5 minutes. I was sure he was typing out all my fails.

He called me over - "The blue Mini? Yeah it's passed."

GET IN! :D

We have advisories on:

Chipped windscreen
Nearside front brake pipe
Rear brake discs
Hand brake working mostly on one wheel

I can't believe it actually passed! I taxed the car straight away and topped up my Cuvva insurance. I've been driving about most of the afternoon. I went to the Shell garage and brimmed the tank with Vpower, as I thought it could benefit from the supposed cleaning properties and some petrol that isn't a year old!

About a mile after leaving the MOT centre, I hit a bump and the ABS, ASC and TPMS lights all lit up. I couldn't help but laugh - the car had tried so hard to get itself through the MOT, it just couldn't hold the lights off any more!

I'm not too concerned, as they go out as soon as you switch the car off and back on, they just light up when you hit a bump in a certain way. I was reading about this very issue the other day - it's usually one of the ABS sensors which needs cleaning. I'm just glad we got through the MOT.

Other than that, the car is flawless. It sounds brilliant and drives really well - you certainly don't feel its mileage.

I think I might celebrate and buy some new spot lights for the front!

Thanks for following this thread so far. I'll keep you all updated with my progress. :driver:
 
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