My Very Cheap Mini One D Dooer Upper...
Discussion
Morning 
I thought I may as well track a bit of my progress with this as I've never had something so new as a project type car.
Let me start with how I ended up with a Mini. A few months ago my friends Mother in law called me asking if I could come and have a look at her Mini as the power steering had stopped working. I popped round and diagnosed the pump as having died (hydraulic pump on the D rather than the electric one on the petrol variants). I quoted her a price to replace it (circa £600 using a recon pump!) and she told me she would let me know. About a month passed before I heard anything more from her. She said they weren't going to bother fixing it as it wasn't worth it and that the might try and sell it instead. I registered my interest and told her to let me know once they had decided how much they wanted. A couple of days later and she came back to me with a figure of £150!!!! Now at this point I was a bit cheeky. I agreed to give her £150 for the Mini but I told her I wouldn't have anywhere to store it for another month. Surprisingly she agreed to hold on to it for me until I had the space for it (she lives on a farm so has plenty of space thankfully)
A month or so later I got my Brother to drive me over there and I drove it home. It was an interesting trip with the power steering bursting into life halfway around corners causing a bit of alarm haha! I also noticed a horrible knocking noise which would require some attention. However, I got it home and onto the driveway and then had to decide what to do with it.
For reference it's a 2004 Mini One D. For the first 8 years of its life it was used as a driving school car, so now sitting on my driveway it has 185,000 miles on it! About 5 years ago it had a second hand engine fitted as the original suffered a cracked cylinder head so the engine fitted hasn't done quite that mileage. The car still has the dual controls fitted (should be an interesting challenge to remove them!) and is just 1 owner from new!
I thought I may as well track a bit of my progress with this as I've never had something so new as a project type car.
Let me start with how I ended up with a Mini. A few months ago my friends Mother in law called me asking if I could come and have a look at her Mini as the power steering had stopped working. I popped round and diagnosed the pump as having died (hydraulic pump on the D rather than the electric one on the petrol variants). I quoted her a price to replace it (circa £600 using a recon pump!) and she told me she would let me know. About a month passed before I heard anything more from her. She said they weren't going to bother fixing it as it wasn't worth it and that the might try and sell it instead. I registered my interest and told her to let me know once they had decided how much they wanted. A couple of days later and she came back to me with a figure of £150!!!! Now at this point I was a bit cheeky. I agreed to give her £150 for the Mini but I told her I wouldn't have anywhere to store it for another month. Surprisingly she agreed to hold on to it for me until I had the space for it (she lives on a farm so has plenty of space thankfully)
A month or so later I got my Brother to drive me over there and I drove it home. It was an interesting trip with the power steering bursting into life halfway around corners causing a bit of alarm haha! I also noticed a horrible knocking noise which would require some attention. However, I got it home and onto the driveway and then had to decide what to do with it.
For reference it's a 2004 Mini One D. For the first 8 years of its life it was used as a driving school car, so now sitting on my driveway it has 185,000 miles on it! About 5 years ago it had a second hand engine fitted as the original suffered a cracked cylinder head so the engine fitted hasn't done quite that mileage. The car still has the dual controls fitted (should be an interesting challenge to remove them!) and is just 1 owner from new!
Edited by Sammo123 on Sunday 13th September 09:11
Edited by Sammo123 on Sunday 13th September 16:30
Ok, so the decision was made to get the car roadworthy again and then perhaps sell my 5 series (waaaay too big for what I need!) and use this instead.
However, the first thing I needed to do was give the car a clean. I hate cleaning cars but this hadn't been cleaned in at least 2 years and was absolutely disgusting! The picture doesn't show it but the car was almost green on the outside and unfortunately the car had been used as the "dogmobile" for the last few years so was rather furry inside along with that disgusting doggy stink! See the pictures below for what the seats looked like.
I opened the boot halfway through cleaning to see how hairy it was in there. Only to find that a rat had been living in there and had stolen half the boot carpet! Along with some of the wiring, and boot plastics (and I later found it had chewed a lot of the engine bay wiring too).
I spent about 2 hours hoovering the inside of the car and disenfecting the boot and surrounding areas. It still smells doggy (which I will sort later) but I don't feel dirty after sitting in there now!
However, the first thing I needed to do was give the car a clean. I hate cleaning cars but this hadn't been cleaned in at least 2 years and was absolutely disgusting! The picture doesn't show it but the car was almost green on the outside and unfortunately the car had been used as the "dogmobile" for the last few years so was rather furry inside along with that disgusting doggy stink! See the pictures below for what the seats looked like.
