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Mini Cooper S Checkmate (2006)

77K views 130 replies 33 participants last post by  James_G 
#1 · (Edited)
After selling my last project car back in September (http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=385408) I planned to give myself the winter off and get back in to something new toward the end of March, to coincide with the clocks changing.

However a series of events meant that I brought that forward a bit and ended up buying this 2006 Mini Copper S Checkmate on Wednesday, which by lucky coincidence was also my birthday.



It was relatively close to home and unlike my previous project car I actually test drove this one before committing. In the end the very pleasant lady seller accepted my offer of £2,000 and we did all the paperwork there and then. I'm the 7th owner and it's done 85k miles with full history, including the often missed brake fluid and coolant changes.

I've always liked the Checkmate models and once I discovered that they came fitted as standard with an LSD it became the only model that I searched for. As with the previous car, I'm planning to take this on the track where I think the LSD will offer some genuine benefit. On the road, perhaps not so much.

The Mini is in addition to my daily, which is still my 2011 Mercedes C350 CDi and continues to deliver worthy service, albeit in a very dull diesel kind of way. More to follow later.
 
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#69 · (Edited)
Previously, I had had trouble getting the old numberplate screws out as they sheared off, and so had made a temporary fix to get the numberplate back on by using some plastic fixings that came in the glovebox of my first Mercedes, (a great car that I did a thread on previously http://www.detailingworld.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5104963)

It was now time to sort things properly. I had always intended to replace the numberplates as they were old and normally I'd go to my local dealer but they wanted £35 for a set and I didn't really like them. Then somebody in one of the Mini Facebook groups posted a photo of some plates made up to resemble original factory plates from a company called DMB Graphics. I got in touch, sent some paperwork, paid my £25 plus postage and got a lovely set of plates in return. Meanwhile I'd been to BMW to get replacement inserts for the numberplate panel and to Ebay for a set of coloured numberplate screws, resulting in all of this:



Also, while researching Checkmate models since buying mine I'd noticed that they all had a body coloured boot release trim, whereas mine was chrome and so had presumably been replaced previously, probably due to the numberplate lights which have appeared as an issue on a lot of previous MOTs. It's dated 2007 so definitely not original. So I got in touch with one of the Mini breakers and soon I've got a boot release trim to fit, in the correct Space Blue:



With some time today I crack on with getting all this fitted and here's where I am starting from:



Two years ago I bought a set of TX 1/4 drive bits and I'm pleased to say they continue to get a decent amount of use, as seen here.



And this is the state of the rust beneath. No worse than I was expecting to be fair.



Surprisingly there's a lot of tar on this rear panel, even behind where the original numberplate would have been, so some de-tarring seems sensible. I've previously used Tardis but today it's the chance to use some of this:



After few minutes dwell time, here's what I have:



With the tar all gone I figure I might as well go over with a clay bar, especially given how bad the rear glass was. Not surprisingly the paintwork wasn't any better, this being from one half of the rear:



Having gone this far, I decided it can't do any harm to run the rotary over it and with the results I achieved last weekend I stuck with Lime Prime on a Sonus white pad. Once done, I fitted up the boot handle, drilled the new numberplate and fitted the new screws to leave this:





I then remembered that I'd removed the inner boot trim panel when trying to remove the old numberplate so gave that a clean with some APC:



And fitted that back up to the inside. I'm delighted to say no clips got broken and it was all very easy.



Moving on to the front, here's how it was:



These numberplate screws came out no problem, which left me this following a go over with APC. I need to address the plinth screws in future though, clearly.



And, once I'd measured twice and drilled once, I've got this:



Finally, I attend to a small job I'd raised earlier on in the thread, that being a slight leak of power steering fluid from the reservoir, something I have previously experienced on BMWs:



Normally I find that BMW parts prices aren't too bad but this new O-ring was a little over £4 which seems exploitative given it's presumably a totally industry standard part. Anyway, old one removed:



I also clean up the area so I can see if there the leak continues after this change:



So, nothing ground breaking but it's nice to get new plates on and I like that I am returning the car a little closer to OEM with the rear boot handle. Shame about that rust though.
 
#71 ·
Glad to hear that you are enjoying the threads and great news about getting an R56!

I have an update for the thread too but there's an issue with the photo hosting. After the nonsense with Photobucket I moved to using the PostImg but they seem to have changed something so all the links are broken. Frustrating.
 
#72 ·
Some more progress on the Mini to report.

