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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 ÂŁ42! 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 ÂŁ20. 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 ÂŁ55 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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#369 ·
Absolutely cracking thread to read through in one sitting! I love all the little jobs you have tackled and your presentation/photos are very satisfying to pour over! Is your friend aware of how it stands now? They must be right chuffed to see their former car loved so much by its new owner and restored to beyond its former glory?

Thanks for killing half a nightshift with such cracking material to read too.
 
#370 · (Edited)
Part 23 - Tint, AC & Tensioner

Hi all,

Update time.

_______

Itching for something to do on the car - I started looking for window tint. My replacement boot lid has tinted glass, however my rear side windows were still clear. I was able to find a supplier on eBay who was able to send me just the rear side windows (as all kits include the tailgate glass tint too). I have once tried tinting the windows on my Discovery with a pre-cut kit and it was a complete disaster. :wall:

The rear side windows on the mini are about as simple as they come - they don't have trim obscuring any of the surface and they're flat, so I fancied my chances. The kit came with instructions which I followed to the letter. I also bought some squeegee tools from Amazon, as I found beforehand that the plastic squeegee I used on the Discovery was scratching the tint.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FOSHIO-Ins...qid=1526069813&sr=8-15&keywords=tint+squeegee

These felt covered tools are really great!

Applying the tint was fairly simple, I applied as much spray as possible, positioned the tint and pushed all the water out to the edges. There seemed to be a load of blobs all over the windows (not air bubbles) which looked awful. I think it was water behind the tint somehow. Happily, after sitting in the sun over a couple of days they all disappeared!

So the tint looks really good now, however I still hated doing it :lol:







And one more from when I parked in the deserted part of Aldi's car park and some donkey comes and parks right up against me



_______

I've really been enjoying the MINI during this warm weather. Over the bank holiday weekend, I went along to a nearby classic car show and autojumble. Parking was in a field which was somehow still a bit wet after all the sun - even crawling along the MINI was utterly useless and nearly got stuck when I stopped!



One thing I really thought was picture-worthy was a V12 trike!



On the way back I picked up a McDonalds. I took half of the cup holder with me when I got out :lol: Don't look at the swirls on my roof though!



_______

Driving it on such a warm day really highlighted the lack of working air con. it gets really hot in there! It doesn't have a sun roof or opening rear windows, so the air doesn't circulate very well. This triggered me to see about getting the air conditioning sorted out. It has never worked - the light just flashes when you press the button.

Weirdly, I'm not used to taking the car elsewhere to have work done - as I either do it myself or send it to the man I have always used. What I did know, was that I definitely DIDN'T want to use somewhere like Halfords autocentres.

Instead, I found a local mobile service who check the system, as well as just re-gassing it, they had glowing reviews on google which is always encouraging. I sent a text to the number and immediately got a reply - rather understandably he was fully booked for the next 10 days (as I'm sure everyone rushes to get their A/C fixed at the first hint of sun) but he was doing some on his drive in the evenings. I arranged to go over that evening.

He took a look around the condenser and said it didn't look particularly healthy, then checked with a UV light to see if anyone had put any UV dye in the system in the past, but there was nothing there. He made a very good point - that if you were to replace the condenser just in case, you could then gas it up and find that the compressor doesn't even work! He hooked up a machine which created a vacuum in the system to remove anything that was in there. It didn't seem to obviously drop vacuum at all, so at least there wasn't a massive leak anywhere.

We decided that the best thing to do was to fill the system with gas and UV dye, then see what happened after that. Once gassed up, the compressor kicked in absolutely fine (and the rad fan came on). It blew nice and cold and he checked again for leaks with the UV light. He said there were no leaks showing up immediately. So I paid him ÂŁ40 (very reasonable I thought) and went on my way. He was a brilliant find - nice honest and knowledgeable chap.

24 hours on and the AC is still working fine, so only time will tell. But initial impressions look good - and it's SO nice having cool air!

_______

Spurred on by The_Weasel 's advice earlier in this thread, I got on with replacing the tensioner.

As it was a nice day, I didn't need to work in the cramped garage which was a bonus. I placed an axle stand under the offside front jacking point and removed the wheel.

Armed with a tip for removing the evil scrivets on the arch liner - I placed a screwdriver against the outer edge and then proceeded to unscrew the centre part. Only for some reason, it wouldn't unscrew - the centre part just turned round freely. So I jammed a flat head screwdriver under it and smashed the living hell out of it (a piece hit me in the face). I think this was just bad luck - as I was able to remove the next two without lethal force using the technique mentioned above!

With the arch liner removed, and the shards of broken plastic removed from my eye - I had a reasonably clear view of a few of the lower pulleys and belt.



The next task was to lock out the old tensioner to allow me to remove the belt. This is done with a big hockey stick tool, which acts as a lever to compress the spring on the tensioner. You can then use the supplied tool to poke through a hole in the tensioner which locks it out.



I decided to remove the left engine mount bracket, as access to poke the locking tool into position is incredibly tight, let alone when you're using all your strength with one arm to compress the spring!

The engine mount bracket is held on to the block with 4 chunky bolts and to the body/rubber flexible bit with a large nut. I buzzed them all off with the impact gun and supported the engine with the jack, covered with a big block of wood. With the bracket out the way, access was much improved.



Belt with tension removed. Also a good time to take note of where the belt is routed!



And removed. Belt looks fine to me - not sure how you'd tell if it was stretched.





The tensioner is held on with 4 bolts - all are obscured by the chassis rail (if that's what it's called on a modern car?) however they can quite easily be reached with a spanner (a socket wouldn't fit). Happily, I have some ratchet spanners which made the job much much quicker.

The tensioner took a bit of wrangling combined with raising and lowering the engine to get it out.

