Get this.
Somewhere between trying a new coil pack and replacing it with the old coil (as well as replacing the cam and crank sensors) I got cyl 3 and 4 wires reversed (working at night, ugh!). Obviously not helping the issue. Put in correct order. Tried starting again, no go. (but could have been flooded)

Then I read the throttle body may be the issue, but will run if the wiring is disconnected.
So I disconnected top clip. No go. Disconnected lower three wire clip (hard to reach but could get 1 finger in there to lift "up and out" gently on the tab. Boom! Fired up and stayed lit, albeit, wonky, but running!. Plugged that wire clip back in and it runs as good as when this whole mess started.

So, perhaps the Crank/Cam sensors did the trick initially but could not get turn over to occur because of the wiring? Or perhaps the throttle body was stuck and needed to be reset, or perhaps there was a ground at the throttle body wiring or dirty connection.
Idiot joy! Will monitor over the next few days.

Now need to sus out the "no LED" Tach gage. Probably time to replace.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. :-)

 

Oh wow, excellent news! Who would’ve thought? I’ve seen what a Cooper sounds like without the TB connected. Runs but like crap. That would have triggered a CEL though, right? That is how we found it. We ran the code and everything came back to the TB. Nose around there, connect the items up, clear the codes and fire it back up. Boom, ran well.

Great to hear that you are back in business. Odd what was shutting you down. Your Mini should run well now that everything has been swapped out and replaced.

At the very least, one hopes this will help someone out down the road who falls into the same fact pattern.

Glad to hear it. Let us know the SITREP once you have some more miles under your belt.

Cheers