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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 ÂŁ2,000 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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#99 ·
Low Speed Fan Fix

Recently, when the aircon was being attended to I was informed that my low speed fan wasn't working. Through threads on here I had tested the inbuilt resistor and found it was open circuit, so with the recent weather and a forthcoming track day I got on with sorting it.

A few weeks back I went looking for a suitable replacement resistor and found that they seem quite hard to get hold of. In the end I bought mine from Mouser Electronics, a US company but who sell in the UK with stock shipped via a distribution centre in Germany. And because shipping was punitively expensive for one, but free for orders over ÂŁ33, I bought five of them!



My thinking being that I could put a small kit together of necessary parts and sell them on eBay and, with any luck, cover my costs.



My plan here is to mount the resistor to the aluminium plate, and then mount that behind the bumper on the car and wire it in where the existing broken resistor was. That approach requires the removal of the front bumper which is probably no bad thing as it's clear it's been off before and I was keen to see why.

As always, there are some trim rivets missing from the inner wheelarch:



These little blighters.



And some rusted fixings that won't shift as well



But soon the bumper is free, exposing the crash bar in all its aluminium glory.



And then aided by my cordless impact wrench, the crash bar is gone too. I've said it before, these impact wrenches are great and save so much time.



Getting closer. So, it's now a case of moving the aircon condenser out of the way, which is easy but requires a bit of care so as not to stress the pipes. I also find quite a bit of debris trapped between it and the radiator.



And then by removing the top radiator hose and removing some retaining clips I can lean the radiator forward and slide the fan up and out because it's just slotted in.



And here is the fan with the offending resistor. You can't see in the photo but one of the wires has burnt through, which seems to be a very common problem, probably due to the design which means it hardly sees any airflow. I dread to think of the number of perfectly good fan units that have been binned where a simple replacement resistor would have saved it. Interestingly this fan, according to the date code moulded in the plastic was manufactured in Nov '04, some 13 months before my car was built (Feb '06) so I'm thinking the bumper had been off to replace it with what I assume was a 2nd hand unit. I wonder how long it lasted before it failed or indeed how long it has been not working.



I then did a test fit of the aluminium plate to check everything would fit. And then again with the resistor attached to it.





Removing the fan isn't strictly necessary, in that I could have wired the resistor in to the wiring elsewhere in the engine bay, but I saw somebody had done it this way and thought it a nice neat solution. 1 hour later after removing the fan I was beginning to regret it. It started off well, in that the Dremel made light work of removing the old resistor.





But once I'd cleaned everything up I just couldn't get the solder to adhere. I have a 25w iron and perhaps it's not man enough, or my solder isn't right but either way I was going nowhere fast. In the end I decided to drill a 3mm hold through each terminal, solder some spades on to the wires going to the resistor and screw it all together, leaving me with this:



Luckily I had no issues with soldering the wire on to the resistor and so, once I had the fan back in behind the radiator, I've got it looking like this. Very neat I think and because the resistor will got hot in operation there's no chance of it compromising any other nearby cables or components.



By this point, in what is becoming a tradition, it is Sunday evening sometime after midnight. Since I have removed the front wheels to remove the bumper I decide it's as good a time as any to fit my track wheels in anticipation of the track day I am planning, so I do that too.



In the end I finish at 1am and then I am straight indoors to book the aforementioned trackday as I had delayed doing it until I knew I could get the car back together and working.

Track Evening - Brands Hatch

A little over 36 hours later and I'm at Brands Hatch ready for an evening track session. I really like these evening sessions as the atmosphere tends to be a bit calmer, almost everything is a road car so you don't get buzzed by GT3 cars doing mid-season testing and it's easier on both car and driver as total track time is about 2.5 hours. Perfect for beginners too.



I didn't take many photos but I am always pleasantly surprised by some of the eclectic things that turn up, such as these two seen here waiting for noise testing. Sadly the TVR didn't pass so its owner joined me in the Mini for the sighting laps before heading off somewhere to find some exhaust decibel reducers.



Throughout the evening I was keeping an eye on my new front brakes and I'm pleased to say they performed faultlessly with only a little softening of the pedal but no reduction in stopping power and absolutely no juddering. Definitely worth all the aggro. For interest I wanted to understand just how hot they get with sustained use, so I parked up in a garage and got the thermometer out after a 20 minute session:





I actually recorded a higher temp of 222deg later on in the evening but didn't have the camera on at the time. So very hot, but equally still a long way off glowing like those on rally cars.

