Thanks!

Yeah, it's something you can feel at the top end (maybe 5-10hp). You also hear it, as the car is about 20-30% louder and the pops and bangs on decel are considerably louder. You can't hear the supercharger whine as much though, so that's a negative!

 

Wow this was a really enjoyable read. I'm amazed at how these cars suck us in. It seems the Mini just begs to be rebuilt. It doesn't matter how low the mileage is, so many owners seem to find themselves "shaving the yak". Good on you for saving a GP. It looks great. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

I've been enjoying the warmer weather and getting the GP out for some cruises!

Also found that the bulb in the rear fog light had gone out, so i pulled the fog out of the bumper and the plastic lens fell apart! Didn't seem like I'd be able to glue it back, so ended up just buying a new one. Put in a LED light while it was all apart. Not sure if the LED is brighter, or the plastic lens doesn't just have a bunch scratches like the old one did, but it's really bright!

Can you guess which one is the new one?

 

Took the GP to it's first AutoX with the local chapter of the CCA. Had a really fun time and learnt a lot about the car. Handles really well for a stock setup, but I miss the rotation I could get with my old '03 and it's larger rear bar. That may be the next thing I do if I continue to take this to AutoX. Really fun though and the car ran without a hiccup.

 

Beautiful car !!! Lol stock it looks better than mine imo even after all I've done... those gp's with their collr combo and body package are just beautiful !

 

Thanks @MiniManAdam ! I do really love the look of the car. It's stood the test of time considering its now over 16 years old!

 

Haven't had much time recently - we had our second child and put in a new kitchen and other house projects - so the GP has been on the back burner.

I finally had a little bit of time and swapped out the rusty driver's door for a replacement GP door I received from ALLMAG 3 years ago! Swapped over the old window glass, and put in a new regulator while it was all out. I spent a good amount of time getting the window adjustments just right. Both with the glass, and the bolts on the door. I'm about 90% there! What would have taken me a day or two ended up taking almost a year - I never appreciated the value of your time until you have no time to do fun things! I also was a little concerned that the door wouldn't match the GP as supposedly they were all hand painted and there were variations in the color; thankfully that is not the case for me. The door matched perfectly with my car!

As usual, I did the "while I'm in here" and bought a set of Infinity Reference REF-5030cx speakers for the doors, and put a Kenwood KMM-BT232U in the dash. I paid extra for the controller to keep steering wheel controls; it's nice to automatically connect to my phone via bluetooth, play my music and lose no buttons or integration. The sound is much improved, but it won't win any audiophile awards. The cabin is so loud, and not having the rear speakers doesn't help with immersion, but it's a big improvement! I didn't take many pics, but here's a few!

Please excuse the mess!

Finishing up the alignment with the new door.

strange place for rust, but it was getting close to perforating on the outside portion of the door!

 

Really nice job! Gives me hope on mine lol..

And congrats on the second kiddo.

 

Thanks! You can do it! It just might take some time; like me, haha!

 

I had my bottom of my doors fixed/ repainted (by MINI) when they did the rust on the taillights they just went ahead and replaced the doors and painted them. I thought they would just fix the rust part. But yes they rust on the very bottom most of the time.

 

Makes sense. Everything seems to rust on these cars!

 

Its the ohio salt, below ohio you dont see many rusted MINIs. I drove across America many times and once you get near Chicago to NYC you see them, down south you never really see it.

 

I had posted in another thread, but when i first rebuilt the GP, I had put in a new aftermarket thermostat. It ended up being defective as it never let the engine warm up to operating temperature and it would throw a code. I installed a new OEM thermostat and housing, and the car now warms up quickly and doesn't throw the code, which meant I could finally get it inspected! It passed and I got a legit inspection sticker for the car!

I also picked up some carbon fiber inserts for the steering wheel. I installed them and am unsure on how they look with the white buttons sticking through. I'll keep them on for a bit and decide on what I want to do. Other than that, the car has been running great. I've gone through a couple tanks of gas this past summer, which is more than I did all 2022! This car is such a treat to drive.​​​​​​​

 

I signed up for MOTD 2024, and decided the rear suspension needed a overhaul before I put more miles on the car in 5 days than I have since I bought it in 2019! What started as just a replacement of the shocks, turned into a rear subframe replacement and overhaul of suspension and brake parts. I'm not done yet, but have started to put pieces back on instead of removing them.

Pulled the wheels off and started to remove the suspension. After pulling the aero covers, I found more rust than I was expecting.

Subframe has seen better days

There was minimal rust on the frame of the car. I have been removing the rust and putting on rust converter and then I'll put on some Por15.

Rear shocks were done. Interestingly, the previous owner had put on KONI Yellows made for the R56. I'm guessing they ran into issues with not having the adapter.

Bushings were rotted - these look to have been replaced in 2012

I bought all new replacements for the

All new parts for the rear suspension minus the JCW red springs.

Trailing arms were pulled.

So much rust came off the subframe as I was removing the bolts.

I could not remove the bolt from the trailing arms into the bushing. I had to give it to a machine shop to have them remove them and install a new threads.

New vs. Old subframe.

A mouse had been living inside the subframe at some point. It wasn't worth sandblasting it.

My helper! The subframe was from a R53, not a GP, so it was missing the captive nuts for the aero package. I was able to find Rivnuts and install them into the subframe.

I sanded and painted the NLA metal clips that hold up the aero plastic trays underneath.

 

Yikes, i just rebuild mine on my R52, rust city.

 

Awesome little helper you got !
haha , when doesn't what was spose to be a little project snowball into something so much more with these cars ?
Awesome job though ! Love seeing no corner cutting or " ah itle be fine" attitude...

 

Love to see a project like this going. I'm guessing the GP spent some time where they salt the roads. Yikes. But all the work you're putting in now will so pay off. It's already a beautiful car that will only get better with this much TLC. Bravo!

 

Thanks Adam! It always seems to be a lot more work once you start pulling everything apart! Appreciate it! And congrats on the new build! Have been following it! It's going to be really nice!
The GP had been used a daily driver from new, so all the things that traditionally rust, did! And thank you, it felt like a worthwhile venture, and it's been fun to wrench on it!