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Was related to the control arm alright... And the heat shield. And the headlight level sensor. And to a zip tie end. Look at the location of that zip tie end just above the left muffler. Now imagine what happens when the suspension loads up.
I remember the days of clipping playing cards to my bike’s fender brace so the card would flap against the spokes when we rode it. Very annoying to anyone in the area, but us kids loved it. I guess it is not too great in a MINI...
Just a head up on those blue-stitched seats. If anyone in interested in purchasing those seats, Braum now has them listed on their website = https://www.braumracing.com/outlet/
On the other hand, I *STILL* have not received my refund from them.
In other news, I finally was able to get a good photo of my DIY downtube leather covers in sunlight. Don't pay too close attention to the plastics - they need a good detail. On my list for this weekend.
And - I just sent off a set of samples to Cobra. I sent a spare rear lateral trim cover, a piece of the original seat material, and a sample of the leather color I used on the downtube covers - which is a VERY close match to the interior plastics, but is darker than the seats. The seats are surprisingly light compared to the interior plastics when you compare them one on top of another. Below are the plaids I was considering together with the leather sample that I hope Cobra can match. I don't want a black that is 'too black' for the MINI's interior. I like the Karo Madrass Porsche fabric, but it is a straight up woven upholstery fabric, which means it can be picked and pulled. I am going with the blue GTI tartan (the one with the bigger blue stripe.
So, for those interested, Hagerty insurance co does classic car policies where you set the value of your car, and they charge you based on that dollar amount per year. Last year, I did Progressive - it was quick and easy, but I was always thinking 'this could be the end' whenever setting out in my beloved car for some road time. I've said it before, and I will likely say it again - I have never driven or owned a car that makes me feel quite the same was as my 2003 MCS. I am not attached to the R53, I am attached to this particular one. I obsessed while it was on the boat, while it was in transit from the port, and the day I picked it up is among my top memories of all time. I don't want to worry about this car being totalled because some dim-witted twit hit my bumper, a tail light assembly and the rear quarter. And that is pretty much all it would take going by blue book.
I insured my car for $20k today. That gives me a $15k 75% value for automatic totalling - which means that the damage would have to be much more significant for them to total the car. AND, in the event that the car is a total loss, I purchased the extra salvage policy for $80 per year which states if the car is totalled, I get the full policy replacement value AND I get the car to salvage, part out, etc at no cost. I don't have to buy it back, bid on it - no questions asked. My deductibles are all zero. Total policy cost is just over $1k per year, but the car is only on the road for 6 months. For that coverage, I will pay that premium without hesitation. Now, YMMV here - I am older, no violations, no accidents, and I think I get a discount for having gone through grad school. But, if you are in the same boat as I am, and are hopelessly attached to your car - here is an option. I know I will stop worrying about this scenario as much now for sure.
Man - remember all the cool MINI events Miniusa used to sponsor? MINI-only track days... miniusa still do that? Went to one in CT way back in lie 2004 or 2005.
Anyhow... finally received my full refund from Braum. So, they will make things right when they get it wrong. That is a definite plus for them. You may have to follow up 8 separate times... but they did do right by me.
Just a head up on those blue-stitched seats. If anyone in interested in purchasing those seats, Braum now has them listed on their website = https://www.braumracing.com/outlet/
On the other hand, I *STILL* have not received my refund from them.
Why did you have to post this?
I'd moved on, then I noticed the split seam in my DS bottom, and the same day, your post showed up. That price got my attention.
I wish I could find one near me to sit in. Did you like how they felt? If I can be really personal, how tall are you? Waist size? How wide across shoulders?
I could live without heated seats, and I'm a tightwad, so bargains really get my attention.
I'd moved on, then I noticed the split seam in my DS bottom, and the same day, your post showed up. That price got my attention.
I wish I could find one near me to sit in. Did you like how they felt? If I can be really personal, how tall are you? Waist size? How wide across shoulders?
I could live without heated seats, and I'm a tightwad, so bargains really get my attention.
Lol - sorry man.
I think they did feel pretty good. I sat in one of them for a good 20 minutes in as close to a driving-like position as I could. Legs were too high because my floor was flat and the seats were not raised up as they would have been in the car. I am 6'2", 230 with a 34" inseam and 37ish waist. They seemed a bit narrow between the leg bolsters, but that is what they are designed to be. Keep you in around corners. They seemed to have a decent amount of cushion in the butt area. The seat was comfy for that 20 minutes and seemed to fit well on that flat floor. I think if I had put something under the seat to raise it up 4-6 inches into a more normal driving position that my legs would have been in a position they would have 'recognized' a but more and it probably would have felt slightly better. Dunno though - didn't try that. The seat seemed to be a pretty decent fit for a bigger guy. Height was just perfect. My shoulders were in the right place - that wide section up top, and putting my head back was comfortable on the headrest - it did not seem to far forward or too far to the back.
Bear in mind, all of these impressions were from approximately a 20 minute session probably close to a month ago now. I hear you though - I wish I could have sat in them first. That's the trouble with shopping for stuff like this if you are not in a major market.
