Sidewalk S - refresh & update a pre-loved convertible

So, to fill in a few blanks on other work completed and "issues" up to this point in time..., here's the rest of the story:

New NGK plugs and wires installed.
New Valve cover gasket installed.
Valve cover bolts were wire-wheeled and painted silver as corrosion looked pretty bad on the hex heads... (Ha! just noticed that NOBODY can see those valve cover bolts with the intercooler and stuff installed back on the engine!)

That was done about 3 weeks ago.

The work in the photos above was this past weekend.

So, in a rush to get to a SuperBowl party, I quickly installed the radiator, fans, core support, and aluminum inner-bumper assembly back on the car. Then installed front bumper and hooked up all the lights and horns.

Sounds good, right? It sure looked good on Sunday evening - and I was smoking through this. I felt so good about what I had accomplished, I decided to pour in some Mini coolant and distilled water just so I could fire up the car and pat myself on the back for being so good with the maintenance job!!!!

Well.., coolant began to gush out on the shop floor and on my shoes in a matter of seconds. :blush2: I immediately stopped and poked around under the hood. And found the problem! I had left the radiator hose that runs from water pump to lower radiator connection OFF the car! It was sitting by itself on the shelf near the scene of the crime. So..., I will either find a creative way to install said hose or pull the radiator and bumper back OFF the car this coming weekend. I had to laugh! Oh well, no harm - no foul. I'll get it back on this weekend and burp the coolant system.

Here's the issue!

 

Appreciate you checking in... Need to update some details on this past wknd's progress report - hopefully tomorrow. The good news is she runs great as of Sunday afternoon! Pics coming soon.

 

So long time – no update. Like most of us here, life sometimes gets in the way of meaningful shop time. But in past five weeks or so, I’ve had two weekends that allowed for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon of ME-time. That’s a good thing as shop time is just good therapy to counterbalance the stresses of having to work for a living!



To close out the previous chapter, everything under the hood is updated for the foreseeable future. Summary of work: Serp belt, Idler pully, valve cover gasket, valve cover plug gaskets, thermostat, t-stat housing & gasket, water pump, serviced the supercharger, random intake gasket replacements, crank sensor o-ring, Mini coolant, power steering reservoir cap, spark plugs and wires, fuel filter, oil & oil filter, throttle body gasket, air filter, and cabin air filter. The items NOT attended to as of yet – but on my original list are: automatic transmission filter & Royal Purple fluid and tensioner for the serpentine belt. At right at 60,000 miles, I want to do both – especially transmission filter and flush – and will make time in the near future to take care of these…

Moving on to the past 4 weeks has led us to exhaust, brakes, suspension, tires, and wheels.

No awesome work-in-progress pics here, but the Milltek cat-back with resonator was ordered, and I had the pleasure of installing it while working under a 2-post lift with audience, no less… Didn’t even think of taking photos as I fumbled my way (rather quickly) through the installation. Nice craftsmanship and decent sounds now coming out from behind the Mini.



Next were brakes. And the day I wanted to install these, I had to relocate to other end of shop so this behemoth could squeeze in for generator tune-up.



I quickly learned to bring out the small torch to heat up the screw securing the first rotor I touched. That helped immensely. Impact driver with large hammer then took care of the rest. These are simple Carquest rotors with Textar front pads and Ferodo rear ones. The rotors were completely worn down and the pads had about 20% remaining life… Replaced and flushed fresh fluid all throughout the system when I had my dad stop by to help me bleed them.



The fronts – before:



The fronts – after:



The rears – before:



The rears – after:



Tires were about the same time. I ordered Bridgestone RE960 AS Run Flats and had them installed at local Discount Tire using the Sidewalk’s original Night Spoke scratched and overall dirty looking wheels…
The car is for my wife, (IE: run flats) and she then later decided these wheels just didn’t float her boat. (So… more about that at the end of this update.)



