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R53 Mini Cooper S cheap old shed project


rabbitstew

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1 minute ago, mattross1313 said:

The wife :lol: :unsure:

 

OK apart from

lack space,

funds,

knowledge,

AND The wife

 

What's stopping you ................. What have the Romans ever done for us :lol:

 

Brilliant answer BTW got a good :lol: out of that :)

 

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On 21/05/2019 at 08:18, HEADPHONES said:

I envy guys who are so handy with a spanner.

The only things I've done on cars in the past was oil and filter changes.

Even that was pretty satisfying doing myself.

You must be well proud of exploits so far :thumbs:

Hey mate you are not on your own 

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On 24/05/2019 at 16:49, mattross1313 said:

The wife :lol: :unsure:

:lol:   so true!!!!

 

Saturday I started stripping the front end of the car back down again. Bit of a pain as I had all this stuff off the other week. You live & learn, maybe I should have just done the clutch back then, but I didn't know then it was slipping and being on a tight budget, didn't want to spend more than I had to. But on the plus side, as id done it before, it didn't take me long. 

 

I had done plenty of research and the general consensus is that you have to drop the front subframe in order to get the gearbox out. However, I found a guide which said you didn't. I then set about the long task of stripping everything off to get ready to drop the gearbox. This is an easy enough process using basic socket set, but so long and fiddly. At this point praise be to the person who invented the impact wrench. I honestly don't know how I managed without one. It whips off even the hardest nuts in seconds. The 200fb / lb torqued up axle nuts flew off and the axles came out easy enough, but the axle support bracket on the drivers side was so fiddly to get to which was a pain. You also have to take the starter motor off also, but you cant actually get to it as the exhaust manifold is in the way. Fortunately I needed to take the manifold off anyway as I am replacing it which made access to the starter easy.

 

Now, this is another "whilst you are there" job, and people say replace the starter whilst its off. I am in 2 minds about doing this. A new one is £75 so not a lot, but it all adds up ££££ and this original one is working fine. I will have to have a think about it...

 

More amazing was that the rusty old manifold bolts came undone without sheering off in the head. I am still in shock about that. And the manifold dropped out from under the car fine.  Lambda sensors swapped to the new one ready to go back on. 

 

Everything off ready to start dropping the gear box...

 

mini4.jpg.781c08894fafa25957ed4adeaba7979d.jpg

 

Garage looks like a bomb has hit it. The flexi joint on the old manifold was properly knackered, no wonder it was blowing. Hopefully the new one will solve that issue. I had to take all the throttle body off as well as the air intake & airbox etc... (sigh...) so took the opportunity to clean the oily throttle body out. It wasn't too bad, but as its off the car I may as well.

 

Was busy Sunday, so Monday comes around and back in the garage. Time to get the gearbox off. Undo the 7 bolts holding it on, get some axle stands under the engine, a trolley jack under the gearbox and....

 

mini7.jpg.d8c5abd5b791e2fd4166744039dea4b8.jpg

 

The guide I was following was clearly a load of b*ll*cks. There is no way this is coming out without dropping that subframe. You can see the flywheel now and the box / engine is separated, but you can also just see in the bottom right the box is hitting the subframe.  (insert numerous swear words here).

 

At this point in time I was was now thinking maybe the £300 the local mini specialist would have charged me would have been money well spent. I really am not enjoying this job. Not only do I still have tons to do, I still need to put the ****ing thing all back together again. Argh.

 

So then I started looking at what I need to do to drop the front subframe. Fortunately it appears I have already done 99.9 of that already which is a bonus,  I just need to disconnect the steering, undo about 8 bolts, undo lower engine mount.... and there we have an issue. I had to remove the top right transmission mount already to free the box up, and don't fancy leaving the engine hanging on one mount perched on an axle stand whilst I'm rolling about under it undoing subframe bolts, so i need to get an engine support beam which goes across the strut towers to hold the engine. I did look at making a DIY one, but they aren't expensive so one ordered, should be here mid week. But it means that's stopped play atm. So poor old mini will have to stay like this until it arrives...