You could always go the Cobra route and drop the bluebook value of your car on a pair of seats... sometimes I ask myself why I am doing this. No... I sold one of my hifi tube preamps to fund a pair of decent seats, and there is no reason not to use those proceeds to get the seats that will make me happy.
Got some photos from Cobra today. The lighter swatch is from a hidden spot under one of the plastic covers on the side of my driver's seat, the darker (small) swatch is the leather I used on my downtube covers which is very close to the color of the dash and other interior covers. I am a bit miffed they did not include the interior piece I sent them in the photos and have asked them to resent all three photos with that for context. I am leaning toward number 1 as the best match in terms of leather color and grain.
Cobra leather 1.
Cobra leather 2.
Cobra leather 3. This one is a bit too dark for me, but it does have the slight bluish tint that the Panther Black has going on.
You could always go the Cobra route and drop the bluebook value of your car on a pair of seats... sometimes I ask myself why I am doing this. No... I sold one of my hifi tube preamps to fund a pair of decent seats, and there is no reason not to use those proceeds to get the seats that will make me happy.
You're right--the key is to make yourself happy. I don't have the long-term connection with my MINI to justify that kind of coin on seats. Plus, I have a project car. The MINI is my DD, I'm just a total failure at not modding anything I have, especially since my seats are splitting.
I'm no help on picking the right color--that's my wife's job.
Called Braum as their website says... Was told that I'd need to email them to get full details on pricing (eg, whether it includes brackets, sliders, or both). That could add as much as $220/seat to the price.
Not sure why they tell you on the website to call them to order, when the guy on the phone then tells you that you have to email them to get a quote.
Yep, the brackets are extra - the planted ones are not bad compared with other options. Cobra wants $440 EACH for MINI specific brackets. I will also be going with planted. They do seem to be not very well organized over there, but they seem to be nearly always in crisis mode due to problems at the ports due to COVID-related restrictions and personnel shortages. Long Beach has been pretty screwed for a pretty long time, and nearly all arriving Pacific freight lands there. They could totally do better though.
Called Planted today to see if I could track down, the, returned brackets. No luck, but figures out that they are part of 425 Motorsports in Kirkland, WA, about 30 minutes from my house.
They sell seats (but not Braum). Going to hold off on the Braums and take a trip up to see what they have to offer.
I didn't even open the brackets, so they probably went right back into inventory. Once I found out the seats were incorrect, I never had any reason to as I decided that they were going right back. Hope they have something in stock for you - post up a couple photos if you don't mind of the stuff they have.
First couple of check drives have been nearly perfect. Seems nice and planted, cornering is pretty great, no additional rattles at all. Pretty happy. Couple things to take care of though - headlights are not auto adjusting level - I know why... bracket is in an incorrect position. Have to get under there tomorrow. Aimed the fogs and aux driving lights tonight - WOW, that is a lot of extra light! When I have my headlight where they are supposed to be, it'll be really bright! New yellow bulbs in the stock fogs look great too! High beams are now a much closer color match to the xenons as well.
The deposit goes on the new seats on Monday. 10-11 week lead time. Pretty excited - need to find a rear right lateral in panther black in great shape, and a chrome ebrake handle. Those, together with the new seats and the interior will be done. At that point, the front suspension is half done, new brakes all around, the rear suspension is done. Dropping the front subframe next winter to get all of the bushings, repaint, and may do a new clutch - don't know about that yet. My clutch feels great but it's got nearly 112k on it.
Anyhow, I may buy the turbine compressorless sprayer this summer and redo the doors. Have a few minor dings and both have a couple rust spots. So, will probably take the outside down to metal, grind out all the rust, fill any minor dings, do a quality 2k etch primer coat, good quality 2k primer, and then paint and clear. Not worried about color matching the car at that point because I will be taking my time and doing all of the panels eventually with the same paint - will buy a gallon.
Well, I did crawl under the car last night, move the headlight sensor around to the position it's supposed to be in, but because the new arms are so much beefier than the stockers, the arm is in a slightly higher position. So, going to have play with the position a bit more - but it's getting there. Might use a couple of stainless washer as spacers to get the bracket down just enough so that the headlights are at the proper level.
Seats are now officially on order. 11 weeks and counting. I triple checked the invoice and Cobra has my mock-up. They have leather that is a super close match. So, hopefully - the third time is the charm.
Also have one more piece of the chromeline trim installed. Got the new shift surround from Allmag installed today. I am going to look for the handbrake boot and the chrome tach in junkyards this summer. I have to drive out to the east coast the first part of the summer and I plan on hitting as many large salvage yards along the way as I can. Need to find a right rear lateral trim panel in pristine condition, a new front and rear bumper for her 2006, a drivers side visor for mine, and some miscellaneous bits. I love hunting for stuff in junk yards!
