1st Gen JCW Most liked posts in thread: Refreshing Rufus - 2005 MCS JCW

Well... it took longer than I thought to get the tires unwrapped, cleaned up, 3 coats of Zaino on and everything mounted! Of course, one of the lug bolts was seized and I couldn't find my freakin' breaker bar! It must have disappeared in the move somewhere or it's hiding in a deep dark shelf somewhere that it shouldn't be. I had to fire up the air compressor and get out the heavy impact gun, then practically stand on the longest 1/2" drive ratchet handle I have. Oh well... one more thing to add to the shopping list.

I've never had a workbench in the garage before. Man... it is SO much easier cleaning / sealing the wheels when you can have 'em up on a nice tall bench!



Immediately after install:


Man, these OZ wheels (37+ offset) really stand out proud of where the stock s-lites sit. It's a nice look and really pushes the tires out to the corners.




After a quick spin around the neighborhood. I wasn't squeeling the tires all the time and it really made the car easier to drive. Turn-in is beautifully crisp. I didn't go crazy on any turns (release agent is still all over the tread), but the overall feel was vastly improved.


Now I really need to get some coil-overs... the car is standing WAY too high. :|

 

I've got an appointment later this week to see a local detailer / tint installer about getting the tint replaced and recommendations on the known paint repairs (rust bubbling and lots of stone chips).

I also ordered a TarHeel MINIs badge to decorate the lower front grill and went digging to find a Metroplex MINI (Dallas, TX area) badge that used to be a desk decoration, so I can represent my old and new geographic clubs! I love the old-school enamel club badges.

Oh yeah... I think I found someone who is willing to reproduce my engine bay stickers at a reasonable cost. Woo! When you approach most shops and say "I've got a 20-piece order" they tend to lose interest (or raise the price to a sky-high level). I understand... it just takes a while to find the right person.

I keep finding other bits I'm collecting... a new 30" breaker bar (1/2" drive) is on the way from Amazon, along with a used set of Haynes/Bentley manuals I found on another forum.

 

More vinyl:

I had a crazy-ass day yesterday and needed to get my mind off of work things, so I put on some tunes and fired up the heat gun! Nothing clears the mind better than blistering your fingers and working out stubborn vinyl wrinkles.

I got the little radiator splitter wrapped and a JCW badge added because, well, I had it left over from a planned dash mod (it didn't look right inside). The splitter is supposed to help cooling... I'm not 100% sold on that, but it looks nice and wasn't that expensive.

I'm not sure how the vinyl is going to hold up next to the radiator... I'll just have to see. The part was in red, so with some clear coat, it might be nice in red... or I can go black fairly easily as well. That's the nice thing about vinyl... it goes on and off fairly easily.



I also got one of the new mirror caps wrapped... a much better job this time, now that I've had some practice and more experience working with the vinyl.



Tint:

I found a good detailing place near my house that installs 40% Lumar ceramic tint, pre-cut. I'll be booking time with them soon for that work.

Paintwork:

We also went over the car and I showed him the nicks and dings I've seen. I've gotta respray the front bumper (upper and lower piece under the lower grill). I might have him wrap the lower bumper piece in clear film once the paintwork is done and cured (not my ideal... i'm not a huge clear vinyl fan, but that thing is currently COVERED in stone chips... hundreds of 'em... so it might be better than accumulating new chips. Jango was the same way, but the Pepper White paint hid 'em better than Chili Red). I'll also need to have the new side sills shot and probably the bonnet as well, to get rid of some dings and scratches. I've gotta do some testing to see the color on the rear wing comes back to match the body (it is currently a shade lighter) with some polishing or that gets painted as well. Plus the 2 spots of rust repair.

The detailer gave me the name of a good paint and body shop in Charlotte, so I've gotta get out and talk to them soon..