 

mini6.jpg.b165a440d80d471b60e24a755e4f406b.jpg

 

There are other bits I could be working on. I just tried undoing the rear control arm bolts and they are virtually in-accessable and rusted / seized up so they will be a nightmare. I also need to re-tackle the fuel filter seal.... aaaaarrrrrgggggghhh. Its times like this I hate working on cars. Its not all plain sailing, so s*d that for a game of soldiers, time for a beer instead I think!

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So whilst I'm waiting for the engine brace to arrive, I cracked on with a couple of other jobs.

 

Firstly, the gen 1 steering wheel on these not only looks rubbish, but this one is seriously worn after 100,000 miles. I looked at the options and the cheapest option by far was to swap it for a facelift steering wheel, which looks much more modern and is a straight swap. Another plus point is its cheap. So, before...

 

mini11.jpg.d427b5b66cfbdb3b1578612b4c184d28.jpg

 

And £99 later....

 

mini10.jpg.d1c32a86926c43392f0b4f786339c1fe.jpg

 

100% better. So, okay, for those on a budget, the old wheel worked perfectly fine, but for £99 I think its transformed the interior.

 

Also, whilst I was at it, I took the top gearbox mount off and poly bushed it...

 

mini12.jpg.44cd98918df1790067d3b502ba0763b2.jpg

 

Upgrading the engine mounts on my 911 totally transformed the car, so I am looking forward to seeing what difference these make.

 

Doorbell just gone, engine brace his here... time to crack on with this clutch replacement!

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So the clutch. First of all if anyone else is seriously thinking of doing this job on a Mini, DON'T!!!!!!! My local Mini specialist wanted £300 labour to do this... please, just hand them the money. But, hey ho, this is all about "on the cheap" and so I have saved myself £300. But, the stress...

 

So, the engine brace arrived, got it setup to support the engine and gearbox nicely, then dropped the front subframe. Had 4 mega seized bolts which took some messing about with the blow torch, but they came out in the end..

 

mini6.jpg.00172d2443f2e5648437e561da1d2bc8.jpg

 

Subframe dropped, means we can now get the gearbox off..

 

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Straight away... look how oily it is inside....

 

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That cant be good and probably why the clutch is slipping. The actual clutch plate didn't look too bad tbh, but its probably contaminated.

 

So the culprit for this oil is usually the crankshaft main oil seal, so I get the old one out...

 

mini11.jpg.e1783ab028a930b1f410005afa88f04e.jpg

 

And install a new one. The trick with the new one is to use a screwdriver and get the inner lip in first, rotate it by hand until that inner lip is in, then you can push/hammer (gently) it in. I found an off cut off a black soil waste pipe from my house build was ideal to hammer the new seal home...

 

mini12.jpg.dfd6ded8cc0af1ce07445246f3497553.jpg

 

So seal replaced, now I can bolt on the flywheel. I went for a stock dual mass one in the end. The other option is a lightweight flywheel which makes the engine rev quicker but is a bit more jumpy. I also read some bad reviews on the single mass, so went with original. Flywheel all bolted up using new bolts....

 

mini16.jpg.ca26a434277b4f1c50de2c77629ad702.jpg

 

At this point I realised I needed a clutch alignment tool to fit the clutch plate & basket. So that stopped play.... well... nearly, so whilst waiting I removed the old wishbones from the front subframe. So much easier off the car. Pressed the old inner bush out...

 

mini14.jpg.db395527febeeeac158262fadb79420c.jpg

 

And poly bushed them....

 

mini15.jpg.bf6b9b4681e66689108b6d623c975e0b.jpg

 

Again, if your on a budget then don't bother, but these had been an MOT advisory for the last 4 years so needed doing, and whilst the subframe is off the car for the clutch, then its a no brainer.

 

I fitted new inner & outer ball joints at the same time. Again, not really needed, but at something like £10 each it really makes sense to do these whilst you can...

 

mini13.jpg.ef5f589bb8371dfb40b416e9d629d35a.jpg

 

And I fitted the new poly bushed wishbone back on the subframe...

