[big jim]

Took it out for a spin earlier, first time it’s been out for a couple of weeks, did the weekly shop and gave it a wash, got me a lumbar support cushion from Argos, quite good, fits perfect and a lot cheaper than the sparco equiv

as for the little air filter I put on after my cock up it actually sounds really really good, lots of supercharger noise now

nice and clean again!

Looks like I’ve got to use it for work 3 times this coming week so I should see how the seats feel on my 100 round trip to and from work (unless I can blag the hire car I’ve got at the moment for the rest of the week!)

 

[big jim]

Nice to give it a wash, braved the drive through wash, not sure if the G-wing would be ok thought it but it was fine, it was actually the underside front skirt which got caught on the centre grid of the wash!, in future when lockdown is over I’ll use the local OMO wash

managed to keep my hire car for the week, a nice 70 plate fiesta so the mini is sat clean on the drive still

 

[big jim]

Couple of little jobs this afternoon, the G wing was actually only held on in one side with a single bolt as my rivnut tool broke but I managed to get another one so I fitted a new nut, doesn’t squeak now!

then I wired in the spotlights, will fine adjust them once it gets dark

waiting on a couple of spare interior console down tubes arriving that I can hack about to fit the double din headunit facia, got me a replacement h/u yesterday, a Sony ax3005, exactly the same model as the one I had in the blue car, I sold it on eBay after deciding not to fit a double din to this one (then changing my mind 2 months down the line), luckily I bought the new one for the same price I sold the old one for so no loss, the pioneer floating screen h/u as in the photos is up on eBay if anyone is interested

Slowly making my way through small bits and bobs before it’s supercharger service at carsorbikes

 

[big jim]

Another couple of additions to fit when the weather is better, black badge and cooper writing, shame I can’t find a matching small badge for the front

 

[big jim]

Head unit arrived today, big job for my annual leave week!


had a package arrive from kill all chrome too, halo DRL/Indicators


Nice and easy to fit, undo the top bolts of the bumper and remove the existing indicator assembly


existing wiring loom


Take the bulb holder out of the old assembly and fit the ‘dummy’ holder in place of the bulb then put that into the new assembly


Attach the wires to the assembly, you can see an extra connection on the new wiring


That has some sort of rectifier on it which can get hot so mount it on something metal to save melting any plastics, I’ve secured it in the slam panel with its sticky pad


And the finished article, the bumper was yet to be refitted properly as I wanted to check they worked ok, hard to see in the pics but the light has an outer white ring with the indicator in the centre


When the indicators come on the white light goes out


A bit better to see after dark


Out and about I was surprised how much extra light they gave, I bought them for asthetics but they are actually very good for actually doing the job of lighting the way

very impressed with them

Now I know I bought them from kill all chrome but if anyone is thinking of a group buy them I noticed a similar set on Amazon for £83 (about £7 cheaper) and it’s buy 3 get 1 free so if 4 of you got together then they will work out at £62 a pair

 

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I say DRL, they are sidelights, only come on when I turn the sidelights or main lights on as per the normal lights

 

[big jim]

Another job I wasn’t going to do for a bit but had a day off and the weather with me.

Out with the old stereo


Cut out the cross section under the stereo hole


Then front the bottom of the dash




Which left me with this


In with a 3D printed double din facia plate


Which the heating and switch panels attached to


Cut the inside of the downtubes, this one is a bit rough and ready but as it’s hidden it doesn’t matter, I used a template that came with the facia, the other side I did with an angle grinder and it’s a much better finish!


Both tubes in place


Then it was the mounting cage and stereo, I’m just waiting on the outer facia as the seller forgot to post it


Very impressed with the facia, only a basic 3D print off eBay but worth every penny compared to the one I did myself in the blue car, this one is far more secure, got to take it back out again when I’m ready to wire the amp as I’ll need to connect a couple of wires up behind the unit and properly fit the usb connection in the glovebox

in all a good couple to three hours work

 

[big jim]

Another little job, swapped the badge and writing for black examples

 

[big jim]

Couple of projects coming up, first up wire the amp up to the headunit and fit the rear speakers

to do that I’m going to remove the rear seats so I can pull the rear panels back, so with the rear seats out it’s time for a swap!

picked up these cheap today from eBay.....