Since new wheels were going to be ordered, I thought what the heck – let’s get this car a little closer to the ground and close that fender gap some. H&R sport springs arrived at the front door a few days later.



Time to put those on using the helpful How-To’s on Motoring Alliance with a floor jack, section of ¾†oak flooring, big hammer, penetrating oil, my $9 Harbor Freight coil spring tool, and some ingenuity. Started with the fronts and only needed some assistance when it came to aligning the front knuckles with strut assemblies upon reassembly. Needed 3 hands to do it all, I must admit. Cleaned all light rust off of bolts and used anti-seize before bolting and torqueing them back together.





Did the rears next. Easy Peasy.



Good time to check out the Milltek exhaust again. Cool thing is I can REALLY hear my wife crank up the car in the garage these past few mornings as she leaves for work! Sounding better and better.



Got the car back on the ground. And it MUST sit 1-1.5†lower. I didn’t measure it, but I like it a lot! So, before I can enjoy the view, my father-in-law left had left the below group of tools out as a subtle hint to sweep and mop the back half of his shop when I was done.



And beauty shot to bring us up to current times.



Car drives great. Will get it aligned just to be certain everything is in spec. Probably need to determine if there is a particular alignment that I should consider. Again, wife’s car so just want it to drive as predictable and normal as possible. Love the firm ride that these H&R springs provide. She said she didn’t notice a change… :O That’s cool too… But, I certainly can feel a sporty difference.

And finally, we have new Rota RB’s in 17x7.5†with a Hyper Black finish. Had the tires switched out and remounted. The overall look of the car is much more appealing now, IMHO. This Mini just needed a bit more flash or polished aluminum to brighten up the side of this Astro Black car.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. ...Just ordered kit from ECS to replace rear hubs with new. Believe the somewhat loud roar we've had since we put it on the road a few hundred miles ago is from the rear. The rear tires that came on the Mini were pretty much shot. So, I originally thought the noise was the tires. But, it must be the LH hub. Might as well do both sides for piece of mind - or at very least, no issues for the next 30K miles. Expect more time and miles than Mini wheel bearings seem to provide, but I guess that's not the case with these cars when it comes to certain key components.

 

Weekend Update --
A big win was scored in Mini satisfaction last night with the replacement of LH and RH rear hub assemblies. I ordered a kit from ECS Tuning last Sunday and it was waiting on me when I returned home this Saturday.

Talk about an easy job. If I had any regrets, which I don’t, I would have knocked this out with the rear brake job to save the duplicated labor of R&R rotors and calipers. But no big deal…

For those that may not have seen what’s involved, it’s pretty simple: Remove caliper and rotor and locate the four 16mm bolt heads on the inside of the lower control (or trailing?) arm and remove. I simply used a splash of WD-40 and 3/8†drive ratchet with no aggravation like I anticipated would happen.



The new hub assembly bolts in with a little nodule or bump in the cast iron that sits at 12 o’clock. Bolt in – and you’re well on your way of finishing this thing up.

Rusty old hubs. And this LH side one was SHOT… But I did not think to check it when doing previous brake job the other week. You could turn it by hand and feel a very pronounced roughness - nothing smooth like the new ones. (The original RH one was ok, but it was removed & replaced as well for peace of mind.)



Note the incorrect 8 bolts that came in the kit.  They were way too long so I simply reused the original Mini inside hub bolts. Glad I could proceed without this slowing me down.



Cleaned up control arm with wire and stiff small brushes and bolted new hubs in place.



Reassembled rear brakes and added different/ new brake lube to back of pads to quiet a squeak my wife had previously reported… Gotta keep her happy, right??

Took it for a test drive on way to sunrise Easter service this morning... And MAN, is this car now QUIET. Glad to have the peace of mind that these rear hubs are new and she won't have a rear wheel & hub snap off unexpectedly on any of her commutes to work or wherever this Mini goes. Will need to research Front Hubs next and see what life expectancy is there...