Doing a lot of research here and it is clear there are several areas prone to oil leakage. In the short time I've had mine I've seen temps up at the 210~215*f range and I'm not a fan of running it that hot. So I asked the question in the Bytetronik thread about CT monitoring and the 180*f t-stat. I am planning to fix all the leaks, swap the tensioner & belt (belt cracked and so car is parked until its swapped with the tensioner) and update/fix any other issues that are known to the R53 motor (whats its designation W11???).

Todo list:
Harmonic balancer (known failure, may do a 2% ATI, but ATI for sure)
Drive belt and tensioner (known failure)
Oil filter o-rings (?) (known failure)
Valve cover gasket leaking into the spark plug hole (already leaking)
T-stat housing -> Aluminum w/180* stat (or maybe 190 if it exists)
Strut towers
SC service
Brake Flush
Front & Rear O2 Sensors
Bypass valve
Run Stiction Eliminator thru the motor before oil change over to Royal Purple
Swap tranny fluid to Royal Purple (need to find out what weight is needed, one be nice it its the same as the Ram)
Lower motor mount (already did the upper with an updated one)
Trans mount
Power steering hoses (inspect for leaks)
crank sensor o-ring/gasket (same time as ATI swap)
Idler Pulley
Ball Joints
Chassis inspection & update

Making it mine list:
Ditch the Dinan CAI in favor of (most likely) Madness Mini one with a modded bulkhead
Wrap the fuel rail
17% SC pulley to shift the boost down farther towards 2k rpms
RMW shorty header (in hand) 1st to the stock exhaust, then decide on CAT back from there
Most likely go back to the heavy 8 spoke Mini OEM wheels and either toss a spare in the rear seat deleted back or run run-flats (crappy roads here in PNW)
Rear seat delete (cause all my kids drive their own cars... )
R57 brakes (need to research this more)

Cars got 136k on it, whats a realistic goal for being able to run it before a rebuild? I will do a compression test on it to determine the health of the motor (as soon as I find the tool, just moved) and track it as the 10's of K miles add on.

If I'm missing anything on the todo list please feel free to speak up...

 

I didn't like the Temps either when I 1st got my car BUT after extensive research and talking to pros here those are normal running Temps. Running under 200 is going to cause problems with condensation buildup in the oil.. ive done LOTS of testing but it was on my lt1 camaro I had but the same principals apply. Yes you want it cool but too cool can be bad also the trick is to get it to maintain a constant adequate temp , like 210-215 if you could keep it at those Temps no matter how hard or soft the car is pushed i think that would be ideal.
btw, I put in 75-90 full sulynthetic and its silky smooth

 

My thoughts:

Engine list looks good, but I would be curious about the condition of the clutch. If you are running the original clutch, I would add that to your plans. If you're going to do a clutch, I'd suggest adding a limited slip duff while you are in there.

Can't remember what your suspension situation is. I know I mentioned the lower control arm bushings before-did you check those out? You mention strut towers-I would suggest either IE fixed camber plates, or Vorschlag adjustable. Either way, you'll be replacing the strut mount, which can be a known point of failure, and precluding any additional mushrooming. If your dampers are original, they are dead. Depending on your goals, you can go inexpensive with Bilstein B4s and reuse OEM springs, or start down the road of better springs, dampers, or coilovers. Do a rear sway bar. I would not recommend the S-Heavies, and definitely recommend ditching run flats. Triple A beats trying to figure out how to do a spare, in my opinion.

I can't provide any wisdom on the Dinan air box-looks like the JCW to me, which a lot of folks think highly of. I don't have experience with the Madness intake, but I wouldn't have picked an open top. I went with the DDM, as it's not going to draw any underhood air. I again don't have a depth of knowledge, but I went with a 15% vs 17% because I read that much past 15 gave heat soak issues at the track, and I know that was a problem with my last SC car.

I'm interested to see your fuel cooling efforts and outcomes, as this is one performance mod I haven't seen triex on thxi platform, and it seems like it would be beneficial. I know you're looking to move the torque curve down, and I understand that thinking coming from the diesel world. You should absolutely build what you want, but you might consider that these motors are designed to rev. These guys are just happier when they're above 3k.

Other little things: the relay for the low speed fan (I think that's close, to the name--it's on the radiator/shroud assembly-is prone to fail and has a proven workaround. I would hold off on the trans mount, unless you have a known failure. I don't know of too many people who were happy with all 3 mounts stiffened up.

And I'd do an exhaust, or at least a one ball mod. Wish I had done mine sooner. Performance mod plus smile multiplier.

