[Engine_Work] Dobboy's Clean-Up / Gti6

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Been working on the CJ lately, done the brakes, got it MOT'd on Wednesday, gave it a good wash and clean out.

 

I advertised it last night on Gumtree and Sold it today for £750. Was quite a lot of interest in it.

 

So I've had a good car clear out recently, 106Rallye is gone, Saxo is gone, and CJ is gone, but I'm happy with the toys I'm left with my mini and my 205.

 

I SORN'd my 205 last week, which is a surprise, but I can't see me using it whilst the mini is good, and the weather is s*it.

 

Been buying some goodies for the mini, and it's booked in for two days of detailing by a guy who I know, his work is outstanding, and he recons he'll transform it.

 

The mini is a bit of a guzzler, averaging about 32mpg, and it's 98RON that's to go in it.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I found this in amongst the CJ paperwork, the CJ had a tow bar when I got it as it had pulled one of they trailer/tent things around Europe. Maybe this was to do with it, but it wasn't fitted to the car.

 

[Bogsye 22]

Mini looks very tidy! Will be interesting to see it once it's all tidied up.

 

I guess that's pretty decent mpg for the performance on hand. I cringe at my Saab's thirst.....

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Got a txt earlier from the CJ buyer that all is well and he's painted the sills!

 

I was worried that we had condemned it to a slow/quick death. I hope not; my wee boy was crying when it went.

 

Regarding my mini.....

 

It seems a lot more difficult to understand the forums/parts/people...... they're not as friendly (and i don't think as knowlegeable either) as you chaps if the truth be told.

 

But the car,,,,, it just get's better and better as my confidence grows in it.

 

And what about this, there is a Bimmer site that you can put your VIN code in and it tells you the options that the first owner took up.

Despite a fooked TRE that is now replaced, i had thought the car felt quite grippy up front, the buyer had took the LSD option.

 

 

I managed to get Mini JCW GP1 rear suspension from a write off the other day.

 

I found but have since lost a link to the spring rates on BMW/MINI springs. The GP front set up (new) is in the order of £400-500

 

I know the front GP set up has one yellow paint marking..... similar to the M3 spring rate....... can anyone help?

 

That aside, i had/have found the brakes lacking as my confidence grows!,

so

I got a later/bigger cooper S front set up, but as i have lot's of A048's for my trackdays in 15", i'm gonna try a decent pad to suit the original disc size first, but i'll need to get 15" wheels too.

 

I've also bought a cheap private reg for it,,,,, i've never had one but I wanted to de-age it.

 

And........

 

it's going for an external detail by a guy i dealt a lot of Saxo s*ite with lol

 

He is well regarded at it and i've seen his work..... i thought the car looked good as is,

 

 

 

he say's I won't recognise it when he's done with it.... it's a lot of money, but i trust him and have saw him with cars that have came straight from the showroom and been improved upon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Mini looks very tidy! Will be interesting to see it once it's all tidied up.

 

I guess that's pretty decent mpg for the performance on hand. I cringe at my Saab's thirst.....

 

i think the on board computer lies!

 

i'm sure i spent near 20 quid on fuel first two weeks of ownership lol

 

i was sitting between 4-8krpm most of the time right enough. ​

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I mean 200 quid!

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I decided to get the mini detailed, by a guy who I've been dealing with Saxo parts to.

 

It was given full paint correction, chips filled in as best as possible then shaved with a titanium block!, then a few layers of some sort of Gyeon stuff, then a Quartz coating(s) baked on it overnight, and then some sort of water/dirt repellent. If taken care of he says the coats can last for two years and will be less susceptible to scratches etc.

 

Anyway, he had the car for a few days.

 

The result...... I was gobsmacked when I first saw it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well chuffed with it, although it highlights all it's imperfections, but it's nice and original.

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

The photos don't probably do it enough justice, Jack, but In the last photo you can see the mirror type reflections, must be nice to have car with paint that is worth it.... guess that is what it is all about... best I have seen on here is Para's GTi...