Last time I'd done everything on the suspension refresh except the rear drop links, as they were on back order. Eventually these arrived (direct from ZF) and I'd also bought some new wheel centres which while not legit BMW ones are a very close match.



So one afternoon I got on with the job of swapping them over. It's not a hard job by any means and only requires basic tools.



Here's the old vs new shot, the old ones being the original ones. They seemed OK as it goes, certainly not split like those on other cars I've changed.



While I rate the Lemforder stuff it's a bit annoying that on one end the drop link they have this very thin flat section which a normal spanner is too thick for. Not problem I thought, I'll just hold it with a hex bit but no, they haven't put one of those in either. Oddly the other end does have one - go figure.





Still, solved with a little ingenuity and all done.



While that was going on I was also working on the alloy wheels, with a view to tidying them up and fitting the new wheel centres because of this:



Despite having done it previously there was lots of contaminants on the front



And even more on the back:



Once that was rinsed off it was time to get the tar remover out. I remain confident that these wheels have never seen a refurb as there's no overspray and multiple tyre changes' worth of wheel weight residue, but I don't think I'll ever get them truly clean without going that route.



And all back together having made the effort to line up the badge with the valve. Note also that I've replaced the locking wheel nut with a regular one, albeit not quite matching. More on that later.



And a quick picture of how it looks while parked on the road.

 
#73 ·
One of the things I was most disappointed with on the Mini when it arrived was the gearbox, which felt heavy and seemed very reluctant to engage unless you got it just right. So, having done a bit of research which suggested an oil change might help, I picked up some Red Line MTL from Opie Oils and ordered a cheap hand pump from a marine parts supplier and set aside one evening to swap out the oil.





No mention of Minis.... :)

Again, not a challenging job and once up on stands it was all done in under an hour. Having already loosened the fill plug, I got the drain plug out with no issues.



I managed to not spill any oil on the garage floor too, which was nice.



Here's the old oil, which I assume is the original stuff. A few articles I had read had said it would smell bad but honestly it just smelt like everyday gearbox oil to me.



And here's the new stuff going in, which you can just see is a pale translucent red colour. The hand pump worked really well and I'd recommend it if any of you are trying this on your cars. From memory it was just under £10.



Despite it being close to midnight once I'd got it off the stands and everything tidied away I took it for a quick run round the block and things have definitely improved. The gearbox still isn't a peach by any means, but now it feels nicely mechanical rather than obstructive as before.

Meanwhile I'd noticed that occasionally I'd get a rattle on startup, which would go away after a few seconds. With so many Minis out there this has come up with other owners and the culprit is usually the timing chain tensioner, so I got on and ordered one of those.



In theory this is just a case of removing a 19mm bolt, extracting the old one and putting the new one in. You can see the bolt in the middle of this shot below:



Unfortunately the heat exchanger is in the way. Apparently you can access it from the top but since I now believe the exchanger is also the source of my oil leak, I have put the job on hold until I have the time to do both at the same time.

To get to this stage however, I had already removed the inner wheel arch cover to give me a bit more access.



So I thought I'd carry on and tidy up a little bit under there, including investigating some miss alignment on my front bumper including this:



And I also dealt with this:



To give this. Clearly it's had some work in this area previously because there are a few missing trim screws in this area too:



I also did a little bit of tar removing on the inner wheel arch cover....:eek:



And tidied everything else up underneath using APC:



Finally I cleaned up the front alloys and fitted the remaining wheel badges as I had done to the rears.



Next up, a track day!
 
#77 ·
I had always intended to take the Mini on the track and am planning three outings this summer. Since I haven't been to Bedford for years and there was an evening event coming up I thought it would be the perfect shake down session.

Sadly my 3 hour estimate to get there on a Friday afternoon via the M25 (70 miles) was wrong meaning I was late. That meant that I rushed to put on my track wheels, resulting in the tread pattern being the wrong way, as shown in this shot:



I didn't notice at the time, but no harm done and I'm pleased to say that there were no dramas and I had a lot of fun. Keen readers will notice that these are the same track wheels that I had on my former MG ZR160, and they are an exact fit. Presumably this is because the early development of the Mini was done when it was still an MG Rover project. In fact there is a lot of commonality between the MG and the Mini, something I suspect Mini owners don't like to acknowledge but when you've had both it's easy to spot.

There were also some other nice cars there too including a number of M135i and M235i models. I'm always surprised that people are happy to take on track what I assume must be their daily because while crashes are rare I have seen them happen.