A couple of shots from the pro:





Soon though it was all over with time to take one last photo as the place emptied out.



Once again I remain amazed that a car with near 90k miles that I paid ÂŁ2k for and have only done some minor fettling to can soak up lap after lap of full throttle action without so much as a murmur of complaint. Shortly after this photo was taken I was back on the M25 cruising home with the stereo on, the air-con blowing a gentle cool breeze and not a care in the world. Great stuff.
 
#100 ·
WHAT AN UPDATE, I missed the last one too - so double updates :argie:

I like that idea of mounting the resistor out of sight and wiring it directly into where the old resistor was. Seems like a very sensible solution and worth the extra bit of work. I really don’t like seeing my resistor and wires plonked there every time I open the bonnet - it looks a bit amateurish compared to yours!


That track day looks immense and the track day wheels make the car look really purposeful. Good clean fun!

I reckon mine would explode :thumb:
 
#102 ·
WHAT AN UPDATE, I missed the last one too - so double updates :argie:

I like that idea of mounting the resistor out of sight and wiring it directly into where the old resistor was. Seems like a very sensible solution and worth the extra bit of work. I really don't like seeing my resistor and wires plonked there every time I open the bonnet - it looks a bit amateurish compared to yours!

That track day looks immense and the track day wheels make the car look really purposeful. Good clean fun!

I reckon mine would explode :thumb:
Thanks James. Locating the resistor there was a bit more work definitely, but having the front off did at least give me a chance to have a good look over things and check if it had been put back right. Turns out a couple of fixings were missing which I've now sourced from BMW and will fit shortly.

I'm sure yours wouldn't explode on the track though especially as you've serviced your supercharger and I haven't!

Decent update their James and I love how you get the trackdays in. I've done a few evening sessions before at Cadwell (lucky to have it as our local track) and as you say, the vibe just seems so much calmer.

Whats next on the agenda with the Mini then?
Thanks Danny. Great that you have Cadwell so near. I definitely want to do it but it's a 5 hour drive from Guildford so would involve a night away which, with two young children, requires quite a lot of planning.

Next on the agenda though is the MOT on Monday but before that I have a new exhaust bracket to fit as the old one has rusted through on the RHS and is no longer secure. Hopefully this will solve the odd knocking noise I've been hearing for the last two months or so.
 
#106 · (Edited)
Track day done, the next item to attend to was the MOT. Given I'd done the brakes and the suspension recently I was confident of a pass but regular readers may recall I'd complained of a noise coming from the rear after changing the rear shocks.

More recent investigation had shown that the hanger for one of the exhaust rear boxes had rusted right through and while still reasonably supported, it "could" be the source of the noise and not the rear shocks.



So I ordered a new hanger from BMW along with two bolts, as I assumed they'd need replacing too, and the night before the MOT set to work.

After a bit of a fight, the old one came off and here it is compared to the new one.



But inevitably this happened:



Of course the bolts that I thought would be stubborn turned out to be absolutely fine, whereas this shearing I hadn't anticipated. Anyway, I pressed on and got it back together, albeit with one of the supports now (temporarily) held in with one rather than both nuts. I shall try and return the bolts I didn't need as they were a ridiculous ÂŁ3 each.



While ordering those parts I also got hold of a few missing trim screws and the like to finish off the refitting of the front bumper. First that meant using the trusty Dremel again for the two front fittings that had rusted together and couldn't be extracted.



And here's the selection of parts needed, and also showing those that I'd cut off:



Despite giving my local BMW the part numbers directly, as extracted from RealOEM there was a total farce with this order and in fact previous orders now I think about it. They ring to tell me parts have arrived but by the time I get there, usually the same day, nobody can tell me where they are. Then despite ordering 4 of something only 2 arrive and most recently despite telling me that had 60 bolts in stock they couldn't find any of them. Anyway, I digress.

With the old items cut out I can get the new ones in, along with some missing screws.



And the wheel arch liners get fitted back properly too. No idea why all these things were missing, but presumably due to a lack of attention to detail at the garage where the previous owner had work done.



Next morning I am on my way to the garage for the MOT when I notice that the odometer is very near to a nice set of numbers so I make a spurious 7 mile trip for no reason and just as I pull in this happens:



The MOT isn't until 11am so I head off for a late breakfast leaving the car at the same place I've been using for the last 10 years for MOTs.



