R53 Police Auction Project
Discussion
Mr Tidy said:
You're a brave man OP! 
Love these Minis - OH had an R53 One followed by an R56 Cooper.
They just drive so well, but a Cooper S must be fantastic - will be looking out for the updates.
Hope it all goes smoothly!
Thanks Mr Tidy, Love these Minis - OH had an R53 One followed by an R56 Cooper.
They just drive so well, but a Cooper S must be fantastic - will be looking out for the updates.
Hope it all goes smoothly!
I don't know if brave or daft best describes it all to be honest....
Long over due update!
So with work and the weather being somewhat unreliable I've struggled to keep a regular work pattern on the car. However having been a few weeks since my last update I've got a few more pics and a video to keep the post somewhat interesting!
After a good few hours contacting people on eBay and the web I managed to find the body panels I needed in the right colour, a passenger door, bonnet a d both bumpers arrived a few days after I ordered them. I don't don't the guys at the post office were particularly happy about having half a car taking up their space but nonetheless:
I'd explored a few options for my keys considering I'd need it all coding together and it turned out the best option was for me to buy a whole new set. I'd called the breakers and the Key, door lock, ECU and Immobiliser module from the car I'm getting the JCW Engine from were still available so picked them up, plugged them all in and waited for the sweet sound of success.
Unfortunately, the battery was flat :/ so thankfully after a boost from an R56 cooper s (which I didn't hear the end of) she started and ran like a dream:
https://youtu.be/2PdOhV9qkmI
Having ran up the engine, the guy I'm doing the engine swap with was happy and so the striping began!
I decided to take photos every half an hour to kind of mark my progress with the engine lift. In the end it took me about 4 and a half hours:
As the weather was nice at this point I could crack on quickly:
Rather inconveniently, someone else at the site decided it would be a good idea to set their car on fire while welding so the mini took a back seat while I did a bit of ad-hoc fire fighting:
Alas! Back to the car. As the front end of the mini comes away from the car it was relatively easy to keep striping bits off:
Note the saw in that last picture.. where the front end had cracked it turned out to be easier to saw the plastic off!!
After consulting several online guides it would appear to remove the engine with ease, dropping the drive shafts off would help me so jacked the beast up, removed the wheels and had a chance to inspect the damage on the suspension from the crash.
Turns out the wishbone did take all the impact and kinked along with the drop link whilst the TRE sheered also.To pull the driveshaft out would mean I'd have to grind through the old one:
What I'd also discovered is that what little care was taken with the car before has fruitfully given me upgraded discs with pads that look almost new:
Having droped the shafts out and a lot of swearing/persuasion with a pry bar the engine mounts released and it was finally out!
I was also planning on posting a few painting updates but the Initial test piece didn't quite come out how I want it to so I'd rather put a bit more time in and show you the proper finished product.
Next step for me now is to drop my gear box, strip the engine down and do the trade! I've also managed to acquire the factory LSD gearbox and plan to put that in... I'd rather have a better drivetrain than spend loads on lots of power increases.
Until next time!
So with work and the weather being somewhat unreliable I've struggled to keep a regular work pattern on the car. However having been a few weeks since my last update I've got a few more pics and a video to keep the post somewhat interesting!
After a good few hours contacting people on eBay and the web I managed to find the body panels I needed in the right colour, a passenger door, bonnet a d both bumpers arrived a few days after I ordered them. I don't don't the guys at the post office were particularly happy about having half a car taking up their space but nonetheless:
I'd explored a few options for my keys considering I'd need it all coding together and it turned out the best option was for me to buy a whole new set. I'd called the breakers and the Key, door lock, ECU and Immobiliser module from the car I'm getting the JCW Engine from were still available so picked them up, plugged them all in and waited for the sweet sound of success.
Unfortunately, the battery was flat :/ so thankfully after a boost from an R56 cooper s (which I didn't hear the end of) she started and ran like a dream:
https://youtu.be/2PdOhV9qkmI
Having ran up the engine, the guy I'm doing the engine swap with was happy and so the striping began!
I decided to take photos every half an hour to kind of mark my progress with the engine lift. In the end it took me about 4 and a half hours:
As the weather was nice at this point I could crack on quickly:
Rather inconveniently, someone else at the site decided it would be a good idea to set their car on fire while welding so the mini took a back seat while I did a bit of ad-hoc fire fighting:
Alas! Back to the car. As the front end of the mini comes away from the car it was relatively easy to keep striping bits off:
Note the saw in that last picture.. where the front end had cracked it turned out to be easier to saw the plastic off!!
After consulting several online guides it would appear to remove the engine with ease, dropping the drive shafts off would help me so jacked the beast up, removed the wheels and had a chance to inspect the damage on the suspension from the crash.
Turns out the wishbone did take all the impact and kinked along with the drop link whilst the TRE sheered also.To pull the driveshaft out would mean I'd have to grind through the old one:
What I'd also discovered is that what little care was taken with the car before has fruitfully given me upgraded discs with pads that look almost new:
Having droped the shafts out and a lot of swearing/persuasion with a pry bar the engine mounts released and it was finally out!
I was also planning on posting a few painting updates but the Initial test piece didn't quite come out how I want it to so I'd rather put a bit more time in and show you the proper finished product.
Next step for me now is to drop my gear box, strip the engine down and do the trade! I've also managed to acquire the factory LSD gearbox and plan to put that in... I'd rather have a better drivetrain than spend loads on lots of power increases.
Until next time!
No, I should have joined but never did. Most of my mates joined, and a few are still in, scattered all over the UK. I'm struggling to find space for my MX5 and my best mate who's still serving loves reminding me how much space he has (garage in his married pad plus space on base for any projects).
Just a little mid week update....
Due to different delays and what not I've not had the time to do this before, but it's here!
Just a couple of pictures of some of the new JCW toys.
Also...
Not pictured, but very chuffed with my Limited Slip Differential gear box! To be honest the new engine will be plenty powerful so thought this was a no brainier. I'll get a picture up at the weekend of a few more bits I picked up tonight Including the BKL box, happy hump day!
Due to different delays and what not I've not had the time to do this before, but it's here!
Just a couple of pictures of some of the new JCW toys.
Also...
Not pictured, but very chuffed with my Limited Slip Differential gear box! To be honest the new engine will be plenty powerful so thought this was a no brainier. I'll get a picture up at the weekend of a few more bits I picked up tonight Including the BKL box, happy hump day!
You my friend, are a first class nutter!!!!!!!!
I got as far as the dash removed......
I am hopefully closing the deal this week on a mint '52 plate S which has a temp guage worringly near the top ( although they have not even lifted the bonnet to see why...... ) for just £400. Could be best / worst buy for a while
I got as far as the dash removed......
I am hopefully closing the deal this week on a mint '52 plate S which has a temp guage worringly near the top ( although they have not even lifted the bonnet to see why...... ) for just £400. Could be best / worst buy for a while
Furyblade_Lee said:
You my friend, are a first class nutter!!!!!!!!
I got as far as the dash removed......
I am hopefully closing the deal this week on a mint '52 plate S which has a temp guage worringly near the top ( although they have not even lifted the bonnet to see why...... ) for just £400. Could be best / worst buy for a while
Haha thanks...I got as far as the dash removed......
I am hopefully closing the deal this week on a mint '52 plate S which has a temp guage worringly near the top ( although they have not even lifted the bonnet to see why...... ) for just £400. Could be best / worst buy for a while
Sounds like it could be an interesting project, ill await the pictures and investigation of the temp gauge. From what I can gather from friends/owners, one of the sensors on the radiator is prone to faults; a £12 fix and you're away. A cheap way of investigation i've always found is to pick up a Bluetooth OBD2 reader from eBay and download the torque app. With the fault code you'll be able to find the problem.
It's been a couple of months...
But i haven't fallen into the 'Great start but left to the side' category.
Looking back at the last post i'd just picked up my engine and LSD gearbox..
I had to wait ages for a few bits to get here but i ended up ( and i'm still in the process of finishing) painting the plastics black. That original silver was awful and a few rattle cans later they ended up looking like this:
I was really pleased with the result and with the further plans i had with the car, i thought it best to go with this colour scheme.
Another one of the plans i had for the overall interior scheme of the mini was to replace the headlining, dash, front pillars and arm rests with suede. Personally, i think it gives a bit more of a sporty look to the motor and so with just the dash done, it turned out like this:
The next problem i had was that the silver faces of the original dials didnt at all work with the new colour combination.
After a lot of head scratching i came up with the best solution ( without paying a company in the US £150 ) to change them to black. Scan them into photoshop, manually trace them out and print them onto clear acetate and stick them to the dials. I'm currently waiting on the printable acetate to do this but in photoshop i managed to get this:
Depending in how they turn out when i print them and attach them, I'm thinking of doing it as a little sideline, seems the market is pretty absent of places you can get this done.
With the new engine waiting to go in, i thought it was the perfect time to start looking at the inevitable suspension woes i was about to face.
After jacking the car up and dropping the front sub frame it was pretty obvious what i was facing:
2x wishbones
2x drop links
wheel bearing on the passenger side
rear control arm drivers side
2x ball joints
needless to say the Bimi has had a hard life.
One of the saving graces of the whole suspension investigation process was removing the sub frame and discovering the P/S pump had ben done in 2013... Win!:
Suspension done ( We'll see what billy bob MOT says in August ), I was looking at different options for the dash.
I'd considered going black with the rest of the plastic, but considering car manufacturers have an overwhelming need to make everything black and or dull, i thought about hydro dipping.
Looking online, sending a few emails about i realised this wasnt going to be a cheap process. I was looking at at least 80 quid for the dash, let alone the inner y piece of the door card i was looking at contrasting. So as a jack of all trades i thought id give it ago.
I'm pretty arty ( and hopefully not too farty) so ordered the stuff online, bought myself a tub from The Range, and read up about it as much as i could. As easy as the process looks lits really difficult to establish the right dipping angle, the preparation takes a while having to paint the piece properly, mark out the film and get the water ready but after a few failed practices i started to get the hang of it. Being somewhat fickle, my new little side line took me to ordering all sorts of different films to try on speed shapes and even doing a few controllers, as well as a few engine bays. Even a few parts of my own dash which i had originally intended of doing, which then turned into my engine bay parts too. Notice the yellow marble splash too, another mini owner wanted their engine the same to match their liquid yellow paint:
Notice in the last picture the original factory CD Player - I hated the aftermarket one that was put in the car so managed to find an original player. Unfortunately, it seems the connector i had in the car wouldn't match to any CD player i could find, so a good few hours testing and crimping, i managed to mate every wire to its designated terminal.
One problem that was pointed out to me about looking at swapping the dial faces to black would be the almost invisible numbers and letters on the face. At night, when the cluster would be illuminated they would all light up anyway so it wouldnt matter but during day time hours i had a problem. I decided that i'd have to wire the illumination for the dial cluster into ignition stage one, so that the dials would illuminate when the key was inserted and turned. An hour later, with the help of my little tester i had what i needed:
Whilst chopping cables, i thought it might be a nice idea to see what else i could do. I've swapped the footwell lights for dim red LED's and thought it might be nice to get these to gently illuminate the foot wells at night time. The circuit for the zenon headlights doesnt kick out enough voltage so the easiest way was to splice the rear lights and piggy back off them:
Another nice effect of this, having wired the them into the rears was that when the remote lock is activated, as the footwell lights came on, the rear lights also came on. Inline with more modern cars i thought it would be nice that it also happened to the front so i wired the bottom fogs in to do the same. The little things!
I've been waiting for a good weekend to put the engine back in and having cleared a good lot of exams, this weekend was the winner. It had been a few months since id taken it out so you can imagine i've been somewhat dreading this. I decided to lay out the parts i was looking at, pushed the car onto the ramp and cracked on:
And that last picture is how i left the car this afternoon. I've got 2 spurious bolts that i'm yet to locate a few connections on the loom i cant seem to figure out. This loom has come from a different car, the same one i picked up the ECU, Key, engine etc from... so it may have a few options that mine doesnt have so im going to have to wait and do a bit more investigation.
One of the things i have done is given my old supercharger and gearbox to the breaker with a few bolts and attachments still on, so its stopped me attaching the inlet manifold and the passenger driveshaft. A trip this week should rectify that and hopefully ill have more updates and a video of the car running very soon.!
But i haven't fallen into the 'Great start but left to the side' category.
Looking back at the last post i'd just picked up my engine and LSD gearbox..
I had to wait ages for a few bits to get here but i ended up ( and i'm still in the process of finishing) painting the plastics black. That original silver was awful and a few rattle cans later they ended up looking like this:
I was really pleased with the result and with the further plans i had with the car, i thought it best to go with this colour scheme.
Another one of the plans i had for the overall interior scheme of the mini was to replace the headlining, dash, front pillars and arm rests with suede. Personally, i think it gives a bit more of a sporty look to the motor and so with just the dash done, it turned out like this:
The next problem i had was that the silver faces of the original dials didnt at all work with the new colour combination.
After a lot of head scratching i came up with the best solution ( without paying a company in the US £150 ) to change them to black. Scan them into photoshop, manually trace them out and print them onto clear acetate and stick them to the dials. I'm currently waiting on the printable acetate to do this but in photoshop i managed to get this:
Depending in how they turn out when i print them and attach them, I'm thinking of doing it as a little sideline, seems the market is pretty absent of places you can get this done.
With the new engine waiting to go in, i thought it was the perfect time to start looking at the inevitable suspension woes i was about to face.
After jacking the car up and dropping the front sub frame it was pretty obvious what i was facing:
2x wishbones
2x drop links
wheel bearing on the passenger side
rear control arm drivers side
2x ball joints
needless to say the Bimi has had a hard life.
One of the saving graces of the whole suspension investigation process was removing the sub frame and discovering the P/S pump had ben done in 2013... Win!:
Suspension done ( We'll see what billy bob MOT says in August ), I was looking at different options for the dash.
I'd considered going black with the rest of the plastic, but considering car manufacturers have an overwhelming need to make everything black and or dull, i thought about hydro dipping.
Looking online, sending a few emails about i realised this wasnt going to be a cheap process. I was looking at at least 80 quid for the dash, let alone the inner y piece of the door card i was looking at contrasting. So as a jack of all trades i thought id give it ago.
I'm pretty arty ( and hopefully not too farty) so ordered the stuff online, bought myself a tub from The Range, and read up about it as much as i could. As easy as the process looks lits really difficult to establish the right dipping angle, the preparation takes a while having to paint the piece properly, mark out the film and get the water ready but after a few failed practices i started to get the hang of it. Being somewhat fickle, my new little side line took me to ordering all sorts of different films to try on speed shapes and even doing a few controllers, as well as a few engine bays. Even a few parts of my own dash which i had originally intended of doing, which then turned into my engine bay parts too. Notice the yellow marble splash too, another mini owner wanted their engine the same to match their liquid yellow paint:
Notice in the last picture the original factory CD Player - I hated the aftermarket one that was put in the car so managed to find an original player. Unfortunately, it seems the connector i had in the car wouldn't match to any CD player i could find, so a good few hours testing and crimping, i managed to mate every wire to its designated terminal.
One problem that was pointed out to me about looking at swapping the dial faces to black would be the almost invisible numbers and letters on the face. At night, when the cluster would be illuminated they would all light up anyway so it wouldnt matter but during day time hours i had a problem. I decided that i'd have to wire the illumination for the dial cluster into ignition stage one, so that the dials would illuminate when the key was inserted and turned. An hour later, with the help of my little tester i had what i needed:
Whilst chopping cables, i thought it might be a nice idea to see what else i could do. I've swapped the footwell lights for dim red LED's and thought it might be nice to get these to gently illuminate the foot wells at night time. The circuit for the zenon headlights doesnt kick out enough voltage so the easiest way was to splice the rear lights and piggy back off them:
Another nice effect of this, having wired the them into the rears was that when the remote lock is activated, as the footwell lights came on, the rear lights also came on. Inline with more modern cars i thought it would be nice that it also happened to the front so i wired the bottom fogs in to do the same. The little things!
I've been waiting for a good weekend to put the engine back in and having cleared a good lot of exams, this weekend was the winner. It had been a few months since id taken it out so you can imagine i've been somewhat dreading this. I decided to lay out the parts i was looking at, pushed the car onto the ramp and cracked on:
And that last picture is how i left the car this afternoon. I've got 2 spurious bolts that i'm yet to locate a few connections on the loom i cant seem to figure out. This loom has come from a different car, the same one i picked up the ECU, Key, engine etc from... so it may have a few options that mine doesnt have so im going to have to wait and do a bit more investigation.
One of the things i have done is given my old supercharger and gearbox to the breaker with a few bolts and attachments still on, so its stopped me attaching the inlet manifold and the passenger driveshaft. A trip this week should rectify that and hopefully ill have more updates and a video of the car running very soon.!
Next little bit...
I haven't had a chance to get to the breakers yet so no more progress with the engine. I have however started to mess around a little bit with the body work. Some of the bigger dents are going to need to be pulled and properly addressed but im messing about with a few colour combinations for a few of the little details... ( when i say colour, matte black
Thoughts?
I'm going to revert the wing mirror covers to mirror too due to the other plans ive got of putting some go faster stripes ( original i know) in matte black:
Again, any thoughts or comments would be more than welcome!
Its quite obvious from the photos that the body work is in pretty bad condition, so i managed to get my hands on some of the stuff i used to use on yachts and i was pretty impressed with the results considering the age and hard life this car has had. Tried a bit of paint work restoration on a few parts:
Very pleased with the results and as soon as i get a nice few days, ill go over the whole car and identify all the spots that need touching up.
Had a bit of free time at the weekend so also managed to get another mini engine bay ive been working weighed off, along with my air bag cover for the dash:
Managed to get a good bit of the interior plastics done although something reacted with the paint! job was flawless until the bubbles appeared... another few hours with the sand paper it is then:
One of the benefits of being based down here though is you do get a chance to see some of the cool stuff the rest of the world has to offer, had a visit from the USS George Bush this weekend:
And that's it for now, hopefully ill have had a good chance to do some more before leave!
I haven't had a chance to get to the breakers yet so no more progress with the engine. I have however started to mess around a little bit with the body work. Some of the bigger dents are going to need to be pulled and properly addressed but im messing about with a few colour combinations for a few of the little details... ( when i say colour, matte black
Thoughts?
I'm going to revert the wing mirror covers to mirror too due to the other plans ive got of putting some go faster stripes ( original i know) in matte black:
Again, any thoughts or comments would be more than welcome!
Its quite obvious from the photos that the body work is in pretty bad condition, so i managed to get my hands on some of the stuff i used to use on yachts and i was pretty impressed with the results considering the age and hard life this car has had. Tried a bit of paint work restoration on a few parts:
Very pleased with the results and as soon as i get a nice few days, ill go over the whole car and identify all the spots that need touching up.
Had a bit of free time at the weekend so also managed to get another mini engine bay ive been working weighed off, along with my air bag cover for the dash:
Managed to get a good bit of the interior plastics done although something reacted with the paint! job was flawless until the bubbles appeared... another few hours with the sand paper it is then:
One of the benefits of being based down here though is you do get a chance to see some of the cool stuff the rest of the world has to offer, had a visit from the USS George Bush this weekend:
And that's it for now, hopefully ill have had a good chance to do some more before leave!
-01SQ-, I'm loving this thread and a personal thanks from me for bringing back some great memories. I fixed my fair share of motors for oppos going weekenders back in the day (mid 90's) in that same car club when I was on nukes course. Some of the best lads and some amazing laughs.
Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
Hainey said:
-01SQ-, I'm loving this thread and a personal thanks from me for bringing back some great memories. I fixed my fair share of motors for oppos going weekenders back in the day (mid 90's) in that same car club when I was on nukes course. Some of the best lads and some amazing laughs.
Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
Great to hear from you! Slowly becoming the go to guy here for anything car related.. a few late Thursday nights making sure couple of lads can get on weekenders.Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
I'm here on LET(SM)QC here... so had a good few jollies already! i think its what they to call the old tiff course.. funny how these ideas seem to come round again. Where did you go post mob?
If you check back later this week, i'll upload something that'll bring back loads of memories, i'm sure you'll remember it lthough perhaps not in its current form.
-01SQ- said:
Hainey said:
-01SQ-, I'm loving this thread and a personal thanks from me for bringing back some great memories. I fixed my fair share of motors for oppos going weekenders back in the day (mid 90's) in that same car club when I was on nukes course. Some of the best lads and some amazing laughs.
Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
Great to hear from you! Slowly becoming the go to guy here for anything car related.. a few late Thursday nights making sure couple of lads can get on weekenders.Assuming you've not cracked some sea time in yet, the hard graft you're doing now is worth it the first run ashore foreign.
And don't be shy to get a crate in
Great motor.
I'm here on LET(SM)QC here... so had a good few jollies already! i think its what they to call the old tiff course.. funny how these ideas seem to come round again. Where did you go post mob?
If you check back later this week, i'll upload something that'll bring back loads of memories, i'm sure you'll remember it lthough perhaps not in its current form.
I drank a lot of beer based on my spannering abilities as I'd just finished my apprenticeship as a mechanic when i joined so I ended up being where you are now; if someones car was bust or making a noise I'd come back to the grot to find a note under the door. This was the time before we all had mobiles and guides on YouTube so people tended not to be keen to have a crack at it and I ended up the default base mechanic . As I'm from near Glasgow I used to not bother going weekenders and would just spanner at the weekends and then at night go trapping at Joannas or do rounds route Alpha ending up in Emmas, dodging all the Tiffs wives out on the pull, their men were away at sea enjoying their grant issue WREN (as the wives all knew about) and so they were out looking for some naughty. Good girls, all of them
I won Captains Prize when i was there for best on course so my name is probably still on the wall somewhere, assuming Rutherford block isn't actually rubble yet. It was looking pretty second hand after all when I was there but then so was the full base!
When I left I went the opposite way and became an airline pilot. I binned that a few years ago as the money at my paypoint wasnt that awesome and i was fed up with the hours and scheduling as it was killing my family life. I went back into engineering and ended up a company MD so it worked out ok. Thats changing soon though as I'm setting up for myself in a different field. I have my wings tatt just above my dolphins, so that causes some explaining on the beach
One of my best mates is a senior Captain with a UK airline and he is an ex stoker (M) so there is a lot of ex Navy sundodger mafia on flight decks, I'm very far from unique in that sense.
Love to see what you post, I admit I miss it every day. Not the BS that all forces jobs have, but ceryainly the lads and the sense of purpose as well as the unique sense of humour we all shared. At the risk of sounding like the current TV advert, the RN made me. No question.
Oh and as an example of same:
https://youtu.be/nxUnBk8kIis
Nails it!
Slightly off topic and as promised to Haigney:
Given the age of the car club down here we've gathered quite the collection of manuals over the years and thought i'd share them with you ( and i promise, its worth reading through them, some absolute crackers! )
Some absolute rarities!
Having a look in one of the drawers, i also found these, The earliest of the pile is Jan 93:
I wonder if that last offer still stands??
Given the age of the car club down here we've gathered quite the collection of manuals over the years and thought i'd share them with you ( and i promise, its worth reading through them, some absolute crackers! )
Some absolute rarities!
Having a look in one of the drawers, i also found these, The earliest of the pile is Jan 93:
I wonder if that last offer still stands??
Crikey that brings back memories, more than you know
There should be some later BMW ones as well and definitely one with an M3 on the cover. I know, I bought it!
If you find a load of Men Only mags as well those were mine. A partucular favourite was the one with 19yr old Leah on the cover
Man I feel old.
There should be some later BMW ones as well and definitely one with an M3 on the cover. I know, I bought it!
If you find a load of Men Only mags as well those were mine. A partucular favourite was the one with 19yr old Leah on the cover
Man I feel old.
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