 

mini19.jpg.50e7347e8d2037329c1fcbbfeca39be7.jpg

 

So all in all, a pretty productive day. But in true tradition of things not going smoothly, I tried the same on the other side and the old wishbone bush will not press out. This is the side which must have been left in a ditch or something, as everything on the passenger side has been a nightmare so far. I've done loads of wheel bearings before just pressing them out in a vice, but this passenger side bush is not shifting, even with lots of heat, scaffolding pole and abuse. So will have a think and attack it in the morning. :thumbs:

 

 

 

 

mini13.jpg

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Saturday I had the morning spare, taking advantage of the wife & kids being on holiday, so back in the garage I reluctantly went to try and finish this clutch.

 

The clutch alignment tool (£7) made it easy to fit the clutch plate & pressure plate to the flywheel, all buttoned up nicely.  New release bearing fitted to the throw arm - simple clip off/on. Then the "simple" task of refitting the gearbox to the engine. I really dont know why they dont make gearboxes with a flat bottom to make it easy just to lift it in place with a trolley jack. All the guides I read said you need 2 or 3 people man handling it to get it into position - and they were right. But it was just me in the garage using a variety of chains, ratchet straps and trolley jacks as well as brute strength. Easily the hardest thing I've done on this car so far. It was so awkward. In the end I managed to get one of the lower mounting holes lined up - bunged a bolt in it, then managed to rotate the box a bit and shove it in. Then before it could move I bunged some more bolts in and hey presto it was back in place. Albeit something like 2 hours or more later....

 

Next job was to get that stubern wishbone bush out and fit the other polybush then get it back on the subframe. In the end it stripped the threads off my wheel bearing puller. Amazing. So I ended up sawing through it with a hack saw and using a cold chisel & lump hammer got it out.

 

Here's the subframe ready to go back in...

 

mini18.jpg.d1fe6744f7f5a8f9f9ad6306e0490936.jpg

 

I was expecting this to be a bit awkward, but it wasnt, I used a couple of trolley jacks to wheel it under the engine/gearbox, then raise it up. Once I got the back bolts in, I could man handle it a bit and get the front mounting bolts in.

 

Garage is looking a bit better now with bits back on the car...

 

mini20.jpg.fbd70d860e4d6926a70c3ecab7f9d386.jpg

 

The passengers side lower ball joint was another nightmare to get out. Lots and lots of heat and the cold chisel & lump hammer and it finally came out. You can see the difference below between old & new. Again, these things cost like £10 each, so makes sense just to do it whilst I'm there.

 

mini21.jpg.9242a11111cfed63a3783f626fd3fdf4.jpg

 

So then I tried the clutch pedal and it dropped straight to the boards and stayed there. Sigh. Another "Why didnt I just pay someone to do this" moment. Its a hydraulic clutch so pretty straight forward. The only bit I had touched on that was the slave cylinder which you have to remove in order to get the gearbox off.

 

The clutch slave cylinder, you have to keep compressed when you take it off, and I did using some cable ties, but it was always in the way and so popped out a couple of times. So I assumed some air had got in. Luckily its easy to get to on the bottom front of the gearbox...

 

mini23.jpg.e8291725d7a648682d626ff9f19811a5.jpg

 

 It uses the same reservoir as the brakes. So I reconnect the pressure bleeder and start bleeding the slave cylinder. These are a weird design. You can see the bleed nipple on the far right, then the hydraulic feed pipe next to it. So, when you try to bleed it, air can get trapped to the left of the feed pipe. So you need to compress the piston fully before you bleed. I cracked open the bleed nipple and dones of air came out, then fluid. Phew. But then a shed ton of air started coming out. I soon realised that the reservoir is a bit of another weird design. The clutch fluid feed from it is much higher than the brake feed, so you need to make sure its totally full of fluid else air can get in...

 

mini22.jpg.16a17709e8978a09bc2e779d1a513483.jpg

 

You can see the metal pipe going off to the brakes, and the one above it which must be for the clutch.

 

Bled them through and pedal seems to have some pressure. It feels exceptionally light now, suspiciously light, but I set my phone up to video what the slave was doing whilst i pressed the pedal and I can clearly see the piston moving in / out. Only way I will know is when I try it out on the road. I have read new clutches can feel very light initially, but firm up after a few weeks of use? 