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?showtopic=132604&hl=para&page=8

 

Think that is down to the black paint though... best colour for detailing but probably the worst colour without it.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Mac, you'd be surprised what a good detailer can do with any car. A good clean makes a big difference.

 

This guy who done mine is trusted with £100k's worth of clients cars and wet and dry sandpaper lol

 

If there is enough paint on them he can do stuff.

 

He was doing a brand new RS6 when I collected mine, some machine, you want to have heard it even a 2k rpm.

 

Half the problem with cars is public car washes, or these drive in places where they wash 100 cars a day with the same sponge!

[Mac Crash 78 1 Cars]

Yip, I use the 2 bucket method, but think I'm 26 years too late

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

I have done a little DIY detailing in my time and I have witnessed the £5 carwash guys in action.

Sitting at traffic lights a short while ago I watch a fella with a mitt. Started on the near front wheel of a car heavily caked in brake dust. He dropped the mitt, picked it up and continued to clean the whole of the nearside car. Brake dust, grit off of the floor and the rest of the crud picked up from the lower regions of the bodywork. While his colleague was 'cleaning' the whole of the offside of the car. Again with one mitt.

Yes, some people are happy with this. The car comes out, sort of clean.

However, you only need a slightly trained eye to see the damage that is caused.

Stick with me on this one.

It's a bit like this photo doing the rounds at the moment.




What can you see in the picture? There is something there. Once you see it. You can't unsee it. It really is quite freaky.

Some people see it straight away other just do not see it until they are told what they are looking for. Some never see it.

It's similar to car paint. Swirls are pretty easy to see. Holograms on car paint are a bit like the above picture. Most can't see. However, this is where I get a bit weird.

Once your eyes adjust to spot holograms mixed with swirls on bad paintwork it jumps out a mile to you.

Sitting at a busy T Junction the amount of car that go past, dark cars are easier to spot, that go past with awful paintwork is amazing.

Edited May 20, 2016 by iPlod999

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I'm not sure I can see what you mean in the pic/.... is it a bird/chick? and a bird tail to the right of it?

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

Haha. No.

 

Once you see it you will never unsee it.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Nope, still can't see anything.

 

you're taking the pi55!

Edited May 20, 2016 by dobboy

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

No. Defiantly not.

[Wallby 39]

Look harder!

 

Something a bit smokey going on...

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Look harder!

 

Something a bit smokey going on...

Nope....a bit smokey?

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

haha i see it!

 

has one of you changed that photo? lol

Edited May 20, 2016 by dobboy

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

See.

 

It's like car paintwork. Once you adjust the way your mind looks at it it jumps out like a sore thumb.

 

Everytime you look at the picture you will never unsee it.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

My mini has been off the road and on axel stands for a couple of weeks, and it's blocking the 205 from getting out and enjoying a bit of long awaited sunshine.

 

I started the mini one day and for no apparent reason the engine sounded really really bad, almost like an old diesel taxi. So a bit of sifting through the net and a phonecall to HappyPatrol (a fellow 205 and cooper S owner from on here) and he diagnosed the problem/sound over the phone!.

 

So I decided fook it, take it off the road and get everything done to it that I want in one foul swoop.

 

This item was the cause of the noise (below). It is like a small piston type thing with a small reservoir, when the engine starts the reservoir fills up with engine oil via the black plastic part, and the piston pokes out (metal part) and presses against the timing chain rail/tensioner. Mines had stuck and the noise I could hear was probably the slack chain rattling off the guide/rails. It was an easy fix, and thankfully sorted the noise out.

 

 

Everybody that modifies their Mini's seems to go down the coilover route. I kind of decided that I didn't want to lower the car and also wanted to try keep the car JCW(ish). I managed to grab the rear suspension for a GP that appeared out the blue on ebay and I'm currently waiting on a new set of GP front springs being delivered from BMW/Germany. This should make the car sit about 10mm lower than a standard Copper S, and it is the springs that are used in the JCW suspension upgrade kit...... everything is an option (at a cost!) with these cars.