Here are the old and new tensioners together. I was pleased to see that the markings and branding on both the tensioner body and the little 'shock absorber' were identical on both.



The date stamp on the old part seemed to suggest 2004 which would indicate it was the original. After fiddling with them side by side - it was obvious that the thing i'm referring to as a shock absorber was in a very bad state - it offered very little damping. The rotating wheel (idler pulley?) however was still very smooth.

The new part was boxed as Febi Bilstein (same as many parts I've bought for it).

I was able to get the new tensioner up and in place surprisingly easily - considering the faff I had to get the old one out of the same gap. I opted to put a blob of blue thread locker on all the bolts.

I had also bought a new idler pulley which is just held in by a single bolt. The old one was very obviously loose and worn feeling when spun by hand, so i'm glad I opted to change it.







I had mentioned previously that during this job, I wanted to check the alternator - because it had felt quite rough when I was initially reassembling the engine bay.

However when rotating it today, it felt really smooth - and from looking at the car's paperwork, it seems that it was replaced at some point in the past, so I don't think there is any issue there.

Ready for the belt



I then re-fitted the belt and released the lock-out pin from the new tensioner. As mentioned in my last update - there is a metal strip which pokes out and indicates the amount of tension on the belt - you should be able to see one of the lock-out holes, however I still can't fully see one poking out with the new tensioner fitted (not entirely unexpected, given the advice I recived in the last couple of pages of this thread).

I re-fitted the engine mount, then used some of my spare scrivets to reattach the wheel arch liner (I need a monthly delivery of those things), then put the wheel back on.



Finally, it was time for the obligatory test drive! I wanted to be sure everything was ok, and see if it had made any impact on the belt squeal. Before, it would begin to squeal at 4000 - 5000 revs depending on the weather.

I'm very careful not to rev the car over 2500 rpm until the coolant is at full temperature and the oil is at least above 50c on the dial, so I wasn't able to give it a proper 'test' until i'd driven it around a bit. I put the car in second and nailed it - it soared to the red line without any squeal! It rather took me by surprise, as evidenced by the below video I've lifted from my dash cam - FYI there is a little swear in it...



For so long I've up-shifted early to avoid and slippage on the belt. Suddenly I've got my revs back! I'm like a dog with two ... you know. :lol:

I still want to do some more digging on this belt - I'm not sure if it's stretched or just too long. I did confirm with 1320 MINI that this was the correct belt for the 11% pulley at the time, so I may just order another Gates 1375 belt and see what happens.

_______

I think I've broken the golden rule of used car ownership "Never fix the last problem" because as soon as you get everything working perfectly - something else will go Pete Tong. So now it's just a case of waiting for it :lol:

_______

The coolant expansion tanks on these like to split, and my tank looks quite old - but has shown no signs of any issues up to now (although I replaced the cap as a matter of course). However I noticed some white marks on the top of a heat shield directly below the tank. Not wanting to take any chances - I have ordered a new tank off eBay.

_______

I'm thinking of going to Waxstock this year as it's not far from me - so I'll bring the MINI along in case anyone spots it (in the car park obviously, it's a million miles from being suitable for indoors!!)

Thanks for reading! :wave:
 
#372 ·
Hi, the only thing I can think of now regarding the belt length is either you were sent a smaller pulley than 11% or as you've mentioned the alternator has been replaced, that has a different size pulley on. The belt shouldn't have stretched that quick.

Looks like it just needs a shorter belt, you'll be able to swap it in 5 minutes with all your practice :lol:
 
#374 ·
Thanks all!



Good point there. I've had a look and the next smallest Gates belt seems to be the 6pk1368 which would be 7mm shorter than my current 6pk1375.

So I think I'll get that ordered and see what it looks like.

My tensioner tool is a bit pants - it likes to slip off. So I'm not particularly looking forward to using it again!!
 
#378 ·
Part 24 - Anniversary and preventative maintenance

Hi all,

This coming week marks one year since I brought the MINI home! Time has certainly flown by.

Let's remind ourselves how it looked a year ago!







And in pieces



Compared with the most recent pictures I have





________

I've been quite busy since the last update performing a number of jobs on the car, now that I can rely on some good weather.

First up was the bonnet. When I first DA'd the car, I noticed some weird oxidisation on the centre section of the bonnet which I wasn't able to fully remove - but didn't worry about it, as the car didn't run at that point! Anyway, lately it had begun to really show up on the bonnet again.

This is the best picture I could get of it.



I was running very low on supplies, so I went with a blue ShineMate Black Diamond pad and Megiars Ultimate Compound. It took quite a bit of effort to correct with UC and a slightly knackered pad. I finished off with a Menzerna finishing pad and Menzerna SF4000 (discontinued I believe). I got the oxidisation marks out and the majority of the swirls, but some still remain as you can see below. I did the entire front clamshell.









These MINIs have a very upright windscreen which really collects bugs during the warmer months!



________

The floor mat fasteners I installed in the previous update both failed after a fortnight! The glue holding the Velcro pad failed which meant the mat is just sliding around like it used to - the mats hadn't even been removed in this time! I contacted the eBay seller (UK247trade) with pictures asking for a refund - they were utterly useless and wanted me to post the failed items back to them at my cost. I explained that it wasn't worth me paying for postage and driving to the post office for a ÂŁ5 item, they then stopped replying to messages. Only when I opened a dispute with eBay did I receive a refund!

I'm going to see if I can cobble up my own solution using the failed pads.



________

Next was the leather seats. I'd run out of leather cleaner and wanted to try something new. I decided on Dr Leather spray which I wrote a lengthy review on (Seen here http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=405635 ) if you haven't already tried this stuff - JUST GET SOME!

My seats were really shiny. I'd tackled them with other products in the past but not really got anywhere - I had assumed this was just a casualty of a car nearing 150,000 miles. I was wrong!



