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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    My HIDs do not bounce on crappy roads at all. Also to dry the inside of your lights just open your hood, take off the high beam caps and leave the hood up in the sun or leave them open in the garage for a day or two.
     
  2. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    well, that double pull is the first thing I got rid off when I reprogrammed the doors locks. May be related, but mine will never lock themselves, so one pull opens the door.

    I'll check for slack, but that Subaru is still in the garage, now in even more pieces.
     
  3. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    #303 fishmonger, Oct 8, 2018
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2018
    Got that Subaru bearing out of the knuckle. Finally got that bitch@#$!!! I suppose it's all a learning experience and we all need our multi-week corrosion fight to appreciate cars that have not been driven in salt.

    [​IMG]

    To get this bearing out of the knuckle I used a modified version of my Mini lower control arm bushing press tool, upgraded with some extra 16mm nuts and extra large washers from Menards that are wider than the opening in a brake rotor, plus 4 tall metric sockets used to space off the brake backing plate against the rotor. This finally cracked it loose when I took the impact gun to the press tool. The rest was a matter of hammering screw driver blades and chisels into a tiny gap to work it out. 3 weekends of cursing come to an end. Now I just need to get it all back together. Rust really really sucks!

    Now I also understand why the very corroded Mini R56 rear trailing arms are often sold with the wheel bushing/hub installed: they can't get it out without major effort! It is the same setup with the Subaru, except there it's steel on steel, and even that seizes up massively over a few years of salt spray! It cost me a new lower front control arm and a new brake backing plate to get it out, as well as a few more tools. I almost bought the big 20 ton press from Harbor Freight as my small 6 ton press won't accept parts that large.

    While all this was going on, my best buddy kept an eye out for those Minis that had to park out in the rain

    [​IMG]
     
  4. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    ^^^ This. So much this!
     
  5. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    Driving in salt is not that bad. The problem is ignoring it and not cleaning it off properly afterwards. Hahahahaha

    It is just like speeding, it has never killed anyone. It the sudden stops or hitting something that causes death and injury. :rolleyes:
     
  6. agranger

    agranger MINI of the Month June 2009
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    When reworking my suspension, I spent 1.5 days trying to separate the old ball joints and tie rod ends from the front control arms. I broke 2 pickle forks and wound up beating on it with a 4-lb hammer. I wound up bending the old control arm and never got the old ball joints out. I went online to see if there was some trick I was missing and discovered that a new pair of control arms wasn't that expensive, so I just bought 'em new and let Amazon solve that problem for me.

    For me, the 5+ years in the salt happened way before I ever got the car, so I just have to deal with it. The body had some rust, but the rest of the subframe looks OK.
     
  7. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    On the Mini, replacing the front bearings was a piece of cake. My Minis have never really seen much and when they did, they got washed immediately.

    The Subaru I am working on could be mistaken for a southern car - there's virtually no rust short of some on the cast iron knuckes and some chipped off paint on some bolts on the subframe. However, the stuff that seeps into the contact surface between bearing and knuckle, with no anti-seize being in there (why would Subaru do that? they want you to buy new cars when the repairs begin), was something totally out of whack with the rest of that car. Just look at the image - that cast iron knuckle has no rust on it except on the mating surface where the bearing was seized, the one place you cannot wash the salt out of (easily)

    On my dark silver R53, I bought a new front control arm only because there was some internal surface rust, flaky stuff falling out of those round holes. $40 or so, no big deal. I figured it's cheap insurance. Next time I drop the subframe, I'll likely replace them again, preventive maintenance.
     
  8. Dave.0

    Dave.0 Helix & RMW Powered
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    8AC6C379-B5A2-4A52-901D-25E08B307213.jpeg Replacing parts is good preventive maintenance. I also coat suspension parts with fluid film so things cannot rust.

    This stuff is awesome.
     
  9. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    I put Boeshield T9 on everything in the fall. Lasts a long time with the little driving I do.
     
  10. DneprDave

    DneprDave Well-Known Member
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    I use bear grease. You know, you shoot a bear, dress it, cook it, save the grease.
    It's good for waterproofing your boots too!
     
  11. myles2go

    myles2go Active Member

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    I buy this by the gallon and undercoat my entire truck with it every fall.
     
  12. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    So this weekend I fixed the sticky driver door lock. After pulling the door card to also fix the speaker wiring (crimping sucks - this time I soldered and crimped), as well as laying down some nice Fluid Film at the bottom of the door's inside, I had a look at the door lock mechanism. Turned out it was just sticky. A good soak in Rust Oleum penetration and lubricant spray and a good number of lock activations it now responds as it should. Let's see how long that lasts.

    I also pulled the other door card and put in Fluid Film, fixed the woofer cable ($%@#!$!! crimp connectors!) so now the stereo is back to normal on all front speakers. Up next will be a fresh timing chain tensioner that's on the shelf waiting for deployment, plus a can of Fluid Film put on all the strategic places underneath. Also need to track down the heat shield that rattles against the exhaust when the engine is cold (back of car).

