1st Gen R53 Cooper S My 2005 R53 Daily Driver build thread

Discussion in '1st Generation: 2002–06 R50, R53 & 2004–08 R52' started by fishmonger, Sep 24, 2017.

  1. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Nice work on your tear down. I think that K&N filter is beat but if you can save it don't oil it. They work fine without the oil and they do not get as clumpy / oily dirty as easily.

    Nice belt the way :ihih: glad you are getting on top of everything now.

    Oh and if you want to clean the inside of the IC of the oil blow by just seal one and and fill with Acetone, or whatever you want to use, shake it up and drain it out. I do it once every year. :Thumbsup:

    Enjoying your build / maintenance thread. :Thumbsup:
     
  2. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    Good suggestion - drain plugs looked pretty scummy, especially on the driver side where I noticed previous work to replace/repair the window lifter (and a disconnected puddle light - sloppy).

    The drains are now clean, but I still need to do something for that speaker, I guess. Initial thought was that the door volume was needed for resonance, but that's a big box for a small speaker. I'll have to improvise something to protect the speakers better. I had to mount them recessed deeper into the door compared to the stock 6.5" woofers, which have a built in plastic stand-off cone to raise them to the grill. being deeper in the door means there's little room between speaker and window lifter for anything, but above and to the sides, I may be able to add some barriers.
     
  3. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    I usually rinse my intercoolers with a a good 50/50 mix of water and Simple Green concentrate. Works well and doesn't leave anything nasty behind. I soak it overnight, shake and rinse. Will do that on this car as soon as it comes off. Maybe this weekend, but there's a ton of stuff to get done for my trip to Road Atlanta, so who knows how much time I can dedicate to this car. Certainly won't get back on its wheels for a few weeks. I may drive the first mile on its new tires just before they need to come off for Blizzaks, but I want that car to be reliable. Finding sings of neglect as I am going through these things means I will spend extra time under the hood before it gets put into more regular service.
     
  4. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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  5. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #25 fishmonger, Sep 29, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2017
    My box will differ in design of the the pipe section. First, it has to be CNC machined from a block, not be a cheap stainless exhaust pipe tacked in (works fine, but so crude :D). The Emachines guys don't have pipe stock, so it opens up all kinds of options on that part that goes through the hole. First, I can make it fit the Mini intake tube much better. The DDM is so tight you need a heat gun to get the Mini part soft enough to force it over the pipe. Was the biggest pain of the install. Then, since I don't want to do any welding, I can make this part a two-piece that bolts to the frame and to each other, basically sandwiching the box between inside and outside parts of the "pipe" - that also lets me use different OD on the mounting surface inside the box, so depending on filter I want to use, I can adjust the part there for perfect fit.

    My box won't be pretty, mostly because my bends will be done at home after the sheet is cut, and I will have them put a thin slot in each area that is to be bent. After that it'll get sealed with aluminum tape. I've used that stuff on the underside of gas tanks on motorcycles with great success, and here a lot less heat is to be dealt with. Not having it bent saves me the cost for each bend, and then a massive amount in shipping, since the parts will be flat. I'll be using aluminum sheet stock, because there's really no heat transfer to worry about with these air boxes anyway. The cars suck in 2400 liters of air per minute at 3000 rpm, or 40 liters per second, 11 gallons of air basically at highway speed. The material the box is made out of doesn't matter re heat transfer. Aluminum is cheaper than 304 Stainless and it is easier to bend. And I can have the aluminum anodized to match the car color, should I go all bling on the outside, but first one will just have to be hand-buffed.

    Too early to tell how costly this will be, but the box itself can't be too bad. The tube part needs to be bare-bone or it'll get expensive due to too many machining operations. For the battery cable holder, I'll just come up with some parts that bolt onto the box from that side and duplicate stock function.

    Now that the stock unit is out of the blue car, I can begin to measure my stuff. Don't want to even get into just duplicating the DDM box. Wonder where to source that nice rubber edge protector material they have on the bottom of their box where it connects to the Mini base.
     
  6. 00Mini

    00Mini Well-Known Member

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    Great write up with very nice documentation photos !!
     
  7. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    The K&N is still not clean - drying it to get the rest out with air maybe. Meanwhile the intercooler is getting an overnight soak bath. I knew I kept these cat litter buckets for a reason

    [​IMG]

    Got some goodies in the mail so not everything tonight was grime cleanup mode.

    [​IMG]

    the shifter knob went straight into the car for a test fit in the company of the new Kenwood head unit, panavise phone holder and the cup holder that came with the car.

    [​IMG]


    While I was in there, I remembered there's a missing piece in the interior, plus, that thing in the coin tray is an extra part. I don't remember where that came from but after stereo install, this was left over. It has a small hole through the center and a thread in there. It's plastic. Where can I find a cover for that missing console plug? Doesn't need to be the actual part, just something that covers the hole.

    [​IMG]


    meanwhile some successes under the hood. Back to shiny here:

    [​IMG]

    Slowly moving in on that thermostat housing, cleaning everything I find on my way in there. There was even dirt under the ECU inside that small compartment it lives in

    [​IMG]

    Tomorrow I'll be getting medieval on the grime up front, fan behind me, open garage door, and a few cans of brake cleaner to get down to the CPS and dip stick tube, so I can remove the supercharger.
     