Before:







During:





50/50:









After:















________

Now on to the mechanical side.

The look of my expansion tank was making me a bit nervous. They have a habit of splitting along the seam in the middle - mine wasn't showing any symptoms of this, but the brown colour it had become was indicative of a very old tank which was certainly on borrowed time. Happily, they are not a very expensive part - so I got one ordered. I deliberately didn't buy one of the cheaper ones - but spent a little more for a Meyle branded item. It was still only around ÂŁ30.

Changing the tank is an easy job - I emptied the old tank of coolant with an antifreeze tester (which is like a smaller version of a turkey baster). I then removed the large bottom hose and smaller top hose which are secured with horrible spring clamps, removed a single 10mm bolt and pulled it out of the car. It really did look quite gross when I was able to see the sides and rear of the tank. I'm glad I changed it. I refilled with new antifreeze and checked for any air in the system (there was none).









________

The next job was the low speed radiator fan resistor. This burns out, meaning your MINI only has the high speed fan to rely on which only kicks in at quite a high temperature. In my case, I had done the proper resistor fix before I got the car running, however I had bought completely the wrong resistor which was so strong that the fan wouldn't even turn! So I solved this at the time by setting the fan up so that it would come on at full speed when it would usually run the low speed setting. This was fine, except since I had the A/C re-gassed - it would fire up the fan on full speed most of the time to keep the compressor cool - however this is really loud!

I ordered the correct resistor and got it hooked up. I made a heat sync from a thick piece of aluminium which I cut to a size that would fit the available space, drilled a hole and mounted it to the car using an existing threaded hole. This is a common modification that people make, and many use this hole, as it removes the need to make any holes in the car! I used thermal paste to mount the resistor to the plate to aid with heat transfer. After testing the modification, I found it does get quite hot - however after asking on MINI2, they said that this is quite normal. It's really nice to have the fan running correctly, it's much quieter!







________

I had almost run out of engine oil for top-ups as I had accidentally used some of it to oil coat some rust patches on the Land Rover, so instead of buying an extra litre, I decided to bring forward my oil change and just get 5 litres instead. I went for Mobil 1 Super 3000 5w30 as it is fully synthetic and BMW Longlife 04 compliant. I also had a Bosch oil filter in stock.



http://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluids/engine-oil/mobil-sup3000-xe-5w30-oil-5l

I really need to get some new ramps, as the metal set I have are too steep for the MINI and have a habit of skating along the floor as you drive onto them. Also, one of them has a broken weld at the top - so under no circumstances would I drive up them more than a few inches or put any part of my body under the car whilst it is on them (apart from my arm!). So as usual, I took a big run up and hurled the Mini at the ramps - they skated about a foot along the drive and the car went up by about 3 inches :lol: but that was enough to allow me to get the drain pan underneath and reach in to undo the sump plug.

Then I played 'hunt the oil filter housing'. The filter is removed with a shallow 36mm socket. I used the tip I picked up on here of unscrewing it most of the way, which allows the oil to drain down into the sump, rather than pouring out all over the exhaust. This worked like a charm again.





Old filter



New filter and seal





________

Long term readers will remember that I changed the gearbox oil back before I got the car on the road, however I used MTF94 which attracted some comments as it's quite a basic old school oil. I did some research and found that the gearbox oil should meet the standards of BMW MTF LT3, as my car has the facelift non-LSD gearbox. Opieoils also backed this up - so I ordered 2 litres of Fuchs Titan Sintofluid https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-981-fu...w-80-synthetic-manual-transmission-fluid.aspx

I also bought a fluid pump from Halfords to make it far easier to pump the oil uphill into the gearbox.



As the gearbox is a 'fill to spill' deal, you need the car to be on flat ground to get the correct level - however the car is far too low to get under without lifting it. My solution was to raise the entire car off the ground with 4 axle stands (one under each jacking point). I verified it with a spirit level (although I have no idea if the roof runs flat :lol: ). I also left the jack under one of the sills, just as a bit of extra protection.





Once I was underneath, I located the fill and drain plugs. I did check the fill plug first - you really don't want to drain it and find that you can't get the fill plug off!



I drained the old oil into an old washing up bowl. It came out relatively clear, it just looks black in the container!



Then I was able to refill the gearbox with my new pump - it holds a litre at a time and with some keen pumping (excuse me?!) you can get a litre into the gearbox in about a minute. It began to drip back out after about 1.7 litres, so I refitted the fill plug and lowered the car.

The gear change does feel nicer now. But mainly i'm just glad to know it has the correct oil in it.

________

I'd been using the MINI's battery on the Rover I was selling as it didn't have one of its own. When I had a reasonably serious buyer, I donated the MINI's battery to it and ordered myself a new one. The Halfords battery I gave away was the cheapest one I could get at the time, so this time I went for a much more substantial one - a Varta Silver D15 which has 610CCA and 63AH with a 5 year guarantee, versus the previous battery's 500CCA and 56AH and 3 year guarantee. I would like to be able to report some sort of improvements - but it's a battery ... it starts the engine. It will just hopefully do better job of it in the winter :lol: .





________

As mentioned in the previous update - even with my new belt tensioner, there wasn't enough tension being put on the belt. Whilst it wasn't slipping any more, it was still a priority to get fixed because the new tensioner was operating more towards its outer limit. Members on here suggested that I buy a smaller belt to combat the problem, despite me supposedly having the correct belt already - so that's exactly what I did. I ordered a Gates 6PK1368 which is 7mm shorter than the previous belt.



This was quite an easy job given my past experience and tips picked up from other DW members (thank you!). So I removed the engine mount, got the tensioner tool out and jammed some wood down the side of it to stop it coming off (thanks The_Weasel) and locked out the tensioner. With the offside front wheel and arch liner removed (I managed to save two and a half of the scrivets this time ... i'm improving :lol: ) then it was just a case of swapping the belts and unlocking the tensioner.





