[NigelStap]

Mine are a discontinued wheel made by 1Form. I bought them half price as old stock.

 

[big jim]

well ive ended up buying the Bola's, in for a penny and all that, ill be swapping the tyres though if i like them, also despite saying i wouldnt be doing much ive also bought a dave F airbox top off the same guy for the price of a new K&N filter so i can replace my cock up lid and panel filter

also ended up getting some orranjee GP style rear bumper inserts and a set of silver project adjustable top mounts from another seller so another trip to carsorbikes will be in order to get those fitted amongst other bits and bobs

 

[NigelStap]

At this rate of spending Jim, you could have bought a new Mini Cooper S, but we men all know that's not the point when it comes to your car!

 

[big jim]

All cheap off eBay!!

Couple of decent offers up at the mo, the top mounts worked out at £72 and rear inserts £60 after using a discount code with that seller so saved the best part of £70 on new prices there

the wheels were full asking price but there is a nectar offer on and I got £17 worth of points back on those! Forgot to buy them via TopCashback which would have given me another £4.50 back too

 

[NigelStap]

I have found some good deals on eBay for my Mini:

Steering wheel for £80 (with airbag)
Aero skirts in correct colour £175 (needed the black bits painting)
Rear lights PFL (with clear indicators) £60

And a good few more...

 

[big jim]

Box of bits arrived this morning




The car is currently at the tyre place having the wheels swapped over, I’ve had the continentals that are currently fitted put into the Bolas, I was going to just run them with the nankangs on but they are 40 profile and looked a lot smaller side by side than the 45 profile I have fitted

pics later

 

[big jim]

And on with the wheels......




Really pleased with them, may drop it by a touch more next time it’s at seans house (when he fits the top mounts for me) but as already mentioned to me by him it may also benefit from 215/45 profile tyres too

 

[Fro-dizzle]

Look quite nice those Jim 👍🏽

Which inserts did you go for, fibreglass or the plastic ones they do now? Interested in the quality of either tbh so be good to see how you get on.

 

[big jim]

they are the fibreglass bond on ones, just looking at them on the car, I’m not sure if I have to remove the standard grilles behind them though, also what to use to bond them on with?

Ill ping olly a message I recon

 

[NigelStap]

And on with the wheels......




Really pleased with them, may drop it by a touch more next time it’s at seans house (when he fits the top mounts for me) but as already mentioned to me by him it may also benefit from 215/45 profile tyres too

Those wheels look spot on.

 

[Fro-dizzle]

they are the fibreglass bond on ones, just looking at them on the car, I’m not sure if I have to remove the standard grilles behind them though, also what to use to bond them on with?

Ill ping olly a message I recon

Looks like you have to remove them.

https://orranje.co.uk/uploads/guides/GP-Rear-Bumper-Inserts-Fitting-Guide.pdf

 

[big jim]

Yeah just spotted that, oil just emailed me the same link, I always forget there is a fitting guide on the site!

mom hoping I can get the grilled out with my trim removal tools as I don’t want to get the bumper off really

 

[big jim]

Got the first GP vent in place, bonded in with gorilla epoxy, seems solid enough, I put a piece of aluminium mesh over the rear of it and gave the heat sink a dash of black paint too as it looked wrong seeing silver behind it

then I went to change the dodgy drivers door lock but when trying to get it out one of the torx bolts stripped so I’m going to have to drill it out!

while the door card was off I decided to change the speakers for another Amazon warehouse deal, same as I’ve got fitted in the Touareg and also the same as pipsyp has in the rear of his convertible, such a big magnet it wouldn’t fit in the door on the existing ring

I tried it on a spacer ring but the door card wouldn’t go back on by about 10mm!

so I ended up using a foam speaker ring that was going to go on the front of the speaker behind it as it compressed down enough to allow the magnet to clear the window mechanism and allow the door card to go back on

not ideal but it all fits and actually sounds quite good, I’ve still got enough foam rings to put one on the front too if I want to direct the sound

that’s it for today, other side for the vent and speaker tomorrow

 

[big jim]

