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Concur. I'd like to get more details on the Sparco Terra rims (e.g. size, offset and weight and size tire) And any alternative brake options that are out there for a reasonable price as we do not track the cars but do like to be able to stop when necessary.
I think I forgot to mention that the correct shift cables arrived and I installed on Sunday and then hit the block and the trans with a few more coats of paint and high heat clear. Looks decent and not sure how long it will last. At least I won't get all dirty reinstalling it.
Additionally, I started working on cleaning up the ports on my intake pipes and exhaust. I came out ok for a first attempt, but I think I'd like to spend a little more time playing with it. We'll see. I have to start getting this wrapped up as I have other projects to attend to and the weather window will soon be closing. So I might just call it good and start getting things back together sooner than later.
Concur. I'd like to get more details on the Sparco Terra rims (e.g. size, offset and weight and size tire) And any alternative brake options that are out there for a reasonable price as we do not track the cars but do like to be able to stop when necessary.
The Terra's are a light wheel considering how bulky they look, made from a mono block of aluminum they're a pound lighter than the Motegi's (because 15" instead of 17").
These are 7" wide with a +35 offset/5.39" backspace, which adds about a half inch of poke without rubbing, 17.05 lbs per wheel and the recommended tire size for these is 195/60. With 17" wheels running 205's worked out well, so I went with 205/60 Yokohama's. Apparently 215's will also fit, but with 'temporary' rubbing (friend of mine tried it and said the rubbing parts wore off after a few weeks). I tried to get run flats as mine came standard w/o a spare tire, but everyone quit manufacturing 15" run flats 3 years ago and you will not be able to find them (universal 3 year expiration date), Walmart had them on their website so I put in the order, but was notified of the situation about a week later.
Clearing the brakes is the biggest obstacle to running 15" wheels, I've seen guys 'shaving' calipers to make them fit, but I don't think it's worth all that hassle. Lucky for us MINI has the Steelie wheels (running one as my spare) which should fit over your brakes if all else fails. One thing I have noticed is the majority of small wheels offered expressly state that they will NOT fit over R56 brakes. The same goes for the JCW's and pretty much any 4-piston front brake caliper setup out there. In my opinion, the thing that will really improve the response and effectiveness of MINI brakes is bigger rear brakes, ECU brake balancer and stainless steel brake line. My fluid is new, my hardware is relatively new, but the brakes get a bit mushy after stop & go traffic on a hot summer day; so I will be swapping out the brake lines next year probably. Matching them with some quality pads and rotors will be more than enough for spirited driving.
How about a catch-can or two? Do you plan to slap one on this current build? I've been shopping the idea and it seems the best set up is to vent it or cap the clean side off completely, then run a can on the PCV side. I'm going to check with my emissions tech to see if this has a negative effect on passing inspection or not, if you have any feedback/info for this please share.
I have 7” wide 15” wheels that weight 11.5#. I doubt they will fit the R56S brakes. They do fit over thee 11.75” Wilwoods I have on my R56S.. At 16 to 17 lbs for a 15” wheel, it isn’t worth the effort to try to fit them over the R56S brakes. At that weight, just go with the 16” wheels and put on one size larger tires (205s vs stock 195). That will get about the same sidewall height as the stock size for the 15” wheels and will about correct the speedometer error that is built into these cars.
Thanks for the follow up on the wheels. I really dig the look. In the past I've been a fan of really snazzy wheels but neglected the weight aspect as most are wont to do. After getting more into weight reduction (not for racing but simply as a force multiplier- less weight = more powah) I found that I simply cannot bring myself to run heavy wheels. I don't carry a spare as I have AAA (and they can come and tow me some 200 miles so I don't need to worry about that). Hence my love of the R81 Holeys and secondly the R84 x-lites (although I think I could find something of similar size a few pounds lighter)- It's just about how much I want to spend. Right now I have 2 sets of the R84's so it's sort of a no-brainer for now.
Right now on Red Thunder II we run stock everything - down to B4 shocks and stock springs. Ride is great, car is nimble and good enough as a DD. I use it for thousand mile trips every year; sometimes a few times a year. And in all weather. No real issues to speak of.
On the current project, we're running R56 on the front and R53 in the rear with SS lines. Cheap rotors and pads. Stops fine. A little better than stock R53. Haven't pushed the envelope on this because we do not track the cars and as a DD, there are limits to the acceleration and stopping needed. I suppose if we were to move into something a little more competitive, we would look at brake upgrades.