 

I remember seeing an airflow diagram that had some intuitive, very marketing-ish arrows showing a separation of airflow going through AC condenser and then radiator vs just radiator without air-mixing. I have no idea if that was a real air-flow study (given where I think the source was and my relatively low opinion of that vendor, now, I'd guess it was all marketing hype). Honestly, it cleans up an area that I think is kinda ugly, so I'm a fan.

 

Yes... one more part to remove, but it's held on by 2 bolts that you already have to remove to get into service-mode, so really, you just add a 'pull off part and set aside' step.

I had a pair of the factory driving lights on Jango... they went up and down with the bonnet, so never did any disconnecting. Maybe you need to find a set of factory light brackets and downgrade your ambitions to 2 lights, mounted at the factory location.

 

I'm lucky. In NC, the law is 35% max, everywhere for passenger cars. My local guy uses 40%, just to be safe. I'll have to look at eBay for the pre-cut stuff... didn't know that they sold it like that now.

 

My daily trolling of the 'other' national MINI site has paid off. I've got a Hayes/Bentley combo on the way and a new polished-out aluminium coolant expansion tank ($50! a steal!) coming too! I was looking at coolant tanks as I can see some seeping from my current unit (plus it's hella ugly).

 

OK... lets start talking about the deep engine service!

As a reminder... this is an '05 JCW that spent 4-5 years in Canada and then the rest of its life in Austin, TX until moving to North Carolina with me. 12 years old and 83,000 miles or so.

I want this car to be as reliable as possible (it's a fun car and I want to go to the Dragon and have fun... not be in vendor alley having something fixed) and I'm very open to preventative replacement at this point (especially cheap/easy ones), as I know little of the car's history in terms of maintenance (I've got some basic part replacement receipts... brake cable, header and regular oil changes).

Out of scope: Brakes & suspension. Those items are important, but will be done as separate projects with separate discussions at a later point.

The big items that I'm planning to do myself this winter season:

1 - Crank pulley and possibly the crank bushing.
2 - belt tensioner assembly and belt.
3 - idler pulley (to replace the cheap plastic one I had to put on during my way home)
4 - Supercharger service & the plethora of seals and gaskets you uncover on your way to getting the supercharger in your hands.
5 - Water pump (if you are in doing the supercharger oil, why not)
6 - thermostat and housing (a regular leak point and I can't say that it has ever been done)
7 - crank sensor o-ring
8 - coolant flush
9 - oil / filter change w/ plugs
10 - air filter clean/change (it might have an aftermarket foam filter in the JCW housing... I remember something about that from conversations w/ the prev owner, but haven't opened the box yet)
11 - possible oil pan gasket (I need to clean things up and then look for leaks). The tiny oil leak I see is probably from the crank sensor.
12 - new engine damper
13 - powerflex lower engine mount fillers.
14 - timing chain tensioner (a fairly easy replacement and I hear the rattle every now and then)
15 - I used to have serious issues w/ the clutch slave (I wound up replacing 3 or 4 of 'em). I need to examine mine.
16 - Transmission fluid change
17 - Power Steering lines would have been done, but were just replaced

Two items that are itching my brain...
A. Clutch - It's probably a factory clutch and it engages VERY low to the floor (If you aren't pressed into the carpet, it won't go into first).
B. Timing chain - I don't hear many people talk about a preventative timing chain replacement like the old timing belt every 80k miles rule. Does the timing chain ever really need service?

I've never done a clutch and, while I hate to pay for it, I think it's over my head. I'd love to do it, but I'd want some hands-on guidance and I don't have any greasy friends here in Charlotte. If I decide to have the clutch and flywheel (to me, they both get replaced at the same time as most of the expense is in the labor), should I do that FIRST (before any of the other planned items)?

Your thoughts?

 

How hard is it to replace the timing chain guides? Is that something I can do on my garage floor? I've done the supercharger oil service before, but that's about as deep I've gone into the engine.

Got a link to a how-to or a good thread?

I think I've got some aftermarket red plug wires on the car now and I got an OEM coil in with the random assortment of parts I was given at purchase... not sure what's on there now (but it's not a red Screamin' Demon... I probably would have noticed that)