Despite the success of the track day the Mini has suffered in other ways a bit recently. After a brief supermarket trip I came back to find this on the driver's door:



And then a few days later, having parked up to take my children to the park I came back to this:



In fact I was impressed that the person had even left a note but I wish I had taken a picture of where I'd parked so you could see how much space he/she would have had to park without coming anywhere near me. It felt a bit like when you park in the corner of a supermarket car park to avoid everybody only to find somebody next to you when you return.

Anyway the car was dirty post track day so I couldn't see any damage but once cleaned I did spot a little bit here:



However the rear bumper has many more marks on it that are worse than this so I didn't follow up and pursue it. Good karma and all that.

Since the car was clean I thought it was a good chance to give one of my new purchases a quick try out, which is this, a toffee wheel for the removal of the lower door graphics:





Family demands meant I didn't have much time but it works well and will make light work of the job when I do it all. For now, I've done just this section.



One criticism that is often made of the 1st Gen Cooper S is that the brakes aren't up to much sharing, as they do, the same set up as a Mini One despite having nearly twice the power. To be fair they are fine on the road but on track I did come away wishing for more. One option is to find the JCW brakes as fitted to JCW cars and the GP Works, which are bigger at 294mm. They are rare though and expensive when they turn up. The alternative is to get the brakes from a 2nd Gen Cooper S, also 294mm, so the other week I found myself here, which is Minitopia near Southampton:



To pick up these, a set of R56 Cooper S brakes.



They don't look amazing I'll grant you but I wanted to buy them in person rather than via eBay, and they were cheaper than any current options at £120. However, given I am time poor I am now regretting not stumping up another £80 or so to get brand new ones that I could just bolt straight on, but there you go. I refurbished the calipers on my Alpina B3 previously and these are a very similar design so hopefully it will be plain sailing.

The car they came off was interesting though, because having done 116k miles it had dropped a valve or something and was bought by Minitopia as a potential fix up and sell on project. It also had a fantastic interior:





It turned out to have a few too many issues though including rust along the lower doors so they decided to break it for parts.

Anyway, I also picked up another four wheelnuts, this time ones that match all the others and they were "free" so all good there:



As well as the calipers I took advantage of the many ECP sales and picked up a set of 294mm Brembo discs for the princely sum of £60.99



So I just need some new hoses and pads and once the refurb is done I'll get them fitted. Next track day is toward the end of June so should be no issues getting them done by then. I've split them already and it's all surface rust (he says, hopefully)



Thanks for reading.
 
#78 ·
Great read, I am doing this exact job tomorrow, howcome you didn’t go for the TRW versions?

Don’t forget you will need the Gen 2 hoses as they went from Banjo on the Gen 1 to screw on the Gen2.

Looking forward to seeing the rest of this, I also picked up the exact same brake discs at the same price from ECP, what a bargain!
 
#79 ·
Yes, those disks are a bargain aren't they and they look very nicely finished.

The next decision is what to do re pads. I am tempted to get some Brembo HP2000 at £87 from ECP and easily available. But I had good results with Black Diamond on the MG and they are cheaper at £45 but they are never in stock and places like Demon Tweeks charge a fortune for delivery.

I didn't go for new TRW items because when doing my research I came across a thread with part numbers and prices, showing this:

R56 Cooper S prices, from factors on-line – with the TRW part numbers:
Caliper N/S/F TRW BHW907 £67.46
Caliper O/S/F TRW BHW908 £67.46
Carrier N/S/F TRW BDA947 £44.96
Carrier O/S/F TRW BDA946 £41.36
Hoses (braided by HEL or Goodridge) £40 a pair.
Total: £261.24

As you can see, at those prices I could save £100 by going 2nd hand but like I said, I regret that now, especially as they can be had for less via eBay. But hopefully when I'm done they'll look fab.
 
#80 ·
Yes, those disks are a bargain aren't they and they look very nicely finished.

The next decision is what to do re pads. I am tempted to get some Brembo HP2000 at £87 from ECP and easily available. But I had good results with Black Diamond on the MG and they are cheaper at £45 but they are never in stock and places like Demon Tweeks charge a fortune for delivery.

I didn't go for new TRW items because when doing my research I came across a thread with part numbers and prices, showing this:

R56 Cooper S prices, from factors on-line - with the TRW part numbers:
Caliper N/S/F TRW BHW907 £67.46
Caliper O/S/F TRW BHW908 £67.46
Carrier N/S/F TRW BDA947 £44.96
Carrier O/S/F TRW BDA946 £41.36
Hoses (braided by HEL or Goodridge) £40 a pair.
Total: £261.24

As you can see, at those prices I could save £100 by going 2nd hand but like I said, I regret that now, especially as they can be had for less via eBay. But hopefully when I'm done they'll look fab.
Yes, I can see why you did it, I did shop around and got them slightly cheaper but one of the carriers is like rocking horse s**t. The way you have done it is a bargain! If it helps, I have gone for Mintex fast road pads, always had them and rate them highly but a touch pricey.

