My fuel hose just arrived! It's the correct part number, but looks a little short. Once I get out there and try to fit it I will be able to tell for sure.
My front speed sensors also arrived so I think this weekend might be more productive.

 

On the wheel speed sensor, make sure you clean out the old hole and maybe use a bur tool to help. They will fit really tight on a rusted knuckle and sometimes dont want to go in.

 

^^ yes sir. I mention that in post #89. I was really shocked how much rust was in there. Both mini's have had this issue so now they will all get the treatment. Never had this issue on my E39... Oh well, live and learn.

 

Some progress finally! We managed to wrangle the rear sub frame back in and it went pretty smoothly. It's usually easier when all the bolts are clean and rust free.
Also, new fuel hose installed. The old one was rough.

 

Quick note: I ordered new exhaust hangers and the ones for the middle section are rubberized and the hole for the screw is a royal PITA to work with. I had to cut and pick at it and then tapped the screw hole to clean the threads. Should not have been such a pain but it was.

Red one is the old one and the black is the new.

 

Got side tracked and went to the front of the car to replace the "pipe" (hardline) for the clutch slave cylinder. Mine was a little crusty. I pulled the old one easily and new one would not go in. The we looked and noticed the rubber tip off the old one was stuck in the cylinder so we used a pic and fished it out and the new piece went on easily. Hope this saves someone some time.

 

Back to the rear end. Take a look:
Very well packed, all the pieces I needed. Super easy install. Limited adjustment so the tips slightly touch the plastic and are pretty well tucked. Can't see the name, but all in all, not a bad deal.

 

Busy day. Moved to the front sub-frame. Assembled and installed. The discovered the steering u-joint is nearly seized. So, that will get replaced as well. For now most of the big stuff is done. Over the next few days, we'll install the LSD, re-seal the engine and do new guides/t-chain, de-grease and paint and get it ready to go back in.

 

One more side note: the silicone line replacement kit I purchased on ebay only had like 5 hoses that actually fit. The rest were odd ball shapes and sizes that I could not find anywhere on the car. I have a message out to the seller for a refund. I looked at the hose kits on the site below. Not sure I can bring my self to drop over $200 on hoses...

https://www.prohoses.co.uk/product/m...nt-hose-kit-3/
https://www.prohoses.co.uk/product/m...lary-hose-kit/

 

When I purchased the back end OE rubber hoses piece-meal from a combination of our vendors the aggregate cost was easily over that. Had I known such a kit existed in silicon at the time and been confident every piece would fit properly I might have gone for it. Still knowing your car made it roughly 150K miles in rust belt conditions on factory hoses is encouraging after having gone with the OEM rubber again (I did get the brass connectors though).

Really enjoying this thread btw. Great armchair wrenching adventure and highly valuable, timely information throughout. Already did much of the front subframe work you're doing at half the miles and now starting to muster the gumption to attack the rear. Well done sir!

 

Glad you are enjoying. It helps me to document all the work I have to do and keeps all relevant pics in one spot for each car.
BTW, this car seemed to have spent most of it's life in Ohio so yes, there have been a few rusty surprises. We replaced the parking brake lines and the passenger side brake hard line "pipe" as it was rotten and sprung a leak in traffic. (I did not know this but recently found out someone sells preformed Stainless brake pipe for the whole car- around $235.00 - wish I'd have known sooner. https://www.linestogo.com/mini-coope...ainless-steel/

Today we will put all the shocks and springs together- now that we have received some guidance on the proper order of all the bits AND hopefully we will start to tackle the engine and trans. Really eager to get the LSD installed and the engine resealed.

Once I replace the steering shaft and receive my header I will plug it all back in and hopefully have many more trouble free miles.

 

Agree. I really enjoy these threads as well!

 

Some progress today. Maybe two steps forward and one step back?

Started with the intent to prep all the springs and shocks. Thought the springs would be small enough to compress by hand. Nope. I have a few compressors for various cars and not the one I needed for this one so I had to put them on the back burner for now. A few pics of where I was headed. Noticed the cylindrical piece that came with the powerflex was too thick and did not fit over the threaded shaft while the ones that came with the Koni's did. Now I have a plan. Ordered a new compressor so I could keep plugging away without stopping today.

 

Got sidetracked and decided to put on the studs I ordered. Reconnected the SS lines and went to install the new pads- for some reason the wrong fit. So, they're on order.

Strategically placed stick in the photo below courtesy of my furry helper.

 

Finally moved on to the engine and trans. I really hate that I have to hunt for lifting points on this thing. A real PITA. Nevertheless, we got it split up and the block mounted on my stand. She got a cursory degreasing but that battle has only just begun. More tomorrow for this one...

Notice the black insides of the transmission housing? It's not dust. That is a greasy oily mess. Never seen one this nasty. Throw out bearing looks a little rough as well (I'll need to get a better pic later) There were absolutely no issues with the trans, btw.