Oddly, though nearly all my cars are forced induction, I've never fooled with a catch can. Not sure it's worth the effort or expense. I've never had much issues with blow-by. Maybe it's something to look into? There's a few guys here who have some slick set-ups.
Depending on your state, emissions tests vary. Some states are big on visual test and if there are non-stock (or non-stock appearing) items they simply fail the car.
Last edited by Boostmaster; 08-16-2023 at 07:26 AM.
Oddly, though nearly all my cars are forced induction, I've never fooled with a catch can. Not sure it's worth the effort or expense. I've never had much issues with blow-by. Maybe it's something to look into? There's a few guys here who have some slick set-ups.
Depending on your state, emissions tests vary. Some states are big on visual test and if there are non-stock (or non-stock appearing) items they simply fail the car.
Right on, especially California. I've been coping with a Sea Foam treatment every other oil change, but have reason to believe this can be bad for the rubber gaskets in the system over time. After upgrading the blow-by valve last year, I saw first hand the amount of oil that gets into the throttle body on the clean side, making it's way through the sc and leaving residue in the intercooler boots (yes it collects inside the intercooler as well.) To reinforce my concern, a Youtube channel I watch labeled "I do cars" featured a full teardown of a core N14 engine recently, omg the valves! Seafoam always seems to work well at clearing out this oil build up, but w/ over 100K miles, an oil catch can seems like an even better option. I legit should have slapped one on as soon as I got the car, after looking at the filthy valves inside that N14, I recommend anyone with a Gen 2+ turbo setup to get one asap. I'll start a thread once I start pulling down the parts to Frankenstein it all together, surprisingly there doesn't seem to be much talk in the forums about this issue at all, everyone seems conditioned to just pour Seafoam on the problem.
Wow. That's a lot of seafoam. I maybe do a full "clean" once a year or so with the seafoam. Mostly, I just make sure to change oil regularly with decent oil and some lucas oil stabilizer to make sure everything stays juicy. Not sure if there are different issues for the R53 but I've avoided the R56 - even though there may be more potential due to all the issues (and I like to buy a basket case - CHEAP- an fix it myself. Cheap R56 cars are near dead and likely require more work than they're worth. While the R53's I've done are super cheap and all have high miles and keep on ticking. My current R53's are both in the 150k+ range and I trust them like a new car.
(and if you look at my earlier engine pics you can see how clean it all is inside. I've not done anything special)
I watched that “I do cars” video too. The dip stick goes through the timing chain guides. You have got to be kidding me…
As for OCCs for the Gen 1 MINIs, there is little to no talk on NAM about using these on these cars. I can only surmise this is because they really didn’t need it.
As for the N14 engine. It is not fair to compare that to the Gen 1 engine, nor to the N18 that replaced it. There are posts here on NAM about one of the significant differences between the N14 and N18 engines, that is the EGR systems. I won’t pretend to understand these difference but the simple takeaway is that the system on the N14 didn’t work well at low RPMs (eg: general driving), but worked well for track the track where RPMs are generally high. Hence the proliferation of OCCs for that car and the crap that builds up on the valves. This has pretty much disappeared for the N18.
Having previously owned a 2007 MINI Cooper S, with the N14 engine and as current owner of a 2012 Cooper S, with the N18 engine, I was not surprised to see the oil varnish on the inside of the valve cover/head on the N14 engine in that video. I blame MINI/BMW for that mess. The factory recommended oil interval for these cars is between 11,000 and 16,000 miles. That is ridiculous. This is compounded by the turbocharger that just cooks the oil, even under normal use. On my N18, which has an oil temp read out from the OBDII, I regularly see between 220 and 230 deg oil temperatures for highway driving. On the track I see oil temperatures in the 255 deg range. This is further compounded by the turbo cooling system which uses an auxiliary pump for circulating engine coolant to the turbo to cool the bearings. If this pump fails there is no driver notification, yet MINI/BMW have programmed the ECU to look for this and if it happens it runs the engine coolant fan to air cool the turbo, including for a really long run time after turning the engine off. This is their “fix” instead of warning the driver of that failure, which could take out the whole engine. At a minimum this failure leads to really cooked oil and shortened engine life.
There is no way that MINI/BMW should have had oil change intervals on these 2 engines that was longer than 5k miles. And these turbo engines are not a fair comparison to the Gen 1 engines, which pretty much proved themself to be durable and reliable. I have followed a number of threads about modding Gen 1 MINI Cooper Ss, maintaining them and servicing them, including full induction system tear downs. Nothing has indicated these, in general, need an OCC. This may not be the case for individual cars/engines, but in general.