 

So that`s it for this weekend, and I am pretty pleased with progress I made. Have a few things still to do, but its on the home stretch!

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So now the wife & kids are back this last week has been a bit different and virtually zero progress on the Mini as I just haven't had any spare time.

 

I did however manage to polybush the lower engine mount before fitting that back on...

mini4.jpg.ef7bbe6972054c02e89f94b67795e8e5.jpg

 

mini2.jpg.49cf4ac121ea69c084bb450589684eaa.jpg

 

That was surprisingly easy. I was expecting the old bushing to be hard to get out, but a bit of heat and it pressed straight out using a large socket in a vice. New ones just push in by hand.  The bushing comes with 2 big yellow inserts, and an optional black insert to make things even stiffer. I have no idea if that optional extra insert will be too much for the road or not, but hey ho, I have used it anyway.

 

Besides that, I re-attached the passengers side drive shaft, and dropped the passengers side suspension strut out as I hadn't done that one yet.

 

Now if you remember, its this passenger side I thought had been in a shunt before. Besides the strut tower being obviously mushroomed & bent...

 

mini5.jpg.b286d0c40c28566429dc9f155299f5ac.jpg

 

You can see on the old shock how bowed the top mount is...

 

mini7.jpg.8a117c8f71e49d0527689c55718a112e.jpg

 

That's definitely has some sort of heavy bang.

 

And finally, tell tale evidence that this shock has been replaced at some point with one from a breakers..

 

mini8.jpg.dc0511ef906aea81b60d06b9a5c4e491.jpg

 

Now that says R50 which is the basic Mini One. I am not sure if there is any difference between the struts & springs on a Mini One & a Mini Cooper S, but that could be another factor as to why this car never handled well.

 

Old strut stripped (again, thank god for the impact gun in getting that top nut undone :thumbs:), spring top plate transferred to the new coil over and we should be in a position to refit once I smash that bent strut tower flat again using a lump hammer. :bangin:

That just leaves...

 

fit quickshifter

refit exhaust,

refit starter heat shield

refit manifold heat shield

refit coil pack

change drivers side inner CV joint boot

refit drivers side drive shaft

refill gearbox with oil

refit power steering motor fan

reconnect outer ball joints

reconnect steering tie rods

reconnect steering column to rack

reconnect drop links all around

check everything torqued up

refit radiator, flush coolant system out, refill, fit a/c condenser, front slam panel, connect lights, bumper, set suspension geo best I can, refit wheels...

 

and that's just the stuff I can remember lol! I have also bought a new clutch slave cylinder as they are only £25. It will give me peace of mind as I think the seals in the other one might be knackered and is easy to fit whilst I have got the car in bits.

 

Sounds a lot, but its only about a days work I expect. If only I could get a whole day in the garage that is! :lol:

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Got a couple of hours in the garage over the weekend. Firstly I swapped the inner drive shaft gaiter for a new one as the old one was split. Its a right messy job when this happens as the gaiter is packed with grease, which proceeds to be flung out all over the underside of your car/engine.

 

mini7.jpg.8b67e8bac1ea212cace9e06777b952d8.jpg

 

Pretty easy job to to. You just remove this circlip, knock the end bearing thing off (carefully so not to damage them), then the old gaiter can slide off, and new one slides straight on. You then repack it with grease and clamp up the metal retaining clips.

 

mini1.jpg.fa1356b7e970f9d5b1d2d936bf4a92c5.jpg

 

All done ready to put back on the car...

 

mini2.jpg.6095a533cc944e743b11483eefb764a1.jpg

 

Looking back, really I should have replaced all of them whilst I had the driveshafts off the car, but its not a hard job to do if any of the others go in the future and the others seem in good condition from what I can see.

 

I then re-attached the steering column to the steering rack. This was very easy to do as I had good access from above being as the exhaust manifold is off. I refitted the drive shafts, connected hubs to lower arms, connected the steering arms to the hub, and re-attached power steering fan. Basically all the running gear is now back on.