Of course they are the wrong colour to match the new sparco seats so I’ve done a bit of research and ordered some black leather dye to have a go at changing the colour, I’ve got a compressor and spray gun to put the dye on once I’ve done the prep work

the other job, which will be left for carsorbikes to fit is an R56 front brake conversion, again bought off eBay (with advice from Sean), the only thing I will be doing will be wire brushing them back clean at the weekend and giving them a coat of yellow calliper paint

weather permitting it’s off to Sean next Wednesday for the supercharger service and pulley swap for a 15% pulley

 

[big jim]

paid £140 delivered, the lot includes the hangers, discs and pads and hoses, of course i asked seans advice as i thought they looked a bit rough but sean says its just surface rust/dirt, ive ordered a set of drill mount wire wheels to give them a clean then a coat or two of yellow calliper paint

 

[big jim]

Quick job this morning before work, prepped the leather for dyeing

First up scrubbed the leather with a fine abrasive pad


That basically takes the shine and top coat off the leather finish


Once dry it was clean again with IPA on a cloth, this is it before cleaning


And this is it 1/2way through the IPA clean, the left hand side has been cleaned


And all clean


And once dry on with the dye, first coat on a sponge, working around the seams first


Then the rest of the seat with a sponge


And the same on the seat backs (and headrests)


You can see how the dye has gone on with the sponge on the first coat, doesn’t matter if it’s streaky as the next 2 coats will be going on using my spray gun and compressor, unlikely to get the next coat done until at least Tuesdayrhough


in the meantime the seats are I my mancave with the heating on low to make sure they are nice and dry ready for the next coat

 

[big jim]

Yeah, had I been keeping them blue then I bet just an IPA clean would have bought them up lovely

even after the first sponge coat of dye they look quite good from certain angles so once the next couple of coats go on with the spray gun (low pressure mist I recon) they should look good, I’m going to store them for a week or so in the warm garage/mancave to ensure the dye has properly dried before I fit them too save any accidents on any clothing

 

[big jim]

thats where i got the idea to give it a go!

 

[big jim]

The brakes turned up last night, gave one of them a wire brushing over before work this morning then as I had a short job managed to get back and do the other too

a before and after shot of them

Seems to be in OK condition after a clean up

pads seem ok too but I’ll let Sean evaluate them when he get the brakes to fit

A couple have a bit of wear on the edge though

back to the 2nd calliper and stripped down, wire brushed and primed

made a note of which slider went where as they are 2 different lengths, the rubbers on these and the pistons all seem fine too, non splits or tears

and primed

then onto the top coat of calliper paint from a rattle can, couple of coats added in these pics so far, the callipers are now drying in my mancave with the heating on full blast to get them dry quicker between coats, should be ready for what I recon will be the final 3rd coat by the time I get back from shopping later!

pleased with the results so far, let’s hope they go on the car OK and I don’t end up buying new discs and pads after all!

I was going to do the final coats of leather dye on the rear seats today too but the weather is bad so I’ll leave that until the end of the week and put lots of protection up in the mancave utility room bit and spray them in there undercover with heating!

 

[big jim]

And a final coat, left the heating on all night on low to help dry them quicker

rhe discs look ok too, 1MM ridge on the inner and outer edges

so weather dependant it’s off to seans tomorrow for the supercharger service, I’m not holding my breath as it’s starting to snow here a little bit so will have to see what happens overnight

 

[big jim]

The car is with Sean now and he says he may have able to do something with the discs and pads but we’ll wait and see

supercharger is off and oil level looking perfect and teeth ok,

discovered a few other little issues that he’s going to sort as a preventative measure, one of the hoses has had the clip from a hose below digging into it so is quite thin and could have burst atany time

the biggest issue found was the pulley tensioner which Sean can explain if he want to but it’s something he’s not experienced before!

Leaving it with him until tomorrow now as I’ve got a medical, just hope he doesn’t send me any pics of issues that will make my blood pressure rise!

 

[big jim]

Got the car back from Sean this evening, super charger serviced and pulley swapped it’s also sounding a lot better now the scrape/rattle I had from the belt area is gone, the issue was in fact for some reason the bolt holding the top of the tensioner was missing so the belt was rubbing on part of the tensioner

I’ve had a new tensioner fitted while it was there as well as a couple of coolant pipes that were looking a bit worse for wear

Sean picked me up from the station and drove back to his house, he commented on how flat the car felt, lacking power, of course it’s had all the bits fitted by sean but is yet to be mapped, I thought maybe he was used to his car and I’d notice the difference when I got behind the wheel, however it’s defiantly in need of that mapping as it’s noticeably low on power in the midrange, I struggled to overtake on the A road home, no go in 4th-6th gear, all noise and no go!!

obviously no fault with seans work, can’t fault it but I really need to get it to 1320 ASAP to get it running properly, I’ll leave Sean to explain what he says the issue is (underfuelling?)

as for the brakes, Sean couldn’t undo one of the pipes between the main brake pipe and the flexi without damaging the main brake pipe so it will go back when the weather is warmer for him to fit them and a replacement brake pipe

 

[big jim]

The wheels are standard mini crown alloys

 

[big jim]

Booked into 1320 for the first week in March for a bytronik map and injector swap to 550s

just got to drive carefully (ie sedately) until then so not to damage the engine!

 

[big jim]

Quite probable, the guy had plans for it but obviously not worth the effort, shame