Jesters Collection - Mazda 3MPS/RX8 R3/RX7/MINI Cooper S

From experience of driving one of these through winter, removing (I can't get behind calling it "deleting") the rear wiper sounds like a terrible idea.

No huge updates.

The 3 Mazdas remain asleep on their CTEKs and the Mini remains my little outlet of fun during the winter.

MCS

So the first proper cold snap of the year ended up killing the battery and seeing as they are frameless windows the mini had to spend the night like this.



The reason she had to have the tarp is that it seems like the old battery had enough juice to drop the window a fraction everytime you opened the door and we were due Storm Cieran the next day

This is the way.

So I went to my go to battery of choice Bosch. The old battery did not look that old but I suspect that as the alternator was replaced earlier in the year it must have been run flat as a pancake and the cold snap killed it. The other indicator was the fact it was showing 6v, so a cell had gone.



She fired right up and I did some basic checks, showing 12.3v with the car off and at idle measured 12.9v so I am assuming the alternator is fine. Plus it has been nearly a month and not had any issues!

The leak is still present in the boot, but sealing around the trim has definitely helped. It is almost certainly the drivers side rear light. I have accumulated the following bits and bobs.



L & right light gasket.
Boot handle gasket.
Rear wiper grommet

I bought the light gaskets before checking with BMW so they were about £20 each. But I checked with BMW for the boot handle and wiper grommet and it came to £10 for both, dirt cheap. I've seen the rear wiper grommet being sold second hand for £15 alone. So it seems we should always check with BMW first!

I am toying with the idea of buying some second hand rear lights in good condition and getting them sorted and just swapping them over nice and easy. Seeing as winter is cold and wet and leaving holes in the car is not ideal.

As soon as we get a string of semi ok weather I'll try and get at least the rear wiper grommet on the car

Sounds like you are having much the same issues I am with my winter MCS lol

Bookmarked

£450 work of suspension parts, front brake pipes and inner cv boots are on standby, leaky boot and a battery drain somewhere too lol

edit; a bit of red rubber grease on the rubber stops the window sticking to it. The window dropping down with the dud battery is a pita... glad of my wee jump pack when that 1st happened

Small update today,

I know some have read this thread since the beginning and/or since I just had my dads Mazda 3 MPS and know the background to that, his illness and all. This post is a little outlet for me as over Christmas, Boxing Day to be exact my mum told me her cancer medication was no longer effective and on 2nd Jan we found out she was not eligable for a medical trial due to lack of a specific gene. So she is now in life extention Chemo. What a start to '24.

This changes my plans slightly this year, I may have to put the Ring in the Mini on the back burner as I am not sure I can afford to be out of country any longer than I have to be. But the project will forge on.

Mazdas

All still asleep, doesn't seem to be any issues. Went round opened doors and checked tyre pressures a week or so ago. No evidence of mould growing

I have however got something indulgent and sexy on order from HKS for the RX7 though.

MCS

So the mini is doing ok at the moment, just before Christmas, on the 23rd, the tyre pressure warning came on for a second time and I knew for sure I had a slooooow puncture. Being as this was the car I was heading back in I spent the afternoon waiting for it to be checked and it did turn out to be tyre sealing against the rim.

I was also not happy with how the passenger side of the bonnet was latching, or not really latching as it were. So I started with the basics, cleaned up the mechanisms where I could along with the bonnet release cable as they were all covered in grime. Then just silicon lubed the absolute bejeezus out of them. Which seems to have sorted all that out, might have to make that a pre winter routine.

Rear parking sensors stopped working, got one long beep when going into reverse. Checked each sensor and could hear all of them clicking so they were working. Saw a post on Facebook which mentioned spraying them with WD40, which I thought was going to be complete poop. Turns out 100% accurate and now all working again

I have also pre-ordered an Ultraguage on a Boxing Day sale so hopefully that will come in the coming months.

But I have also acquired the following:

Cravenspeed Strut Top Defenders



So I no longer have to worry about the strut tops deforming under load. Haven't fitted yet as the weathers been god awful.

Yesterday I popped to London and picked a set of 16" MG "Hairpin" wheels.



Been wanting to go to 16's for a while but finding a set close has been difficult. For £180 pretty much a bargain. The tyres are all ditchfinders so I will have to budget for some half decent rubber in the coming months.

Sorry to hear about your Mum. Awful news for you.