I opened the boot halfway through cleaning to see how hairy it was in there. Only to find that a rat had been living in there and had stolen half the boot carpet! Along with some of the wiring, and boot plastics (and I later found it had chewed a lot of the engine bay wiring too).
I spent about 2 hours hoovering the inside of the car and disenfecting the boot and surrounding areas. It still smells doggy (which I will sort later) but I don't feel dirty after sitting in there now!
Nigel_O said:
good grief - £150 
PS pumps on Ebay for £100 - £300 - sorted
Check the power steering pump cooling fan - they get lots of weather and can seize solid, which might be the cause of the pump failure - cheap and easy fix
No cooling fan on these as they're a hydraulic pump rather than an electric one. I will move on to that in a little bit though. PS pumps on Ebay for £100 - £300 - sorted
Check the power steering pump cooling fan - they get lots of weather and can seize solid, which might be the cause of the pump failure - cheap and easy fix
So I figured the first thing I should do is get the steering sorted out. In theory it is the main problem so should be done first. I managed to pick up a second hand pump from a breaker on eBay for around £35. They had the rack from the same car for £50 so I bought that too just in case.
I opened the bonnet to be greeted by this (with an engine mount still fitted I would like to add)
Annoyingly the power steering pump is at the back of the engine quite low down. I started unbolting the engine mount only for it to just fall apart in my hands. This is what I was left with (these bits have been sat in a bucket outside for a couple of weeks now)
I have managed to get one piece from eBay and I'm still keeping an eye out for the second part as they're ridiculously expensive from Mini. While I was in there I had a look at the rest of the engine and noticed that my ratty friend had chewed on quite a lot of the engine bay wiring too! I got back on eBay and managed to get a complete engine bay loom for £40 so I can just unplug this one and swap it for the replacement.
The power steering pump was an absolute pig to get out. It has no way of de-tensioning the belt so after messing around for about an hour I just lost my temper and cut through the belt with some side cutters and off the pump popped. Having been in/under the engine bay I came across lots of oil leaking from various places around the engine and turbo. I went and sat down for a bit and made the decision to remove the engine so I could clean everything up, replace some gaskets and strip the wiring out easily.
I opened the bonnet to be greeted by this (with an engine mount still fitted I would like to add)
Annoyingly the power steering pump is at the back of the engine quite low down. I started unbolting the engine mount only for it to just fall apart in my hands. This is what I was left with (these bits have been sat in a bucket outside for a couple of weeks now)
I have managed to get one piece from eBay and I'm still keeping an eye out for the second part as they're ridiculously expensive from Mini. While I was in there I had a look at the rest of the engine and noticed that my ratty friend had chewed on quite a lot of the engine bay wiring too! I got back on eBay and managed to get a complete engine bay loom for £40 so I can just unplug this one and swap it for the replacement.
The power steering pump was an absolute pig to get out. It has no way of de-tensioning the belt so after messing around for about an hour I just lost my temper and cut through the belt with some side cutters and off the pump popped. Having been in/under the engine bay I came across lots of oil leaking from various places around the engine and turbo. I went and sat down for a bit and made the decision to remove the engine so I could clean everything up, replace some gaskets and strip the wiring out easily.
Once that decision was made I wanted to get it all done ASAP otherwise I know it will just sit around for months! So I got out there one evening after work and started taking bits off ready for the engine to come out.
And that's where I hit my first issue! I thought I would get the driveshafts out as they're a bit of a pain in the arse. I pulled out my impact gun and buzzed the drivers hub nut off. Then I went round to the passenger side and it wouldn't come undone. I checked it wasn't a reverse thread (which it wasn't) so tried again with the gun and then pulled out the breaker bar. No luck with that either. I left it a couple of days and managed to get hold of a 4ft length of scaffold pole. With that over my breaker bar I was then working with about 5 1/2 foot of leverage. Still wouldn't come undone! So now I'm stuck! I have started using a hammer and chisel to break the hub nut in two. It's bloody tough!
And that's where I hit my first issue! I thought I would get the driveshafts out as they're a bit of a pain in the arse. I pulled out my impact gun and buzzed the drivers hub nut off. Then I went round to the passenger side and it wouldn't come undone. I checked it wasn't a reverse thread (which it wasn't) so tried again with the gun and then pulled out the breaker bar. No luck with that either. I left it a couple of days and managed to get hold of a 4ft length of scaffold pole. With that over my breaker bar I was then working with about 5 1/2 foot of leverage. Still wouldn't come undone! So now I'm stuck! I have started using a hammer and chisel to break the hub nut in two. It's bloody tough!