We now have one hole showing on the tensioner which is correct



While I was in the wheel arch, I spotted one of the front brake pipes which had an advisory on the MOT for slight corrosion. I cleaned it up and applied copper grease to protect it.





Another job was the timing chain tensioner. These can fail over time and cause horrible rattling - I had no such issue, but there was a tiny bit of chain rattle on the first start of the day. For the price of a tensioner (ÂŁ25) I decided it was a good piece of preventative maintenance to do, whether it fixed my issue or not.



This job is a classic case of having the right tools for the job. When removing the tensioner last year for the engine strip down - I did it without the correct tools and smashed up my finger! Now, I have a good 6 point 19mm socket and various wobble extensions. These are a necessity, because the chain tensioner is located down the back of the engine and is obscured by the pipes on the oil filter housing and small oil cooler, meaning a socket on a straight extension is very difficult to get lined up - and it is in there really tight!

Old tensioner removed. It does have some wear showing on it.



New tensioner going in. You will notice that it is shorter - that is because the new one is compressed - as soon as it builds oil pressure for the first time - it pops out. This makes it much easier to install as you're not having to push against it to get the bolt in.



And finally - I remember seeing on James_G's MINI thread that he had changed the fuel cap seal. I decided to check mine and sure enough - mine was perished too, so I bought a new one for ÂŁ4.50 on eBay. Incredibly easy to change - just pull the old one off and roll the new one on!





Thanks for reading.

One year down, hopefully many more to go!

:wave: :wave: :wave:
 
#383 ·
Great update and indeed progress. Very interesting for me of course and funnily enough I did an oil, oil filter and pollen filter change last night, although my car put up a fight at every turn, so it wasn't the easiest.

Regarding the camchain tensioner, did you come at it from the top or from the side? Still haven't done this on mine yet, but do now own some wobble bars in anticipation.
 
#387 ·
Thank you all for the kind words and suggestions :D

I'll get some Evo-Stik sorted as the floor mat is driving me nuts! I keep meaning to check with MINI to see if they sell replacement mats individually, as the driver's mat is very worn but the rest are still fine.

Great update and indeed progress. Very interesting for me of course and funnily enough I did an oil, oil filter and pollen filter change last night, although my car put up a fight at every turn, so it wasn't the easiest.

Regarding the camchain tensioner, did you come at it from the top or from the side? Still haven't done this on mine yet, but do now own some wobble bars in anticipation.
I do think sometimes every job just refuses to go to plan - often worth throwing a few tools around, leaving it and coming back with a fresh set of eyes :lol:

I removed the tensioner from the top. Once you work out where it is (amongst a minefield of burning hot metal if you've not long run the engine :p ) then you can get the socket and wobble extension on it. I found it easier to attach the socket wrench AFTER getting the socket located properly. You'll need a fair bit of leverage - I used a re purposed piece of a garden solar light as an extension for extra power :thumb: it tends to go with a bang when you do crack it free - which is when you can smack your hand on something. After that it comes out easily.

You've probably already watched this - but this video gives you a better idea of what you're looking for, rather than rooting around in the darkness behind the engine.



You're an inspiration mate. I've started looking at my car and trying to fix things that need doing
The AC wasn't working so I managed to change the relay in the fuse box :thumb:, it still wasn't working so I took it to the garage and the found the issue :lol: at least I tried right?

Keep up the great work :thumb:
Thank you. Sounds like you made the first step :lol: it's a shame the relay didn't sort it for you. It's very empowering when you can sort it yourself.

A/C is a bit of an unknown to most home mechanics like us - i'll gladly let a garage handle it!

Great to see you further improving the car - its been a worthwhile journey !

If you want to improve the seat bolsters then i can highly recommend ColourLock Leather Fresh - just apply a few coats to the whole area and it'll hide those wear marks in the colour coat - a 30ml bottle is under ÂŁ7, although you may need a bespoke colour for the grey MINI leather..

https://www.colourlock.com/leather-dye-leather-fresh-30ml.html
Thanks for this Percymon. I will definitely have a look at this and try to get the correct colour, as the seats would look way better without the marks. Seems dead cheap too. Hopefully see it in an update soon :thumb:
 
#384 ·
You’re an inspiration mate. I’ve started looking at my car and trying to fix things that need doing
The AC wasn’t working so I managed to change the relay in the fuse box :thumb:, it still wasn’t working so I took it to the garage and the found the issue :lol: at least I tried right?

Keep up the great work :thumb:
 
#385 ·
Great to see you further improving the car - its been a worthwhile journey !

If you want to improve the seat bolsters then i can highly recommend ColourLock Leather Fresh - just apply a few coats to the whole area and it'll hide those wear marks in the colour coat - a 30ml bottle is under ÂŁ7, although you may need a bespoke colour for the grey MINI leather..

https://www.colourlock.com/leather-dye-leather-fresh-30ml.html
 
#390 ·
Part 25 - Exhaust woes, reception and floor mats

Hi all,

Time for an update.

______

In mid June I met up with a primary school friend who owns a grey R53 - I noticed we were both in the same Facebook group so we arranged a meet up in Bourton On The Water which is about half way between where we both live.

I had a great drive down there. His car has nearly as many miles on as mine (136,000). It's a regular Cooper S but has a reduced pulley (15%) and had just had a new catback exhaust which was incredibly loud - it sounded good but I would imagine it's a right pain day to day. When we last spoke he was looking at having additional silencers fitted!





We went to a motor museum there and I saw Brum!!!



