Summer lovin' - the cheap R52 Mini shed
Discussion
Having sold my Alfa Spider recently i was getting bored of having a space on the drive so started looking for cheapey summer project convertible i could run and fiddle with - much to the annoyance of SWMBO
I was originally looking at Z3's and TT's but started getting lazy as most of them in my self imposed budget of £2500 were too far to travel to see. A mini convertible had popped up a couple of times on my Facebay searches which i skipped over, but at the weekend, i saw the seller had dropped the price a bit more. Importantly it was only a few miles away from me.
Quick call to view it and it all seemed reasonable for the money - all the MOT issues had been rectified and had a ticket until Feb next year, 2 previous owners and a chunk of history. A polite haggle and the deal was done.
So i'm now the owner of a 2005 Mini 1.6 One Pepper Pack convertible shed
Obligatory forecourt shot on the way home (as you may notice i did leave it late in the day to view)
Its pretty grubby inside and out, in desperate need of a good scrub inside and out - the roof works fine but again needs a deep clean and proofing
Next day, the sun was out so was able to take it for a quick drive with the roof down. Despite being an early R52 1.6 One, it actually drives and goes well - very 'darty' and go kart like. The gearbox has some nice close gates and its quite fun to keep the speed on. Fuel consumption is a lot better than the X6 we have which is also a bonus these days.
Having a dig around, it appears the air con doesn't work which is no big thing when the roof comes off anyway, and the cable has come loose again on the passenger door so it doesn't open from the inside - googling tells me thats a simple fix and if a new cable is needed, only around £10. Other than that everything else "seems" to work, there are no signs of rust, tyres have decent tread but are different brands all round and the body work is pretty straight.
Slightly more concerning was the "odd" pipes i found in the boot
I have no idea what they are, couldn't find anything on google, the reference numbers on the cap only refer to the material they are made of. They had some weight in them, but were sealed and wires coming out of the top - to say they looked dodgy was an understatement.
Spoke to a couple of friends to see if they knew what they may be - most jumped to the same conclusion so i took them to the local Police station who raised an eyebrow at them, logged them as "unknown pipe devices" and took them away for me.
First job is to clean the glass properly so i can see out of it, then break out the DA on the paintwork
I was originally looking at Z3's and TT's but started getting lazy as most of them in my self imposed budget of £2500 were too far to travel to see. A mini convertible had popped up a couple of times on my Facebay searches which i skipped over, but at the weekend, i saw the seller had dropped the price a bit more. Importantly it was only a few miles away from me.
Quick call to view it and it all seemed reasonable for the money - all the MOT issues had been rectified and had a ticket until Feb next year, 2 previous owners and a chunk of history. A polite haggle and the deal was done.
So i'm now the owner of a 2005 Mini 1.6 One Pepper Pack convertible shed
Obligatory forecourt shot on the way home (as you may notice i did leave it late in the day to view)
Its pretty grubby inside and out, in desperate need of a good scrub inside and out - the roof works fine but again needs a deep clean and proofing
Next day, the sun was out so was able to take it for a quick drive with the roof down. Despite being an early R52 1.6 One, it actually drives and goes well - very 'darty' and go kart like. The gearbox has some nice close gates and its quite fun to keep the speed on. Fuel consumption is a lot better than the X6 we have which is also a bonus these days.
Having a dig around, it appears the air con doesn't work which is no big thing when the roof comes off anyway, and the cable has come loose again on the passenger door so it doesn't open from the inside - googling tells me thats a simple fix and if a new cable is needed, only around £10. Other than that everything else "seems" to work, there are no signs of rust, tyres have decent tread but are different brands all round and the body work is pretty straight.
Slightly more concerning was the "odd" pipes i found in the boot
I have no idea what they are, couldn't find anything on google, the reference numbers on the cap only refer to the material they are made of. They had some weight in them, but were sealed and wires coming out of the top - to say they looked dodgy was an understatement.
Spoke to a couple of friends to see if they knew what they may be - most jumped to the same conclusion so i took them to the local Police station who raised an eyebrow at them, logged them as "unknown pipe devices" and took them away for me.
First job is to clean the glass properly so i can see out of it, then break out the DA on the paintwork
The quality of the interior materials on there is pretty high, my dad bought a R50 spares or repair Mini on eBay recently and it looked like a tramp had died on the rear seat. A few hours with the carpet shampooer and a drill brush and it came up incredibly well indeed, the carpets also seem nice and thick not like the thin stuff they seem to fit now that just bobbles.
