Mine was actually yesterday but I was exhausted after a late night out with my MINI. Got her stripes put on the boot and bonnet. And now she looks even better with the tinted windows, JCW black trim grille, and JCW mesh scuttles. Absolutely love it! Now just to powder coat those rims.

 

First oil change at 2640 miles. Lost track of the number of bottles and had to drain some, so I had to get another washer. 16 mm, aka 5/8", available only in an assortment pack. Argh.
And it's 27 mm, not the Bently manual's 36 mm...

 

Yesterday I traded my 2011 CMS All 4 for a 2012 Clubman S. I hard to but my All4 was a lemon...

 

Done...used Rhino ramps.

16mm socket for either end of the dog bone, and 13 mm for the brackets. But could not get any leverage to loosen those 4 bolts, so had to tilt the engine/tranny forward and shoved a small 6" length of 2x4 between the tranny and subframe to keeo it there. Unbolted the PS fan, put that aside and went at it.

Wasn't easy as it takes some finess to snake it out that way.

 

Where does one obtain that can of goop? I need to give my upper engine mount a little vibrolicious urethane love!

Hmmm.... Vibrolicious Urethane Love sounds like a good band name....

C ya,
Dutch

 

K, so it was 23:56 last night, but that's only 4 minutes early....

Purchased Seadog 5-louver stainless steel bilge vents from Hamilton Marine in Maine's online store to do a bonnet ventilation mod, in hopes of achieving similar heat-soak reduction and lower intake air temperature to what Helix Wildebeest reported in this post. I've been getting *bad* heat soak in town with the a/c on when it's 110+ degrees out (a frequent occurrence here in Mordor).

Hopefully I can find some time soon to drop in at Capitol Metals and find a nice 4" wide piece of aluminium bar stock, so I can fab up a homebrew version of M7's "Air Plate Diverter" to help radiator and a/c efficiency. Carbon fiber's nice and all, but it's not $179 nice. Besides, with an aluminium one, I can try my hand at the classic street-rod style "engine turned" thing.... Check it out, there's a pretty good illustrated walk through the process here. I'm going to try to do it with my drill press and being *very* careful and precise....

C ya,
Dutch

 

few misc. things:

messed with suspension - stiffened up rear sway bar and softened up the dampeners.

removed the front driving lights (they haven't worked since I bought it anyways and were rusted).

changed out the serpentine belt. I had the larger one on it for the past 2 years (547) but it was stretched. the new one (535) makes a big difference.

and...

got a small garage (just moved in). it is amazing compared to the shared parking lot that I used to have.

 

wow that finish looks slick. Sounds like a great plan - I'm looking forward to seeing what you end up with.

 

Thanks for the post/directions/tips. Think this will keep OEM from crumbling apart?

 

ordered my Mont Blanc roof rack and searched all the local auto parts stores asking if any had a pulley puller so that I can install my 15% pulley when my Vibra Technics upper mount arrives...so I guess I didn't do anything TO it (other than drive it) but I did do things for it. Does that count?

 

The Odometer turned over approx. 35mi. into our 295mi. 6.5hr. Karma Tour today, from Camas, WA to Estacada, OR and a late Lunch @ Fearless Brewery Company!!

Oh...with lots and lots of TWISTIES!!

 

Not sure but should make it a bit stiffer than stock.

 

Enhanced the already existing Motoring Club Registration number on roof with Dark Silver Paint Match vinyl and red accent stripe.



MMCROOFDECALSANDSTRIPES004.jpg?t=1345479728

 

Norton Urethane

 

new Optima Battery installed this weekend!
last weekend = splitter install & headlight ring blackout
this coming weekend : underbody LEDs, switchbox install, and whatever else on my always growing list i can deal with in this heat :P

 

Yesterday, installed my "Giggles Mobile Clown School, Get In, Pay, Get Out Funny" Decal on her passenger rear side upper window. Love it...makes me smile, and giggle...

 

Got my first GoBadge and installed a stubby antenna. Not quite as crazy as some of the mods you guys are doing but I'm getting there!

 

Technically, it was yesterday, but close enough... I replaced that God-awful nasty (Yeeeeeech!) interior cabin air filter that someone else posted about earlier in this thread. Mine was so plugged, I thought it came out of a Sears ShopVac that has been used in flood recovery duty. . If you have NOT changed yours, then you need to. Its amazing how much better the interior vent air moves on the low fan setting. It was the best 10 minutes I have spent in awhile.

 

Got a second puncture in the run flats, just replaced one a month ago. Decided to change all the tires to 215/45/17's and bought an air pump.

 

215/45/17 is a great size. Know that you can also fit a VW passat 4-lug spare in the boot under the cargo cover... lean it against the back seat, hold it in (up) with a cargo strap between the seat mounts.

For me, learned my Mini will be in the shop another week as Mini takes care of some minor rust issues (known issue with some R53's) under warranty... what great warranty support on a 6 year-old car!

 

This is kind of unrelated to the thread, but...

Gray Raven: In your sig, I see you've got an R53 with 135k on the clock...have you had to rebuild/replace the supercharger yet? I've got 45k on my R53 and am just wondering what my future will hold.

 

Great to know about the spare, Thanks. Will have to look into getting one for long trips.

 

submitaweasel, there were a few posts on this many, many pages ago... for me, jasmsf helped me change my supercharger oil at 70k meaning he did it as I watched!). It's a big job, but not all that difficult in your own garage if you've got a few hours. In my case, the oil was barely discolored and all was well with s-charger and water pump.

Generally, if the SC is going to go bad, it does so by 60-70k, if not, well, I've got a buddy with a 2004 R53 at 130k with zero issues. He re-oiled anyway, as nothing was loose, and all's well.

I'll re-do mine at 140k, as taking the front off the car is a good idea every few years to check for vacuum leaks, maintain "stuff", etc...

 

As of right now, mine is perfectly fine (less the fact that its still got the stock pulley...just waiting until I get a puller hopefully this weekend), and hopefully it will stay fine but I was planning on re oiling and checking everything out on it next summer...currently my R53's only problem is its failed upper engine mount, but I've got a Vibra Technics fast road mount sitting in its packaging waiting to be installed at the same time as I put my 15% pulley on. I'm just fishing for information on what to expect I'm a planner and like to know EVERYTHING I can about what to expect.

 

95% dechrome, I still going.