On my way home that evening, I had given the MINI a boot-full past an R56 in a layby to remind them what they were missing :lol: when I felt that my exhaust had become a bit louder - and more 'breathy'. I carried on, assuming it was just my imagination. Around 5 miles later and without warning - the car became incredibly loud! I pulled over immediately, assuming to find the exhaust had come off. After a little inspection, I deduced that there must be a huge hole either in the manifold or on the way down to the cat somewhere behind the engine.

A demonstration of the noise - I can't explain how loud it was in person! Like a propellor plane :lol:



With little choice, I limped it home. I was worried that the heat from the escaping exhaust would melt something down the back of the engine - so I kept the revs low.

The next morning, with my usual mechanic on holiday - I called the nearest garage who were able to see me immediately. After getting the car on the lift, they showed me that the exhaust had come off where it goes into the pre-cat. It had sheared right across. The manifold, pre-cat and cat are one single, very expensive piece - so replacement would have been a very expensive option. Luckily, they were able to weld it back up for ÂŁ40 and I was on my way - I don't know how long the weld will hold, but I could swear the car was quieter than it has ever been in my ownership.

I wondered if the engine mounts were shot - however the garage, nor my own limited testing showed there to be any significant play. Although i'm planning to re-look at this, as I have noticed that more recently the 'pops and bangs' when off the accelerator sound like they're coming from the front again, rather than the back, indicating a slight blow.

If anyone has much experience of these engine mounts I'd be keen to hear your thoughts. The top hydraulic engine mount doesn't look to have leaked, however it does seem to sit very flat. I haven't been able to inspect the lower engine mount yet. I'm thinking they may want replacing as they have most likely never been changed.

______

Next, one little self inflicted issue - I went to collect my half brothers from school, and whilst parking, I kerbed my nearside front alloy. At least I didn't pay to have them painted eh! I can just sand and polish the area when I get round to it.



______

On the subject of wheels - before my little kerb incident, I had spotted the odd marks appearing on the bare metal surface of the wheels. I was unsure how this surface would fare long term - and it had been several months (including winter) before any marks appeared which I'm very happy with. I just got the Autosol out with a microfibre and they came up really shiny again which is how they have stayed up to now. I'm quite happy spending 20 mins every few months if that's all it takes to keep them shiny!



And done (I think this is a different wheel, but you get the idea)



______

As you may have previously read - I was having some issues with the screw in Velcro pads which hold the floor mat down. I decided to epoxy the Velcro part on in the end, however about a week later - the Velcro part on the mat itself ripped off! It's the original mat and has worn quite a bit, so I just decided to order one from the dealer.



A drivers mat was about ÂŁ35 - not exactly cheap but the quality is so much better than the eBay tailored mats I've bought over the years. And would you believe it - it comes with a set of the screw in Velcro pads anyway!!! The material looks a little bit different to the original - although the both bare the same part number. Maybe it's just the age of my original mats that make them look different.

Old and new. Not bad considering the mileage.


Even included a handy template in case you hadn't got the holes in your carpet ready for the pads!


New pads in




______

The aerial on my MINI had always been a little bent backwards, a few weeks ago it suddenly went decidedly more flaccid and lost signal on all stations apart from classic FM! As I had just fitted a DAB capable head unit, I decided to order a replacement combined DAB and FM aerial. It was around ÂŁ40 and had very good reviews. It also looks almost identical to the OEM unit!

Fitting was very simple, just a little time consuming. The main part of the job is dropping the headliner to get access to the nut holding the aerial base on. I think it's possible by just dropping the rear half of the headliner, however it was hard to see what I was doing - so I just lowered the whole thing. It's really only a case of removing the sun visors, grab handles and moving the trim around the seatbelts out of the way, which allows it to drop.





The old aerial base was a genuine mini part, however I think it may be a slightly unusual one which combines the antenna for the weird factory fit sat nav or something, as it was a far larger base with several connectors coming off it. It also caught on the spoiler with the boot open for some reason!!! The new aerial required a switched 12v connection for a booster, happily the obsure original one had a feed to it already, so I just connected that up, plugged in the FM part and ran the SMB cable for the DAB connection across the head liner, down the a pillar and to the back of the radio. It all worked fine and I put it back together.

The signal quality is excellent on both DAB and FM. Every other car I've experienced with aftermarket DAB has been terrible, so this was a welcome surprise! A job well done.



______

And finally a couple of pictures from a drive out on a sunny day recently. The car wasn't very clean, but it was a good setting!





______

That's all for now! I'm going to Waxstock tomorrow in the MINI, so if anyone spots me in the car park - please do give a wave or come and talk cars!

:wave: :wave:
 
#391 ·
Interestingly when I got my jcw it had a blow on the exhaust. The garage claimed they had done it and in a rush to get away from the garage and enjoy it I found they hadn't. Mine had split it sounds in the same place as yours. A local welding guy fixed it for 50 and all was well. I think it's a common place for them to split and leak. Car looks awesome!
 
#393 ·
That's interesting to hear, perhaps a weak point. I'm still unsure about the engine mounts. I may just replace them regardless. I know when the engine mount wanted replacing on my old Megane - it felt like the engine was going to fall out of the car .. but that being said it didn't feel much more solid afterwards :lol:

Top work as ever, looking great.
Pretty sure I saw this leaving Waxstock as me and my mate were walking back towards his car.
Personalised plate on it? If so looked well fella :thumb:
Yes that'll be me! Thanks! I was in the overflow car park C across the road. I went to Burger King :p

Really enjoyed waxstock this year. Did you pick up any goodies?
 
#396 ·
You'll know when the upper engine mount has failed on drivers side, it leaks black oily gunk out which is almost impossible to remove once its dried on. It will also make an unmissable rattling/banging noise from that side.
Upgraded mounts are available but they do transfer some vibration and noise through the car.
You can also get poly bushes for the gearbox side and lower mount.

