Most liked posts in thread: Late Nights at TyrolSport

Yes indeed. This is actually the first time that it has been out of my hands(the paint work). Just with moving I have no tools or equipment, or even a work space. My second issue would be getting materials, so I caved and was able to have my Dealerships body shop work on it for me.

I also got to watch the paint go on, if anyone uses Instagram @cone_assassin


For those that don't use IG, I will be updating shortly :wink:

 

I put this in just to show how dirty everything was. This is what much of the parts started out looking like!

I have never removed the bracket from the oil pan or foresee a reason to do so, so I decided just to leave it on.

 

Not much progression on the mini, working on buying a house at the moment.

I am currently chasing an issue with third gear popping out. I am set on the 3-4 synchronizer, but I also have a bad hydraulic mount so I will try that first (needs to be fixed anyway).


Once I'm settled into the new house I will be opening it up (if the mount doesn't resolve the issue) and learning if the 3-4 synchro from my original trans is interchangeable with the 05/06 box. Perhaps someone here would know before I bother mixing two boxes to make one.

 

Alright so we have the house, and finally got the immediate mods done (walls, floors, lights, etc). Now I can carve out this interior wall to make two bays inside. Also being under the house gives it a shared climate (cool in the summer, hopefully warm in the winter). With a bit of luck I will have the crunchy 3rd gear sorted, and move in all the fun tools.

 

WOW, time for an update.

We lost the Clubman on July 4th weekend (totaled by insurance). I will be piecing it back together in the coming months, however it may delay my garage expansion project into the winter or next year.




Parts car to repair the clubman


I finally got my transmission swapped last week to head to Watkins Glen. Unfortunately I broke about five T40 torx bits trying to open my old tranny case, so I will have to remove the quaife a different time.



What a mess this past week has been, from swapping the trans (all well and good), to breaking a new tensioner on the race track and waiting for an overnight part while filing pieces of aluminum out of my crank pulley.


To make matters worse, my golf's starter motor crapped out on my wife, so I had to meet her at her job to exchange the Golf for the Mini. A few hours later, the Mini flex pipe separated on her way home! So broken Mini, broken golf.



A little bit of organization to try and keep up

 

I fixed that statement for you

 

They still make and sell MINI parts, as far as I know no further development is planned. Partly because i'm not working there anymore to do it, and partly as Dave said. It also come down to people more caring about the aesthetics of their car (wheels and being low). Although Mini has a good performace following, even the majority of those guys prefer ebay parts to a quality tested, constructed, "one and done" solution. While I do have the means to pick up the torch and continue on my own, I don't have the energy to create greatness and then be told what i'm worth. If I really saw a need that would make a fortune (like someone please make a billet r53 passenger side axle carrier), but even then, would anyone care?

You all know the struggle of finding an axle bearing carrier/mount.

Back on topic

 

A lot of disassembly today. Finally have both my Clubman and the JCW parts car at my house, so I began chipping away at all the broken plastic and trashing it, being careful to remove needed hardware for the new radiator support. Surprisingly the air conditioning system still has pressure

So what happened in the crash, the point of contact was above the front bumper. Actually the metal structure behind the bumper cover is perfect. The motor took the hit directly, and broke free from the frame rail at the passenger side mount. From what I can see underneath, the lower mount is toast, and the passenger side inner CV joint has a few degrees of rotation before turning, so thats toast. The motor also hit the plastic firewall trim and broke it into lots of pieces. Fortunately it looks like my intake manifold is good, only the sound pipe and charge pipes were damaged. The battery box is slightly tweaked and there is even a slight puncture in the battery, but those are all things I can lift from the parts car. Actually i'm very happy with deciding to pick up the entire lot.

Only items I see that I need to purchase are a new passenger headlight, and a plastic radiator support (the parts car one is okay and usable overall but there are some cracks, and I would rather have a fresh new one).

That and I also have to figure out how the car will run again, as there is no fuel pump. Hopefully a clearing of fault codes in all the modules will sort that out. Never dealt with an airbag deployment before.