Looking forward to seeing more bud :thumb:
 
#81 · (Edited)
Another update on the Mini for you, although progress has been slow. But first, some driving.

A good friend and ex colleague of mine is a member of the Goodwood Road and Racing Club (GRRC) and he asked if I'd like to join him in one of their regional drives. Thinking I'd be passengering I said yes to ride shot gun in his E46 M3 but it turns out he meant driving so in early June we lined up at RHS Wisley for the off in our similarly blue cars:



There was a great atmosphere and about 100 or so cars from all parts of the motoring spectrum, some of which I caught in this shot:



Highlight of the day was following a Ferrari 599 GTB through down Box Hill hearing the glorious V12, followed by a chance to pilot the M3 for 25 miles or so. Compared to my previous Z4 M (same engine), it felt much easier to drive quicker and I really really liked it. More on that later.

As we approached Goodwood, after a very circuitous route of about 100 miles we stopped for a photo and a chance to swap back in to our own cars to head for the finish. The Mini was declared to be "excellent" and certainly looked good as I pedalled harder than you might imagine in the M3 to keep up.



Then, on arrival at Goodwood we were ushered on to the track for a photo on the start/finish straight surrounded by our fellow enthusiasts.



All in all, a thoroughly splendid day!

In preparation for that day I'd taken my children's car seats out of the Mini (which I sometimes use for the nursery run) and took the opportunity to have a first attempt at sorting out the seats. So the front passenger seat looked like this:



And after a few hits with some Chemical Guys Fabric Clean (about 10 years old!) it looked like this:



Similar story with the rear seat, albeit still much to be done:



And after:



Then it was time for a service. Well, the OBC said I had another 8k miles, but it had been 1 year to the day since the last oil change and given it will be heading out on track again I felt it was probably wise. First job though was to fit the last remaining wheel centre that I had forgotten to do previously:



Bonnet up:



As I have done before, I sourced parts from BMW and oil from ECP. Parts I could get from ECP too of course, but these days BMW do a "Value Line" service kit for the Mini and it's much easier on the wallet than you might imagine. Plus free biscuits and coffee when you pick up....



As is becoming a theme with this car, it was not all plain sailing. The sump bolt wouldn't budge and inevitably it rounded off. So I hammered on a size smaller spanner and by pushing on it with my leg it let go with a crack. In fact I have a set of basic Draper spanners that are "sacrificial" for these kind of jobs although no damage was done.



Luckily, the oil filter came with a new sump plug as I wouldn't want to have used the old one given how it looked after that.



Oil then drained out nicely and like other Mini owners have mentioned on here it was fun and games time to get to the oil filter, which is at the back of engine.



New filter ready to go in to its housing, although this caused some head scratching when it wouldn't go fully in. A proper push, helped by some oil lubrication was what was needed.



I did the cabin/pollen filter too, which is up behind the glovebox. The old one didn't look that bad and the paperwork I have shows it to be only 1 year old, but surprisingly it's dated 2006. Old stock perhaps, or maybe that code isn't a date but anyway, it's gone now and the new one went in easily enough.





Then 4.5l of Shell's finest and it's done. As always there seems to be some uncertainty about what oil to put in these but this is what is currently recommended by Shell and it meets all the LL-04 requirements so I was happy.



The next day I took it to work and nipped out at lunchtime to the tip to get rid of the old oil and some other things and also because all my project cars must serve as a tip car at least once. Fun fact, this "recycling centre" is about 500m from the entrance of McLaren HQ.



With the weather then warming up it was time to get the non functioning aricon investigated. I knew it didn't work and the seller avoided using the "just needs a re-gas" line in their advert so it was a case of fingers crossed that it wasn't anything major.



The engineer quickly identified that my low speed fan wasn't working (which has previously been raised in this thread by somebody but which I hadn't checked myself) and this was causing issues with over-pressurising. But when running at normal pressure it holds gas so for now, I have working aircon as long as I only run it while doing a decent speed. Plans are underway to sort the fan and I have all the parts so it's just a case of getting some time.

Anyway, more to come soon including final removal of the graphics, some paint correction, a massive drama with the R56 brakes and following my drive in the M3, thoughts about a new project.
 
#82 ·
So, it was time to remove the lower graphics on the door.



I had been working through them manually when I had a few spare minutes each evening but it was taking too long:



So out came the toffee wheel seen in a previous update and I was soon making great progress:





As you can see, it creates a lot of dust and leaves a bit of glue residue. So I wiped it down and then using some tar remover got rid of the remaining stickiness. I then clayed each door, this being the results from one half of the first door. Plenty of bonded contaminants:



That left it looking like this. You can see the toffee wheel on my cordless drill in the reflection.



What this photo doesn't show is the outline that was left from the graphics, which is no doubt due to the 5 years or so that they've been on there. You can see it on this shot:



Also, I did some more tidying. The "Checkmate" graphic on the driver's side is missing and the passenger side was looking scruffy so I took the chance to get it removed.



They aren't too expensive to replace, so I may fit some new ones in the future.

So with the need to sort those legacy marks from the graphics the next evening I got the car taped up and got out some Menzerna and a medium cut pad:





I also had a little go at wet sanding on s scratch that had seen some touch up paint. Not perfect, but much better.





I don't do a lot of polishing with my rotary, mainly due to a lack of time, but I think I am doing an OK job here. This is after the medium pad; some refining still required



So I move on to a finishing pad and some Mezerna Power Finish (I think) and end up with this:



Having done both sides it was then time to apply some sealant. I've not used this much before but it goes on very nicely and seems to last well and certainly it's much easier to use than a wax:



And here's how it looks all done. I much prefer how it looks without those door graphics so a good job done.

 
#88 · (Edited)
So, let's talk about brakes.

As a reminder, the 1st Gen Mini Cooper S (R53) is often criticised for poor braking performance due to sharing, as it does, the same caliper and disc setup as a lowly Mini One. In actuality I think they are fine for the road, but after a session on track I wanted to improve them. A very common modification is to fit either the brakes from a 1st Gen John Cooper Works/GP Works or brakes from a 2nd Gen Cooper S, known in Mini circles as an R56. The former would be a straight swap but are rare and expensive so I went with the 2nd option mainly because that was what was available at the time. They are also a straight swap except you need to fit R56 brake hoses.

So after keeping an eye out across forums and eBay without success, I eventually picked up the phone and spoke with Minitopia in Southampton, a dedicated Mini dismantler and service outfit. They had just taken in an early R56 with a dropped valve that they were breaking and the brakes were still available. I drove down the next day, 40 miles or so and this is how they looked:



And this is the car they came from, which was built Nov 2006 just two months in to the R56 build cycle.



I pulled that photo from their Facebook page so I had the registration number for the purposes of ordering pads etc. and only recently did I notice the Scottish flag on the numberplate. So yes I had ended up with a set of calipers and carriers for a relatively low price, but they had presumably seen some Scottish winters and were really quite rusty. But undeterred I got them home and started the process of tidying them up.



Immediately it became obvious that things weren't going to be easy when the first bleed valve I went to remove rounded off. So I did what anybody would do and hammered a socket on to it, which did the trick:



It was exactly the same with what remained of the hoses, although you can't hammer a socket on so in the end an undersized ring spanner was used. As you can see it's the uppermost threads that had corroded:



Now these brakes are a standard (i.e. cheap) sliding caliper/single piston design, whereby the piston acts on one brake pad and that invokes a force on the other pad via a set of sliding pins. The free movement of the pins is essential for correct operation of the brakes. Here's what a pin looks like:



In the shot of my brakes above you can see all four sliding pins in situ but perhaps what you can't see is that they are fully insert and one is very stuck. Two could be removed easily, which were the ones at the top of the caliper for each side, and one came out using a ratchet to gentle rotate it while applying pressure to remove it. Sadly the final one simply wouldn't budge.



So at that point I soaked it in penetration fluid and left it overnight. The next day I tried the ratchet and it started to move but to my horror I was just twisting the top and the part that was still in the carrier wasn't moving. I stopped before it broke and instead tried heat. Lots of heat. But again nothing.

I did some more research and saw on YouTube somebody using an air chisel which essentially hammered them out by applying a force behind the "hat". I don't have an air chisel but I do I have an SDS drill which you can turn the rotation off which amounts to same thing. Naturally, things didn't go to plan:



I don't have a photo but as a result of this I now had what amounted to a stump rusted in to the caliper. The only saving grace was that it had moved about 5mm with the SDS drill before it snapped. So at this point I temporarily gave up and did all the removal of the graphics which you've seen earlier in the thread.