The manifolds do tend to crack at the joint with the precat, but you also have to remember that the car is about 14 years old. I had mine welded there too.

Good to see the updates continuing :thumb:
 
#398 ·
Part 26 - MOT, Brakes and o2 Sensor

Hi all,

:wave:

It's been a good while since the last update. The first order of business was the MOT - marking a year since the car was declared roadworthy for the first time in my ownership.

Mileage at MOT - 146,583

In short - it failed! Luckily there was only one fail item - the handbrake didn't work on one side! It's funny how you put up with things - the handbrake did hold the car, but you could feel it 'rear up' towards one side when you rested the car on the handbrake. Something I had never got round to fixing.

Advisories:

-Windscreen damaged (Years-old chips. Not going to be sorted unless one was to crack, as the windscreen looks to be the original and has lots of fine scratches).

-Front to rear metal brake pipes corroded in mounting clips (Was advised this is around a 2cm piece on each side. Will be cleaned up and copper grease applied)

-Engine oil leaks (I think the valve cover gasket is weeping at the back. Needs new valve cover bolts which are ÂŁ10 EACH.)

-Front sub frame corroded (Will be cleaned up and Hammerite sprayed)

-OSR & OSF Tyre damaged on outer side wall (Marks on the rim protector part of the tyre from before I owned it. All tyres will be replaced when I can successfully wear them down!)

After the test, I got it straight home and started inspecting. As you can see from the below video, they weren't kidding about the effectiveness of the handbrake :lol:



I wanted to check the operation of the handbrake cables on both rear wheels to see whether there was any obvious difference in the way they pulled on the calipers. As I was working on my own, I had to get creative with an alloy and a phone holder :lol:



What I found was that both handbrake cables were operating and didn't seem to be stretched. I then fiddled around and realised that the nearside caliper's handbrake mechanism (the bit that the handbrake cable pulls) had very little resistance other than the return spring. And in fact after popping off the return spring, I could push the mechanism to its full extent freely and it did nothing to apply the brake. This pointed to an internal fault in the caliper.

What's more - when I started removing the caliper to work out whether it was a repairable fault - I found that the protective rubber cover around the piston was badly torn and had started allowing rust to form on the piston sides. So decided to definitely replace it.



The next battle was removing the handbrake cable from the caliper. It is located into the caliper by way of an interference fit and was totally seized. I tried heat, WD40, gentle persuasion, brutal persuasion and it simply wouldn't budge.

I had found a decent branded replacement caliper at EuroCarParts for somewhere around ÂŁ70 (after applying a discount code) - made by Pagid. There was an additional charge of ÂŁ35.99 if you did not exchange it with your old caliper. Given that I was out of options for removing the handbrake cable without damaging the old caliper, I decided to forego the ÂŁ35.99 and hack-sawed a chunk out of the caliper (and my right hand) to release the handbrake cable - even then it took several blows from a hammer to get it out.





I took the old and broken caliper with me to EuroCarParts in an empty box of Felix mainly for ***** and giggles. I pointed out the damage and asked if they would accept it as an exchange - and to my surprise (even after checking with the manager) they were happy to accept it. So the replacement caliper cost around ÂŁ70. I was also able to check it against the original, in case of any parts differences - it was definitely the right part but very luckily, I noticed that the bleed nipple had been removed! They grabbed me another caliper off the shelf which hadn't been tampered with. It always pays to check things before taking them home.

When I opened the box, I was extra pleased to find that it was an original caliper (see BMW stamping) which had been refurbished.





Reassembly was pleasingly simple. I bled it up and it was ready to go. Shame it's now red and silver :lol: The handbrake feels much better now - a lot more resistance and it holds it after 2 clicks.



Seeing the colour of the brake fluid that had some out, I went round and flushed a good amount of new brake fluid through all of them.





The bleeding process was a bit undignified - as I couldn't get in the driver's side in the garage. I had to adopt a sort of Yoga pose whilst being horribly violated by one of the seat belt buckles.



Back at the MOT centre, it was re-tested and passed. I found it sat with one of its long lost brothers.



______

A few days later, I went to MINI In The Park at Santa Pod as i'd heard good things and was really excited to take my car on the RWYB down the drag strip. The show turned out to be dreadful - bare in mind that I go to a lot of Land Rover shows which are not exactly luxurious, so it takes quite something to p*** me off to this extent :lol:
The car park was a muddy field, it began to drizzle (not the event's fault obviously) - but this meant nothing could run down the strip, the trade stalls were all for classics and the only thing to look at were the club stands which were just a big car park. There were cars stacked up ready to run - but were halted due to the drizzle. The toilets were disgusting and the food vendors were selling manky burgers or nothing. I'd driven 50 miles each way and paid ÂŁ22 for entry (not including RWYB). I contacted the organisers and they refunded my ticket. Never again!!!



On the plus side - I did like my entry photo, which I bought from the photography company.



______

More recently, I have noticed a bit of rough running on the first start of the day - it will generally idle alright, but if you try to give it any acceleration (such as when pulling away or manoeuvring) in the first minute after the engine has started, it'll get really lumpy. After a minute or so it's absolutely fine. I scanned the car for codes but none were stored, so I set about checking the connections on the coil pack as cylinder 3's connection can go rusty - but mine were all fine. I then started pulling the individual HT leads. When I pulled one of them - half of its internals were still left on the top of the spark plug! The leads were replacements off ebay when re-commissioning the car as a mouse had eaten through the insulation of the originals. So regardless of whether the leads were the problem, I now needed to replace them as one was broken in half!



The threads of the spark plugs were all oily. I presume this isn't normal and is perhaps the spark plug seals leaking (I replaced them and the valve cover gasket when the engine went back together) so I would like to replace them all again with OEM parts. As I am getting a burning oil smell when the car is warm and you pull up somewhere (a common complaint) - more on this down below...