 

Steve -

Just a heads up...
A "Leakdown" test is a MUCH better test if you want to see how well the rings are sealing, or not.
The Mini engine does not use a harmonic balancer. I has a harmonic damper. Two different things.
Be sure to do both sides of the brake flush. With the traction control off, and with it on. The information is in the manual.
Personally, NO SNAKE OIL in my cars. Your car, your money...but..! I looked this up. Basically a fuel injector cleaner (Stiction Eliminator). Ok I give on this one. I've used Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner for MANY years in both my bikes and my cars. I know for first hand fact that the Lucas works. Good luck with your S.E.

Have fun.

Mike

 

What does the suspension look like?

new bushings and ball joints?

also good time to refresh power steering hoses if leaking

 

Don’t remember seeing you list the crank position sensor gasket. This commonly leaks and can be misdiagnosed as an oil pan gasket leak.

replace the bolt and gasket/o-ring when replacing the crank pulley.

timing cover gasket can leak as well I believe.

I agree the Poly tranny mount can add more stiffness than other poly mounts. May want to replace that with stock or leave it alone depending on condition.

 

Steve,

Might have missed it from earlier posts, but have you replaced the coolant expansion tank? If not, that's definitely a part worthy of bulletproofing. Go for an aluminum tank that accepts the OEM pressure relieving threaded cap or go with one of the nicer aluminum tanks that utilize the standard pressure release caps like Canton. I'm not sure on radiators, but worth a look too. Fans were mentioned earlier, easiest to just replace with a whole new unit. TYC makes an affordable one.

Alternator might also be a good thing to inspect. The brushes are not economical to replace so just look for a Denso unit instead.

What else? Lots of stuff.

• Since you're doing tensioner and belt, might as well also do the idler pulley while you are in there. Not expensive, maybe ~$20.
• power steering hoses. Leaking? These tend to be weepers.
• swaybar end links? At 136K, likely the joints are toast. They get noisy and clunky, but not fatal.
• ball joints? also likely worn, but unlikely to leave on you on the side of the road.

We're on year 4 with our project Mini. Lots of fun, lots of projects. It's been great platform to teach the kid maintenance and how to keep an old yet sort of modern car on the road.

Edit: We just completed the R56 front brake upgrade. A buddy with a R55 upgraded his to the JCW Brembo so I bought his OEM set. Haven't really pushed the car hard enough to notice a difference and likely won't, but more brakes is always a good thing.

 

I cant imagine dropping coolant temps down to 190~195 is going to lead to condensation problems. I say 190~195 because.... as it sits under normal driving conditions with a 195 stat its running at 205~210. If it were dropped all the way down to a 160 stat then yeah I would believe it. I will keep an eye on the oil when I do it and report anything unusual. I think part of the reasons for all the o-ring & gasket leaks is related to the motor running so hot day to day, time will tell once I make the swap. I have only seen condensation issues on 1 motor, a 4.7 dodge motor, it needed frequent oil changes.

Good to hear on the 75w-90! huge fan of RP oils and will get it all swapped over. Once upon a time I did a comparison of Mobil 1 (the fav at the time) and RP, the new to me discovery... Had a 2001 Jetta commuter with a 1.8t motor. OCI's were at 5k intervals using M1 oil. At the end of the OCI the motor would be best described as running a tad bit "rough" for some reason. Dumping fresh M1 oil would smooth it out. Then decided to do the same OCI with the RP oils once I switched and that "roughness" never appeared at the ~5k mark for the OC. That right there sold me and have been using RP ever since.


What did you learn on the LT1 motors relating to condensation?

 

Clutch is fine, was swapped out by PO at some point, probably a dual mass setup. When it goes, in will go a SMF setup.

Suspension has stock struts with an unknown lowering spring. It sits on 16" Ray engineering??? wheels. Thanks for the recommendation on the camber plates, I'll investigate. The goals for now are to get it on the road with a high confidence level that I'm not gonna have to call a truck to bring it home. Right now the drive belt is cracked enough to make me park it, since the truck is running fine & travel is minimized these days its no biggie to have it parked while I dial it in.

The thought occurred to me reading your CAI comments that a top could be made for the MM intake, would not be hard. Really all I want there is a box big enough to fit the air filter I want in there which will be an AFE PG7 filter. I might experiment with a home brew box and make it so I can try a larger input flange on the filter side. the bulkhead opening into the cowl area needs to be bigger, or... a custom one that allows me to hose it up and draw air across the fuel cooler I want to install... along with other ports to keep the air flowing. Lots of ideas there and I will bet a solution can be had to make me happy. I am starting to like the home brew CAI idea now that I think about it... I had a nearby shop make me a custom fan shroud for the ram, they are one option and we have a sheet metal brake at work if I choose to do it myself. (if you looked up some of my threads over on cumminsforum.com, its clear I am a tweeker lol).