Sometime later I get the text to tell me it's passed and here's the certificate, which is different since those changes that came in in April.



Oil under the car I knew about and I have the seal ready to fit, but it's a fiddly job that have been putting off. No idea why they mention the clutch because I know the operation is "poor" and I am reminded about it everytime I drive it! Internet lore suggests they are all heavy clutched but I am thinking there's something not right in the system somewhere.

So there we go and another 12 months of MOT. There's still the oil leak still to sort, plus I need to finish off the exhaust due to that sheared bolt and the driver's seat seems to be moving about on the rail so something to do there too. Never ending!

Cheers for reading.
 
#108 ·
Nice little update and dealer experience matches that of what I have experienced in the past... I now order from here: https://www.online-parts.co.uk/bmw-spare-parts/index.php?language=en once I have the part numbers from RealOEM, it is genuine parts sent from BMW Rybrook once it arrives in the country. Shipping can be steep if you order an individual small piece etc

Hope to see some more updates soon :D
 
#111 ·
An excellent question Danny. Right now, it would be the MG.

I know, total heresy, but the MG was just a sweeter driving car and although it is down a bit on power (or more likely, torque) compared to the Mini, it just gave a much more cohesive driving experience. Everything just seemed to work together. The Mini by contrast seems to be hamstrung by the heaviness of the steering, the awkward clutch/gearbox combo and fidgety ride that never settles down.

The engine is better though, and I said to my brother last weekend if I could have the Mini engine in the MG ZR that really would be perfect.
 
#112 ·
Following the MOT, I decided to book a first full track day in the Mini, as until now, I'd only done two evenings.

With that I continued my efforts to source the noise I am getting from the rear and in particular sort the exhaust hanger mountings for good. Having sheared a bolt on one getting ready for the MOT I wanted to get it all sorted.

So I consulted RealOEM and then sourced some new exhaust mounts from GSF for ÂŁ5 a piece and some M10 nuts to mount them with.





So once again it back in the garage and this:



I wasn't surprised to see that the existing mounts on each side were a little past their best, this being the passenger side:





And that then leaves that exhaust box sort of floating in mid-air. This side is a lot less corroded that the driver's side for some reason:



The driver's side mount was also damaged but to be fair that was me when I was in then replacing stuff for the MOT.



And ready to be mounted up:



Now in order to get some decent access to all this I had decided to drop this rear plate from the car, which is held on with plastic nuts fastening to studs:



Sadly after 12 years those kind of fittings are inevitably corroded, so despite being plastic, one of them did this to me:



And here's how it looks when removed, sheared stud being nearest on the right:



But once removed I could then get a decent look in at the new mounts and also the stud that I had sheared off for the MOT. Naturally, as is the way of these things, and despite being very careful, this happened on the other side too.



Still, once the new mount was back in there was still enough stud protruding to put on some of those new M10 nuts right?



Wrong! I had misinterpreted RealOEM and what I actually needed was M8 nuts. Still I pressed on and got everything back together:



And having tightened everything up as best I could, I went for a drive. With two out of four bolts missing it was perhaps inevitable that the noise was worse so after 500m I turned around and abandoned the car in the garage.

A few days later some M8 bolts turned up and I got to work in the garage again, although this time I didn't put the car up in the air and for an extra challenge left myself with very little room:





But, surprisingly, after 15 minutes both sides were done:





That was Wednesday evening and then on Friday morning I found myself in the car at 6.15am ready to leave for Castle Combe:



An hour or so later I stopped at Membury Services for petrol and to buy some breakfast and was shocked to see that petrol was 18p more per litre than normal. I know Motorway Services tend to be a bit pricey but that felt a little crazy. Still, nice morning for a photo:



I arrived at Castle Combe with plenty of time though and did the whole sign on, noise test and briefing. Managed to find a friend:



There was a third R53 too, but it was semi-open pit so we were never on the track at the same time. There was also three further Minis, two R56 Cooper S models (one with 270bhp!) and one of the new F56 models so clearly a popular choice. What was also popular was the Ariel Atom. I don't know how many cars they've made, but 5 of them were there at this track day including one being driven by owner of blue 991 GT3 in the previous shot. How the other half live.



Still, we aren't interested in Atoms and Porsches when there's an early Saxo VTS to look at now are we??