    I also used a blow dryer to get the moisture out of the headlight housings. Hope this helps as it was getting pretty bad while parked outside in the cold.

    Always something to do on these cars. Drove this one about 1200 miles this year. All three Minis combined rolled for about 2600 miles this year. I rode my bicycles about 5000 miles in 2018, the Subaru saw 6000 miles since July when I bought it for my daughter who still hasn't figured out how to pay the insurance for it, so I am keeping it until further notice.
     
  13. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    and since the thread always can use photos, a quick cell phone snap about 3 weeks ago when our short summer came to a quick end. There's snow in my yard right now.

    [​IMG]
     
  14. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    The daily driver is back on the road. Took it to Road America this weekend, so the first gas since October 14 had to get in the tank. Runs like a champ, but it wouldn't be a Mini if there were no problems.

    Door unlocking driver side is "sluggish" - it will never push the button up on the first transmitter press, sometimes not on the second fob press, or it'll rise just a little but hte door handle still does nothing, and generally on the third try with the opener, I can open the driver door. So to unlock the driver door, I now have to unlock - lock -unlock - lock - unlock.

    It did that last year already, and I forgot if I ever fixed it. I had the door card off to check on the window lifter that I fixed with a good hit on it, and I think I sprayed some lubricant into all the door lock mechanism parts. Clearly, that didn't fix it.

    So what do I need to replace to completely go new on the door unlocking mechanism? The cable is that thing was tight and everything is clean. Just whatever activates the mechanism seems to be real wimpy and only gets the job done once it gets a little exercise.
     
  15. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Let the summer fun begin!! A friends R53 did this and I replaced the lock mechanism, but I think I remember @Dave.0 saying you could tighten up the cable and that was an easer fix.

    Did you get any good pictures at Road American? I haven't been on flicker in a while
     
  16. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    I checked the cable and it is tight. Perhaps I should swap it out just for the heck of it. I think I have one on the shelf. If they are not left/right specific, I may be able to use that one (it was bought for the right side of the red car but we didn't need it).

    The way the lock behaves, I think it is the actuator. If the cable was slack, I doubt it would get tighter with each subsequent attempt. It is more likely that something is sticky in the mechanism that actually moves the cable.

    Photos from Saturday - just the first 6 are online on Flickr, more to come. Real eerie light with the fog there. Local hero James French still came out to flog his dad's '97 Benetton around the facility at a pace that would put him into the Indycar field.

    It's blue like my Mini that was parked under the trees you can't see for all the fog here

    [​IMG]
    James French on a fog tear
     
  17. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Nice shot! You do good work.
     
  18. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    did a little research and I think I need to replace the little actuator motors in the actuator unit. Great DIY over on the NAM site. It'll take some disassembly, then you take the actuator unit apart and replace the little 12V motors in there that tend to to weak. Parts are about $5 on ebay (with a 3 week shipping delay from Taiwan...). It's a lot of work, and you need to get the correct motors with the proper shaft length, or you need to do some cutting and B welding to get a new motor made up.

    This is just one image from that article. My symptoms point at a bad motor, so I'll buy a couple of them to fix the current actuator and then have spares for future failures.

    [​IMG]

    bI ordered 3 motors to mess with from here

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/352564002662

    Type J would be the size to order (and trim with a dremel to length), $3.49 each free shipping. these are Mabuchi FC280 motors, more or less identical to what is in use here, but they may run different RPMs. Unlikely as these parts are very standardized. I'll be the guinea pig and report here when I get around to doing this. It'll be an afternoon of tinkering, but if it fixes the lethargic lock behavior, I may create my own DIY of the procedure.
     
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  19. MCS02

    MCS02 Moderator
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    Remember reading that how to, I decided to go the expensive rout and get a new part.
    If you have time maybe post your own how to.
     
  20. fishmonger

    fishmonger Well-Known Member

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    update on the door lock and window lifter motor jobs.

    Forget sourcing those motors. You more or less have to destroy the lock mechanism to get inside and expose the motors as seen above. As I got to the part where the guy who posted the how to links to the "how to get in there" document on another site, I realized this was not going to be my solution. All tabs get broken, and then some pin needs to be forced out of the lock mechanism that is likely to break. I wanted a lock on my car, so I put it all back together and back into the door (good practice - this is a tedious job).

    Up next was pulling the power window regulator to get to the motor. Sure wished it was as easily accessible as in an R56, but with the R53 you have to remove the entire window and regulator and speaker. I did that, then when I removed the screws that hold the bad original motor to the regulator, the reel the motor shaft rotates pulled out of the regulator housing and the cables went flying across the garage floor. Great. No way to get that back together.

    After some research and checking the pulleys on the original unit, I ordered an aftermarket unit with ball bearing pulleys, rather than the Mini part where I could feel serious degradation in the pulley bearings (or lack thereof). So another $100 spent to fix the intermittently failing window lifter motor, but now my entire driver side door will be updated, provided I get everything back together once I have the parts. I recommend when you run into window issues, just get a new complete unit, motor and regulator already bolted together.
     
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