I got the grinding done, painted both sides and got the car back on the ground. TEST DRIVE! Oh yes! The stumble went away! I replaced the fuel filter a while back and put in an upgraded fuel pump. While doing that work, I found that the entire fuel assemblies (the 2 white plastic inserts that drop in from the top of the fuel tank) were screwy. The fuel level senders/floats were mangled to the point that they were very hard to get back in place (they ride on spring-loaded feet that reach down to the bottom of the tank and neither foot would stay upright while being inserted into the tank... The feet and float wouldn't stay attached to the casings while being dropped into the tank) and I barely got the filter screen to stay on the bottom of the pump-side assembly. After a test drive or two, both of the feet must have been knocked out of place as the fuel level gauge on the dash just read "Empty" all the time. I broke down and bought 2 new fuel assemblies (one for the filter, one for the pump) and installed 'em last weekend. I figured that something w/ the fuel system was the likely cause of my issue (that or a vacuum leak somewhere from a hose I forgot to reconnect) and I needed to fix the fuel level sensor issue, so I just bought complete units. When I took the old units out I wasn't surprised to find the fuel level sensor units on their sides in the bottom of the tank, dangling by the electricals. Upon replacement: Voila! 2 problems are fixed... the fuel gauge now works and my stumble problem is gone! I always got the stumble after hard acceleration, so I'm guessing it was some sort of fuel starvation issue. Whatever... I've got a new filter, new fuel pump, the fuel level senders work and the engine is running very well! I'll pull the fuel pump from Colin out of the old unit and stick it on the shelf. For now, I'm not going to worry about it... the car is running well, so I'm going to call it good. The car started out a bit weak... the engine wouldn't spin up very quickly and everything felt a bit slow, but I'm pretty sure it was the ECU just re-learning things. After 20 minutes or so of running the car through it's paces (and doing the brake pad bedding cycles), I couldn't stop myself from revving at stop lights, just to listen to the burble. It was so nice to be reminded of why I love the R53 so much and, after the refresh, Rufus really does feel and look like a new R53. The suspension is tight and clean. The turn-in is a bit slower than I had hoped for, but the alignment is all out of whack, so I'm not making any judgments now. It's all over now other than some PDR, a corner balance / alignment and a safety check... all scheduled for next week. I'm going to wash the car tonight (wife is out of town) to get rid of my greasy hand prints and grit from the past few months of wrenching and will probably play a bit with the ride height this weekend. Whew! A 7 month-long project is almost complete!
I know it feels good to be done! That was a lot of work. My R53 has 167k on it now. I also have a stumble that is slowly getting worse. I have tried new plugs, it helped a little, now I am thinking it may be time for a fuel pump and filter.
Glad to hear you sorted out the fuel issue. My dark silver had some major issues with fuel delivery after I purchased it. It materialized only on long mountain grades, when the car would suddenly cut out, then a second later bump start itself back to life, no codes. I replaced pump and filter (80+K miles on it). None of the other in-tank stuff seemed to be malfunctioning at the time. I don't get to drive my cars enough, so every time I get out and everything goes without issue, I have a huge smile on my face. Fixing a problem and then having the car respond well is the best part. Can't wait for or spring to kick in so I can get into the larger projects on my cars and then head out, rev at the light and listen to the burbles with full satisfaction. Such a great car. Keep getting comments from total strangers in parking lots or appreciating nods and hand gestures at stop lights. The R53 is quickly becoming a classic. Heck, a car like my "daily driver" is at $9k right now and there's time left in the auction.
This sounds a lot like my issue. For me, it would hit if I accelerated hard in first or second gear. I'd go to clutch in and it felt like the DSC kicked in... loss of power. Sometimes it would bump start again immediately (well... after a second or two) and other times I'd have to clutch-in and turn the key to restart. No lights or codes thrown.
