The Phoenix - The GP Roadster Project

1) Me
2) some instructors at the track (not all), with me in the passenger seat
3) a very few close friends, usually with me in the passenger seat
4) mechanics in and out of the bay for annual inspection, and alignments. While I watch.

The wife wouldn't touch it now. The car, I mean.

 

To make it legal:


I absolutely love driving again. It's bliss.

 

Wanna know something cool? I'll flip 076900 on the odometer, en route to MOTD, or maybe just before. I have about 600 miles to go...

 

Voodoo

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8By2AEsGAhU"]Ayrton Senna's Heel-and-toe - YouTube[/ame]

 

Best I can tell, the only things that aren't working properly at the moment are the PDC (park distance control) and cruise control.

PDC is enabled in the BC1, but may need to be turned on somewhere else. On the first gen Minis, you can't add options with NCS Expert using VO codes, you have to encode options into a ZCS string that's stored in the EWS and BC1 (I think). For example, to add Xenons to a car that doesn't have them. When you reset the modules to defaults with "process car", NCS Expert reads the option string, uses the datan files to figure out what options to set how on which modules, and makes everything "just so". You can usually bypass this by setting the options manually on each module, if you know what to set and how. Short version, it's harder to code in new options on the first gen Mini than with newer cars. I'm still figuring out how to do this. I found a program that will generate the ZCS string for you, but I'm not brave / needy enough to mess with it right now. Maybe after MOTD.

On a manual transmission Mini, cruise control is dependent on the clutch pedal sensor. This sensor actually does two things: it tells the EWS that the clutch is "in" for starting, and it tells the ECU that the clutch is "out" for cruise control. With the automatic transmission body harness, none of the wiring is in place for this. There is a different pin on the EWS that gets a signal from the auto transmission position switch on automatic cars. I really have no idea why the EWS isn't balking now with no clutch position sensor signal... but I'm not complaining.

I know how to make cruise work: either jump in a low-resistance (approx 11 ohm) resistor between pin four of the body harness connector to the ECU, and ground (which would make the clutch appear to be "out" all the time); or wire in the clutch sensor correctly. I have enough details from the schematics in the Bentley manual to accomplish this, if I choose to. Biggest issue I'm having right now is figuring out how to add a pin to an empty slot in the ECU connector. If anyone has done this, I'm all ears.

 

Don't.
Drive.
Nice.
Cars.
On.
Salty.
Roads.

A rear hub/wheel bearing on the GP.


The brake wire is corroded so solidly into the caliper, it will not budge, no matter how hard you pry/pull.


It took all day to get the rear trailing arms off the car and stripped of hardware, everything was so corroded and rusted.



Took almost two hours just to get the pivot off the first arm. The bolt was quite seized in the arm. Took some threads with it, but left enough to be usable.

The second arm, on the other hand...


After breaking one tool, I finally sheared the bolt off. And that's a big strong bolt.
Bolt was galvanically corroded / welded into the arm. Forever.
Because someone thought it was a good idea to use steel bolts directly threaded into aluminum arms, instead of spending a few extra bucks and adding steel inserts for the pivot and shock mount bolts.

I have a buddy who will drill this out and install a helicoil, like it should have been built at the factory. While he's at it, I'll have him do the other three holes, too.

So, what I expected to be a few hours Saturday AM, ended up taking all day and not even yielding parts I can use without sending them off for more work. Frustrating.

Today, I finally got to what should have been yesterday's project. Taking the car half apart again.


Blimey has been throwing P0326 codes this week - knock sensor. I used the knock sensor from the GP, along with the GP wiring harness. I suspected that maybe the sensor had a problem, so decided to swap it with Blimey's old known good sensor. I also got a new manual transmission engine harness, since several connectors were broken on the GP harness. And a VibraTechnics transmission mount, and a new coil as PM (since I was still running on Blimey's original coil).

After pulling the intercooler, I looked down through the intake manifold at the knock sensor. And saw my problem. The bolt hadn't been tightened, and had backed halfway out. Knock sensor was just rattling around in there. In the melee to put the car together last weekend, I overlooked tightening what may be the hardest bolt to access on the whole car. Doh.

After trying for half an hour to figure out a way to get the bolt tightened though the tiny gap, I decided that wasn't happening, and proceeded to tear into it. The supercharger has to come off to get to the knock sensor. Which means draining coolant (again), pulling the belt and tensioner (again) etc. To do the rear parts of the wiring harness, you need to access the starter. Which is easiest when the header is out of the way.

While I was at it, I installed the new engine harness, the VT mount that arrived this week, and took some time to blast and paint my engine and tranny hard mounts.


Ran out of time today just as I got everything back together mechanically, and got the coolant refilled. Tomorrow I'll fire it up, bleed the cooling system, check for leaks and other issues, and finish buttoning it back up.


Having a fresh engine harness on a nine year old car is NICE. It's been years since all my plugs worked as they should, all the various cable clips and stuff were really right, etc. It's almost like working on a new car again, now.

 

Pennsylvania, and a short stint in Ohio.

It's sad, but perhaps the best thing that could have happened to this car, at this point, was what happened. It was well down the road to ruin. The interior was great, the paint was good, mechanically the engine and transmission were good, but all the years of winter driving in salty conditions had done in the suspension, subframes, and virtually every fastener on the outside of the car. Plus all the aluminum was badly corroded, as well.

At least this way, the good bits are getting a second shot at life, becoming something that should have been, but never was before now.

 

Fired up the car this morning, and it started first try. Let it run for a few minutes, then put the bumper back on and lowered it to burp the cooling system. Tried to start it... it would turn over, but wouldn't start. Ugh.

It threw P0336 - Crank Sensor. Seriously? I know I plugged that thing in. And it's the same crank sensor I've been running without issue for a week, though it is the one from the GP.

Jacked it back up, pulled the bumper back off, and put it in service mode. Yep, crank sensor was plugged in. Ugh. Maybe it got tired of having coolant dumped on it when I pulled the water pump, or maybe it was just wet on the inside and had flaky connectivity. Well, might as well refresh the sensor while I'm at it. Start calling around, MINI dealer can't have one until Wednesday. Neither of my local auto parts places have them. But NAPA can have one at 8AM tomorrow.

Oh well. Won't be driving today.

I used the time to put some more bits on.

Finally got the right hardened washers for my strut brace, a couple of weeks ago. I think I'm done pulling the engine apart for right now, so I put it on.


Also reinstalled my X-brace underneath.

Swapped over the LED puddle lights from my old doors.

Added some badges.



And my pedal covers came in the mail. It's a pain drilling the brake and clutch pedals, but it's worth it. I hate the OEM spongy rubber covers. Love the bite these will have when shoes are damp.


I'll get an early start tomorrow, pickup my new sensor, install it, and test. If all is good, I'll button it back up (again) and start doing drive cycles to prep for emissions inspection.