 

 

The MCS' don't really have adequate brakes as standard, big bulky calipers that don't seem to do much. I want to be able to run 15" wheels on track so I thought i'd try get the best out of what was on it, but I'm not convinced about my choice of front pads.

 

I had spoken to the suppliers of the brake pads for the Mini Challenge at KH, they told me what was used and sold me Mintex M1144's for the rear, and Mintex F4R's for the front.........apart from the bedding in of the two different pad types being a PITA, i'm not sure these front pads are going to do much when nipping up to Tesco.

 

Can anyone tell me how critical these bedding in processes are? and also, are the brakes liable to be dangerous with no heat in them?

 

The car was needing new discs so I bought some Brembo Max for the front and back.

 

Whilst getting the front suspension stripped to make way for the new stuff I noticed a broken bolt on the clamp that holds the strut.

 

 

So I've now got a replacement hub and will swap it when my front suspension comes.

 

Changed the rear drop links yesterday which took about 4hrs!

 

 

 

Front suspension, braided lines, brake fluid change, and tyre change still to do and it'll hopefully be on all fours in two weeks if not sooner, a few fast road adventures and then booked for a track day.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

A little bit of progress last night. My springs arrived yesterday and I borrowed a spring compressor, and also an Ingersol Rand impact gun.

 

 

So managed to work out what I was doing with the compression tool and had everything stripped down and built back up in jig time with new top mounts fitted.

 

Moved on to replacing the hub with the broken bolt.... the IG tool had the shaft nut off absolutely effortlessly, in about 2 seconds!.

 

Got both struts and front discs fitted.

 

 

My springs, Fr and Rr, have one yellow paint mark on them, I've seen a list of the BMW colour codes somewhere on the net but can't find it again.

 

So the car is now sitting on GP springs all round, GP rear dampers, and Cooper S "SS+" front dampers.

 

Will polybush all the suspension bits when I've fathomed out what's what.

 

Hopefully get another few hrs at it tonight if the weather stays dry, and I've bought a set of 15" wheels for track off Gumtree and collecting them tomorrow.

 

Not sure what the overall wheel/tyre diameter reduction of 20mm will do when on the 15's, but there should be a significant weight reduction as the 15's are less than 7kg each.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I've had the mini back on all fours for the last couple of nights, (still waiting on new brake fluid being delivered), but put all the callipers on etc and tried to keep my work moving whilst the weather was good.

 

I had a bit of a problem in that the brake pedal was really poor, so bled the system, and it didn't get much better, then took the back calipers off and wound the pistons out a bit (a mechanics advice/summit to do with hand brake ratchet), and the pedal got better but still isn't brilliant. but comes good midway.

 

I've determined that the fluid is fecked. It's Dot4 and is really really dark and a little bit cloudy, despite the service data being up to date.

 

I took the car out and bed the new pads (new discs too) to suit the front pad bedding in requirement recommendations (rightly or wrongly) . Got home and the fronts were shhhmokin' and all four wheels were roasting..... so left to cool.

 

When i was out i noticed an odd slight bump/clunk from the NS spring, so today i stripped the strut down and spotted my error, (the bottom rubber on the strut/spring flange thing was 180 degrees out. Took it to a local mechanics shop, pressed the spring and sorted it.

 

I checked and double checked everything i've been at with the torque wrench.

 

So.... took it out for a test run.

 

The tracking is now well out, probably to be expected as new hub on the front, new drop links, and new springs..... i dare say the back set up is well out too with new springs, shocks, and drop links, and the bushes i modified on the GP shocks to get them to work.

 

 

Now..... on the mini forum i joined, the first thing any of them say when you join is "buy coil overs". I didn't want to spend 4,5,600 on crap coilovers (Bilsteins are £900ish), I thought to myself and read that BMW had spent a lot of time developing the GP suspension "for normal road use" and the reviews i read on it's handling were all good, so against the grain i've went for the GP set up.

 

As my confidence grew,...... feck me it feels great......and I was going faster than i've ever went on bends i know, and the car isn't really understeering or oversteering, even with the Serbian tyres some 0ick put on it, it's on rails, totally planted. Even going from 100+ which it reaches effortlessly, the new brake set up (same as Mini Challenge) can stopping it on its nose if required.