Love the hairpins, should be a good chunk lighter than OEM (which are ridiculous) and the 16s with non run flat definitely ride better.
Always think they look quite mini OEM styled so don't look too aftermarket

That's rubbish news, very best wishes to you and your family.

MCS

Right so I took the Mini back to see my mum, and after saying in the shed of the week thread mines been relatively behaved the following obviously happened.



I'd driven from Kent to Basingstoke 1.5 hours of cruising with not so much as a tickle of a problem. I was pulling away from some lights up a dual carriageway and gave it full throttle in second (to hear the charger whine) and she went "You sir can do one". Up flashes Engine warning light and EML and goes into limp mode doing 60 on a dual carriageway. Fast forward nearly 2 hours of police help and AA semi rescue which leads to the above photo.

With no Ultraguage yet I was unable to read the fault myself but when I was semi safe I checked everything under the bonnet and nothing seemed obviously amiss. But she limped to safety so we could do some diagnosis.



P1688, so onto Google I went, with the AA tech doing some checks, a little low on oil but nothing crazy and we bunged nearly 1L in to be safe. Now the interwebs being what it is said, don't even both looking at the throttle body 99.9% of the issues are caused by the crank pulley starting to go AWOL with wear, the rubber damping material starts to break up. Something to do with over/under speed telling the ECU to go straight into limp mode and happens when you go WOT.

So with nothing else apparent wrong, I decided that the risk was tolerable and I'd drive like a nun the 10 minutes to my mums. Then cruise home today, and she's been good as gold.

But clearly some money needs to be spent, a few months earlier than I expected. But fortuitously it is in roughly the same location as the supercharger....

So parts ordered:

1. Supercharger service kit & water pump. (No evidence of this work being done, so lets get it done)

2. Fan resistor (preventative maintenance, as these are known to fail and not correctly operate the fan. Seeing as the car needs the front coming apart for the super charger service this can get swapped out for very little labour)

3. PRS damped crankshaft pulley & new damper bolt (Alot of debate in mini circles about dropping a damped pulley here. I've gone with BMW obviously saw the need to have one, so I'll get a slightly better and more resilient item)

4. 15% pulley, belt and 1 step colder spark plugs. 15% for the more everyday car and to keep temps a little more in check in comparison to 17%.

5. Thermostat (No evidence of it ever being changed, so lets nip that in the bud early)

When they have all arrived I will drop the car off at my friends garage, with the life situation at the moment I don't have the spare time to try and get some of this done myself. Plus I am missing tensioner locking tools, pulley removal tools. Honestly it is effort I don't have the mental strength to do.

But when I got home today, I did however fit my Cravenspeed Strut Top Defenders. My torque wrench and imperial deep sockets arrived so I could do the 15 minute job







Now I don't have to worry about mushrooming the strut towers. Should probably keep an eye out for a decent second hand Airtec or GRS intercooler now!

March Update

Has felt like a bit of a battle this month it really has, which just feels like my life at the moment

MCS

So I'll start with the good update. I got my Ultraguage delivered so in it went.

Easy to pop the clock off.


Get the little bracket into the back of it.


Curse yourself insessantly after dropping one of the small bolts and of course doesn't just roll onto the drivers mat it falls into the steering column plastics. So in we go.


Hey presto, in and setup.


Easy to check coolant and intake temps, cheeky bit of boost and to make sure the alternator is doing something with the battery voltge.

Here comes the bad updates....

So driving home one night and indicating I notice that there isn't that customary flash from the passenger side indicator. After messing around swapping bulbs to no avail, I whipped out the trusty multimeter and indeed no flashing voltage being applied across the terminals, oh excellent thought I.

Off came the trim. Nothing clear as I peered around.


Oh give me strength.


I could not find the other side of the break and suspect it is being hidden by the wing and washer bottle.

In addition there is a grinding/binding coming from the offside rear brakes and my horn doesn't seem to work which may be something to do with having the front end off for the supercharger service. But it is also a known weak point on minis (what isn't it seems). So I am dropping it back off with my friend as if it is the offside rear caliper , which cast your minds back a few months know, was brand new along with discs and pads. Could be under some form of warranty. While it is there they can check the horn, and hopefully sort the repeater. As again I just don't have the time right now to pull her apart.

But to make me feel better a bought a suitably cheesy JCW marked (obviously 100% legit) boot organiser to keep oil, quick detailer, microfibre in as having it all loose back there was grating on me.



