So, this happened... [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svxEqqVpW6w"]GP Blimey Lives! - YouTube[/ame]
Yeah. No kidding. From the time he posted "Stand by" I went off to find the appropriate smart@$$ comment.... https://youtu.be/p6YpzrAocgU Till I could get back here to paste in he already edited the post to include the video.
Fantastic couple of days, with Wellzy's wrenching help, remote technical support from Colin, and remote tuning from Jan. Manual Blimey LIVES Wellzy helped me get it buttoned up this morning Got everything hooked back up, got the fluids in, turned the key, and ZILCH. Lights on the dash, but no crank. No starter click. No nothing. The car started and ran with the auto in it last week, with the GP electronics. So... it should be working... We confirmed that the starter would turn when jumped manually. Acted like immobilizer, maybe looking for clutch pedal switch... but this wasn't a problem last week. A tense hour or two with diagnosis, checking coding, trying to break it down one possible problem at a time. Then Colin chimed in, "Do you have 12 volts on pin 10 on the body connector? The EWS should be sending that." How DAFUQ do you know these things? Tested, and no voltage on that pin. Jumped 12v to it, turned the key, and LIFE! Drove it around the neighborhood... clutch and gears worked. Brakes were spongy. Came back, re-bled brakes. Drove several miles. BLISS :lol::cornut::lol: It just works. Awesomely. Got the rest of the interior swapped over and the doors hung. Only cabrio with GP doors and dash, I bet... Still need to hang the A-panels and bumper bits, sort out a few coding issues, reset steering angle sensor, etc. I don't have "reverse" lights, which is an issue, but I'll get that sorted. I know how to do it by brute force if necessary. I'll hang the GP side skirts after I install the rear suspension arms and get an alignment. Oh yeah, and I pushed the "top up" button, and the top worked, after being down for MONTHS because it didn't work the last time I tried. WTF? I'm not complaining. But it's soooooo good right now. I know I can work through the other piddly stuff. It's running, it's solid, it will light up the tires... it's gonna be a beast at MOTD.
One funny realization this morning. I was getting all the air duct work and hoses back on, and commented to Wellzy that this part of my car looks totally alien to me. I've had my car apart a zillion times, but I've never really worked on a manual MCS. The air ducting, water hoses, trans cables, clutch lines, etc. are sufficiently different that it's just barely recognizable. Really a weird feeling. Like it's a different car, almost.
I think at least half is a different car than what rolled off the assembly line! This is a great project, just one more reason I can't wait to get to the Dragon!!
Nope. Like I said before - before MOTD 2016. That's next year. This year, it will be Frankensteined. Which is cool. At least ONE car with mismatched panels will be at MOTD this year. :devil:
What are you talking about? Last year when I saw Dave's car it had two or three different colors of red! Just kidding Dave, don't run out in the garage and look.
Wait till you see my collection of various shades of Space Blue on mine...I'm over being upset about it. Now I'm embracing the change.
It's interesting... I think some of these colors fade / change quite a bit over time, which makes matching even more problematic for the body shops. I got paint mixed for the engine bay. It's not even close to the color of the GP. BUT it's closer to what I think the original color of GP's were, in 2006. My GP (and the panels I'm taking off it) is closer to "Dark Silver" than "Thunder Blue". It would be interesting to see a garage-queen GP beside my doors. Because I bet they'd be noticeably different colors. When I have my repaint done, I suspect current GP owners will say "that's not Thunder Blue" even though it's the same color their car was, when new. If you look through these images, you'll see some that have a distinctly blue hue, and others that are more silver, and others that are more "dark silver". https://www.google.com/search?q=2006+mini+cooper+GP&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=3WIXVZbUJPiPsQSun4K4Ag&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1366&bih=663
Paint fading all depends on where you live and how the panels face the sun and if you protect your paint. We have all seen the cars from Florida with faded hoods, roofs and trunks and the doors look fine. It pays to use good wax and sealants from day one to protect from UV rays. FYI the 2006 GP color looks much better than the new GP II color.
How's the gear changing lessons? LOL [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz-VmeeINbE"]Driving a Manual- First Time! - YouTube[/ame]