Took the GP vent back off as it hadn’t bonded very well, I’m going to have to bite the bullet and take the bumper off and do it properly, I was trying to be clever and do it without but it was difficult to get a good bead of epoxy around the edges, I’ll most likely try the other adhesive I have too that orranje recommend as it appears to have a bit of flex compared to the epoxy but is damn messy if you get it anywhere it shouldn’t be! (Maybe I should have bought clear rather than black!)

also got myself an ez-out screw remover to get the damaged torx screw out, I was planning to do all this tomorrow but just discovered looking at my roster that I’m in work tomorrow and no one told me so that’s scuppered it until Sunday at least

 

[big jim]

Took the rear bumper off today to fit the GP vents, nice and simple to get off


Vents in place


Then as the black adhesive is so messy I decided to use some low tack masking tape to mask off the bumper and vents incase of any accidents while putting the sealant on, I then clamped the vents in place while they set, it’s very slow setting adhesive as I discovered, hopefully it will fully cure overnight


I gave the silver heat shield a quick clean down and a coat of black aerosol paint


Then later in in the day put the bumper back on


Looking OK, as I say just need to see how they cure overnight


In between doing that i also changed the dodgy drivers door lock mechanism, man what an arse of a job that is, think I’d rather try my luck rebuilding an engine than have to do that again!

I do now however have have working central locking (it never used to lock without the key) however the boden cable from the interior handle must have come adrift after I’d tested the locks and refitted the door card as i now can’t get out from inside unless I open the window and use the outside handle so it looks like I’ll have to take the door card off again tomorrow and reconnect it!

I also removed the speaker grille and fitted the ones that came with the aftermarket speakers i fitted (even though I’ve changed the speakers themselves since too) I might rub the centre bar down and spray it red to match the car, I then drilled out a spare set of tweeter housing rings I had and fitted the tweeters directly to the plastic rather than hidden behind as before


In all a good days work, shame I’ve got to take the door card off again but it’s not a massive job (I have to do the other sides speaker grille mod too so both sides will have to come off)

 

[big jim]

Boden cable back in place, central locking working again properly now, had to order a new green clip for the door pin bar though as a lug snapped while I was removing it from the old lock, so yet again the door card will have to come off to fit that (I’ve currently got no pin fitted)

drove to work and back earlier in it and the vents stayed put which was a bonus, was 1/2 expecting to lose one of them on the M6!

noticed earlier though that the spot lights have gone rusty already!

 

[big jim]

Timing chain tensioner is stuck at the moment so it sounds like a tractor!

Having a trip to carsorbikes the end of next week with it for a replacement to be fitted, luckily I don’t need it all week, not entirely convinced the exhaust joint between the tomcat and centre pipe isn’t blowing again either

 

[big jim]

Had a trip to carsorbikes yesterday to have the chain tensioner changed as it was stuck in, a nice 15 min job for Sean, sounds so much better now, doesn’t sound like a diesel!

speaking of which I’m seriously considering getting myself another car for the summer, feel like another convertible and have seen a couple I like the look of but I’ve also seen a high mileage (196k) 2007 diesel R56 for £1200 which I’m hoping to have a look at next weekend.

the logic behind that is as we have a caravan in cumbria and my wife wants to make use of it this year as we only saw it once last year with lockdowns she said she would try and get there as much as possible, she wouldn’t take my mini that’s for sure and she has a 2.5 Touareg that does about 30mpg, I’m thinking with the mini it should get nearer 50-60mpg and £30 a year tax, just use it for the summer them bin it off (or use it to go to and from work when I need to, as I used to do with the convertible)

Just an idea at the moment but I’m liking it, last week I was considering another Phaeton for a motorway cruiser but suddenly that’s 35mpg and as much tax as the mini or Touareg and she wouldn’t drive it either

 

[big jim]

famous last words ‘just an idea...’

Big Jim’s R56 Cooper Diesel (The StormCooper)

Just bought this off eBay to keep the mileage and fuel costs down on the Cooper S and Touareg when travelling to work or the caravan paid £1200 for it, 2007 Cooper diesel, 152k miles, £30 tax going to keep this one standard.......... although an aero kit, G wing, remap, black alloys...

www.minitorque.com

lets see how long that one stays standard

 

[big jim]

Just got the latest performance mini mag, pics of the car in the print my mini section, complete with Mr Trebus style footwell!