The reason for the pause was so that this delightful bit of late 80s garage equipment could be delivered by my father. I distinctly remember him buying this from the Swindon branch of Halfords in the town centre (before out of town shopping!) in order that he could weld up the ever crumbling sills of my mother's Datsun 120Y. I was probably 13 at the time.



It's fair to say that I hate arc welders as they seem to offer very little in the way of control or precision so my efforts to weld a nut on to the protruding stud were wholly unsatisfactory. Thankfully though I'd made enough of a mess to create sort of mushroom to the top of the broken pin which was just the right size to get the SDS drill behind it and use the hammer action. Once in the vice, I lined everything up, held on tight and finally after 30 seconds (and two weeks) the bloody thing came out.





So now, having finally disassembled everything I was ready to start tidying them up. I used a combination of wire brushes, a Dremel and a flap wheel but sadly those salty Scottish winters had taken their toll and I was never going to get things back to a smooth-ish surface. While that was going on I was ordering new caliper pins and thankfully there are places out there that sell them because BMW themselves don't. No, instead they want to sell you a whole carrier at vast cost, as is their way. Having removed three pins intact I knew that they were 67mm long but all listings for R56 Cooper S brakes showed that pins were 65mm top & 75mm bottom. The only pin kit showing 67mm pins was for rear brakes. Odd. Still I ordered a set of 67mm rear caliper pins anyway along with some new brake bleeders.

Soon it was time to paint everything and thinking ahead I had ordered some black VHT paint. I thought it would go on as a satin black but in actual fact it's more like dark matt grey, so while it suits the rusty surface aesthetic by partly distracting from it, I can't help thinking it looks a bit rubbish. Still, I'm committed by this point and I just want to get them on the car so I carry on.





I let it dry in the unrealistic hope that it will look better in the morning, but of course it doesn't.

A little while later I had amassed all the parts I needed to rebuild the brakes and get them on the car. As well as the Brembo discs (seen in a previous post) I also picked up some Brembo pads and being a man true to my word I bought some HEL brakes lines as I said I would in this post back in March (http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=5442961#post5442961). Then there's the new caliper pins and some new bleeders from BMW (after I was sent incorrect ones by the seller of the caliper pins)



The caliper pins have a rubber boot on the end of them when in use, I believe to stop moisture but also to create a partial vacuum to aid operation:



However I suspect that means that the part under the boot doesn't see grease during services and contributes to rusting. So as a precaution I make sure I grease the whole pin before doing anything else. 67mm pins fit fine too, so that's a relief!



Then it's time to fit the anti-rattle shims to the calipers (well I assume that's what they are) but for some reason they aren't a perfect fit which will come to bite me later.



And then it's a case of fitting the new hoses and brake bleeders and actually, once all fitted up they look quite respectable. I'd prefer them to be a bit more smooth and glossy but this isn't a show queen and they at least look OEM that way.





That evening I head out to the garage, get the car up on axle stands, wheels off and put releasing fluid on the various bits I need to undo.

Next installment, fitting them, cost breakdown and my thoughts on the car after 3k miles.
 
#91 ·
With a little more preparation with a flap disc and grind stones on a Dremel you can achieve a much better finish, this is what I achieved on my 16 year old Rear callipers, the fronts were the same when I upgraded to the R56 setup. Nice read by the way.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#93 ·
Brake Fitting

Next up was the fitting stage and do bear in mind that I am sharing this as I genuinely delighted that I got them fitted given how close I was to chucking them in the bin!

So here's how things look before I get started. My plan when I sell the car down the line is to re-fit these brakes so I need to be a bit careful when removing them:



I was also keen not to damage any of the hardlines on the car. Completely by chance I'd seen somebody on YouTube mess up his hardlines on an E46 M3 (DannyDC2) from not using the right brake pipe spanner and so, after a good look around, I unearthed mine.



For those thinking of changing their brake hoses, whether doing this job or just upgrading to stainless items, the bit you want to undo is shown here on the top. In the case of the Mini, the bottom flexible hose won't turn as it's shaped to fit the hole in the bracket which isn't circular.



Doing this job also enables me to re-route the lines which have never looked right against this ABS sensor wire. I suspect the latter was installed wrong at some point.



Once the hose is separated from the hardline, I can remove the old caliper and it's a chance to compare them side by side. As you can see, there's not that much in it size wise although there's quite a bit of extra weight from the new one, which is on the left.