I managed to get a bit more done today. My Mum took my Daughter out for a couple of hours so I nipped down to B&Q and picked up some drill bits. When I got home it took me a whole 10 minutes to drill through the hub nut and get it off. I wish I'd done that the moment it started putting up a fight rather than messing around trying to find long bits of bar! I did damage the cv joint while drilling so will need to replace it but never mind. At least I can crack on now.
So with that out of the way and still a little bit of time before my Daughter got home I thought I would get the front stripped off. I got as far as taking the front bumper off before the heavens opened and I had to leg it indoors!
It looks like it's going to be raining most of the week so that stops any more progress for now
So with that out of the way and still a little bit of time before my Daughter got home I thought I would get the front stripped off. I got as far as taking the front bumper off before the heavens opened and I had to leg it indoors!
It looks like it's going to be raining most of the week so that stops any more progress for now
Edited by Sammo123 on Sunday 13th September 19:56
Seeing as it's a nice sunny Sunday I thought I better get back out there and try and get a couple of hours on the Mini.
I managed to (eventually) get the front panel off after a few threaded nuts and bolts put up a fight. It would appear that whoever replaced the engine (it was done by a garage!!!) wasn't too good at doing things up straight! Anyway, I got there eventually and could then get a better look at the wiring etc.
I got in a bit closer and found a couple more bits of chewed wiring and a little bunch of straw which may of housed a mouse at some point!
I've come in to watch the F1 and have some lunch and then I have some other bits to do this afternoon but I will try and do a bit more before the end of the day
I managed to (eventually) get the front panel off after a few threaded nuts and bolts put up a fight. It would appear that whoever replaced the engine (it was done by a garage!!!) wasn't too good at doing things up straight! Anyway, I got there eventually and could then get a better look at the wiring etc.
I got in a bit closer and found a couple more bits of chewed wiring and a little bunch of straw which may of housed a mouse at some point!
I've come in to watch the F1 and have some lunch and then I have some other bits to do this afternoon but I will try and do a bit more before the end of the day
I managed to get a couple more hours on the Mini after the F1 had finished
So I managed to disconnect all the fuel lines and electrical connections to the engine plus the gear linkage cables. Next thing I needed to do was get the driveshafts out. My god, what a pain in the arse it was (and I didn't even get as far as taking them out!)
Once again, every single but and bolt I came across felt like it had been done up by Geoff Capes and a 20 metre breaker bar! I had to burn all the ball joints to a crisp too as they wouldn't pop out for love nor money! At around half 6 I finally gave up for the day after I couldn't figure out how to actually get the driveshafts out of the gearbox. I will do some research and attack it again later this week. Here are a couple of pictures of how far I got before I packed everything up for the day.
So I managed to disconnect all the fuel lines and electrical connections to the engine plus the gear linkage cables. Next thing I needed to do was get the driveshafts out. My god, what a pain in the arse it was (and I didn't even get as far as taking them out!)
Once again, every single but and bolt I came across felt like it had been done up by Geoff Capes and a 20 metre breaker bar! I had to burn all the ball joints to a crisp too as they wouldn't pop out for love nor money! At around half 6 I finally gave up for the day after I couldn't figure out how to actually get the driveshafts out of the gearbox. I will do some research and attack it again later this week. Here are a couple of pictures of how far I got before I packed everything up for the day.
Bungleaio said:
You are certainly putting in a lot of effort! I hope you enjoy driving it when you've finished it all.
It amuses me that BMW included cooper S skirts on these to make the diesel a bit more desirable than the petrol One.
I didn't realise they were Cooper S skirts so thanks for pointing that out as the drivers side one needs replacing and I would of just bought a regular one haha!It amuses me that BMW included cooper S skirts on these to make the diesel a bit more desirable than the petrol One.
Well I was hoping to have the engine on the floor this weekend but I've gotten a bit stuck trying to get the driveshafts out! I've tried pulling them and they won't come out. I've tried levering them and they won't come out. I can't think of any other ways at the moment hehe. Google doesn't seem to be offering any advice so I'm asking around on Mini forums to see if anyone can help.