While I was sourcing the new HT leads, I left the car down in my Grandma's garage to make space on my drive. I followed recommendations and bought a set of leads from Mr Retro Leads, who makes them all himself and they're really nice quality - plus much cheaper than buying OEM. The other benefit is that you can choose the colour. Obviously I chose red because we all know it's the fastest colour!



New leads installed. Bit of bling - quite in-keeping with the colour of the JCW badges.



I ran the car for a bit and it was still chugging from cold, but ran fine apart from that. Problem not solved - but at least now I have good quality leads.

______

I checked the car for codes again and now found a code for the pre-cat o2 sensor. It hadn't set off the "check engine light" but was there and after clearing it, did return quite quickly. A failing o2 sensor would certainly cause it to run poorly when warming up - so I was quite pleased to see the code.



OEM sensors are stupidly expensive, so I opted for an aftermarket part which gets good reviews - I don't mind spending a bit more for OEM, but we're talking hundreds of pounds!

Once it arrived, I went down to fetch the car ready to change the sensor over. The car started very poorly, which it certainly hasn't done before - I got the clip off my camera ...



I've no idea what was going on here, but it sorted itself out fairly quickly.

With the car back at home, I delved into the engine bay to locate the sensor - pleasingly, it is (sort of) accessible from under the bonnet. I put a 22mm spanner on and tried to break the sensor free with what small amount of movement I had with the spanner. General experience has taught me not to try and bodge it and round off the sensor, so I popped off to Halfords and picked up a proper o2 sensor socket which has a cut-out for the wiring. I didn't take the MINI as it would have been far too hot to work on afterwards. I took the opportunity to start the car with the oxygen sensor unplugged - it obviously threw a code, but ran fine (another pointer towards a dodgy o2 sensor).

The o2 sensor socket made things quite a lot easier. I increased the space I had to work with by removing the coil pack and bending the heat shield up and out of the way. I had it off within about 10 minutes of faffing with various sized breaker bars - my old faithful came good in the end ... a piece from a garden solar light :p

Old and new sensors together



The new one in place



With everything back together, I cleared the code for the sensor and started the car - it started up fine, but then started to run terribly - registering about 300rpm. The engine light and stability control light came on. I unplugged the new o2 sensor - thinking perhaps the new sensor was faulty and giving ludicrous readings which caused the car to run badly, I started the engine again but it was just as bad.

Next, I checked the codes - it had a code for the Oxygen sensor as it was disconnected - so we can ignore that. But it also had P2303 - Ignition Coil 2 Primary/Secondary Circuit Input Low.



This pointing firmly towards the coil pack I had just removed and replaced - I checked all the leads were secure and connected the right way round - checked and cleaned the connections on the coil pack and the spark plugs and they were all fine - but the car continued to run awfully. I swapped the number 2 lead with the old one I had removed and still no change.

Then, as I handily had a spare parts car in the garage behind me (my Mum's 04 Cooper S) I swapped her known good coil pack and leads on to my car - it ran absolutely fine, I also went for a drive round to make sure. I then put my new red leads on (still running my Mum's coil pack) and it ran fine again. With this pointing to a failure of my coil pack, I called BMW for a price - it was about ÂŁ120 which is probably not unreasonable, but still not money I wanted to spend. I decided to put my own coil pack back on, park the car up (if it would run!) and come back to it the next day with a clear head. However when I put the coil pack back on - it ran absolutely fine - perhaps a fluke? So I went for a short drive - not wanting to get too far from home but it was fine still. The next day I needed to go to town (about a 25 mile round trip) so armed with some basic tools and my Mum's borrowed coil pack in the footwell, I set off.



The car was totally fine and has been since (this was a few days ago). So I don't feel totally sure that the coil pack is not at fault - but can't really do anything else unless it goes wrong again. I'm hoping it was just something not connected up correctly - but after checking everything repeatedly, I can't see how that would be the case! I've also plugged the new o2 sensor back in and that seems to be fine too!

Another little job is the dipstick. The original item has a reputation for snapping off inside the engine - so you end up with the bottom half of a dipstick floating around in your sump - not ideal. This is something I'd put to the back of my mind - but recently when I was changing the oil on my Mum's MINI - I noticed that the plastic blob on the end (where you read the oil level) was cracking. After a bit of research - I found that you can get a replacement from eBay for about ÂŁ6 - however this is just as susceptible to breaking. There's a Cravenspeed branded alternative which is a springy metal type - however these have a tendency to stretch over time and cause you to under-fill your oil! Happily, there is a third type which is ÂŁ16 and is made from metal but will not stretch. So I got one of them fitted to my Mum's car - I have since bought one for mine as preventative maintenance (they went out of stock before I ordered myself one). I've just not fitted it yet - so the pictures are from when I fitted the one in my Mum's car.

New and old - I should point out that they are definitely the same length. It's just the way I laid it out!!!



I decided to test how easy the original one was to snap. The answer is "VERY" I gave it a few vigorous bends back and forth and it snapped.



I definitely want to get the rocker cover gasket and spark plug seals changed - because it does look like oil is getting into the tubes and also from the gasket onto the exhaust which is the cause of the smell.

When reassembling the engine originally, I noted that some of the rocker cover bolts were particularly grotty - so I'm quite uncomfortable about removing and reusing them again. So I have sourced a set of stainless bolts for the rocker cover and also the coil pack which are put together by a chap on on the R53 owners Facebook page. He sells the kit for ÂŁ22 which is a massive saving over buying the bolts from the only known source which is MINI themselves at a cost of over ÂŁ10 PER BOLT! The only snag is that the chap on Facebook can't supply the rubber washers mounted on the original bolts and they need to be swapped over - however I have a nasty feeling that some of mine were already damaged. So worst case scenario - I may have to buy a couple of the really expensive bolts just for their rubber washers!