The Mini performed faultlessly through the day and the brake upgrade really does mean you can lean on the brakes without any worries of fade or inconsistency. The fan also worked exactly as it should, having fitted that resistor recently and in fact I only once heard it come on full speed, and the rest of the time just half speed.

As the day ended I tried to re-create the same photo that I had done when I was last there just under a year ago in the MG, with some partial success:





And then 12.5 hrs and 310 miles later I was home after another great day on track. The journey back was OK, but for the 2nd time my track wheels seem to have picked up lots of rogue rubber in the barrels during the day which effectively makes them go out of balance. It's not noticeable on track but as soon as you're doing a constant 70-75mph you really feel it. I'll clear them out and it'll be fine but I don't know if it's these temperatures we are having or something else.



That issue aside car continues to be excellent at this kind of use, taking everything in its stride and never failing to be anything other than great fun on the track. My indifference toward it as a road car isn't helped by the rattle from the back, which continues to irritate and I'm running out of ideas for what to check next, given I've done dampers, damper mounts, droplinks, ARB bushes and now exhaust mounts.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get that sorted soon, but in the meantime I'll be booking the final track day of the year for late September. Thanks for reading.
 
#115 ·
Definitely with the rattles and the steering wheel, of which I have both! Research last night suggests that it could be the gearbox mounting, or the exhaust mounts in the middle of the car, which I haven't checked to be fair.

Re Cadwell, you never know as the date I had in mind for Thruxton has been cancelled by the track day operator due to lack of take up.

Great update James! I bet it was great on track.
Thanks. Yes, it's great fun on track and I seemed to do a lot of overtaking of cars that should be much faster, RX8s, S2000s and a 991 Turbo S or all things. But I suspect they were track day novices as much as anything. Later that day I nearly collected that same 991 as the driver decided to stand on his carbon ceramic brakes in to the last bend having missed his turning point. Probably the closest to an accident I've ever been.





Quite why he tapped up his numberplate isn't clear as I doubt the car even broke a sweat during the day.

That issue aside, it was thankfully a drama free day!
 
#116 ·
Track Day Preparation

Since the last track day I have been on a family holiday and just doing the commute so the Mini hadn't seen much action. One of the few days I did have it out it rained and I managed to capture some beading to prove that I am keeping it reasonably clean and tidy. This is Dodo Juice Rainforest I think.



I had also booked my final track day for 2018 and in preparation for it I started investigating the issue with vibration I was getting. Turns out two of the track wheels had thrown their wheel weights (high temperatures melting the glue presumably) and so I cleaned them up and headed off to get them balanced. ÂŁ10 later and now balanced up again. (No photos, sadly)

Now my car has an oil leak (which I will fix) so I also checked the oil only to discover it was very low.



I didn't have any at home so I went online and ordered some for collection from the ECP nearest to work for ÂŁ6.17. Rumour has it this is ÂŁ17 from Shell forecourts.



I used the Shell tool to determine the best type, this being the 2nd option as the first was out of stock. Oil has got very complicated it seems because not only now do you have the different types (synthetic, semi-synthetic) and weights (5w40) but also within that there are grades, this being HX ECT. Who knows what that means?

Anyway, since I was at work and it was sunny at lunchtime I thought I'd do some impromptu office carpark mechanics.



Later that evening, while swapping over to the track wheels I thought I'd further investigate my ongoing rattles. Although I'd done the rear exhaust mounts, I hadn't checked the central one. However that seemed fine and nothing was touching so it's not that.



I also thought I'd investigate the issue with the driver's seat, that being that it rocks under hard braking. I recalled somebody in the USA saying that it required the seat to be removed to sort it, so that's what I did.



And sure enough the bolts between the fixed rail and the catch mechanism on the sliding rail were loose. Access is tight and they are torx/star heads but they were soon done. Note 1/4 ratchet just fits.



Since driving it on track this has completely sorted things and I felt much more secure in the seat.

I also took the chance to do a clean up too, removing all this gunk that you can't normally access and the carpets as well:





Factory build date sticker:



That done I wondered if my rattles were coming from the rear seats. I'd never removed them and thought there might be something under there. Turns out I was right, it was ÂŁ1 in change, a cheap earring and a fake gemstone!



However, whilst that means the car cost ÂŁ1,999 it hasn't cured the blasted rattle.

Thruxton Track Day

So the track day rolls around and this time it's Thruxton. Obligatory re-fueling photo on the way there (points if you can tell where it is).