Oh and I've managed to pick up replacement engine mount brackets from a breaker so one less thing to save up for to buy from Mini!
Oh and I've managed to pick up replacement engine mount brackets from a breaker so one less thing to save up for to buy from Mini!
Ok I managed to make some more progress this afternoon.
I wandered back outside about 3ish and was faced with this.
I spoke to the breakers that I picked up the engine mounts from and they told me how to get the drive shafts out. It took at least 30 seconds to get them to release! Easy when you know how!
With the driveshafts out I could undo the last few bits ready to wheel the engine straight out the front. I also needed to put the suspension back together and get it back on its wheels. When I parked the car up I got it quite close to the edge of the driveway and didn't leave myself any space for the engine to come out.
It took me about 45 mins to get everything undone and out of the way and then I had to make a decision on how I was actually getting the engine out. I've got an engine crane but this engine doesn't really have anywhere to pick it up by. I had a rummage through the shed and found an old car dolly hiding down the back, so that got dragged out along with my big trolley jack and both got positioned under the engine and gearbox. I jacked it all up slightly to take the strain off the mounts and undid them all, lowered the jack down so the sump was sat on the dolly and then slowly wheeled it all out in one. Easy!
I decided to quit while I was ahead so packed everything away at this point! Before I went in I had a good look around the engine bay and it's definitely going to need degreasing and cleaning up before the engine goes back in. This thing has been leaking oil for a long time! I can safely say nothing underneath is going to be rusty haha! This is what I'm left with after today.
I won't get any more time on it this weekend but I am going to do a bit of research on the best (strongest) degreaser as its on there pretty thick!
I wandered back outside about 3ish and was faced with this.
I spoke to the breakers that I picked up the engine mounts from and they told me how to get the drive shafts out. It took at least 30 seconds to get them to release! Easy when you know how!
With the driveshafts out I could undo the last few bits ready to wheel the engine straight out the front. I also needed to put the suspension back together and get it back on its wheels. When I parked the car up I got it quite close to the edge of the driveway and didn't leave myself any space for the engine to come out.
It took me about 45 mins to get everything undone and out of the way and then I had to make a decision on how I was actually getting the engine out. I've got an engine crane but this engine doesn't really have anywhere to pick it up by. I had a rummage through the shed and found an old car dolly hiding down the back, so that got dragged out along with my big trolley jack and both got positioned under the engine and gearbox. I jacked it all up slightly to take the strain off the mounts and undid them all, lowered the jack down so the sump was sat on the dolly and then slowly wheeled it all out in one. Easy!
I decided to quit while I was ahead so packed everything away at this point! Before I went in I had a good look around the engine bay and it's definitely going to need degreasing and cleaning up before the engine goes back in. This thing has been leaking oil for a long time! I can safely say nothing underneath is going to be rusty haha! This is what I'm left with after today.
I won't get any more time on it this weekend but I am going to do a bit of research on the best (strongest) degreaser as its on there pretty thick!
Sorry for the lack of updates. Being busy at work and the crappy weather have slowed things down a bit!
So at the last update I had removed the engine.
I have since removed the front subframe, shocks, and exhaust down pipe. Due to the liberal coating of oil on everything, all the subframe and steering rack bolts came undone without a fight which makes a change in this car
Once everything was off I degreased the subframe and then gave the engine bay a good going over. I also got rid of all traces of rat poo that I could find
So once all that was clean I started stripping the subframe down ready to replace all the tired old bushes. I don't have any photos of anything else at the moment but I have replaced the wishbone bushes, ARB bushes, steering rack bush and all engine and gearbox mounts with Powerflex poly bushes. I was also offered a set of coilovers very cheaply. I don't know if I'm going to use them yet but they were too cheap to turn down. I've bought new track rods and ends, ball joints, a gasket set for the engine and new front wheel bearings. I managed to get all those bits from eBay and Euro Car Parts. Annoyingly I still needed to buy the snapped engine mount brackets which had to come from Mini You may remember I picked up some second hand engine mount brackets from a breakers but unfortunately they turned out to be from the later Mini One D and were slightly different
I've bought loads of other little bits and bobs while the weather has been crap but I'll wait until I'm fitting them to let you know what I've got
So at the last update I had removed the engine.