 

I then decided to change the drivers seat.. from this...

 

mini6.jpg.07d00541001a3a52b5e184003f1924e1.jpg

 

to this....

 

mini3.jpg.d82b48c0d787903735ae3e9dd912b26b.jpg

 

with the help of a couple of little helpers...

 

mini5.jpg.ea15569ab3843b6ec80147e9fe285d88.jpg

 

It was actually a pretty easy job. You basically remove the original seat - 4 bolts, then remove the original seat slider from the original seat. Then chop bits out of the new seat mounts so they then bolt straight to the original sliders... like so...

 

mini4.jpg.b3032facdccc307e55331496cf05a1aa.jpg

 

I am keeping stock seat belts, so I reused the original seat belt buckle. These have those explosive auto tension things in case of accident which is the blue plug. The yellow one is for the seat airbag, which the new seat doesn't have, so i used a 3.9ohm resister I soldered across the wires - which apparently should stop the air bag warning light coming on.  (fingers crossed!)

 

I was actually quite surprised at how heavy the stock seats are, this is quite a weight saving.

 

Okay, so StormWhite will have a stroke at me throwing money on things not strictly needed, and I did debate whether to get it or not as it will push me over budget. But the original seats offer little cornering support and the new bucket seat was only £200 incl. mounts so pretty cheap. Not only that I can always reuse this new seat in future cars if I want and besides... it looks loads better! :thumbs: 

 

As the car will be used to ferry kids to school etc, I have to retain the rear seats for the children's seats, and therefore need to keep the original passenger seat so I can tilt it forward so they can climb into the back etc. Otherwise I would probably strip the back seats all out and replace the passenger seat also to save some weight.

 

So, not bad for a couple of hours work. Next on the list will be to fit this new clutch slave cylinder, power bleed the system and hopefully regain a normal clutch pedal...

 

 

mini8.jpg.2a590b1810bc5ff4ba07a381ee9ef6aa.jpg

 

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9 minutes ago, rabbitstew said:

Cheers! yes, they appear to be made out of plastic. Maybe that's why they are only £25!

I'm sure cost is/was a factor, more and more parts are plastic, I did the thermostat on an Astra and the complete assembly that feeds the heater holds the thermostat and the temp sensor is all plastic.

That's the first clutch cylinder I've seen that's plastic, maybe I should try something newer than a 55 Pop :lol:

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I managed to get some time on the mini over the weekend. I fitted the new clutch slave cylinder, literally a 5 minute job to remove from the front of the gear box and swap for the new one. But then you have to bleed it. I connected up the power bleeder. One quirk with the mini`s slave cylinder is that you have to bleed it with the piston fully compressed. BMW offer a special tool to do this which isnt cheap. So I hunted around the garage to see what I could knock up instead. After trying a few ideas I came up with this..

 

mini2.jpg.ee4241eca67ac0140619c9d423e0c72a.jpg

 

Bit of wood, 2 very long screws and what I think was the bump stop off the old rear shocks. Either way, it worked really well! Air all bled out and now we have a clutch pedal again. To make sure, I tried a trick id read about before - I wedged a lump of wood between the drivers seat & clutch pedal and kept it fully depressed over night. Now, much to my relief, it feels like a normal clutch pedal! Phew!!!

 

It was then very much a case of re-assembling the car again. This took me about 4 hours in total. I had to refit the radiator, hoses, then flush, fill & bleed the coolant system, had to refit the air conditioning condenser, front crash tubes,  the front crash beam, front bumper, starter heatshield, exhaust manifold, lamba sensors, coil pack, etc. etc. etc. Fortunately I remembered where all the bits went and only had 3 bolts left over :scare: :lol: 

 

Then I dropped it to the ground to see what the ride height was like as I had just set it to middle of the height adjustment range and...

 

mini3.jpg.50664507c4436c34a6a1cdeb49e964d5.jpg

 

Yeah that's  bit too low I think. I couldnt even get the ramps out from under it. So I cranked it up a bit more. Strangely the back I also set at the middle of the range and yet that was loads higher, so I had to wind that down a bit. End result is:

 

mini1.jpg.5e25d5a4dae0e4b52186e66c0bd67789.jpg

 

I am pretty happy with that. Its 25mm lower all round than it was when I got it, but I am not sure how if the car already had lowered springs on it or not. I need to find a stock one and measure. The picture angle doesnt show it, but its still got a bit of the stock rake forward so the back is slightly higher than the front visually.