I was delighted to see this in front of me at noise testing, given that most supercars these days seem to exclusively crawl around London's Zone 1. Sadly it didn't pass the test, but the Mini was fine at a low 85db.



After an hour or so it became apparent that all was not well with the wheels however, and I was still getting vibration, especially between 80 - 100mph. So I borrowed a trolley jack from an Ariel Atom owner and swapped the wheels so the newly balanced ones were both on the front.



You might also see the Mini I was parked next to has its bonnet up. Lesson of the day, if your cam chain tensioner isn't working, don't drive your car on the track. Sadly then, his day was over by 11am.

Thankfully for me the wheel swap helped cure the vibration and by lunch I'd reached this milestone:



As always there lots of nice cars on track and I was really pleased to see two MG ZR 160s running as well. Stand out car for me though was this Z3 M Coupe that had a full cage and was running slicks. Bought and converted years ago back when they were cheap it was apparently run in one of the 750 Motor Club race series and then the current owner bought it 5 years ago to run as a dedicated track car. At it's last MOT it had 136k miles and it was quite battle scarred, but all the better for it



My brother, who joined me for the day, had a great time too and declared that the Mini was better than my previous car, the yellow MG ZR 160 that he also drove at Thruxton last year.

Commitments meant that he left at 3pm and by 4.30pm I was back on the A303 heading home. Weirdly, throughout the day there had been loads of wasps about so by the time the day was over the front of the car was absolutely covered in them:



What's Next

So that's it for trackdays in 2018 and also with the Mini. The plan now is to return it to standard by removing the R56 brakes currently fitted and putting the originals back on along with some new pads. Then I'll give the car a proper deep clean (engine bay, door shuts, wet vac the seats and so on) and get it looking really tidy. Ideally I'll run it through winter and then sell in early Feb to stick to original plan of keeping it for one year.

However, and a bit annoyingly, a perfect replacement has turned up on Autotrader, right colour, right mileage, right price and just 2 miles away. The money is there, but if I keep the Mini too the ability to store any new purchase is challenging and the insurance gets complicated. But there were only 300 sold so they aren't exactly common. What to do?
 
#117 ·
Great updates. You do some cool stuff with this car!

Where is your oil leak coming from? Some of them do like to burn oil as you probably know - which could also contribute to your low oil level. Mine has nearly 150k and a very sketchy history but doesn’t burn oil, yet my mum’s 60k cherished example with full history has always needed top ups - no logic there.

I’m starting a rumour - that gem stone is from a mega vajazzle. Just sayin’... :lol:
 
#118 ·
Great updates. You do some cool stuff with this car!

Where is your oil leak coming from? Some of them do like to burn oil as you probably know - which could also contribute to your low oil level. Mine has nearly 150k and a very sketchy history but doesn't burn oil, yet my mum's 60k cherished example with full history has always needed top ups - no logic there.

I'm starting a rumour - that gem stone is from a mega vajazzle. Just sayin'... :lol:
Thanks! Although having erased vajazzles from my mind years ago, I now can't see to unsee them again!

Anyway, oil leak is coming from the either the hear exchanger or the oil filter housing. I've had the new seals for a few months now but have postponed the work as I didn't want to break something and not make it to one of the track days:



I haven't changed the cam tensioner yet, so I'll do all three jobs at the same time which will make it longer but easier, since everything is in the same area, as you probably know.
 
#119 · (Edited)
Following the last track day it was time to give the Mini a decent clean, and address some of the areas that were letting things down

Washed, rinsed and awaiting drying:



There were lots of areas around that I just hadn't had time to get to, such as this sort of thing.



And after:



I decided to fully remove my rear seats so as to clean them, which meant I got to clean out the boot area too:





Cleaned up, carpet vacuumed and re-installed:



Door shuts got a work over too. They were covered in that white grease (lithium?) that car dealers seem to insist on spraying everywhere:



After a session with degreaser and some APC:

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content


Had a go at some other areas too:



And then I got to work on the exhaust tips using a Dremel and some metal polish:

Before:



After:



Then in the week I had a go at improving the seats, which were still in poor shape despite a previous cleaning attempt. This time I supplemented the fabric cleaner with some extraction via a Vax.

Before:



During:





Colour of water in the Vax....



