Mike's MINI R55 Clubman Cooper

[SMRTARSX1]

Mike's MINI R55 Clubman Cooper

Alrighty! Before we get started, lets start this story where it began - The Italian Job, 2003.

Man what a movie, Marky Marks arms, Jason's Ego, Charlize in her prime, and then of course, the three little busty MINI's tearing it up, what a show, there is even a helicopter, and some gold!

Prior to this film I was a Fiat 500 sl*t (still am) but in early 2010 I found myself on this forum, starting the MINIFanatics Club AND hosting MINI runs when I didnt even own a damn MINI.

My first MINI Run I hosted:

Oooooh Jarre, didnt even know I was gay back then:

Anyways moving on I was young, 18 and dying to be involved in my interest and with a love for these cars I ran off and bought myself this, a 1982 Mini 1275E:

The 69 was the previously owners idea.... Not mine!

At this point though, I found myself getting really into Car Detailing and I also found myself at MINI Cape Town, well, I practically lived there.

After a while, they asked if I wanted to detail their cars. I said yes.

Then they asked if I could help on Saturdays to assist customers with coffee etc.

Then they offered me a job. I said yes.

This saw me through 2010 and 2011 after a more "destructive" and "moronic" younger version of myself was kindly ask to leave the employment of Barloworld Group. I was devastated, but I had no idea that it would be 7 years before I would even go near a MINI again.

And here we are - Not yet up to date. Earlier this year I came across a MINI Convertible, I recognised it, because I specced it when I worked for MINI.I called the seller up, we viewed it and I did a deal:

And we are still not up to date! Because this car is gone.

I had it for 4 months and 8000km, total cost of ownership less than R1k and it was superb, I loved the convertible experience, but the rattly creaky moaning life was not for me.

Seeking a more practical MINI (the irony) I ended up looking at the Clubman. I had always loved the MINI Hearse, I love the barn doors, love the suicide door, love the extra few inches of wheelbase and how it adds to the handling and character of the car, but I wanted a Cooper S.

I broke a few of those on test drives and decided the reliable MINI life was for me, in came the replacement, a 2008 Clubman Cooper.

More on that now, as I am posting this in stages I wanted to share an advertising campaign that MINI ran around the time that I started first properly driving this brand. This advert perfectly summed up the brand for me, and still does:

If you don't understand the brand, or what drives it, this will help you.

I will get started on the post for the new one tonight, but for now, I think this is fair enough a proper introduction!

Mike

 

[Mamboza]

Mini's are too awesome. We are on our second one...our first was convertible with the dreadful cvt box...and now we have the cooper S hatch...car is fun...strange enough is I thought car is impractial but family of 4 fits in the car...
I look forward to ur updates seeing that your convertible was doing offroad duties as well..lol

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Dewald Basson]

Nice write up. Cool photo locations too :thumbs:

I too, am a closet mini fan :tease:

 

[SMRTARSX1]

Hi Everyone

Alright, my apologies, I made the last post and ended up a bit distracted afterwards, so here we are.

I was enjoying the convertible but the concept annoyed me for a few reasons. Firstly the rattles, I remembered they rattled when I had them as a demo car when I worked for MINI but with 80k on the clock, it was borderline driving me absolutely mad. Secondly the boot, the size not such an issue but having to release the roof every time you want to put something in it drove me bat shit insane, just putting something in the boot shouldn’t require effort, yet it did, every time.

Sticking with the MINI theme I wanted a more practical car so I started looking for a MINI Clubman Cooper. And I found one, at the same dealer I bought my Fiat 500 from. We did a deal, they loaned me the car for a few nights to make sure I was happy with it, how it looked:

Not being the biggest fan of aftermarket wheels I negotiated that the albeit it ruined wheels from my convertible would be transferred over to the Clubman.

On the day we were taking delivery, on the way to the dealer my BMW X1 decided to eat its timing chain, so our new Clubman was delivered, on the side of the road, winning.

