Any time, man! Make sure to start a build thread when it arrives. I have asked the mods to move the old Indi Blue club thread over to the Gen 1 R53 area, but never got a response. Thinking about starting up a new one over there. It really is the best color MINI ever put on a car.

 

What are the two little things poking out from the two rear vents in the lower bumper cover?

 

Those are part of an aftermarket mod that was like a trailer hitch (maybe it was a trailer hitch) that was detachable. Maybe OutMotoring sold it??? Sorry, I forget what it was called exactly... It has been a while since I have seen those on NAM, but there used to be posts once and a while of people installing them.

 

I have been there twice in my life time (from NY)... So beautiful...
The second time was with my family on the way to Yellowstone. Had to stop a Wall Drugs after seeing all the signs with the countdown of the “MILES TO WALL DRUG” along the highway...

Is that smoke haze?

We still have our ‘04 Indi Blue Base Cooper. Love that car and that is the best color. It just glows in the sun when all washed and waxed Glad to see that you have rescued one.

If you do a restoration thread, post a link here so we know where to follow your efforts...

 

Those are MI6 "00 Section" authorized rear mounted machine guns...

Okay, so they are actually the mount points for a Campagnolo bike carrier. I am looking to find a way to remove them because I will never be riding a bike, let alone needing a way to transport one from here to there...

 

LOL, gotcha!

 

@Eddie07S - the haze is from the fires. We were headed to Walla Walla, Washington. Through Montana and Idaho, we could only see nearby mountains. On the return trip, it was much clearer and suddenly there were many more mountains.

Was planning to do a build thread before seeing @jcolletteiii's excellent work. Now I'm not sure I want to.

 

For some reason I get YouTube recommendations that include Colorado weather (I’m in NY). Yesterday I clicked on one that showed a map of the smoke plume from CA through there... Wow! That’s covering a lot of the country...

Yes, do a thread. Just don’t call it a “build” thread. But just the fact that you are saving a Gen I Indi Blue MINI is worthy of a thread no matter what you call it. I’m sure you will fill it with all sorts of great stories....

 

Yes - do a thread on your adventures! We want pictures!

The jet has been awful to ND in the past month. The shape of the jet has perfectly collected all of the smoke from California, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, and Colorado, and funneled it north, over the Canadian border, and then took an s-curve to the east and then south, and then constricted as it entered ND so that all of the black carbon was concentrated. Air quality has been near hazardous for most of the past month. The last three days have had the first really blue skies that I have seen in a long time. It's been an ugly grey. Awful. Hopefully these fires are under control and out soon, and hopefully none of the people fighting them will get injured.

Anyhow, in Mini news, started installing my new seats today.

 

I love those plaid inserts!

 

Ok, they look like they were worth the wait. Very sharp looking. Hope they are as comfortable as they look. Looking forward to seeing how you install them...



Sorry to hear about your air quality. And, yes, hope that abates soon...

 

Thanks! They came out nice, but they are a little incorrect. The only blue stitching was supposed to be the double border around the outside and along the side of the insert. But, they do look very nice indeed and that insert came out great - really works with the stitching color and with the color of my car!

 

Foxwell NT530 showed up today. Connected to the 2009 R55 and it does indeed do nearly everything you could want as a DIY'er. Probably more than you would need as a DIY'er actually.

Then bought the Ford and Chrysler software for it.

If I didn't already have software/hardware tune/alter the calibrations on my vehicles, this would most likely do most of what I want outside of altering calibrations.

I also have a GM, but that's all OBD1 (88 Corvette) and I tune it with Moates APU1 real time tuning software/hardware.

NT530 seems to be a pretty good deal for the Mini though!

 

Finished the install of my new seats today - had to fabricate a couple of brackets to be able to use the stock Mini seatbelt pre-tensioners, but it worked out great.


Brackets/pretensioners installed.


Seats in! Sorry about the bad backlighting.

Details on the install and initial impressions in my build thread.

 

They look great in the car! Well done.

 

Very pretty seats!

 

Ordered some stuff for the 09 R55 today.

Checked the timing chain tensioner, it's the original and leaking oil. So I ordered up the "551" tensioner. I'll also check the slack when I take the old one out. Engine runs smooth and quiet, but if I'malready taking the old one out for an oil weep.......

Thin wall socket for spark plugs.

The mini velcro-ed oil bag so the missus doesn't have to worry about the oil bottle leaking if she adds any oil.

And lastly, the little wire tool for removing the center caps.

Found out Mini uses the European "standard" of lug bolts instead of the north American style studs and nuts. I hate that, always PO's me trying to hold up a wheel and thread a bolt. So I'll pick up a metric bolt locally, chuck it up in the lathe, turn the head off, round the end and knurl the shank so I can use it as an "installation" stud/tool.

Also discovered it uses some strange jacking points so a regular floor jack doesn't fit.So I'll put the lathe to work again and make myself an adapter piece.

 

Tried to put in my coilovers today but after an hour of fighting with trying to get the front drivers side out, I gave up. Was 100 plus in the garage at 1pm and I loaned my fans to friends with no central air. I'll gladly pay for someone else to install them in this summer heat.

 

You can buy plastic wheel alignment pins, or maybe even find one in the junkyard. A lot of Audis came with them in the tool kit. Just need to make sure it's 12x1.5 thread.

 

Washed, clay barred, polished and waxed my 2015 f55 today

 

With the limited options available for aftermarket shift *****, and I am cheap ...Also, I do not want a set screw adapter, or anything like that, I wanted positive thread engagement.

I found you can cut threads and use C5 corvette shift *****.

I am a previous wrx (x4) and corvette Z06 owner, and I have many parts saved from other builds.I had a few C5 ***** laying around (9/16-18) and my R56 shift rod was 13.8mm OD . It was a touch too large , but I knew i could run a die down it..only had to remove shift boot and OEM ****...everything can be done inside car. I can go back to original when its time to sell.

( size you will need)


I didn't want the shaft to bottom out on inside of ball, so I cut threads to 34mm long.


Rags and cup to catch all debris, I didn't want any shavings in linkages


Finished product, I am happy with it, but I would like the same style but in heavy weight version ( like I did for my Z06) and in grey.

Now, I have many options in the C5 corvette flavor, I used twistedshifterz.com, I have used them a few times in the past, great quality.

( not pictured> I used a tyrap and rubber washer on shift rod to keep boot from getting to low)

 

Installed the JCW Handbrake Grip to complete the interior of my Paddy Hopkirk edition.





Have a great weekend all,

Rich

 

Added red stitching to my JCW steering wheel. It’s not perfect, but I did it myself! I’ll get some full wheel shots when I can get the car out into the sun.

 

Had a bottle of soda spewed out in my f55 after work. My freshly cleaned last night f55. 🤦

 

Had my KW's installed today by Motoring Magic in Thousand Oaks. HUGE thanks to them and WoW! Totally eliminated the small road bumps and cracks I would feel with the JCW Sport Suspension. Can't wait to go motoring this weekend to let the suspension settle.