It took me almost the entire grade from Vail to Vail Pass on I70 (4000 elevation feet) before the car would cut out. I then learned to pull over every few miles when on long steep grades and let it idle for a while, which somehow seemed to give it legs for the next few miles without cutting out. Almost felt like there's some sort of reservoir of available fuel that would suffice if I kept the car above 20mpg realtime gauge reading. It took me quite a lot of miles and several mountain passes to learn that, though. Prior to that we chased down ignition and other issues, swapped coil, wires (still in the car, that $40 Subaru coil works great in the Mini once you figure out how to mount it). Last October I drove it across the mountains towards Atlanta, but honestly could not say that that was hard enough of a challenge to possibly expose a still existing problem. I feel I really have to take the car back to Colorado to push the envelope. There simply is no way I could do this test here without running the car at 100+mph down the freeway for 15 minutes or more
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!
I washed the car (want it very clean for the PDR on Monday). The pollen is so thick here that by the time I finish spritzing with detailing spray, the car is already covered. I also made a bit of an adjustment to the ride height of one wheel to even up how everything sits. I'm just waiting for appointments now.
I'd much rather have the pollen as well! The PDR guy just left. He spent about an hour massaging out the 4 door dings on the passenger door (one of the few panels that wasn't repainted) and a couple on the bonnet (tiny) and one on the driver's door that really only showed up w/ his special light, but why not get it fixed? I'm amazed that Rufus is down to this level of detail now. Honestly, I hadn't noticed the dings on the passenger door when I got him last year... it's just that the paintwork is now in such better shape that the small things are more noticeable now. He isn't show car quality, but he's a 5-footer, which is pretty damn good for a 13 year old car with 83k miles that is actually driven and not trailered around. I've got to polish out the door again (I had a couple of places where I did touch-up paint work), but it looks so much better already! I kept staring at the ride height while I was out there with the PDR guy. I think I'm going out this evening and bringing the front down 1/2 inch or so. Corner balance and alignment tomorrow. Inspection the day after that. Then I'm done!
I would assume the guys doing the corner balance can and will set the ride height to what you want as it will change with the balancing.
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 dropped Rufus off at the shop for the alignment this morning! Can't wait to get him back w/ the proper specs and see how it feels. The owner came out to apologize... his scales seem to have walked out of the shop (he said he had some technician turnover lately). His office staff was supposed to call me last week. Grrr. No... no call. So it will just be an alignment and they will give me a free alignment when their new scales come in, after the corner balance. I noticed that it was a little bit prone to stay in a straight line, not as nimble as Jango used to feel. Great for a highway cruiser but not ideal for a MINI. I've got time set w/ a good local shop to have them do a full once-over tomorrow morning, then I'm done!
OK. That's it. I'm declaring this project as DONE! I had PDR drop by on Monday, went for an alignment yesterday and today I took Rufus out to Kinetech (https://www.kinetechmotorwerkes.com/) and had a MINI trained tech go over the car for an hour. They found a small notchy feeling in the steering rack when not under load (if you put the car on the lift and pivot the front wheels back and forth, you can feel a quick binding when the wheels are almost straight), but you can't feel any issue through the wheel when the car is on the ground. The clutch is also fairly worn (which I suspected), but isn't in any immediate danger of going, so that's a project for next winter, probably. The new alignment felt great on the highway and certainly felt more stable in the few corners where I tried to be a bit more aggressive (hard to do in rush-hour). I've gotta drive a few hundred miles this weekend to visit my mother... I think I'll take Rufus as a pre-Dragon shake out. Of course I've got a small list of other projects to do and the mod bug never really goes away, but my goal was to get a clean, sporty, safe, well-maintained and (hopefully) reliable car ready for MOTD and I'm calling that a success. What's still on the list? Clutch / flywheel replacement... maybe a LSD while I'm in there. Re-apply foam on the inside of the vents, just under the rear hatch opening. Install the new cooling fan resistor to restore the 'low' fan speed function. Put the aux input jack into the correct location (It's kinda bodged together now, but it's not in a visible location and it's functional, so I didn't worry about it) Have the steering wheel refurbished (it isn't bad, but it's a bit slick and hard... I'd like a nicer leather, a bit more padding and a larger diameter) New e-brake boot (I'll probably have it and the shift boot made by the same person who does the wheel... it's breaking down a bit and is due for a refresh and some additional style). Engine bay styling: I like the engine bay to be clean, tidy and cool looking, but this is a very low priority item. Maybe once everything else is wrapped up. I've got lots of areas that could use a color refresh, lots of cleaning and some fun powder coating ideas... For now, I'm just going to try enjoy driving the car for a bit!
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: