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

OK! The new fuel injector o-rings and clips arrived yesterday evening, so I got out to the garage today for a bit. I pulled all of the injectors, replaced top and bottom o-rings, clips, and remounted em. I got everything back together again and IT'S ALIVE! For some reason the battery was flat (had didn't been disconnected for the last 3-4 weeks) but a few minutes on the charger fixed that. I've got a full day off on Monday with my wife having to work, so I'm going to try a get a good 8 hours of wrenching in. Time to tackle the supercharger oil refresh!

 

I'm really surprised at how good this kit feels for $40. It's much nicer than the usual Harbor Fright tool you get in that price range. I'll let you know how it holds up on LCA removal and replacement. It didn't come with instructions, of course, but I'm sure I can figure it out...



And here's the pickle fork set and ball joint removal tool from yesterday (finally got around to uploading the image)



Also: Why don't more tool sets come w/ these great blow-molded cases? I'm sick of buying tools at my local auto parts store that come loose inside of clear plastic sales wraps that you have to decimate to open.

Oh yeah... I almost forgot. I kept thinking about some of the odd behavior of the car (cold stalling and maybe a bit of throttle surging) lately and I got to wondering if it was the by-pass valve acting up (or just acting as the stock BPV does on many R53s). I got on Detroit Tuned and I've got one of Chad's new massaged valves here on my desk. Shouldn't be too awful of an install. Add that to the list for this weekend!

 

Ugh. The inner ball joints are siezed into the control arms. I used a puller until I saw a he metal bend and every pickle fork with no luck. I beat on em for almost an hour. A pair is $100 so a new set is on the way.

The new LCA bushing puller was a gem! I sprayed the old bushings with penetrating oil and one came out smoothly. The new bushing went right in. The other side had an issue... as I was prying the control arm out of the bushing, the ear on the bushing bracket snapp d right off! Luckily I had a set laying around and the subframe down, so I put on a spare. I had several false starts installing the new poly bushing, but I finally learned that a dot of grease makes it much easier to do.

I'm going to get out there tomorrow to try and get the front coil overs mounted and the front brakes on. The new control arms will be here in a week so hopefully I'll reassemble next weekend.

 

Oh yeah... I got the tie rod length set better yesteday during lunch. At least the wheels appear to be pointing th same direction. Here's a link to the tool on Amazon that le me get the inner tie rod bolt loose without having to remove the outer tie rod end: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038Q0LMK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Slowly, but surely. I got my die in the mail from Amazon, so I was able to clean up the threads on the rear brake fitting and now the rears are both plumbed. I even got the hand brake adjustment started.... needs a bit more work, but it was a good start,

I sure hope those front brake lines show up soon. I really want to get the car on the road this weekend.

EDIT: New lines arrived... they look great! Well... they look just like the first set of stainless lines, just with 5" more in the middle!

 

I got out last night and finished up the hand brake connections, setting the tension correctly Well... I really need to get the hydraulic lines working so I can stomp on the pedal and center the calipers, but it is as proper as I can make it right now.

After 7 months of wrenching, I'm down to a 'to-do' list that is less than 10 items long!

1. Connect front brake lines
2. Bleed brakes
3. Tighten bolts to front crush tubes (I forgot to snug 'em down tight and then I put the aero panel on. Doh!)
4. Grind out the openings in the front strut towers (camber plates can't be set because the openings are too small).
5. Drop the car to the ground and test-drive to settle the suspension and to see how badly I've screwed up the suspension.
6. Return to the fuel system (tank sensors have an issue (they were falling apart in my hands and I might return to the first fuel pump... Last time I drove the car I was having an intermittent stalling issue under load...)
7. Run a hard wire line for the GPS unit (I hate dangling cords)
8. Drive it and set the ride height
9. Corner balance and alignment in 10 days.
10. Drive the crap out of it, shake out any issues and pack for the Dragon.

 

Now I understand why it's called the Daily Grind.



I'm slowly using an air grinder and a stone wheel to grind open the windows in the top of the strut towers. The pic above is one side. Once I got it ground open, smoothed, sanded and quickly primed/painted/cleared, I discovered that it could still use a bit more room (hence the black marks, letting me know where I have more work to do). My air compressor takes about 20 minutes to fill up and the grinder blows through the tank in about 5 minutes of grinding. I go out 4-5 times a day, grind for 5 minutes then walk away to let the compressor recharge. At this pace, I MIGHT be done grinding tomorrow!

I hate removing material from this part of the car (complex, stamped curves like this help provide rigidity), but I figure that the full camber plates and the strut bar (with large, flat top plates) will overcompensate for any weakness I might cause (plus I'm trying to keep a nice, smooth radius to the new corners).

I've really got an itch to go for a drive! I really want to see if the new fuel pump and parts fixes the stumble issue.

Oh well... I've got until the weekend to get it done.

1. Finish the grinding / painting of the camber adjustment access holes. (one side done... one side has the grinding done and needs a couple more layers of paint)
2. Get the car back on the ground, drive it a bit and make a few minor height adjustments.
3. PDR coming on Monday... the body work is so nice and I've got 2 small dings on the passenger side door. I should have had 'em done when Rufus was at the body shop, but there were so many other issues that you didn't really notice these until the rest was done. I'm getting picky now!
4. Corner balance and alignment on Tuesday
5. Off to the MINI dealership on Wednesday. I swore I wouldn't go back, but I need someone to look at the stumble (if it's still there) and I want someone familiar with MINIs to do a full safety inspection after all of my work and before I go to MOTD. I miss my favorite MINI mechanics back in Dallas (that and having 3 dealerships to choose from).