Since your so close, we should do a meet & greet one day and discuss the fuel cooler ideas. Discussions with other motor heads always proves beneficial.

Fan relay... its a 2 speed fan right? I have a 2 speed fan relay I use on the ram from the Volvo's, have yet to see one fail. Simple grounding of the input activates one or the other speeds. Only concern is the inrush current that occurs when trying to go to a high setting from a dead stop. Since I have the volvo fans installed, both turned on low when enabled, zero cooling issues today (3 years now) and have yet to use the high speeds.

On the exhaust, since I have the header in hand, will go that route with stock to see how performance is... but I agree, smiles for miles are priceless.

 

Yeah agreed a leak down test will also provide useful info and I will go to it if compression numbers look whonky. With compression test numbers, it gives me actual data that I can track from test to test across miles driven. I'm a test engineer by trade so collecting data and watching trends is what I do.

Thanks for the heads up on the 2 sided brake flush, would have never known. I will educate myself on it prior to getting the work done (wont do it myself, not that motivated lol).

On the stiction eliminator... while its perceived as an injection cleaner, what it actually does is remove the brown sticky deposits that accumulate in the motor. It was first developed to solve an injection problem the ford diesels developed back in the early 2000's, those injectors used engine oil in them some how to assist in firing them off. Heat build up would lead to the injectors becoming sticky and thus poor performance.. The stiction eliminator removes those deposits and free's up the injectors so it runs like it should. What many do in the diesel world is run it in the engine at every oil change.

My experience with it on the ram (diesel)... oil consumption was erratic and it would consume 3~4 qts of oil over approx 7k miles. OCI is 10k using royal purple oil. My truck is really detuned to provide my best driving experience and fuel economy. What this leads to is injector deposits (use ATF & 2 stroke oil aka "the mix", in the fuel to keep it clean) and carbon buildup in the piston tops. 2 ways to combat those 2 issues are, 1) tow and tow heavy often, which is not practical for me since its a daily driver and 2) additives. Having tried several fuel injector cleaners, none have performed as well as the mix does for keeping the injectors clean.

Having the oil usage issue going on I decided to try the stiction eliminator. It was my belief that the rings might have deposits on them causing them to stick thus allowing oil by. No proof, only speculation and a steady use of oil. This was at approx 360k miles. Tried the initial application of the stiction eliminator (2 qts with 13 qt capacity) and over the OCI (10k), it used just 1 quart. Over that time frame the motor started running noticeably better. So every oil change it gets a quart and oil usage continues to be 1 qt over the 10k OCI.

My thoughts on using it in the W11 (?) motor is if the rings are sticking, they will be freed. If there are any deposits in the motor from the PO's oil choice, they will be removed. After the first OCI has passed, would drop down to a smaller amount to be used on-going. 1st app would be 1 qt and would probably settle on 0.5 qt. Again, if anything negative or positive comes from it, I will post up. (surely to get "flamed" lol but no worries).

The fuel will always be Chevron premium which has the techron in it, firm believer in it again from past experience.

 

Suspension, unknown miles on ball joints & bushings, car tracks extremley well and no concerns with it at the moment.

Thanks for the heads up on the power steering hoses, will need to add that to post #1 as a reminder


Your right, the CPS gasket/o-ring is not on there but it has been on the radar, thanks! I will add it up there with the power steering hose inspections.

Timing cover gasket, mine leaks but into the spark plug area so will do the whole 9 yards on it.

 

The coolant tank has been replaced, it is "new" in color and does not show the signs of age ("yellowing"). When it goes I'll swap in an aluminum tank.

The swaybar end links... yeah I had one pop off during the axle swap, not a good design from my point of view and will look to alternates at some point, pretty far down on the list at the moment.

Thats awesome your kid wants to learn... my GF's kid (17) "says" he wants to learn and continues to pass up on opportunities both on the car he drives and mine (truck & now mini) Sooo many opportunities to turn a wrench and learn wasted. He finally burned the bridge just this week when he failed to act on his own word to tear into an alternator swap and take it as far as he could on his own before I had time to jump in and help guide/finish it off. His mom has had it with him and has relieved me from working on that car, dumping it all on him to solve any problem that comes up.

The brake upgrade you did... I have loosely looked into it and know the R56 brakes are supposed to be bigger with better stopping power??? It will get done on mine but as of now, car stops, but not as expected. They will need help.