 

The car also started up straight away. Always a very nervous moment, and after taking a deep breath I tried the clutch out. It works perfectly. Wow.  Not that I doubted my ability but I was actually quite surprised. :lol:

 

But the power steering wasn't working now. Sigh..... drove car back into the garage, back up on the ramps (these quick jack ramps are awesome. You just sling the underneath, press a button and the cars 3 ft in the air. These mini`s have electronic power steering and I knew there was 2 plugs which I had to undo to disconnect it when I dropped the subframe incl. the power steering out from under the car. I removed the power steering fan and had a look. Much to my relief, one of these connectors had become loose. Plugged it back in, and all was good. Another big Phew!

 

I have been using the car for work this last couple of days to give it a good test. There was a grinding noise from the front passengers side, but that turned out to be the brake disc dust shield catching the back of the disc. Not sure why that got bent, but a bit of crowbar action fixed that. Other than that it all seems sound!

 

The verdict. Well the car now handles miles better. It really feels so much better. The shocks are just the right stiffness, nice & firm but comfortable. The old car was so crashy. Thats all gone now. Steering feels solid, precise and the car feels much more planted. I had assumed the dunlop runflats on front were responsible for all the skipping & sliding but now the car actually grips. So much so that I may put off replacing them for a while. The new drivers seat is very comfortable and supportive and even the difference in replacing the steering wheel for the later one is surprising - it feels chunkier, more sporty and the interior looks 100% better as a result. The only bad point is that the car seems to turn in too quickly. It feels like its got rear wheel steering. I suspect I need to change the adjustable rear ARB to the softer setting which is a 10 minute job when I get chance.. But all in all - it feels like a new car now. Awesome. The car even got over speed ramps at work with no stress and no bottoming out anywhere at this ride height! :thumbs:

 

Performance wise, the blowing exhaust has gone so the £35 replacement manifold was well worth it, the car also actually seems to rev quicker now. I noticed that the terminals on the old coil pack were badly corroded (common issue), so I cleaned them up, which also probably helped with this.

 

So whats next?! Well hopefully now I get to drive & enjoy it. I still need to redo the fuel-filter seal, but as long as I don't fill the car more than a 3rd its not a problem. I didn't bother fitting the quick shifter or the adjustable rear control arms yet, so maybe they will be on the list at some point. I have also noticed that the drivers side rear wheel still has less negative camber than the passengers side. I am wondering now if maybe the trailing arm bushes on that side are worn, so I will investigate that at some point. Also the rear screen`s window tint is peeling off badly, so I may have a go at re-tinting that myself. I figure if I bodge it up I will just take it somewhere & have them do it properly.

 

I was actually quite sad as I cleared all my tools away on Sunday and cleaned the garage up for the first time in weeks. It kinda symbolised getting to the end of the project. Looking back all in all it was quite fun, and nearly everything went smoothly. Sure it cost me a bit more than I expected - I am working costs out atm and will post them so everyone can see the breakdowns. Maybe I can off-set the costs by weighing some of this scrap in?

 

mini5.jpg.4d7ec60c8ad3501f10ef6d792f25425b.jpg

 

Thanks everyone for reading and I will update you how I get on with driving it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

The little Mini has been going well, and is even really practical for the school run. Now the kids are older (3 & 5) I can tilt the standard passengers seat forward and they can climb into their kiddie seats without any problems, then I just reach over and buckle them in. Had a couple of issues though which I had to fix this weekend..

 

Firstly one of the outer CV Joint rubber boots split. I noticed this as a faint ticking noise when I was driving along. The ticking was linked to road speed so I knew it was something to do with either the driveshaft or the wheel/hub.