I have ordered the rocker cover gasket and spark plug tube seals from MINI at a cost of ÂŁ61 which seems steep, but I really don't fancy opening the top of the engine up again if I don't have to - so OEM seems like a sensible idea.

If possible, I'd like to save this job until the weather gets nasty and I can tuck the MINI up in the garage, knowing that I'm not missing out on enjoying it in the nice weather. My Discovery passed its MOT today (20 years young and 150k miles) so I know that will be there to be pressed into service during the winter.

As always, I'd be keen to hear people's opinions - particularly on the cause of the terrible running issue I had, and the oily spark plug threads.

______

One factor in my lack of updates recently is that in June bought another car which has distracted from the MINI a bit.

-It's Japanese (JDM life, yo...)
-Rear wheel drive (with LSD I believe)
-V6 Petrol engined (mid mounted!)

And it's not a Honda NSX. Not by a LONG way...

It is in fact a camper van with a ridiculous name - a Mazda Bongo Friendee! At this point - you are welcome to stop reading, as you came here to read about a MINI, not a camper van!


In my search for a camper, I had wanted as a VW as everybody does - but as some of you will be aware they are eye-wateringly expensive. My (not inconsiderable!) budget would have bought me a mid-90's to early 2000's home converted ex-builder's van with high mileage. Given that the MINI and Land Rover are both higher mileage vehicles which I maintain almost entirely myself - I decided that I didn't need a third vehicle in that category!

I realised that for the same or less money - I could buy the mother of all Bongo's! So that's what I did. After a lot of research, I decided that I wanted one of the later facelifted vehicles with a petrol engine (either 2.0 4 cylinder or 2.5 V6), automatic gearbox, side conversion and a pop up roof. My plan was to buy the right van and have it converted - however I went to meet with a very reputable conversion company at a Bongo festival (yes, really!) and they had my "Mother of all Bongo's" on display.

It's a 2002 Bongo V6 auto with 65,000 miles which they imported and converted with all the options as their 2018 show van. Things moved very quickly and I bought it the next day. It has a new pop top roof which allows standing room and doubles as a bed. It also has a side conversion with 2 burner gas hob, sink with onboard water and a fridge. It's also got a leisure battery, split charge system and electric hookup. Swivel seats in the front and a rock 'n roll bed in the back which also has seatbelts. They've also upholstered the bed, seats and door cards. It's had a major service including the timing belt and has been under-sealed (a very important point with Japanese imports as they don't have the same protection as our cars do).

Being Japanese, they stack them with kit far more than the equivalent European vehicle would have had. It's got climate control, electric folding mirrors and came with a totally incomprehensible stereo with TV and sat nav! I'm really glad I went for the V6 - not many campers rev to 7000! I make a point of passing every VW I encounter on the motorway :lol:

I've done a few music festivals and several trips away this summer and it has been absolutely fantastic - the fridge has been fully stocked with beer and bacon!







Notice the MINI magazine!!!









Naturally I couldn't keep my hands off it - so it's had a set of 18" RX-8 wheels which you see in the pictures (originally had 16's). The previously mentioned stereo is obviously in Japanese - so is impossible to figure out. The TV part of it was analogue, the sat nav thought it was in Kyoto and the radio could only pick up Radio 2 as they use different frequencies to us!! So I replaced it with a Pumpkin Android unit which is much more up to date - basically an Android tablet.

Thanks for reading :wave:
 
#429 ·
Hi all,

:wave:

Another little job is the dipstick. The original item has a reputation for snapping off inside the engine - so you end up with the bottom half of a dipstick floating around in your sump - not ideal. This is something I'd put to the back of my mind - but recently when I was changing the oil on my Mum's MINI - I noticed that the plastic blob on the end (where you read the oil level) was cracking. After a bit of research - I found that you can get a replacement from eBay for about ÂŁ6 - however this is just as susceptible to breaking. There's a Cravenspeed branded alternative which is a springy metal type - however these have a tendency to stretch over time and cause you to under-fill your oil! Happily, there is a third type which is ÂŁ16 and is made from metal but will not stretch. So I got one of them fitted to my Mum's car - I have since bought one for mine as preventative maintenance (they went out of stock before I ordered myself one). I've just not fitted it yet - so the pictures are from when I fitted the one in my Mum's car.

New and old - I should point out that they are definitely the same length. It's just the way I laid it out!!!



I decided to test how easy the original one was to snap. The answer is "VERY" I gave it a few vigorous bends back and forth and it snapped.



Thanks for reading :wave:
Great post mate!

I've just spent the last hour half reading up on it and it's inspiring me to pick up a project car or attempt to do some work on my wifes R56 JCW :D

Where did you get the new dipstick from as the R56 version is equally known to snap easily?
 
#401 ·
What an outstanding update! Now, this is not something I ever expected to say or type, but your bongo looks amazing. Any chance you could fire up a wee thread showing all the detail, inside and out?

Hope you get the mini sorted buddy. A good friend has the very same cold start issue with his 330d. If he reaches any conclusions, I'll let you know.

Cheers

Cooks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 
#407 ·
Thanks all! I never expected the Bongo to get quite so much attention!

What an outstanding update! Now, this is not something I ever expected to say or type, but your bongo looks amazing. Any chance you could fire up a wee thread showing all the detail, inside and out?

Hope you get the mini sorted buddy. A good friend has the very same cold start issue with his 330d. If he reaches any conclusions, I'll let you know.

Cheers

Cooks

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Can you give us a show around thread of the Bongo? Looks brilliantly specced out and finished!
I'd be glad to stick up a thread about the Bongo as you've both asked! I'll get to work on it. I'm thinking it would be most suitable to be in the projects section - would you guys agree?
 
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