It turns out I was replacing this original set up at just the right time as the pads weren't long for this world and I doubt they'd have done another track day.



This is also the chance to compare the old pads against the new ones for size. New ones are quite a bit bigger.





The difference in disc size is less noticeable, with the original ones being 272mm and the new ones being 294mm.





So without further delay I get the new disc mounted up. For reference the disc retaining screw is Torx T50. My heart sank when I saw this at first upon removal but I had already bought one, I think, for doing some work on my Mercedes so drama averted. It's quite a big size though for those of you with Minis thinking of doing any brake disc changing, do check your toolkits.



I then mounted the carrier and it quickly became obvious that the anti-rattle shims (the ones that didn't quite fit) were fouling the disc





So those prongs were bent out of the way and it was time to fit the caliper.
Another good tip I got from YouTube was to check the spacing of these rounded pins on the back of the pads. Wide apart = piston side, closer together = not the piston side.



Pads installed it was time to fit the caliper but it wouldn't go on. Fearing the worst I spent a few moments wondering what was going on, but it was just that the piston wasn't fully retracted. So out with the piston wind back tool and all sorted:



And finally, all mounted up.





I'd lost quite a bit of brake fluid during this process, having disconnected the hose so on the other side I decided to remove everything but not disconnect it until I had all the new parts back on.



This plan worked well until the original hose refused to be removed from the bracket, due to some surface rust. A few taps of the hammer got it free, thankfully.



And so, after weeks and week I finally had both sides mounted up:



And the old original brakes came away with no issues so can be easily fitted back when the time is right.

For those thinking of doing this job what I would say is, if buying 2nd hand calipers, make sure you see a picture of the carriers with the pins removed and if possible the bleeders and the hoses. Even 2nd hand these calipers weren't cheap and it would be easy to scrap one with a sheared pin in the carrier. I was lucky that I still could get it out with just a bit of dodgy welding.

Also for those thinking of doing this, the torque settings are:

Disc retaining screw - 27Nm (T50)

Caliper to carrier - 35Nm (13mm)

Carrier to hub - 110Nm (16mm)

After that it was time to bleed them and for this I was going to use my brake bleeding kit that I had bought for my MG ZR but hadn't been compatible due to the brake fluid reservoir cap being an odd size. I also had some new Pagid fluid, again bought for a previous car, but not used.



Luckily the brake fluid reservoir cap on a Mini is totally normal so no issues with fitting here



And there was a nice location to rest the main bottle during the process. I've never used one of these before but I must say it made things very easy.



So I did the fronts, which easy enough:



And it made sense to do the rears too, although there wasn't much air in those.



And with that I put the wheels back on, dropped it off the axle stands and drove it out of the garage ready for a drive. How they look behind the wheels:



And how it looks from a distance. Not easy to see that they've been upgraded, which is the look I was going for:



Later that evening I took the car out for a shakedown test and to perform a generic bedding in procedure (light initial stopping to remove surface coating then multiple stops 60mph - 20mph) and I can safely say that there is a significant increase in brake capability. People have mentioned softness at the top of the pedal due to retaining the original master cylinder but it doesn't feel any different to how they were before. The full proof will come with a track day so I have booked myself an evening session at Brands Hatch on the 31st July when I can really use them in anger.

Brake Upgrade Costs

So let's talk about costs, should any of you be interested in doing something similar:

2nd hand Calipers - £120 (Breakers)
HEL hoses - £42 (direct from HEL)
Brembo discs - £61 (ECP during a 50% sale)
Brembo pads - £34 (ECP during a 35% sale)
Caliper pins - £19 (Brakes International)
Bleeders - £11 (BMW)
Hycote Paint - £7.50 (Amazon)
Pagid Fluid - £7.50 (ECP)

So in total £302 plus my time of course. So cheaper than a classic Big Brake Kit but equally not throw away money. That said I would like to think I could get at least £200 back when I sell them, so if true, it will be a cost effective upgrade.

Thoughts after 3k Miles

While I was putting the above information in to my car spreadsheet I noticed that, since buying it, I've done 3k miles which was a surprise given how I don't really feel like I've been anywhere in it.

Firstly, it hasn't quite got under my skin like my MG ZR did. The Mini is in many ways a superior car, certainly build quality and robustness it feels a whole generation on, but that MG was a great thing to drive. The Mini's seats just aren't as good and neither is the steering, gear change or clutch, mainly because the former aren't very comfortable and the latter are all unnecessarily heavy. The engine is the star of the show of course but I think if it were possible, that the engine transplanted in to the MG would give me the best of both worlds. Bet you weren't expecting that.