No photos of the light setup yet, but the fogs emit a nice narrow diffuse beam to about 30 or 35 degrees to both sides of center of the car. I may tweak the position a bit more (rotate them a bit more toward the sides - I can see what is in front of me well enough, but those dark road edges is where the beasties hide). ABSOLUTELY NO VIBRATION transmitted through the bar to the lights - they are rock steady when they are turned on - no bounce at all even over large bumps. Super happy with how this thing is functioning, and getting a bit more adept at quickly uninstalling it for bumper removals. I elongated the mounting holes a bit when I had the bumper off last, and now I can catch both mounting bolts from under the car through my little access holes. Before, it was pinching a bit and I had to partially remove the driver's fender liner to do the final tighten of the bolts. Now though, it's just an extra 3-4 minutes removing the bumper and 3-4 reinstalling it.
MINI USA has to do my PS recall in a few weeks and want to make sure they don't F anything up. I will probably bring a few tools and remove the bumper for them and show them how to reinstall it so they don't mess anything up. Going to Minneapolis for that - anyone have any experience with that dealer? Decent? Lock up the wallet?
Q: Anyone ever have the power to the car completely cut out for no apparent reason?
Was just getting ready to take a short drive today, started the car, put the handbrake down, and all power goes out. No locks, windows, light, nothing. Checked battery connections and voltage - all good. Figured a short maybe, so rapped under dash area, along steering column. Tried again and fired right up. Weird. So now it seems ter may be a sort somewhere related to ignition...?
...put the handbrake down, and all power goes out.
Do all of the warning switches go though the computer? Maybe a hiccup in the ECU? When the handbrake switch told the computer the hand brake was down, the computer shut everything down instead of just turning off the handbrake light? But that makes little sense as the door lock switch is aways powered...
A bad relay?
A “short” would be a positive (powered) wire crossed with ground. That usually causes a fuse to blow. An “0pen” would be like a wire that was cut, or a relay that didn’t close, or a switch with bad contacts... Yours sounds like an “open”.
Interesting that ... Do all of the warning switches go though the computer? Maybe a hiccup in the ECU? When the handbrake switch told the computer the hand brake was down, the computer shut everything down instead of just turning off the handbrake light? But that makes little sense as the door lock switch is aways powered...
A bad relay?
A “short” would be a positive (powered) wire crossed with ground. That usually causes a fuse to blow. An “0pen” would be like a wire that was cut, or a relay that didn’t close, or a switch with bad contacts... Yours sounds like an “open”.
Good luck with this...
I'm stumped. Dunno even where to start with this. My battery is old, and sat awhile while the car was mothballed, but as long as I drive the car every so often it seems to hold a charge well enough. When I tested the voltage it was right around 12.5v. I think this is going to be mice related. Every time I open up a panel, I see evidence that the mice were into the ground wires. All of the brown wires - and pretty much only those. Damned soy-based insulation.
Could also be unrelated to the handbrake and just happened to coincide too... For the 3 or 4 minutes the car was 'dead', and thinking it may have been a short, I worked the handbrake lever 8 or 10 times and that did nothing to resolve the problem. But, then I pounded on the ignition switch area, and the underside of the steering column cover and the under-dash cover on the tight side, and then I tried the ignition again, and everything was normal. That seems to indicate an intermittent something. I have to take that cover off the steering column and see what I can see - wish I had pounded on each part individually and then tried the ignition between each try. Need to know which area that I had 'Fonzed' that had the actual affect.
If it is an intermittent, makes me a bit nervous to drive though. Have to bring it in for the PS recall - to Minneapolis. That's ~ 400mi each way.
Just installed a new Torque Solutions lower engine mount. Super solid and the Install was super easy: Front up on stands, remove two 16mm bolts, use a pry bar to swing the motor back out of the way an inch or two, pop the old one out, new one in, torgue the two bolt down to 78 lb-ft. The whole install was complete in 15 minutes. I did, however, lose hold of the pry bar when trying to get the new one in and whamped myself pretty good with the pry bar right in the forehead. Didn't hurt all that much (I've a hard head), but I do have a small cut there. So if you do this, be careful of the pry bar potential to slip!
I was surprised by how good shape the old one was in. There was a small crack in one of the rubber 'webs' on one side, but otherwise it wasn't too bad at all. The bushing on the small side was rough, but not torn that I could see. This mount does not have a bushing on the small side - so be prepared for a bit more vibration if you add this mount.
I was initially surprised when I started it up for the first time - there is quite a bit more vibration because of the bush-less side, and while that vibration is there, it isn't overwhelming (but, I also don't think my Borla 'race' exhaust system with a catless header is all that loud either). Then I went for a short drive, and I understood why people like these. The car feels more solid - there is less motion of the engine-trans that you can feel under hard acceleration and/or braking, and less that is transmitted through the gearshift. For $110 through ebay (with free priority shipping), it is almost a no-brainer. If you are one of those people who don't like the vibrations and noises that the first gen cars make, probably not a mod for you though.
Will do the transmission mount when I tear the front subframe off this coming winter, but curious what all upper mounts you guys are running and how you like them... curious, particularly, about opinions on the vibratecnics and the WMW one. The WMW upper mount looks just like a dual inverted cone solid block of poly, but not sure about what all is inside the Vibratechnics one. Opinions?
04-13-2021 | 07:43 AM