There is no way that MINI/BMW should have had oil change intervals on these 2 engines that was longer than 5k miles.
Are you forgetting this is the company with "Muh Lifetime Maintenance Free®" fluids throughout their product lines? Transmission, coolant, power steering, the whole run. Knowing damn well it's disingenuous at best, if not outright fraud. More surprised they didn't add oil to the list at some point; their cars haven't even had dipsticks since the mid-2000s...
Interesting that many of the "high-line" cars had these crazy intervals. I recall years ago I had an Audi A4 (turbo quattro) and I took it to the dealer for oil changes as they were covered under warranty. They told me that Audi and Jag, etc. didn't need regular oil changes like regular cars (don't get me started on the lifetime trans fluid). Anyway, even to my inexperienced young mind, it felt like a scam...
On the other extreme of this, when I was younger I had a 300zx that I changed the oil on religiously- like every month or 2. I ended up driving into a puddle that looked shallow. (it wasn't) Hydro-locked the engine. (bent a rod). Took it to my local mechanic and when I went to check on it I saw the block on the bench. I was poor so I was concerned when this thing looked all shiny and new. I told the shop that I hadn't authorized all this cleaning and polishing. They told me that they hadn't done anything to it. It came out that clean. After that, I was a firm believer in regular oil changes at the minimum. Now all my cars have high miles (all over 100k) and they are all pretty darned reliable.
So, dealing with older R53's that have been neglected by a PO is not really an issue. Rust is more of a problem.
On the other extreme of this, when I was younger I had a 300zx that I changed the oil on religiously- like every month or 2. I ended up driving into a puddle that looked shallow. (it wasn't) Hydro-locked the engine. (bent a rod). Took it to my local mechanic and when I went to check on it I saw the block on the bench. I was poor so I was concerned when this thing looked all shiny and new. I told the shop that I hadn't authorized all this cleaning and polishing. They told me that they hadn't done anything to it. It came out that clean.
Yes. Just swapped the rod. Surprisingly cheap as I recall (I was able to afford it). Sold the car with some 170k on it and she was still going strong.
That is freaking amazing! Go You!
Originally Posted by Boostmaster
Interesting that many of the "high-line" cars had these crazy intervals. I recall years ago I had an Audi A4 (turbo quattro) and I took it to the dealer for oil changes as they were covered under warranty. They told me that Audi and Jag, etc. didn't need regular oil changes like regular cars (don't get me started on the lifetime trans fluid). Anyway, even to my inexperienced young mind, it felt like a scam...
On the other extreme of this, when I was younger I had a 300zx that I changed the oil on religiously- like every month or 2. I ended up driving into a puddle that looked shallow. (it wasn't) Hydro-locked the engine. (bent a rod). Took it to my local mechanic and when I went to check on it I saw the block on the bench. I was poor so I was concerned when this thing looked all shiny and new. I told the shop that I hadn't authorized all this cleaning and polishing. They told me that they hadn't done anything to it. It came out that clean. After that, I was a firm believer in regular oil changes at the minimum. Now all my cars have high miles (all over 100k) and they are all pretty darned reliable.
So, dealing with older R53's that have been neglected by a PO is not really an issue. Rust is more of a problem.
I am not sure where this “longer life” oil idea came from on the European cars came from. I wonder if it is from an EU mandate to reduce oil usage (even though all oils are recycled). Just a side note on this, we bought our ‘04 Cooper new and the computer recommended oil change interval was something like 22,000 miles… This later dropped to about 12,000. Still too long.
With respect to dealing with a neglected R53, I would put fresh, good oil in it and do several oil changes at about 1500 miles to clean it out. Then go to a 5000 mile oil change interval.
I track my R56S and the F56 JCW. Oil gets changed on both after every 3 or 4 track days. The R56 has 78k on the odometer and the engine is clean inside. While most any quality oil (eg: Mobil 1, Castrol, etc) is good for the street I have found on the R56S that they don’t last long on the track. While I haven’t seen a difference with Blackstone testing, I hear an audible difference. Redline performs well as does Motul.
Remember it is not just oils and coolants that they claim are long life. Your spark plugs are in that mix too. On my turbo engine spark plugs last maybe 30K miles. On our R50 I changed plugs and wires at about 30k miles and noticed a difference.
Did a little puttering around today. Replace the hood shocks because they decided to crap out while I was under there. ECS had a 4 piece kit (fronts and rears) for a decent price. The rears had already been replaced with some crazy strong ones off Amazon. The new fronts were Uro brand. Not as strong as I was hoping... We'll see.