 

I can imagine and i can guarantee running it too cold will.
my lt1 constantly had milkshake under the oil cap and it slowly diluted the oil..i fixed it soon but it could easily cause excessive wear with watered down oil. Also install a catch can on the mini, theyre a help too.
I wanted to run my mini at 180-190 and was highly advised not to but where it runs now I can never over heat it even with all my mods ,see my forum project rice for about my car ive done alot of cheap little things to help the car run at its best most efficient as I can get it, next is a higher compacity all aluminum radiator.. i feel that might be needed as im doing a bvh head and cam very soon...but I'm constantly trying to improve my cooper too. I wish I could do a big brake upgrade but I'm committed to my wheel,tire and stance setup. But I will do drill n slotted and do some brake cooling ducts then too.
my daughter who is 10 is my right hand man too when working on OUR mini..she insist on getting it as her 1st car, which I'm ok with.

 

Ok thanks, I will research what has been said on the 190* op temp. Cars have been running that temp for decades and well cared for ones live on. Oil analysis will tell the tale one vs the other. since your bringing this issue up, what I'll do is put in a fumoto drain valve and syphon some off for oil analysis at say 3k intervals for before and after.

So on the flip side of the coin, maybe whats needed is to get some more data on what other mini's are running for CTs... maybe mine has an issue that has gone undetected. Additionally, it may be possible to extract more heat out of the engine compartment to lower temps.... and control CTs better with fan control. I have an unfinished Arduino project to control the fans on the Ram, they are 27 amp on high and I developed a PWM driver on the Arduino platform to drive a DC-DC 30A converter to drive the fans. The covid thing killed it as it was close to being done. Do you know of any CFM data on the Mini fans? I still have the fan test chamber I build for the Volvo testing, could easily adapt it for the Mini fan to find out what it will do. (yes, built a fan test chamber to measure CFMs on the volvo fan used in the ram, fun project and learned a ton!)

Adding found post...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4103046

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...rmostat-2.html

 

What are your iat ??? With all my mods on the hottest day I run average of 17 above ambient temp and is i dont tie shut my bpv it runs about 10degrees less than that even but with the bpv tied shut it brings on boost much faster.

 

I have not data logged it long enough yet to answer that question. Right now the Mini is taking a back seat to a roof swap on a shed I have, just moved in and the garage is still a mess. Gotta get the shed done so I can move what can live out there and free up floor space in the garage. I have a tensioner tool in hand now, just need to get the tensioner & belt ordered. Also, I have the 17% pulley on its way, according to research, it looks like I will need a K060535 belt for stock crank & 17% pulley (?). Will get that ordered along with a fresh tensioner.

Is it possible to tie the bpv shut w/o tearing it apart?

 

Nice project and list I just finished up the same project on my new to me R53. Here’s the detailed list I covered over the past 5 months just in you want to compare.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...and-build.html

Looking forward to seeing how everything turns out

 

Awesome thread... nicely detailed. You have more patients than I do lol. I did have to research the VSG mod and will add that to the list. Will do that when the CAC is off for the first time.

 

looks like you have a solid list, all of the weak points are cheap and easy to service, basically gaskets/orings

I dont see the oil fitler housing O ring contraption on your list, but I would not touch it if it's not leaking

these cars run until people stop caring for them, the engines are pretty stout with the occasional timing chain tensioner issue or burned valve

 

you can tie shut the bpv just to see how your car responds, you can loop a zip tie over its arm, around the intake tube that feeds fresh air and it will hold it shut. Some cars will throw a cel some dont . Mine never has. All it does it help boost come on sooner but the sc is working harder , i can tell by the iat but like I said the earlier max boost is so worth it.

 

Thanks, looks like I mis-typed the oil filter as oil pump, fixed it.

The thing I like about this motor is it is a no-frills motor. I like the keep it simple route and once I get what I want out of it, its done, most likely no more changes unless something has worn out. Looking forward to getting back to it

 

Regarding coolant temps, I monitored it while on a little cruise to the coast a month ago using OBD fusion. With my son driving, the overall speeds were below 50mph with some hills to climb up and over at fairly slow speeds. This pushed the temps up quite a bit. Going slow with the revs below 3K got the temps to spike to 111*c/ 231*F. Was quite surprised!

After getting home, I searched on here for what the range of temps ought to be and was relieved to see that 240*F+ was where things start to be a concern. So the temps got high, but not in the danger zone. FWIW, as soon as we hit the downhills or flats or when we could pick up speed, the temps stayed around 90-100*C.

 

230+ is insane, cooling system is not designed well enough for whats thrown at it. Its no wonder why the motor springs leaks the way it does. Think of the power robbed by having the head that hot, and I bet having the CAC on top of the motor is a leading cause of it.

 

Iirc

90c Tstat opens
105c lowspeed fan
110c Or 112c? high speed fan

the high fan stays on until temps back down

 

Its in the FAQ: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...questions.html