And then back in the car:



Meanwhile the search for the rattle from the rear had been ongoing. I'd sought advice from the folk over at one of the Mini forums and a number of options were proposed.

I didn't know the car had a fuel vapour canister so when somebody mentioned it could be this and that it was hidden in the LHS wheel arch I was convinced it was the source of the noise.

But, having removed the wheel arch I couldn't even find it:



This is because it's in the RHS wheel arch! Sadly though, it wasn't the source as it was still tightly held in.



Despite having put new ARB drop links on, it was suggested that they may be at fault. So I tie wrapped up the anti roll bar and took the car for a drive around the block.



Sadly it wasn't that either although I was sort of grateful given I'd replaced them.

So the finger was then pointed at the trailing arm bushes. But despite looking a bit worse for wear there was no play in these either.



By this point I'd spent 4 separate evenings in the garage and was running out of patience, not least because it means getting the car up in the air and the wheels off each time. So I hit Google for the umpteenth time and found, over in the USA, mention of a rattle when an owner had fitted Bilstein B4 dampers to their Mini. These are the dampers that I had fitted - could this be it?

The general thinking was that the BMW dampers use a washer on the shaft that isn't required by the Bilsteins. This washer:





Turns out that on the BMW damper the shaft is bevelled/chamfered as is the inner diameter of the washer, as you can see in this photo:



On the Bilsteins this bevel isn't there so the washer doesn't seat correctly. It's hard to explain but this diagram from thread I found out about all this shows it nicely.



Full thread here should any Mini owners be interested.

So I removed the washers, rebuilt them back up and refitted, calling time at 1.15am, which is not how I wanted to spend my Friday night but there you go.

Next morning I decided I'd go for a test drive. I also noticed that my track wheels still had some excess rubber on them from the last track day, which looks like this:



Since they are for sale, as I've no more track days planned, I thought it would be a good chance to put them on the car and drive round for a bit to scrub them clean. This meant the car looked like this:



This had the desired effect of cleaning up the tyres but played absolute havoc with the tracking control!

That aside, the great news is the rattle from the rear is finally gone! Amazing to think that just two washers had caused all this. It's also bad that Bilstein don't include any instructions and/or a warning about this washer in their packaging but in the end I'm just glad the noise has gone and that it didn't require replacing any more components.

More soon.
 
#122 ·
Checkmate checking out

So as one Mini Cooper S joins "Projects and Restorations" another leaves.

I spoke with a friend and former colleague earlier in the week and during the conversation I mentioned that I was going to be putting the Checkmate up for sale. He currently has an M135i but now commutes by train so wants out, which is odd because at least two of us on here have moved from one of those to a Cooper S. Anyway, I offered for him to come over and take mine for drive so he could get a feel for whether it would suit him.

Long story short, he came over yesterday, we went for a drive, he declared it "brilliant" and said he'd take it. I hadn't advertised it and I'd barely decided on price but I do want to sell it so I wasn't going to say no! He also wanted to keep the R56 brakes on it which meant I didn't have to go to the trouble of swapping them out.

I'll cover figures in a minute, but I did think there was a slim chance of this happening so I took a few photos before he arrived, figuring that if he didn't want to buy it I could use them as part of the Autotrader advert.



























Then, purely by coincidence I was due to attend the Goodwood Hot Hatch Breakfast Club this morning with a good friend (and M3 owner) so I used that as an opportunity to have one final drive in it ahead of it being collected on Thursday.







So once home and at 90,586 miles I've put it in the garage and won't now drive it again.



Summary

As always I'd like to share my figures with you, so people can see what the costs are. This one has been good, financially, and of course I've hit my numbers regarding track days as well. So,

Car bought 14th Feb 2018 = ÂŁ2,000
Sold 8th November 2018 = ÂŁ2,500
Total servicing and parts costs = ÂŁ1,170 which includes the upgraded brakes that I fitted and which the new owner wanted to keep
Miles done = 5,109
Track days = 2 evenings, 2 full days
Days owned = 267

According to my spreadsheet that's ÂŁ0.13 in running costs, excluding RFL, insurance and RAC membership. With those things included it's ÂŁ0.24 which is, surprisingly, the same as the MG ZR that came before it.

Consumption was, according to the OBC, 28.5mpg which includes the track days, and is fine for me, but probably a bit disappointing if one correlates car/engine size with economy.