Also installed my new axle seals and cleaned up my front carriers to accept the R56 nut and bolt combo.
Finally, cleaned up the port work I did on the intake and the new header. It's not as nice as I wanted but better and much smoother than what had been there. Similar HP increase could probably have been achieved with a few "performance" decals, but I like to do things the hard way.
Tomorrow we plan to finish building the front suspension (just the shocks, springs and camber plates), install the new rear main seal, new clutch assembly and mate the trans to the block as well as installing the S/C, water pump, oil filter housing, air intake and a few other odds and ends.
Finally, cleaned up the port work I did on the intake and the new header. It's not as nice as I wanted but better and much smoother than what had been there. Similar HP increase could probably have been achieved with a few "performance" decals, but I like to do things the hard way.
I watched that “I do cars” video too. The dip stick goes through the timing chain guides. You have got to be kidding me…
Yeah man, that was a shocker. I scoured that guy's channel and didn't see any Gen1/R53 teardown videos, I guess all the ones worth salvaging get snatched up by other MINI enthusiasts.
Some pics from yesterday and then on to today's work.
With everything clean the new axle seals pressed in easily. As for the port work, I did a gasket match, used some dye chem and a scribe. I used a carbide burr, some stones, some sanding wheels and scotch brite polish wheels. Issues: 1. the carbide bits were too sort (they were small but it was the length that hindered me. 2. the sanding wheels were ok,but I think a better quality might have worked a little better 3. the scotch brite stuff was super flimsy. Came apart really quickly. I supposed if I did this regularly, I'd invest in better stuff. For the most part, although it does not come through in the pics, the finish is pretty smooth. Will it do anything? I have no idea. It would be nice but I won't hold my breath. (I didn't touch the heads as I need to get this project wrapped up- it's been dragging out)
Front carriers needed just a little more clean up and the R56 bolt and nut combo did the trick.
Today was more geared to starting to put things together.
Later on I'll be breaking down all the costs of this project. For now, I'll just post what I got and where in case anyone is interested.
Reservoir was from Amazon. The Oil Filter plunger from Outmotoring. The Oil Filter adapter from ebay (I'll post the seller info in the cost breakdown as I do not recall off hand). Sending unit is for an Autometer digital Oil Pressure gauge. The fake 380 injectors are from the R53 shop (Guy is on ebay- operates out of Tampa FL.) It was a heck of a price and I also got SS VSS bolts and the wheels studs from him. Prices were good, communication was good and shipping was excellent. He spent more time and care on my measly little order than many other people (vendors included) have done with significantly larger orders. It was really something.
I also resealed the Super charger and filled it up, added the water pump and a few little bits here and there.
Installed the external belt tensioner and idler pulley. Forgot the crank pulley- I'll do that tomorrow. Maybe. The belt tensioner is about 2 years old and the shock seems worn. Got it from FCP (lifetime warranty so I might have them send me another - or maybe I'm expecting too much from the shock? And it looks like at some point the tensioner was rubbing against the face of the crank pulley so while it is serviceable, not sure if I want to replace it or not. (trying to stop the spending) LOL
Set the engine down and did new rear main seal. Popped in the stock DM flywheel (a little more cleaned up), a new Stock style Luk clutch kit, and got the case back together. (Those dowels fought us but we won.) Tomorrow we have some brackets and stuff to sort. A few errant bolts that seem to have been misplaced- which oddly was surprisingly few. We used to bag and tag and on cars we are unfamiliar with this is still a practice. However, we're messing with these so often, we end up just throwing all the bolts in few magnetic pans are rarely have an issue. Still, it would be nice if we had them all in one place. All the searching takes time.
Best part of the day was that everything was reasonably cleans so it was not a greasy mess which is always a good thing!
Looking forward to project costs (mostly parts with DIY labor) which is an aspect often not shared. It'll be an interesting comparison vs paying more for low mileage, even though I still spent a chunk on replacement OEM and aftermarket parts on my own subsequently...
If I might add one little suggestion - If you haven't replaced it already; Do yourself a favor and check the back side of your brake fluid reservoir (the upper corner under the cowl vent).
I haven't read through your entire thread but - You might be surprised how these reservoirs are notorious for degradation due to their placement under the cowl and the hose that runs/secures a top of it.
If it's in bad shape it will be impossible to pressure bleed the system.
08-14-2023, 04:36 PM
This later dropped to about 12,000. Still too long.