 

Anyway

 

It's new set up has lost the trashyness it used to have on uneven stuff.

 

And, prior to the changes i felt this car oversteered a bit on long sweeping bends, did it have a dodgy shocker?

 

or can someone explain?

 

Just hope the engine will handle the abuse it's gonna get ​

[welshpug 1,621]

get the alignment set before you give ut a decent play about with, it can affect things massively, check if there's a different setting for the gp/works cars.

 

I'd bet the race car setup it far too edgy for road use

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Will do WP. I've found a garage that have built and takes care of a few cars that are in the Mini Challenge, so I'll get it to them when I've had the good tyres put on and see what they say.. Just now I can see lots of negative camber and toe in at the back, I've never noticed that on them before.

 

BTW you were right about the amount of aftermarket gear available for these, there is loads and loads. (For now mines is staying all OE).

 

Another thing I forgot to mention which is a bit of an inconveinience is that due to the age of mine it has the updated close® ratio box, which is ok when your on a straight road, but on the windy stuff your left hand is off the wheel a bit much. Also need to be quite conscious of the gear changes too as my grid is very tight and you could quite easily go 5th to 2nd (instead of 4th). Maybe something needs adjusted.

 

If you were handier you could have took it a blast, I'm pretty sure you'd love it!

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Bit of an update (on my mini) .....

 

Had the suspension, brakes, and tyres, all completed for a few weeks..

 

The change of suspension to GP took a lot of the crashyness away that was present with the Mini SS+ suspension as previously stated and dropped it an additional 10mm. I had a bit of a prob that some fooking crunt had returned a goosed top mount to the supplier, and i ended up with it, so i ended up having to strip one side down again.

 

 

The new tyres are on the 17's too, and replaced the 5hit that was on.

 

I've been going pretty fast but not fast enough to get it over or under steering. I can invoke LOOS at roundabouts right enough, but apart from that it really is on rails. Too many cyclists, walkers, and horses about to see what i've got.

 

Been working away from home last couple of weeks, but have booked a trackday for Sunday so thought i'd better get the finger out today and get the geo set up and get a set of A048's put on a set of 5.5j wheels.

 

At the tyre shop the fitter said "you're putting them on them?" lol..... he fitted one to make sure everything was ok then i had to leave to go to another place for the Geo as this place didn't do 4wA.

 

The A048's didn't look strange at all on the wheels (pics to follow)

 

So went to the other place to get Geo done and it turns out the guys know a few guys i also know but getting it set caused a few issues.

 

Firstly the back end, the OS lined up ok and got fixed. The NS was all lined up but when got fixed kept moving, still within spec but not on the mark.

 

We agreed it was as good as it was going to be.

 

Front,

OS ok, but then the fitter pointed out a lug had been grinded off the wishbone (Feck knows why), and the TRE was seized even with heat, and tracking is miles out. Eventually we called it a day (as it was 5pm on a Friday) and i picked up a new TRE on the way home, and have to go back tomorrow afternoon when no-one is about, and they'll fit it for me on the QT.

 

I popped over and seen Malc last week and he had a decent shot of it (and i think he liked it ) . One thing that was apparent is that for some reason it's a lot easier to get a bit of warmth/heat into the back tyres on this car compared to our 205's or my Saxo....(it must be oversteering slightly all the time the way it has been set up prior to today in order to generate heat, hopefully it will still be the same)

We'll be taking the two cars to KH on the 22nd for a blast together...... i'm pretty sure the 205 will come out on top on the track but i'll win when it comes to "who can stay out the hedges/trees/drains on the walk home from pub...... and eat the most kebab meat"

 

Apart from that not much other than i bought these for £25 (RRP £150) JCW parts are generally as overpriced as GTI parts.

 

 

But with a little patience, Cillit Bang, Carpet Cleaner, and a Power Washer, they came up well.

 

 

who would even dream of putting white colour on a floor mat?!