MPS

As I routinely check the cars while in Winter slumber I noticed the little dehumidifier pots I had placed in the car were doing there jobs very effectively and causing a decent amount of water to be collected. Drivers side rear light was also showing water ingress. Don't you worry I can strip this boot interior in 5 minutes flat

So back in I go and low and behold we have water coming in from the drivers side rear. But it doesn't seem to be coming from the lights but to the left of them there is a certain body clip that looks strangely alot like the ones that the RX7 has that have a rubbish rubber/foam gasket that fail and let water in.



Out came the old one, with a bit of a wiggle and a jiggle as it secures part of the rear bumper on. Quick clean of the area and some extra silicon sealant help on the new clip and in she has popped. We did have some rain yesterday and when checking today to refit the rear light which I left on the radiator overnight no new water seems to have made its way in.

In slightly better news the MPS was £5 less to insure this year . But the RX8 went up about £40 boohiss.

I am just glad it had some still in it

RX7

So there are some RX7 updates! She got a bath and put back into road condition, tyre pressures checked, dehumdifier removed and general bits and bobs.



Fresh MOT



No advisories and plenty of compliments about her condition underneath and overall. I only did about 280 miles last year which was criminal and I have a ticket to PH annual event in August so she will be rolling out for that at the very least. The plan was to do more car bits this year but with my mums health I am trying to not get too far ahead of myself.

I managed to snag off an FD forum member a centre console armrest storage pocket to replace my ash tray coin pouch. Quite sought after swap and quite expensive from Japan retailing at the moment over £100.



MCS

The Mini continues to be trouble

Went back in for investigation and found the horns hadn't been plugged back in after the front came off, and the rear pads hadn't been clipped in correctly. The wing had to come off and the washer bottle and the side repeater wires crimped and all ok again. Huzzah!

Picked up a set of Kumho Ecsta HS52's for a good price from ATS and had them fitted to my 16's only to find out 2 of the wheels aren't straight. Excellent, nothing ever goes smoothly. But again picking up eBay wheels you never quite know what is going to happen. So I factored in a refurb and repair into the equation. Dropped them off and 1 was saveable and 1 was not. So now I am sourcing 1 16" MG Hairpin to complete the set.

Please let it be over soon

MPS

So it seems my little clip has made the difference as there has been no water build up since. It is still on the cards to get her to a bodyshop in the next few months but I am in no tremendous hurry. With plenty going on to keep me preoccupied.

RX8

Figured I would wait until May to get the 8 MOT'd so that I can split them just a little bit. I didn't want 3 cars to do every April after all.

Am keen to get her fired up again, I do miss driving it.

RX8

Passed its MOT! A few little things to get looked at, bushes starting to look worn, rear sills are showing some signs of rust apparently and a suspected oil leak, but as my drive isn't covered in oil from winter I wonder if its just oil thats come down past the filler neck when doing top ups. Interestingly last year it apparently struggled to pass the emissions, this year it flew through, more than likely linked to getting that sports cat really warm.

Considering the RX8 has been pretty good over the last few years its probably going to be time to start to show it some proper love. I know it is due some refurbished engine mounts as these have started to fail and I do want to use it as a base for a 3 rotor project in the future.

RX7

With the weather turning we went for a drive today to see my physio, its a lovely blat and reminded how good the car is. The Ohlins working well and that engine really is something.

MCS

More tinkering with the Mini. On one of the for sale pages a set of black honeycomb grills popped up barely 15 minutes away and for £25 they were mine. Turns out the chap runs Total53 and I'll more than likely be taking the Mini back there for a timing chain in the near future. Along with more work I have no doubt!



Gives you an idea of the stock chrome grills, albeit not the best front on photo



Both grills on, easy to do. Top grill isn't the most secure but it hasn't fallen off yet. I much prefer the look as we move away from the all chrome.

Other small additions, with aftermarket intercoolers on minis the coilpack and HT leads get a bit too close and I don't particularily like that. So I bought a coil pack relocation bracket and fit it in barely 10 minutes.



This picture shows what I mean, HT 2 is in contact with the Airtec and we all know engines like to vibrate!



We can see the mark on the lead, seeing as the intercooler hasn't been fitted for long it wouldn't really take too long to start doing some proper damage.



Bracket in place, with the length of the Magnecore's I can only really use the first hole.



But as we can see it is more than enough clearance to bring the leads away with a gap to spare. Well worth the pretty cheap cost to get it sorted.