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

Ugh... delivery pushed back to Tuesday (today) afternoon.

Is it weird that I come to this thread so I can see the pics and not miss Rufus so much?

 

That's too bad. I've been wishing for a heavy-duty replacement for the POS factory part for a long time.

 

Grrrr. Apparently they didn't have the right clips to get the aero side-sills attached and had to order 'em. They arrived late today, so no Rufus for me until I come back from a Thanksgiving trip. Oh well... I can spend the time getting the leaves raked so I can focus on Rufus once I have him back.

I did, however, receive a 50 lb package from ECS... Oil, coolant, lots of gaskets and seals, a new power bleeder... all sorts of fun things!

 

I was replacing mine about every 10 months or so. It got so that I carried a spare in one of the boot panels, behind the tail lights.

 

Rufus is home from the paint shop!

Here are some quick pictures... I've still got a few exterior details to wrap up (door handle covers and black out the belt line) and some polishing / sealing to do, but I'm very happy!

I'm really digging the aero side skirts and the de-badge (front and back). The nose of the car looks the way I've always wanted without the MINI wings!









I guess the coil-overs will have an effect on looks, as will the BBK (hopefully March or so), but I think it's pretty close.

 

Nope... nothing painted white, but they did cut a decent chunk out of the lower trailing corner of the driver's door panel.

It looked like it was a very early forming rust spot, but apparently the paint was doing a pretty good job of hanging on. Once they started sanding it, the rust crumbled away and the hole opened up. They were worried about having solid metal underneath, so they opened it up a bit wider and welded in new metal.

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I'm thinking about putting one on the lower front bumper... that thing was COVERED in stone chips and it appears that the plastic is softer (it is usually left unpainted) than the bits of the front bumper that is usually painted. I'll take it to my detailing/tint guy to see what he can do once I've got everything polished out.

Before:


After:


Also... One of these is going up on the garage to keep an eye on the driveway (and my daily driver Volvo XC60 that is parked outside regularly). Does that count as a mod? I've already got the 2nd gen Ring on the back door and the Ring Pro on the front.



Deep Service

I'm also adding a spark plug change to the deep service list. The previous owner did it fairly recently, but he put in the standard MCS heat plugs and it's a JCW, so I'm going to get the correct NGK 7 plugs in there.

I also picked up a new thin-walled spark plug socket (Only one of the way too many spark plug sockets I own fit the MINI and I haven't seen it in a few years...) and a 36mm shallow socket for the oil filter housing (I gave my old one away when I sold Jango).

 

I'm a tool guy. This particular tool was a tad bit expensive for a spark plug socket, but I've never had a magnetic catch one. This thing is hella cool and fits the NGK plugs perfectly (with a strong magnetic catch without being overly strong so the socket stays down with the plug).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0711QB6JD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Ugh... I keep going out to look at Rufus and the huge pile of parts on my workbench, but I haven't been able to get out to do any serious work on him! With all of the holidays away from home, landscaping (raking leaves, ugh) and Christmas decorations going up, I've been WAY behind in my MINI work. I'm going to get out there in the evening this week to get some work done and get things back on track!

Dec 11: I make it out for a wash and a start on claybar.

 

Ugh... poor Rufus has been neglected in the garage. Several days off in the coming week, so I hope to get back out there!

Thoughts on a fuel pump replacement? I started thinking about it the other day... I'm going to be in there for a fuel filter replacement. Should I pony up the $200 and put in a new pump? I'm at 83k miles and 13 years old, all on the stock pump.

If I do it, is there a higher pressure/volume pump or just a standard replacement part?