Most liked posts in thread: What did you do with your MINI today?

I really need to get all the pics together for both my old r53 that a buddy bought, stripped down to interior shell, and have been redoing, it's been a super fun project. I knew he would be an AWESOME MINI owner.

I put on the blacked out side markers on Wolfgang, looks sharp! Also, been replacing all bulbs with LEDS, a few have required resistors, but it's night and day difference.

 

Came home from work today... Parked my company van and just saw how disgusting the poor Mini looked. Took it upon myself to wash it, polish it, clean the inside, and degrease the engine.. Now I feel better, and I'm sure DaCoopa does too!

 

Added air to all four tires. It's my weekly ritual.

 

dropped the gray car off the jacks for the first time in a month. The 12mm spacers were a tad wide after all , so back up it went. Also dropped the coilovers too much. There was about 1/2 inch of clearance in front before rub. So one more round of coilover twisting, and the search for 5 to 8mm spacers is on. Lucky I can use the 12mm spacers on one of the other cars that are riding almost 2" higher off the ground.

 

the rainy season has begun here. Put RainX on my windshield.

 

I got my MINI back from Sewell MINI of Plano. Now that there work is done, I need to replace my air and cabin air filters, and my plugs. I think I'm going to go down to my friend's/customer's place, RAC Performance, and work in their air-conditioned shop. It is HOT here this week, and the ragweed pollen is ridiculous. The lighting in their shop is also way better than my garage.

CD

 

And another night of measuring, jacking up, coilover adjustments, dropping, measuring, rinse repeat. Seems like my original math to get to what I wanted didn't take into account that the Swift springs on the BC coilovers were brand new when I took my baseline numbers. Turns out they sagged significantly more in front (engine weight) than in back, so that's where the odd rake came from. Time to start over and just look at fender to ground and fender gap. I can't seem to get this car off the jacks.

Also, is it normal that the actual measured gap between lock washers on the coil overs is significantly different from left to right side of the car? Both my drive side coils are about 10mm higher than the right side, and that is without driver in the car, fenders exactly the same height off the ground.

Waiting for less aggressive spacers, shorter studs and different lug nuts to complete this journey before heading with it to an alignment shop. After fixing all the bushings and ball joints in the front, the camber of the wheels seems to be far less on the driver side than passenger side. Guess something got fixed.

 

Got mine back from the bodyshop and returned the rental. So happy to have my JCW back. It's such a good car to drive.

 

I did this same dance at least 4 times when I first put coil-overs on Jango, my first R53. I was fairly unscientific from the get-go, though. I dialed the height setting to something close to what I wanted... drove for a day or two... jack it up and adjust (based on top-of-wheel to arch distance)... repeat... and repeat... and repeat. After a few weeks and a few hundred miles, the coil-overs, springs and new bushings had settled and things were stable enough for the alignment to stick, so I made the appointment and took it in.

When I installed all of the other adjustable bits (control arms, etc), I pre-set them as close as possible (by eye and tape measure) to the same length as the stock bits, so the alignment would be too awful for the first few weeks of settling.

 

While you're waiting for parts you could raise the ride height enough to clear everything and drive it for a couple hundred miles to allow the springs to settle. I found that mine dropped a measurable difference after driving for a week or so after installing my NM springs. You may have already done this and I just didn't read the post. Just a suggestion since you're waiting for parts.

 

Drove it to work. Then to a meeting with our 2 star CG. Then down range to get some more updates from my ARDEC QA buddies to see what new nightmares we get to deal with later. Another meeting, then home.

Just got finished giving it a long overdue bath.

 

Spent two and a half hours this evening after work peeling off the ugly Clear bra on my hood. Had surface scratches and started holding mildew some how. Now the hood looks fresh and clean and gives me a reason to buy a new hood scoop and the JCW aero kit so I don't have to peel the bra off the scoop and front bumper. Haha

 

I changed the plugs on my MCS (R56), which was pretty easy. It has been a while since I've changed my own plugs, so of course I immediately tried to remove the plug from the magnetic retriever with my hand. Yeah, it was hot. Dumass. I was using a friend's shop, and he has a SnapOn torque wrench, so I used it instead of my Harbor Freight wrench.

Then on to the air filter. I opened the airbox up, and was surprised to find a K&N filter. So, I can return the paper filter. I washed the filter this evening, and I'm going to let it dry overnight. Then I can oil it and put it back in the car.

Third, I changed the cabin air filter. It was actually easier than I thought it would be, looking at diagrams on AllData.

My TPMS light came on, for no apparent reason. I checked my pressures, and reset it. It seems fine, now. I have no idea how old the sensors (batteries) are.

So, between the work at Sewell MINI, and my work, my car has fresh oil, oil filter, brake fluid, a clean air filter, new cabin filter, and new spark plugs. And the tires are all at the right pressure.

In total, I'm about $400 poorer. Not too bad.

Next, polish and coat the headlights.

CD

 

Good work. It took two attempts. I'm happy now.

 

messed around with coilovers on dark gray, then got tired of that and installed a Kenwood headunit in the blue car. 12 years newer technology than the car, and it shows - built in bluetooth hands free with microphone that now lives next to the tach. Music streaming, CD changer, usb and all sorts of other gizmos like Android rapid charge via the USB plug. It has pre-amp outputs (soon to be utilized) and it all works in the car like factory. Infinite color adjustment of the display light to match Mini orange, and even the steering wheel controls work. Not just volume, but I can skip tracks, even on my phone via bluetooth. The thing knows track names on CDs I created years ago from youtube video rips, no idea how it does that. And, it was $89 as a refurb at Crutchfield. Note that the required install kit with all the needed adapters was almost another $75 on top of that. I figured the car I'd be driving the most and modify the least, I'd give it a go and try a few things to upgrade the non-HK audio. this was stage 1 and a full success.

 

Call the good guy Steven at eMINI.parts.com. I'm sure he can tell you where they hid it.

 

In the earlier cars it was in the right rear quarter panel.

 

I like challenges like this!

If it is the HK stereo amp, it is located in a cover box that looks like this:





I can find the zoomed-in view, but can't find for sure where it goes in the car, but I did see a " Right Front Floor Cover" reference in some metadata, so maybe start there. That cover does look like the kind of panel that they would use to hide the wires under the glovebox.

Minidave is right... on the R53 (2002-2006) and associated models, the HK amp was in the boot, under a plastic access door covering a space behind the right rear tail light. Maybe that's place #2 to look...