  8. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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  9. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    Wow, that's some valuable plastic :D

    I guess I will have to bite the bullet and pay that plus some inflated shipping fee if I don't want to lose my change in that hole. Good time to poke around on ECS Tuning to buy more stuff and save on shipping...
     
  10. Redbeard

    Redbeard JCW: because fast is fun!
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    Interesting write-up. I think it's time to call it on the filter. It's dead.
     
  11. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    #31 Dave.0, Sep 30, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 30, 2017
    FYI ~ that's the wrong JCW badge for an R53.

    That is for a 2nd gen to current JCW's. BMW changed the badge when they bought JCW.

    1st gen badge

    [​IMG]

    2nd gen to current

    [​IMG]
     
  12. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    Almost ruined the car with the wrong badge :eek6:

    Spent the day messing with various things. Not much progress. Supercharger will come off in the morning. Belt cut off and idler pulley replaced. Thermostat changed after I dremeled the three slots it is supposed to have into the outside edge. Washed the dark gray car, and yanked a few more parts off the front. Most of the sludge is off the car and there was a big old walnut wedge behind the engine, against the header heatshield and one of the heater hoses. Found some acorns in there earlier. Wherever this car spent its winters, it probably was a good home to some rodents.
     
  13. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    Not a lot of progress this weekend. I'm already packing for a trip to Road Atlanta, and for that I had to get the Dark Gray car ready. Still a lot of time spent on the daily driver project.

    Yesterday a quick wash for the car outside the garage showing the family all at home

    [​IMG]

    I hate phone pictures, but it's pretty even with that old S3 camera

    [​IMG]

    Then back to the daily - some updates. Quick idler pulley swap in the evening

    [​IMG]

    This morning then I pulled out these two bad boys, only to realize I am out of these o-rings.

    [​IMG]

    And soon after that I got a good look at the pulley on that car

    [​IMG]
     
  14. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    So that's a Cravenspeed, I guess. I noticed how the belt was worn on the engine side and it all lines up with the pulley's rear edge. Basically, I think it's not on the shaft deep enough.

    [​IMG]

    It needs to come off, go back on who knows what's up there, but it can't stay at that distance from the housing. That's why the belt was missing one groove. It's about 6mm (after measuring twice). I'm not really a 17 percent fan anyway, so I may just get this off and put a 15 on properly.

    [​IMG]

    Then it was time to check seller's promise that SC service was done. Rear drained in a reasonable color, lots of fluid. Front? Dry. But the water pump gears still look good. This unit has never been opened or been off the car.

    [​IMG]

    and while I am in this deep with a car that doesn't show a lot of maintenance, in went a fresh water pump I had on the shelf.

    [​IMG]

    Took the other car to pick up the tires for the blue car. 215/45-17s mounted on the stock wheels

    [​IMG]
     
  15. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #35 fishmonger, Oct 2, 2017
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2017
    The fun continued - removed the original failed engine mount. Cleaned up the gunk as good as I could without removing blue paint

    [​IMG]

    and to get the SC back in the tensioner also had to be swapped. Pulled out the old one and to my surprise, there were only two bolts holding it to the engine block.

    [​IMG]

    A quick look at the engine block answered that riddle: whoever swapped this part last (hey, at least somebody serviced something over 88k miles) broke off that bolt and then just said screw it and let the thing drive off with 25% of the fasteners missing and part of one stuck in the engine block.

    [​IMG]

    This was game over for the day and the week for me. Heading out Tuesday morning to Atlanta, so I wrapped up here, ordered a pile of o rings and heater hoses, then packed my most used tools into a to-go box for my trip. When I get back, I'll have to source a decent extraction tool to get that bolt out. Not the most accessible position either, but I'll just take the engine mount out again to get it low enough. The one fastener that's broken is the only one that's not in line with the other three mount points, so I consider it essential, although based on how this was running, I'd say you can actually live without that bolt.

    I'll also ditch that engine damper and get the proper ATI unit I have on the other car. Pricey, but I don't want to keep that rusty non-OEM weird looking part on the car. Doesn't even remotely look like what I took off my dark gray car when I installed an ATI there.

    At the end of the day I checked the spark plugs and they all looked fine - so I finished the day on a high note. Denso Iridium Power IK20 in there - how do they compare in terms of temp rating to the usual plugs we run on a 15% pulley (NGK on my other cars, both 15%)
     
  16. 00Mini

    00Mini Well-Known Member

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    The dark gray car is really looking sharp. :Thumbsup:
     
  17. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    Very nice! Wanna come do mine? :D
     
  18. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    If you need used parts cheap like that interior plug you should call Raj at www.arkautoparts.com

    I met him at the Dragon last year and he is a great guy. I picked up an R53 speedometer and tach for $70.00. He did not have the parts on site at Fontana but followed up the next week and sent me the parts quickly.

    He has lots of MINI parts as he parts out wrecked MINI's at decent prices.
     
  19. 00Mini

    00Mini Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the good info on used parts Dave. :Thumbsup:
     
  20. ScottinBend

    ScottinBend Space Cowboy
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