 

Now, when I had the drive shafts off and replaced one of these I did debate whether to replace them all at the same time, but as I was on a budget, I opted not to. Still, as the wishbones & ball joints are new, it was a 5 minute job to pop the bottom ball joint off the hub using a crow bar to force the wishbone down and hitting the wishbone near the ball joint with a lump hammer...

 

mini9.jpg.f8796ac701a84315bbc07ddba116175c.jpg

 

I cut off the old rubber boot and used a stretchy one which you slip over the CV joint. The CV joint as you can see is a bit rusty etc, but again, on a budget, so wont replace it yet. New CV Boot was £10.

 

I also noticed this...

 

mini10.jpg.f8ae825cd4f94d43c2b1c355dae903c3.jpg

 

Sigh.  Now id fitted a set of wheel spacers all round to improve the look of the car a bit and it came with new extended bolts. I carefully had tightened them to spec, but I suspect the bolts are just crappy ones as when I came to undo this one it sheered straight off. :scare:  This is one of those moments I hate. Now I had to try and drill the remaining bit of bolt stuck in the hub out and then re-thread it etc... Usually takes forever and is a nightmare. Very often people just get a 2nd hand hub and swap them out as its easier.

 

Anyhow, I dot punched the centre of the bit left and got the drill on it and started drilling it out. After a few seconds, much to my surprise the drill bit seemed to bite on the sheered bit of bolt and screwed it all the way through & out the other side of the hub! It was then just a case of slackening the brake disc off and letting the broken bit of bolt fall out...

 

mini11.jpg.ad63d7ac5c32793adb2f8f79e203544a.jpg

 

Needless to say the wheel spacers & bolts are now off the car and i'm using the original bolts now. The car actually now handles miles better without them, so it was a false economy getting them. The handling I am very pleased with now, I still have yet to set it up properly, but the difference compared to when I got the car is incredible. I can see why people say these Mini`s handle like go-karts now. :thumbs:

 

The only other bit I have done was to fit a new coil pack (£25) and some new leads. The stock coil packs on these have a tendency to end up with heavily corroded terminals and this pack was no exception. You can just clean them up with some sandpaper, but as a new coil pack is so cheap it made more sense to just replace it. The car feel much more responsive now and seems to pull easier through the rev range.

 

That's it for now!

 

 

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Mini Cost  
   
Purchase price (with new MOT, new battery, new handbrake cables,  cat back sports exhaust & newly refurbished wheels.) £1,000.00
   
Essentials  
   
Clutch slave cylinder £26.51
Flywheel bolts £15.83
New 3 piece clutch £83.04
Crankshaft seal £13.37
Exhaust gasket £9.00
Exhaust manifold gasket £12.50
2nd hand exhaust manifold incl cat converter £36.50
AP coilover suspension kit £471.99
New top mounts (adjustable) £99.00
Fuel Filter £15.16
Door check strap £13.00
Supercharger service kit £10.95
Brake Fluid £13.99
Spark Plugs £8.40
New Airfilter (K&N) £41.99
Mats £21.99
Drive belt £18.00
Coolant pipes £85.55
Radiator £41.00
Gearbox oil £23.99
Coolant expansion bottle £23.95
New key body £10.00
Sump plug £2.96
Oil Filter £6.06
Cabin Filter £9.81
Engine Oil £33.00
Total =  £1,147.54
   
   
   
Not urgent but may as well do whilst car is in bits.  
   
Spark Plug leads £30.00
Coil Pack £25.00
New flywheel £266.34
Exhaust manifold bolts £18.90
New inner & outer ball joints & lower wishbones £173.08
Total =  £513.32
 
 
Non essential mods!  
Newer mini 3 spoke steering wheel £99.00
airbag resistor £0.99
Poly bushes for engine £77.34
Corbeau bucket seat incl subframe £210.00
Uprated adjustable anti-roll bar £174.20
Gear Knob £9.64
Uprated intercooler £89.00
Uprated brakes R56S, bembo discs, mintex pads £340.00
HEL front braided brake lines £42.60
Brake Caliper paint £9.99
Airbox mod adapter £16.20
15% pulley £100.00
Total =  £1,168.96
Overall Total = £3,844.81
Bits didn’t expect or factor in incl. in that total = £932.48