I bet you will get that looking very nice indeed once you have finished with it.
I bet you will get that looking very nice indeed once you have finished with it.
So first job was to sort out the passenger side interior door handle. It wouldn’t unlatch the lock, although worked from outside.
it had failed the MoT on this and when I got inside the door it was obvious someone had been in there before me.
the problem is how the cable attaches to the lock mechanism - useless design which has worn over time and the cable pops out of the holder (the orange bit) and then detaches itself from the lock. It’s a PITA to get to, you have to dismantle everything and basically become a gynaecologist to try and get it all out and back again.
I successfully got it all apart, attached the cable as it should and put it all back together - everything worked so I did a little celebration. I then tested the window and it stopped about an inch down - had a look and I’d put the cable on the wrong side so was fouling the path of the glass. Balls!
taking apart again, the orange bit easily fell out and so I had to dismantle all over again. This time I decided to see how to stop the orange bit falling out - sometimes the simple solution does work and a small screw in the right place put just enough pressure on to stop the thing moving.
It’s a bit of bodge but it does the job and everything works fine - the door opens from the inside and out, the window works too. So put it all back together and then noticed I’d forgotten to connect the puddle light. Door card off for a 3rd time and the job is all done. Took longer than expected, but total cost to fix was £0
it had failed the MoT on this and when I got inside the door it was obvious someone had been in there before me.
the problem is how the cable attaches to the lock mechanism - useless design which has worn over time and the cable pops out of the holder (the orange bit) and then detaches itself from the lock. It’s a PITA to get to, you have to dismantle everything and basically become a gynaecologist to try and get it all out and back again.
I successfully got it all apart, attached the cable as it should and put it all back together - everything worked so I did a little celebration. I then tested the window and it stopped about an inch down - had a look and I’d put the cable on the wrong side so was fouling the path of the glass. Balls!
taking apart again, the orange bit easily fell out and so I had to dismantle all over again. This time I decided to see how to stop the orange bit falling out - sometimes the simple solution does work and a small screw in the right place put just enough pressure on to stop the thing moving.
It’s a bit of bodge but it does the job and everything works fine - the door opens from the inside and out, the window works too. So put it all back together and then noticed I’d forgotten to connect the puddle light. Door card off for a 3rd time and the job is all done. Took longer than expected, but total cost to fix was £0
Challo said:
Looks a cracking buy OP. I had a previous R53 and the handle failed on mine as well. Its a pain to replace as its really fiddly but quite straightforward once you know what your doing.
Are the roof's manual or automatic on these?
Electric 2 stage, first opening is just over the driver, then you can go all the way downAre the roof's manual or automatic on these?
This has to be the dirtiest car I’ve ever owned.
Started the deep clean today, taken 3 attempts to get the roof clean - it’s better, but still not quite got all the green stuff out yet
Started off with my autoglym cleaning kit, that didn’t make much impact so swapped over to Demon Clean and my interior scrubbing brush. It was a ‘little’ dirty to say the least - those bubbles really are green
It’s not perfect, but more presentable now
Started the deep clean today, taken 3 attempts to get the roof clean - it’s better, but still not quite got all the green stuff out yet
Started off with my autoglym cleaning kit, that didn’t make much impact so swapped over to Demon Clean and my interior scrubbing brush. It was a ‘little’ dirty to say the least - those bubbles really are green
It’s not perfect, but more presentable now
Day 2 of the big clean - broke out the DA polisher with some R2 compound and some turtle wax polish I had laying around - it’s got a half decent shine now and the water actually beads off the car rather than just sitting there.
While I was at it, I gave the vents below the windscreen a quick spray of gloss black as they were a little faded and gave all the plastics a good coat of trim finisher. Paint and body is actually pretty good underneath all the grime, few stone chips and a couple of deeper scratches in line with its age, but now to enjoy the sun and the F1 qualifying
While I was at it, I gave the vents below the windscreen a quick spray of gloss black as they were a little faded and gave all the plastics a good coat of trim finisher. Paint and body is actually pretty good underneath all the grime, few stone chips and a couple of deeper scratches in line with its age, but now to enjoy the sun and the F1 qualifying
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