Highlights over ownership have been the looks and the Checkmate specifically I always thought looked great with the combination of colours and those alloy wheels. It's also one of the easiest cars I've had in which to heel and toe, which I feel like I've finally mastered to make it genuinely useful on the track. It was also brilliant on track, once I'd fitted the brake upgrade. And that engine, of course.

Lowlights remain the clutch/gearbox and even today I missed a shift from 2nd to 3rd. In all probability a new clutch would sort this out, but it wasn't a job I wanted to undertake and since it wasn't slipping it never felt like a priority. But having to ensure the clutch was absolutely fully depressed before changing gear did get annoying at times. And of course the fidgety ride, no doubt not helped by having runflats. I did think my track wheels would show a difference but having stiff sidewalls as they do, the ride was the same no matter what. Finally those seats, hard to clean and hard to sit in. My back did adjust to what felt like lumbar turned up to 11, but those first few weeks were literally agony.

So all in all, a great car and a lot of fun but time to try something different. Not totally sure yet what it will be but rest assured, there will be a thread.

And in finally, in true YouTube car vlogger style, if you've liked this thread please take a moment to read my previous threads in Project and Restorations:

Porsche 944 S2 here

Alpina B3 3.3 here

BMW E39 525i SE here

VW Bora 1.6 SE here

Mercedes C350 Elegance here

MG ZR 160 here

Thanks for reading.
 
#123 ·
Nooooooooooooooooo! Not the end of the Checkmate!

I’ve loved this thread from start to end. Entertaining, hugely varied in the work you’ve done, plus I’ve learnt a fair bit from it.

The new owner will have a really well sorted car. Funny, as you say, that he is also coming from an M135i.


Can’t wait for the next thread :thumb:
 
#127 ·
Nooooooooooooooooo! Not the end of the Checkmate!

I've loved this thread from start to end. Entertaining, hugely varied in the work you've done, plus I've learnt a fair bit from it.

The new owner will have a really well sorted car. Funny, as you say, that he is also coming from an M135i.

Can't wait for the next thread :thumb:
Thanks James and great to hear that you enjoyed it. I also learnt a good amount from your thread, like the resistor fix for the fan, which is one of the great things about Project and Restorations. Plus you save a Rover 600!

Going to put up my mini project. Not quite finished, but broken the back of it.

What next though James?
You should do it Steve, all project threads are good threads in my opinion. I didn't know you had a Mini though and so had I not sold mine so quickly could have done a "Mini Owners of DW" meet up somewhere! We should still do that actually.

Up next will likely be a five door, 200hp, manual hatchback. Candidates in declining order of price include:

VW Golf R32 - Mk5
VW Golf GTi Edition 30
Subaru WRX
BMW 130i
Renault Megane 225
Vauxhall Astra SRi Turbo 200

I am amazed at the prices of the VW options though, ÂŁ10K for a R32, ÂŁ8k for an ED30.

That said, I'd really like to do something a bit different. For a few years I've wanted to take a car that's been ruined and return it to standard (De-Pimp My Ride??) and I've always wanted to do a Clubsport type build.

So something like a Porsche 996 that's had a tasteless wrap, fitted with the wrong alloys and 997 esque lights. I could then return to standard before turning it in to a GT3 evocation with some fixed buckets, rear seat delete and half cage. Trouble is all the gash Porsches are more money than the standard ones! Would work for an E36/E46 M3 too.
 
#130 ·
A warning about cheap supercars, it never ends well. In fact, a warning about expensive supercars, it still isn’t likely to end well!! I’m amazed my old Aston is still on the road haha, was a terrible car that all in. A Maserati Quattroporte has got to be up there with the best cars to make you go bankrupt in under a month, Bentley Flying Spur a close second. I think my sister did it right with her CLK55 AMG which is a great car. Can’t recommend an E, S, CL or SL class though thanks to such fun and expensive to repair toys like Servotronic brakes and Active Body Control. The cheap 911 game has gone now, nobody wants 3.4 996’s as the are fundamentally a bit rubbish and the IMS issues alone put everyone off. The 3.6 is a better bet, but the prices and conditions vary so wildly you never really know how good a deal you’re getting. My old air cooled 911 is now worth a fortune but I picked it up for £7600 in 2006. You can’t even get a rotten breaker car for that money now, but I fear they have peaked, or they are at least about to. Of your list I think the 130i stands out the most. A 320si is another shout, but a bit risky even by 4 cylinder BMW standards. Curve ball, how about an Alfa 159 or 166? My Dad loves his 159 and being a tuned petrol one it goes and sounds amazing. Another must have in life is a Jaaaaaaag. XJ’s are great bargains right now, but they probably aren’t cars for the track. Good luck with whatever you choose though.
 