 

 

So there we have the costs. The car came with new MOT (£45), handbrake cables (£100 estimate), Sports Exhaust (£350), new battery (£100) and refurbished wheels (£200), so that lot alone saved me some money. Had I done just the bare minimum it would have only cost me £2200 for a nice car with new suspension, new coolant system, new clutch and a very major 100,000 mile service. There was some bits which made sense to do at the same time so I did them which added to the cost, plus the performance & cosmetic mods - nothing outrageous here, just the very basic items to boost appearance and performance. My budget was £3000 incl cost of car, actual cost was £3844 which included £932 of bits I was not expecting when I bought the car (i.e. clutch & suspension).

 

Most of the bits I replaced were original 100,000 miles & 16 years old, so there's no reason to suspect the new bits wont last that long. When you workout cost per mile, that's cheap motoring. Nothing really was expensive except the flywheel, everything I could buy cheaply from high street motor factors. I haven't set foot inside BMW once since buying the car. I am also very particular, so I probably replaced a lot of bits the average Joe wouldnt have bothered with.

 

Not bad when I think I lost £5000 a year in my 350z in depreciation alone!

 

Now, what else can I buy for it?!  :lol:

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Nice honest write up and interesting to see. Tones of work gone in and fingers crossed to many many hours of fun driving it to make up for the outlay. 

 

Take it you bought your 350z new back in the day, that's awful alot in depreciation..... Could have maintained leased for less. 

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Nice work mate :thumbs:

 

Amazing how all the little bits add up though, not saying you overspent, hopefully you will have a fun and reliable run about for a while, it just makes me wonder how much I've spent on my fleet of toys :lol:

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17 hours ago, davey_83 said:

Take it you bought your 350z new back in the day, that's awful alot in depreciation..... Could have maintained leased for less. 

I bought one which was 4 years old, had it 18 months then sold it. I lost more than I could have as I bought from a dealer, then sold back to another dealer, so there was dealer margins there unfortunately. I didnt have much choice though as I wanted an 350z HR Roadster and at the time there was only 3 for sale within 100 miles of my house - all at dealers and all wanted top dollar as its fairly rare. Then when I came to sell it, it would have been a struggle to sell privately. Fuel prices were high, it was a £11,500 car with a limited market. I knew of 2 which had been for sale for months, so in the end I part-ex` it. Lost about £7000 on it over 18months, so a bit less than £5k a year, but still a hefty amount.

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3 hours ago, Keyser said:

Nice work mate :thumbs:

 

Amazing how all the little bits add up though, not saying you overspent, hopefully you will have a fun and reliable run about for a while, it just makes me wonder how much I've spent on my fleet of toys :lol:

 

It sure does soon add up, I was surprised a bit, but I was pleased I wasn't far off my budget. I did have to seriously watch the costs on everything I bought and shop around for the cheapest prices, see what discount offers were on etc. Even so, I paid £83 for the clutch, and now find out GSF sell the same one for £63. My main reason for the £3k budget is that a half decent R53 probably is worth £3k to £3.5k. You can get ones cheaper, but none would have as many new bits on as mine. I didnt want to end up having spent a ton on a car only worth half the amount.

 

TBH, this is the only car where I've actually kept track of costs this accurately, mainly just to prove what it cost. Usually invoices go straight in the shredder so the wife doesn't find them! :lol:

 

1 hour ago, scobie140 said:

Just seen this, Impressive write up & a good bit of work you've put in! 

Cheers! As I was driving it to work this morning I went through all the work I've done on it and its not far off a new car really now! There's not much more I need to do really. I want to paint more bits orange :lol:  which I might do this weekend, but that's cheap as I will rattle can them like I did the other bits. I need to get the suspension setup - not sure if I can easily do that myself or whether I will have to end up forking out for a hunter alignment.

 

I am toying with fitting an uprated cam to it and bigger injectors as they aren't expensive - however then it will need a remap which means having it dyno`d etc which will cost a few quid - which sort of goes against the cheap shed idea - so i'm still not sure. I will see how I get on enjoying it over the next few weeks first I think.

 

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