1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Belt Bypass the Supercharger?

Ok, here is what I found..... I had to replace the tensioner assembly, idler pulley and the crank pulley. Only thing I don't have right now is the crank pulley. Hopefully I can get one tomorrow and get the Mini back on the road. I really need to take it back to Dallas on Saturday to my son so my wife can get her van back.

I was able to make my own tensioner tool. I looked at what the tool looks like and was able to figure out how to make one. Fortunately, I save everything, even old garage door openers.... not sure why, but it paid off here. The bar that goes from the rail to the door made a good tensioner tool.


I put a bolt that has a pointed end held in place by a nut on the end which goes into the far hole on the tensioner arm. This bolt is a fender bolt from a '97 Jeep Cherokee. I have a lot of those around my garage since I just finished rebuilding my daughter's Cherokee. She had a wreck last March, but I was able to re-build it...I just finished that build early this week. If you are interested in that project, here is a link to a Jeep forum where I was able to get lots of good advice: [ame=http://xjtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10179]The Re-Build of Kermit (97 XJ) - Jeep Cherokee Forum xjTalk[/ame]

On the shank end of the door opener, I put some bolts that held at first a piece of aluminum angle iron, which ended up being too soft for the pivot. I ended up cutting a piece of Jeep hood hinge which made for a good angle to pivot from. I failed to get a picture of that, but can post one later.

This set up works pretty good, but is a little tricky getting it in place, but once in place it works great.


I got the belt on with no problems, started the engine and immediately noticed bearing noise. I used a stethoscope along with a long screwdriver to isolate where the noise was coming from.... the tensioner pulley. I went to the local Mini parts department and bought a new tensioner assembly and while I was there I bought the idler pulley as well.

I pulled the tensioner assembly out of the Mini and while I was working on that, I was able to get a close look at the crank pulley and was able to get a good hold of the pulley and it did spin on the dampener.

That's where I left off for the night.

 

I have to drive the MINI back to Dallas this Saturday so I have to buy the OEM from the local MINI Dealer. they have one waiting for me at Will Call. I rather buy a fluid dampener, but I don't have the time to wait for it.

My son really wants his MINI back and my wife needs her van back, so that is why the rush to drive the MINI back to Dallas.

 

The MINI is now fixed!! I drove it to work today to make sure there are no issues before driving to Dallas tomorrow.

When I pulled the harmonic balancer/crank pulley, the pulley fell off the balancer as I pulled it off the crank. I had printed your instruction for replacing the crank pulley and kept it on the ground next to me as I worked. That was a great source of step-by-step instructions. I have the Bentley's MINI Service manual, but the printed instructions was much better to have.

The door opener/tensioner tool worked great! Only thing I need to do is replace the bolts with round head screws. The bolt heads made it difficult to get the tool in place. Once in place, it did not slip at all. I have a drawer in one of my tool boxes that has only MINI related stuff, and I put my new tool in there. I need to take an updated picture and post it here so you guys can see what it looks like.

Since I needed the crank pulley yesterday and did not have the time to order and have one shipped, I bought an OEM pulley at MINI of Clear Lake. I called yesterday morning so when I got there in the afternoon, they had it ready in Will Call. They quoted me $359 for the pulley, but when I was there to buy it they let me have it for $315 and that included a new bolt. They cut the price since I bought the tensioner there the day before.

I will definitely call on the HMMS the next time I need help with tools. Looks like a great group of folks! I am thinking about becoming a member so I can have access to their resources. Since I don't own a MINI, this one is my son's, I am not sure if I will need to attend their meetings.

 

I like that idea!! Now to convince my wife.

I am so glad it was not the SC!! When I first fired the engine up last night, I held my breath hoping to hear a normal sounding SC.

 

I will have to do that!! I think I have seen billboards advertising Woody's Smokehouse.

 

We thought of that, but my daughter wants to see his apartment in Dallas. She is going with us. It's going to be a long ride in the back seat of the MINI for her.

That is cool about your grandson on his first car race and Rally. I bet you guys had a lot of fun!!

 

That sounds cool!! I will tell my son about this. Maybe I can fly up to Dallas and he and I can join in on these runs!