#131 ·
Checkmate Epilogue

Checkmate Epilogue

Those of you who read my thread originally might recall that I sold the Mini Checkmate to good friend and ex-colleague, Ian (who is on here, somewhere). As a result I get the occasional update and photo, which I'll share with you, below.

Before that though, some positive financial news. Back when I had my MG ZR I bought a set of 16" MG Hairpins with some nearly new track day tyres (Nankang NS-2Rs - surprisingly good) for ÂŁ310.



I then went on to use these on the Checkmate for the four track days I did and once the car was sold I advertised them on the very niche Facebook Group, "Mini Alloy Wheels Sale Page" and forgot about them.



Then some weeks later at 11pm in the evening I get a message asking if they are still for sale. By 11am the next morning I have a chap who's turned up to see/buy them. Normally you'd expect that to be a look over, check tread depth, 5 minutes of chat about cars and job done. 15 minutes max. But no, this guy wants to talk. A lot. Turns out he's a successful ex-salesman and I feel sure that 95% of his success stems from being able to bore people in to just buying whatever he had for sale just to get rid of him. Still, I had some wheels to sell and like a high stakes game of staredown, I wasn't going to blink first.

So 1 hour and 45 minutes in to this charade he finally announces that he wants them and we agree at a reduction from (an admittedly toppy) ÂŁ180 to ÂŁ150. He then has the temerity to admit that he doesn't have any money on him. WTF! I play all nice but I tell him that I have to do some daddy day care (it's Saturday and I really do) so point him in the direction of the nearest cash machine and tell him to ring the bell when he returns. This he does, to find the wheels stacked outside the front door, whereupon I take his money and advise him that, as we've taken so long about it I can't help him load them in to the car. So two hours of my life I'll never get back but ÂŁ150 better off. I'd done 6 full track days and three evenings on those tyres and they still had 4mm on them. Brilliant.



I also had put together some lower speed fan resistor kits, mainly to save on shipping for my own needs, and I got them all together and up on eBay. That was a Thursday and all four kits had sold by Saturday. The final one was actually bought and collected within 15 minutes at around about 2pm.



Each kit was ÂŁ20 including P&P and I used the photos I'd taken for this thread to create a set of instructions and feedback was universally positive. I didn't make any profit, but having bought parts for 5 kits, and selling four meant that the 5th kit, the one I fitted to my car, was free.

I was saddened to discover that the blue towing eye that my brother had bought me didn't fit my Subaru so I sold that on for about 50% of what they go for new and surprisingly I also managed to sell those mat retaining discs that I removed when I replaced the mats. I wouldn't have bothered listing them normally, but I was on a roll and listing so much anyway I thought what the hell. I got ÂŁ3 plus P&P for them.





What this all means is that I need to update the costings for the Mini, which I will do shortly.

Meanwhile the car itself has been treated to a new Android head unit and the cleaning regime has been maintained and it's looking jolly splendid.



However its days may be numbered as the owner has just taken on a rather nice 640d cabrio, which belonged to his father and which has been replaced by the Range Rover in the background. Sadly I don't think him retaining the Mini as well as the 640d will be very good for his long term marital harmony, so if anybody fancies a Mini Checkmate send me PM and I'll put you in touch.



The cheap 911 game has gone now, nobody wants 3.4 996's as the are fundamentally a bit rubbish and the IMS issues alone put everyone off. The 3.6 is a better bet, but the prices and conditions vary so wildly you never really know how good a deal you're getting.
I'd love a 3.4 996 and I don't think they are remotely a "bit rubbish" and that's from only ever having driven a Tiptronic one. Once the Subaru goes (imminently, given recent experience) I'll be on the look out for an early cable throttled 3.4 996, manual and preferably with amber indicators and no sunroof.





From the research I've done these are the least likely to suffer bore scoring (ferrous piston coating rather than plastic piston coating of the later cars) and as such make them a much better bet than a 3.6. In my opinion.

I have no preference over looks between the early and later cars, although I've never got the love for the 4S and the 40th Anniversary Edition is ruined by virtue of having a Turbo/4S front bumper. Again, in my opinion.
 
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