Then it is done! 1 week to go!

 

Woot! One of my local Tarheel MINI club members hooked me up with the name of a MINI / BMW mechanic near Charlotte (Kinetech in Indian Trail, NC - 5 stars on Yelp with 20+ reviews as well). They are going to do my full-check over next week. I just called the dealership and canceled my 'fix the stumble and safety check' appointment next week (the stumble is gone and, well, I dislike the service department at my local dealership). It was really bugging me to have to go back to the dealership after my early experience w/ Rufus there, so I'm a happy camper. Thank you, MINI Community!

 

Very possible, but I'd like to take the car in to them as ready as it can be. I've never worked with this shop before, so I'm trying to remove as much from the equation as is possible. Once you do the corner balance, the ride height needs to stay the same, so I'd rather not take the chance of them forgetting.

 

I took Rufus on a trip this weekend as a shake-out cruise before MOTD. 300 miles or so round trip to help out w/ a few things at my mothers house.

Rufus ran like a champ! I did stop at the first rest area and turn the front suspension to full soft. That took a lot of the harshness out of the highway ride. I still had 2 moments where I hit a hard bump and jammed my head into the roof, but that's what you get when put a car with coil overs on the road.

I'll give him a quick wash and then he gets a week or so in the garage before MOTD. I'm lucky that Rufus is a "fun only" car and doesn't need to be in daily driver service, so I can start packing the beer and groceries at a leisurely pace all this week and not have to run around like a mad man on the night before I head out.

When I come back from MOTD, I hope to have some good photos to share to celebrate the end of the project and maybe I'll try to write a summary of everything that happened.

 

Ride height update: Here's a pic of Rufus after the final ride height adjustments, 400+ miles of settling and the boot being loaded a bit w/ supplies for MOTD:

 

Well, after the madness that is always right before MOTD and the long week w/ the car at MOTD, I got Rufus home and he's been hiding out in the garage. I've got him back out and on the road regularly. I got a bad tank of gas while on my way home from MOTD... loads of water I'm guessing... and it was throwing codes. I've got fresh gas in now and no codes in 50 miles! I've gotta get to the inspection station with 70 miles on the clock after clearing any codes, so one more lunch drive and I'll be set.

Once that's done, I've got a short list of things to do:

1) Install the VHF radio. I bought the radio from the guy who was the second owner of Jango, my first R53. It's great for large group drives, but it's a bit of a PITA to wire up.

2) The cooling fan resistor needs to be replaced

3) I've got a few clean-up things to do... need to plug the lock hole in the glove box and setup a new ring to hold the bottom of the shifter boot. Nothing awful, but Rufus is so close to being 'complete', that I kinda want to do it.

4) Put on the coil-over damper strength extenders in the rears. It takes some drilling and I've just never gotten around to it.

5) I've acquired all of the Geyon sealant system... It's time for a deep clean, polish and sealing w/ the new system.

6) I've got dreams of doing an engine bay dress project... powder coating some bits and doing some deep cleaning and painting in there. This will probably be a winter project while the car is shelved for the cold weather.

 

It was time for my wife to replace her daily driver. She had a white A6 for the past 3+ years and the lease was up. The car fit what she was looking for, so we decided to think more long-term this time and bought this bit of fun... Another A6, but in a crazy sparkly dark grey. Huge flake! 3.0T engine (350-ish HP, I think... tons of torque) with a mild Hybrid system.

Here's Rufus' new garage mate. A name hasn't stuck, but 'Claus' seems to be the favorite right now. 'Schwartz' is a close second.

 

I finished a big home project (new vent hood and tile work in the kitchen), so it was time to start Rufus' year 3 project work... parts have been ordered... I'm into the engine bay now. Some new hoses (replacing some worn coolant hoses I've had my eyes on since I drove Rufus home), got a pair of Canton tanks (coolant and power steering), some hose for the OCC that I bought and never got around to plumbing and an Airtec intercooler. I also need to get that VHF radio installed before MOTD and I've got the new relay for the radiator fan as I think mine is stuck in high. Loads of fun for my winter project list!

I also need to do a light polish and get Geyon coating on the wife's new car... so looks like I've got some fun time in the garage coming soon!

 

I keep saying to myself that this year I'm going to wrap up Rufus's build and finish the engine bay. I've got a pile of new parts out in the garage, so I'd better get moving if I'm going to get it done for MOTD this year.

I had the day off on Monday, so I got to work on the list. Item #1 was installing the VHF radio (programmed for GMRS/FRS channels) that I originally bought and put into Jango, my first R53. Jango's second owner was in an accident and he pulled the radio before it was totaled by the insurance company. I bought the radio off of him about a year ago, but the new clutch and LSD work got in the way last year and I didn't get it installed. It is SO much nicer to have the built-in radio (with an external antenna) when leading club drives, so that was priority #1 for this year.



Radio details are here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/dc-metro-minis-archive/135254-frs-gmrs-mobile-repeater-2.html

And programming details are here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/9th-annual-minis-on-the-dragon-april-27-may-1-2011/208368-frs-radios-on-the-dragon-for-manual-setup-units-only.html

Step 2 was a wash. Jango's going to be in the garage for a while (engine bay parts going out to powdercoat), so I decided that I'd get a wash done so I can do some polishing and get a few coats of ceramic layered on.

The base of the shift boot (the internal plastic ring at the bottom) disintegrated when I put the new shift boot on last year, so I've got a new OEM boot on the way to me so I can strip the pleather off and get my new leather w/ red stitching one installed.