 

Transmission has the stock dual mass flywheel and the stock mini clutch. Car has around 155k and I honestly do not think it's ever been touched, but this clutch looks too good to be original. I did not clean any of it yet, just a quick wipe with a dirty rag... Anyway it's all oem. As it stands I am inclined to just swap in a new LUK clutch and pressure plate and call it good (I can get one off of Amazon right now for $102.00). I keep seeing folks moving away from the dual mass- yes it's heavy, but this one is in decent shape. When I replaced the DM in my E39 with a single light weight deal, it chattered like a tractor. It was easier to use, but I did not care for the noise. Very hesitant to try that fiasco again. Considering my options so I can get something ordered. Thoughts from the Guru's???? Just a reminder, we do not beat on the cars, track them or otherwise abuse them. They are DD's and once in a while we zip around, but it is nothing requiring anything fancy at least IMHO.

 

Hopefully, tomorrow we will have most of the degreasing completed and maybe move on to the painting and resealing (not sure which order I'll tackle that in)
Gotta find a way to keep the crank from spinning so I can remove the crank pulley (In my haste, I removed the flywheel before I loosened it.) And I really don't want to take it off the stand as it was a pain to get mounted.

 

Not a Guru® but also daily the car. And never track it. Right with you on going OEM / dual mass. Longevity and reliability are key for these cars as DDs; not sure how the single mass ones hold up over time. Maybe someone can weigh in with their experiences. Sometimes get the subtle wup-wup-wup-wup that sounds like an approaching helicopter but that's about it and is easily silenced with a partial push and release of the clutch pedal while at a stop. Otherwise no issues on the current OEM one with ~25K on it.

 

On my E39 the DM was damaged and it was like $800 to replace so I went with the light SM flywheel. It always sounded like a tractor at idle. Touch the clutch and it was silent. Still, I hated it. I don't want to repeat the same mistake. And frankly, I am trying to do EVERYTHING I can now, while it's all torn apart. I'd like to not have to do this for another 100k plus miles. And I have other projects that are being neglected. (don't we all? )

Anyway, I posted on the mods/drivetrain area to see if we can get some opinions/ ideas.

 

My guess is that the noises you got from the single mass conversion are due to the light-weight version you went with. I have a ClutchMasters single mass in my R55, but I went with their steel version. The steel version is just about the same weight as the OEM dual mass, and I don't have any issues with noises that weren't there with the OEM dual mass piece.

In your case, and with your requirements and driving, I would get a new dual mass flywheel. Also, don't skimp and not replace the clutch disc and pressure plate. Considering the work involved in getting to it, its cheap insurance from having to redo the job in a coupe months.

 

Another eventful day. Got the trans and block cleaned up and discovered a few nice things along the way.

The top of the engine is super clean with virtually no wear. Everything looks even better than expected. I'm guessing the PO at least did regular oil changes.
We went to swap the t-chain and guides and they look and feel like new. Most of the o-rings were in very good condition so we've left the really nice ones alone. Swapped in a few new gaskets, including the front cover and the front seal and new gasket and bolts in the valve cover. Most of the sensor o-rings were recently done so they were cleaned and lubed and re-installed. Since this block is a PITA to mount with limited mounting areas we found that we used two of the holes for the oil pan to mount it so we will need to drop it off the stand to remove the pan. While in there we'll do the o-rings for the dipstick, oil pick up and the oil pan and finally the rear main.

Then it's off to tackle the LSD and the new axle seals. Once that's complete we'll be in the home stretch. Waiting on the new steering shaft, headers, and my spring compressors to put the suspension bits together. Almost there!

Note: I added a close up pic of the t-chain tensioner and where it sits. I figured it would be centered, but it is not. It's a new tensioner that I added a few weeks before I pulled the engine.

 

A little cleaning and some paint.

 

Looking N-I-C-E!

 

This motor looks really good; clear unmistakable evidence the PO at least changed the oil with some frequency. "If you do nothing else..."

Just curious did you swap in the new set anyway? Have not done this job (yet) but keep hearing / reading how brittle the legendary BMW-sourced plastic guides get over time...

 

Thanks for the kind words!

I had intended to do the swap on the t-chain guides as I am familiar with BMW issues. However, these were in excellent condition. With the missing bolt at the lower left of the front cover, I am now of the opinion that someone had been in there and performed the replacement recently *(I've owned for at least 5-6 years and maybe put 15k on it) so, I am not worried about it. Besides, with everything nice and clean and mostly new, I can go in at any time and service with minimal issues.

Note: if the chain were even slightly questionable (loose) or if the guides had any indication of brittleness, they should be changed. I have the parts on hand if and when it becomes necessary- I have another R53 so parts are always used around here.

njaremka: Thanks for the suggestion o the clutch. Looking at the prices of these things, the condition of the current parts, my driving use/style and limited driving - I think I am going to simply clean what I have and buy a new clutch kit and call it good. I have spent significantly more than I had planned. The justification being that if this lasted this well for 150+k, this mini "refresh" should last another 150k. And if something fails, as mentioned above- it's all clean, lubed *(and anti-siezed)- so any future service on basically any component should be reasonably easy.