I don't think the owner is interested in upgrading the head to an R53, she just wants the car running right for her daughter. I plan on bringing the head over to Way motor works to have him go through it and fix whats needed. Does swapping to an R53 head require additional work though? or is it pretty much drop on and run with it?
Yeah, the gain is the exhaust valves wont burn. Other than that they are exactly the same. might be a good time for a mild cam....:devil:
Was wondering if you guys could provide input as to what I should be charging for all the work I am doing on this MINI. I am helping out a co worker but at the same time my time isn't free, normally I work for beer but a head job is a little more effort than a brake job. So far my list is looking like this oil pan gasket crank sensor gasket drain/fill trans (midlands 5 speed, noticed some gear chatter figure it might help to get some fresh MTL in there) passenger axle replacement Fix low speed fan resistor Fix door lock cable Replace belt tensioner Replace engine damper pulley (its missing pieces of rubber around the ring, and is probably ready to be changed) Remove/reinstall head (after the rebuild which im not doing) I am also replacing the upper engine mount, thermostat, timing tensioner, various gaskets etc but all those items are already off so I see the labor over lapping. She is buying all the parts, I am doing my best to find the best prices, pretty much if I won't use it then I won't buy it for her. I tallied up the above items and really have no rhyme or reason on the pricing for my labor, and came up to 1200, I have seen what she was quoted for the axle, oil pan, head removal/investigation, and door and used that to semi influence why I can up with the number. Her quote was 3K, with the additional items I have found my labor and the worst case scenario for the head rebuild, and parts I have it around 2400, to me that is acceptable, the additional parts are driving the cost higher, also I don't believe her quote included the head rebuild, just removal and inspection. Just curious what you guys think? would that be asking too much or am I low balling myself? I haven't discussed numbers prior to starting, this will actually be the first time i've ever been paid to work on a car lol. Sorry for the long post, I almost feel bad asking to be paid for stuff, but I also don't want to turn into the office mechanic, I have a hard time saying no.
Just as a point of reference I just paid about $450 for a local shop to replace my oil pan gasket while they were replacing my clutch. I thought that was a little high, but it included oil - it is what it is. Al
Well I'd look for good second hand parts and fit them. The head I'd fit a good R53 used head because having that one rebuilt is going to cost more and time. New parts would be the gasket, tensioner, timing chain guides and hydraulic chain tensioner. All the new parts I'd get from Eminiparts 3k sounds ok for fix all the parts. I charged $80 to fit an Audi TT V belt....a ***** of a job! Regarding the Midlands, the chatter should go away if you move the gear stick slightly with the clutch pedal up. The chatter is the selector shafts rattling. drop the oil and put 2.5 liters of MTL or 70/90 redline.
The 1200 is my labor, she is buying all parts needed and paying to have the head refreshed. I'm just trying to find out if I'm asking too much or if it's reasonable.
$1200 is ok. this is no a beers only job.....main thing is you cover everything so you don't get some come back later. I say this because I did the V belt job on the Audi with the belt provided by the owner off...............EBAY and the belt broke after 1 month, so he had to take the TT to the dealer as I was in the US. Guess who got the blame??
I'm fully prepared to offer assistance if there are further issues. I can only assume she will come to me if something goes wrong. Luckily her daughter is out of the US until the middle of July I plan on asking her if I can drive it for a week to shake out any bugs etc
So I will be getting the head back this week, what is the best way to clean the block surface? I have heard using a scotch brite pad should do the trick. anything I want to be aware of before I start scrubbing? I plan on vacuuming out the cylinders as there is some loose carbon on the pistons.
I used a box knife blade on its own . plug all the oil/water ways with kitchen roll then vacuum out the dust.
Car is all back together, ran into issues getting a new axle for it. It runs great, only issue I have now is the heat doesn't work coolant temps look great bled all 3 bleeder left max heat running on low etc. Even opening the bleeders warm no air comes out. Cooling fan turns on when it should etc. Is there a trick to bleeding a non s? Typically on my s I run it to 195 open the bleeder let air out top off then make sure the fan turns on and I'm done. Before it's asked yes I bled the screw on the metal pipe by the therm housing as well. Any thoughts? I don't know if she was having heat issues prior to me working on it.
I always take the top radiator hose off and pour the fluid in there with the cap and bleed valves open. Never had any issues, heater works great. Maybe the heater matrix is full of sludge? how about flushing the system?
Did some more bleeding tonight still no heat, put a stethoscope on the blower box and it sounds like the servo for the temp control is getting stuck, compared it to my R53 and the servo on my car stops clicking after a second, on the vert it doesn't sound like it ever fully opens. I do have another question because I can't remember, if I by chance installed the thermostat backwards (not sure if it's possible) would the heat not work? I don't see any odd temp symptoms cruising temps sit around 91C. I would think if it were backwards the car would over heat. I'm debating on pulling the thermostat just to check my install now, reassembly is all a blur at this point.
Figured I'd post an update, heat now works car is running great. Found that the actuator for the temp control was actually stuck, moved it a little by hand now the heat works.