WELCOME TO RIVER DAVES PLACE

Project mini cooper...

ka0tyk

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Wife had a mini cooper and we had to get rid of it when we had our first kid. She upgraded to a 2013 infiniti FX37, but shes always missed it. Sooo fast forward to the other day and I scooped up this 08 mini for pretty much nothing. Probably the best christmas present I've ever given anyone... a CAR!

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single owner. inside and outside its perfect. not a scratch, not a dent, not a fart in the seat. under the hood though... she was hurt. had a misfire on cylinder 3 and the owner took it in for repair and got a MONSTER quote. so i lowballed em and they had no other choice but to accept.

parts pile number one

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and heres the problem

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3rd cylinder had 0 compression. broken exhaust valve. best possible scenario. no parts bouncing around, the piece probably went right out the exhaust port. theres a ton of carbon build up which is common for these direct injected engines... but we cant have any of that... so time for cleanup.

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and new parts are already on their way in...

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just waiting for an exhaust valve and we can start putting the head back on, etc. more progress in a few... basically it'll cost about $300 in parts to reassemble... with the broken part being $25.
 

pwerwagn

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Awesome!

My parents bought a mini one day, because they were bored mostly. They love that thing and they’ve convinced half of my family to buy one.

They seem like a great bargain!
 

ka0tyk

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Awesome!

My parents bought a mini one day, because they were bored mostly. They love that thing and they’ve convinced half of my family to buy one.

They seem like a great bargain!

theres a love/hate. if its your ONLY car, they're horrible. zero room. however they're well made, ride great, drive great, etc. this year and config kbb is about 5-6k. i got it for less than half that and im gonna toss about $300 in parts at it. i stand to make a decent flip if we ever decide to sell it.

my wifes old 09 wasnt a S model, and back in 2013 when we were trying to sell it was damn near impossible. theres a bazillion of them on the market and all owned about 2-3 years once people get tired of having a tiny ass car. we had it for sale for about 6 months before we finally traded it in. luckily we got a great trade in on it after some hard haggling.

her old one was chili pepper red.

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pronstar

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They're so expensive to fix because, like any BMW dealer, they replace rather than repair.

Broken exhaust valve?
Needs a new engine.

My buddy has a gold mine in his independent mini repair shop.


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wsuwrhr

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I wanted one when they first came out, insurance was half of the price of the payment. I was pretty sad.
 

ka0tyk

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well today started out with lapping the valves

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cleaned the block and pistons up

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turned my drill press into a valve spring compressor

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the tool being used is actually for a 3v ford motor. the universal spring compressor doesnt work, bmw/mini have their own style and i didnt feel like waiting for one to ship in.

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but then some of them were so tight to the casting that tool didnt work... so i had to make my own. piece of steel tubing with 2 opening cut so i can get the keepers in, electrical taped to a step drill bit. ghetto! but it worked!

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this will make the car go faster right?

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head assembled, cams installed, torqued, head gasket installed, torqued, oil pan installed, etc.

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and this is where i stopped tonight... intake manifold on, hoses on, just need to set the timing with an impact gun (cam sprocket and cam gears are held in place with just the bolts and friction, no keys...) and then button her up. hopefully she runs. gonna toss some oil in with a pump and get everything coated before start up, turn it over a few times and make sure we have compression first before hitting the "start" button on the dash.

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ka0tyk

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ugh looking at the pictures i cant wait to haul her off to the self car wash with like 20 cans of engine brite foamy to clean all the schmoo off.
 

AzGeo

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Just wondering "one exhaust valve" ?

Do you know WHY it had a problem ?

Are you SURE that other valves/springs did not/do not have any problems ?

With the "domes" for the cloverleaf heads, it looks like an "interference motor", did the valve strike the piston ?

Is this an unusual problem with these motors ?

Inquiring minds want to know ..............
 

ka0tyk

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turbos in

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good news, she starts and runs. bad news, oil supply to turbo was bad.

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new one from mini

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aaaand so far so good.

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couple issues... the pcv system seems to be sucking a LOT of air. i think there was a little limiter that broke off of a tube somewhere... either way im gonna ditch that nonsense and do an oil catch can as pcv's and carbon build up are such a big issue on these motors. the catch can will seperate the oil and vapors and keep em out of the motor.

also the temp sensor doesnt appear to be working as the car has 2 pending codes about temp and coolant and my datalogger doesnt get any reading from the temp sensor. new one is on its way. other than that it runs and drives great. i pulled the seats out and vacuumed like crazy, detailed the interior with brushes, etc and inside wise is perfect. now just onto the outside with a claybar, compound, polish, and wax.
 

RitcheyRch

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Very cool little project. My sister has a newer one and she loves it although I'm not really sure how she gets in it being she is over 300 pounds.
 

Tank

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Got my mom one exact same color. Lease. Fun car.

More importantly, mad props for the skill and patience with something like this. I wish I had that type of talent. It’s like watching someone play a guitar. Nice job.


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Andy01

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I agree with Tank, holy shit! You are talented, I look at that and think "fuck". I did a Acura timing belt for wife (girl friend then) way back in the day and still to this day can't figure out how I did it and it ran great!. Nice work, and at least you can't be mad at your wife for trading favors for car repairs j/k.
 

Gelcoater

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This thread is going to give Kenny Smith at Eliminator a big fat boner. :D

He's a Cooper nut:rolleyes:
 

convincor

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Nice work! This was my winter project. After fixing the collision I dechromed everything.
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