Despite being what I'd call far more agricultural to drive than the MG my wife much prefers it, which I find really odd. But then that's why they've sold as many as they have I suppose because to her the MG was just an old crappy car in a silly colour whereas the Mini is fun and funky.

What this means is that the Mini isn't a keeper and I will stick to my rule and move it on come Jan/Feb time. Thoughts have already turned to a replacement and there's two approaches to this. Firstly we do use the Mini with our two children when I fancy a break from the Mercedes so perhaps I should get a fast 5 door hatchback. Whilst common in the current market in the sub £7k market 3 doors still rule. However the BMW 130i and the Subaru WRX-S stand out as having the sort of nice sounding engines I'm after. I've never had a Subaru before and I like that the hatchback version was a bit unpopular/an underdog. The 2nd option is to double the budget and get either an E36/E46 M3 or a 996. My recent drive in a sorted E46 M3 highlighted how much I miss that six cylinder petrol experience. The Porsche is an option because I've had BMWs but never anything rear engine. The risk of massive bills is ever present though, so one must tread carefully.

That's all in the future though and so in the meantime I am going to get a few more track days booked and start using the Mini more for fun than for the Wednesday commute. There's still a few more jobs to do, namely fix my low speed fan, sort my seat runners to stop the light rocking motion and if one ever comes up for sale that isn't hours away, fitting a JCW exhaust So there will be some updates still to come.

In the meantime thanks for reading and all comments greatly received. Finally, as a bit of blatant promotion give me a follow on Instagram, either @James76G which is my personal feed but is mainly nice cars and watches or alternatively @forgottenUKcars where I post cars from the last 30 years that are forgotten, lost or unloved. Recent examples include the 90s Fiat Tipo (just 44 left in 1.4ie spec) or the Vauxhall Signum Elite V6 Diesel, just 450 ever made.
 
#94 ·
Terrific thread James :thumb:
Look forward to your next one! Funny seeing your forgottencarsuk plug at the end and a mention of the Fiat Tipo. I have the 1.6 Sedicivalvole (16v to you and me!) and I was so pleased with the fact it came with a Momo steering wheel! Aaahh them were the days! :rolleyes::thumb:

Ben
 
#97 ·
If an MOT'd Sedicivalvole came up for sale locally today I'd be over there like a shot and the Mini wouldn't get a look in. I so wanted one in my early 20s but ended up with a Bravo HLX as I couldn't find a nice one even back then (1999)

Wow great write up, you will love the upgrade mate, it improves them so much.

I love how you pointed out about the brake line spanner! I mashed the metal pipes up something rotten and twisted them, so they its going in to have them all replaced as it's something I can't be bothered doing myself.

Looking great though mate, what is next on the list?
Thanks. Low speed fan fix this weekend then track evening on Tuesday as Brands Hatch to test the brakes. Nightmare about your brake lines, can't be a cheap job??

Nice work mate :thumb:

If your considering a wrx-s I hope you have deep pockets:lol: I had one for a couple of years and I loved it but sweet Jesus they love shell v-power :doublesho I used to commute to Aberdeen from Ayrshire and at a steady 70 the best mpg I saw was 27-28 :( and then there's the £500 a year road tax :censored: cracking cars though:thumb:
My wife's cousin had a 2010 STi UK330s in white and he regularly tells me what a money pit his was, so I am not going in blind. He seemed to have lots of trouble with his brakes for some reason. To be fair the RFL on the Subaru will only be £200 more than the Mini (£315) and that doesn't seem to be averaging more than 28mpg since I've had it so the running costs aren't going to be much different given it's a 2nd car. The issue is going to be finding one that hasn't been "barried" and/or isn't on mega miles. Great to hear that you liked yours though, I think they are fantastic.
 
#95 · (Edited)
Wow great write up, you will love the upgrade mate, it improves them so much.

I love how you pointed out about the brake line spanner! I mashed the metal pipes up something rotten and twisted them, so they its going in to have them all replaced as it’s something I can’t be bothered doing myself.

Looking great though mate, what is next on the list?
 
#96 ·
Nice work mate :thumb:

If your considering a wrx-s I hope you have deep pockets:lol: I had one for a couple of years and I loved it but sweet Jesus they love shell v-power :doublesho I used to commute to Aberdeen from Ayrshire and at a steady 70 the best mpg I saw was 27-28 :( and then there's the £500 a year road tax :censored: cracking cars though:thumb:
 
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