I have since removed the front subframe, shocks, and exhaust down pipe. Due to the liberal coating of oil on everything, all the subframe and steering rack bolts came undone without a fight which makes a change in this car
Once everything was off I degreased the subframe and then gave the engine bay a good going over. I also got rid of all traces of rat poo that I could find
So once all that was clean I started stripping the subframe down ready to replace all the tired old bushes. I don't have any photos of anything else at the moment but I have replaced the wishbone bushes, ARB bushes, steering rack bush and all engine and gearbox mounts with Powerflex poly bushes. I was also offered a set of coilovers very cheaply. I don't know if I'm going to use them yet but they were too cheap to turn down. I've bought new track rods and ends, ball joints, a gasket set for the engine and new front wheel bearings. I managed to get all those bits from eBay and Euro Car Parts. Annoyingly I still needed to buy the snapped engine mount brackets which had to come from Mini
You may remember I picked up some second hand engine mount brackets from a breakers but unfortunately they turned out to be from the later Mini One D and were slightly different I've bought loads of other little bits and bobs while the weather has been crap but I'll wait until I'm fitting them to let you know what I've got
Edited by Sammo123 on Saturday 5th December 18:45
Another quick update. Seeing as the bad weather is here to stay for the foreseeable future I thought I better sort out some sort of shelter so the work on the Mini can continue through the winter. I got straight onto eBay and started looking at marquees. I was a bit taken aback at how expensive they are! I only want it to keep me dry for a bit, I'm not going to be hosting weddings in it for gods sake! Anyway after keeping an eye on them I finally managed to get myself one for the princely sum of £139 with free shipping. Bargain!
Now upon its arrival I took a brief glance at the pitiful instructions before cracking on. The instructions suggested building the roof first, laying the cover over it and then building the legs. Well that would probably be the best way to go about it, but unfortunately there's a car on axle stands in the way. So instead of doing what I was told I started building the frame up around the car. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and it was pretty solid once it was up! It was also a lot taller than I was expecting! I'm not sure what I was expecting to be honest but never mind. I was halfway there.
All that was left to do was chuck the cover over it (this might prove slightly troublesome due to the height), secure it down and voila, a nice dry work space. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and instead it started to absolutely piss it down!
Fast forward to today and it's dry(ish) outside and not too windy. I got the cover back out of the shed and started opening it out onto the lawn to see which way round it went on. At this very moment my Brother arrived home from his 12 hour night shift, so was dualley enrolled as apprentice cover thrower overer. We managed to tie some rope to the tie down eyes and pulled the cover over the frame. It secured down easily and then the front and rear doors went on.
Done! I zipped the doors up and it actually got quite warm in there after a few minutes! I'm just going to wait for it to dry out a bit in there and then I can crack on with the Mini I've got some spotlights that will hang quite nicely from the framework and also provide a bit of extra warmth!
This should mean I will be providing more frequent updates now too as I can work on the car when I get home in the evenings
Now upon its arrival I took a brief glance at the pitiful instructions before cracking on. The instructions suggested building the roof first, laying the cover over it and then building the legs. Well that would probably be the best way to go about it, but unfortunately there's a car on axle stands in the way. So instead of doing what I was told I started building the frame up around the car. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and it was pretty solid once it was up! It was also a lot taller than I was expecting! I'm not sure what I was expecting to be honest but never mind. I was halfway there.
All that was left to do was chuck the cover over it (this might prove slightly troublesome due to the height), secure it down and voila, a nice dry work space. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and instead it started to absolutely piss it down!
Fast forward to today and it's dry(ish) outside and not too windy. I got the cover back out of the shed and started opening it out onto the lawn to see which way round it went on. At this very moment my Brother arrived home from his 12 hour night shift, so was dualley enrolled as apprentice cover thrower overer. We managed to tie some rope to the tie down eyes and pulled the cover over the frame. It secured down easily and then the front and rear doors went on.
Done! I zipped the doors up and it actually got quite warm in there after a few minutes! I'm just going to wait for it to dry out a bit in there and then I can crack on with the Mini
I've got some spotlights that will hang quite nicely from the framework and also provide a bit of extra warmth!This should mean I will be providing more frequent updates now too as I can work on the car when I get home in the evenings
james_tigerwoods said:
I have to ask - what's the end plan of this or is it an engineering exercise? And what has it cost you, all in, so far?
I'm going to use it as my daily driver. It's actually worked out quite well for me being able to spend small amounts every so often to get the bits I need for it rather than having to spend out all in one go. I've actually not sat and added it all up but with having to buy the engine mounts from BMW and all the bits and bobs I've picked up I'm probably looking at around £1000 in total. That's including buying the car.
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