Thanks! I never expected the freebie, and I wanted to tip the guy [extra] when I got the bill for the second job. He's a biker and I told him all about the Dragon and the surrounding roads. He said, "no charge" for the first, because he felt the info I had given him about the other roads down there was worth it and will extend the time that he and his buddies are down there in the future.
I was sitting at my favorite breakfast diner with my wife many years back (Dallas, TX). There were 2 bikers in the table next to us, planning their route. They were down from Canada for a conference of some sort and were taking a few weeks to see the US. They were plotting their way to the Dragon. I helped 'em choose the right highway (there are 2 routes from Dallas... one about 40 miles longer but MUCH smoother than the other) and then started asking them how twisty they wanted to go. I routed 'em in across the Cherohala Skyway, provisioning in Robbinsville and on to Fontana w/ a few days worth of roads and Dragon riding. We must have sat there for 30-45 minutes, going through the roads. I got an email and photos from them when they got home a few weeks later. Bikers and MINIs have the same taste in roads! I met a father-son team who were on the son's post-college-bonding-trip-with-his-old-man at the brake cool-down lot on the west side of the Dragon. I think that they were out of Boston. I had an early camera set-up on the tow hook mounting points, so I got video of them (both in front of and behind me) driving the Dragon and sent them links when I got home. Those guys went CRAZY watching that footage and sending me links to their favorite bits for days (and ragging on each other for crossing the yellow).
I would love to go someday, but I'm to old and it's just to far to go unless I hit the lottery. Then I could send me and the car air freight.
Changing the turbo oil feed line (Detroit Tuned) and oil filter/cooler/housing. One of the turbo to down pipe studs snapped a couple mm into the turbo so that will be fun to deal with. I’m to the point of trying to extract (that trick never works [Rocket J Squirrel]) or drilling and tapping through the screw or, if that doesn’t work due to the hardness of the stud fragment, maybe an adjacent hole. The oil filter cooler housing is back in with new gaskets. So is the turbo line. Lots of fun with all that, too. I’m getting too old for this stuff.
I feel your pain on trying to drill out broken bolts/studs as I never had a real good success rate but then again I didn’t have the best equipment for the job.
Not an insurmountable problem...... If.... You can pull the turbo back off and take it to a capable Tig welder (not Mig welder).... We would have this taken care of in 15 minutes in my metal shop.... We would lay a hex nut over the broken stud / bolt and add weld down through the threaded hole in the nut with the weld puddle on top of the broken stud / bolt.... The combination of the weld temperature would loosen the threads and the use of a socket or box wrench would allow you to back the stud out.... Those brittle EZ Out screw extractors never worked for me..... And if they snapped off.... You're in more trouble.... Clean out the threaded hole with a tap before going at it again with the new stud / bolt. Good luck...
Got ‘er done, mainly. Took all of yesterday (Monday) and half of Sunday and half of today. This is a staycation week for me. Drilled through the bolt (actually mostly just outside of the bolt as I had a very hard time keeping the hole centered on the bolt, then tapped the hole and put a new stud in (that took a good part of this am). A 90 degree drill adapter was crucial for this since I didn’t put it in service mode and spacing was too tight for a drill otherwise. Got it all together (except for the front upper and lower heat shields and the top oxygen sensor bracket to the tensioner) and refilled and bled the coolant and topped off the oil and it appears to be running soundly without leaks or new noises or codes. Still have a bunch of tools to sort and put away, but none of the remaining stuff is urgent. When I was done, someone had parked less then 2 feet behind me, and I have 3 foot 2-piece Race Ramps, so just when I figured I could back up a little more then halfway down, set the Ebrake hard, and use reverse to slide the ramps forward out from under me (hold my beer and watch this), he left.
No Mini action to report. I just ordered a stand alone ECU for my Exige. Tomorrow I will start a thread about it for anyone interested. It’s a ECU Masters Black ECU. they make one for the R53 also. I have never tuned an ECU so this should be fun.
Good luck on your quest. Being extremely computer challenged I would never attempt to do something like that.
Close! It was the tube from the Jarvic 7 going to the water pump, it was leaking at the pump side. They did put in a new Jarvic 7 though, figure it's good insurance while they had the old one off anyways. Only down/upside to my shop only using OEM parts is the cost of those damn things. She's back on the road though, good as newish. And this was her 4th or 5th time on a flatbed... lol! Owned her since 34k, at 157k at the moment.
Finally got a couple hours free and put the lower front and upper heat shields back on as well as the upper O2 sensor bracket. It’s all done now except sorting and stowing all the tools.
My MINI has been sitting in the garage. I can't figure out what's up with the cooling system. My best guess is the thermostat is toast. It got a new water pump when I did the timing chain service. I am sending it down to my friend Hans at AutoScope to have it fixed, and get an oil change. Then, I'm selling it. I just don't drive it enough, and that is going to keep causing problems like my current cooling problem. I will offer it first to members here. So, if you have an interest in a really nice 2007 MCS with 118,000 miles, let me know. It is a very nice car, with low mileage for its age -- less than 8,000 miles per year. Of course, it has been garage kept -- my cars don't stay outside when at home, period. Not many luxury options, but good performance options, including LSD. I'll list it on the "for sale" forum later, but you can PM me if you are interested. I love that car, but it needs to be driven more than once a month, or things are just going to keep going wrong with it. CD
Yeah, I hate to let it go, but I have so many clients who have car collections, and most of the cars don't get driven enough. Those cars are constantly having problems. I'm pretty sure that AutoScope is going to find that my thermostat has stopped working -- because the car sat for too long. When I was driving the car almost daily, I rarely had anything go wrong. Cars are meant to be driven. CD