At home after we towed the X1.

Being a bit OCD there was a few issues up front that I wanted to deal with – Out came my trusty leather / Interior Cleaner:

The results speak for themselves, 105 000km of grime and dirt cleaned up, the improvement made the car feel brand new, I love detailing!

The next was to complete a very basic modification on the standard six speaker sound system. The MINI makes use of a connector called the X9331 which splits the speaker channels on the car. The clever folks in the states came to realise that the MINI has a 6 inch bass speaker and a 4 inch Mid in the doors with a 6x9 in the rear panels – They also realised the amplification of the stock headunit directed the bulk of the power to the 6 inch speakers in the front doors, which simply, cannot handle the bass.

The X9331 mod uses the connector to move the signals around, swapping the front and rear fader putting the more amplified signal (which happens to be a bass filtered channel) to the 6x9's in the back rather than the little sixes in the doors.

A special thanks to the team at Car Audio Warehouse for letting me use the little tool you use to release the pins:

The difference in sound is unreal – You can pump it with a rather noticeable kick in the back of your seat, a solid result!

Next up was to deal with the new bass causing rattles.... MINI's well, they are not built so well.... So off with the Club Door Panel:

Shitty paper speaker I will swap out at some point:

Adding some sound deadening to the panel:

And re-fitted with new clips where needed, seal correctly fitted and no more resonance and rattles, much better! I will do the passenger side (a much bigger job) once I have the replacement speakers.

Happy MINI. Making friends with a Mayfair:

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Getting to grips with the car we decided to go away for a few days to Barrydale, to Warmwaterberg Pools so off we went:

The car drove beautifully, returning 6.8L/100km and getting nearly 600km off a R550 tank of fuel. I did however notice something I was dreading... Timing Chain Rattle.

On the MINI the tensioner and guide design especially on the early motors is a bit poor and given I have a toasted X1 with a snapped chain you can imagine, I was very quick to book it and order the parts.

But first, a bit more TLC after our trip:

The issue with people working on cars is that they take shortcuts. Understanding how to remove and re-fit parts is something that it seems people qualified to do so, just are useless at and one of these things (besides the club door I already refitted) was the barn doors on the boot, you get the idea:

So off those came (held on entirely by clips) did I mention how well these cars are built....

Cleaned, given everything in the car seems to have a layer of dust on it.... Sound deadened and refitted with new clips... I stock these things, much better fitment:

At the same time I removed the tail lights and gave them the a clean inside, again dust everywhere! Hows this for a comparison though:

A few weeks later and disaster... I was cleaning the interior and showing my brother how to do a proper job (whilst also cleaning the air filter etc) and I placed my two piece engagement rings on the dash, and then took the car for a test drive.

The rings went flying (the one landing in the door pocket) the other missing... Two options, either out the window or into the dash.... We sent a search party to look in the road and found nothing so this happened:

Surprisingly easy to take apart, only about 60 screws.... Wont complain about that build quality then.

Suffice to say, we did not find the second ring, and I was in the dog box for days.

At this point the timing chain was really making me lose sleep despite watching countless videos of other cars making much worse noises and I knew I was over-reacting but I would not be beaten again. I asked the mechanic if I could watch and document the process and he kindly said yes, so here it is.

Remove the cover to the plugs, remove the coils and plugs then unclip the breather pipes and cam position sensors and remove the tappet cover, retaining the gasket.

Coil packs and the like all lined up – Notice the Delphi aftermarket coil pack, remember this.

This is the electronic fanbelt tensioner, an interesting piece of kit, it changes the tension of the fanbelt to allow the car to warm up quicker in the morning by changing the ratio on the waterpump:

Then there is a ton of other items to remove.... The drivers side arch liner, the drivers side engine mounts, the pulleys and some wiring harnesses that you push aside:

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This is the old chain tensioner – The issue with these is that they are push tensioners and rely on oil to remain taught. The issue and reason the chains on these motor stretch and damage the guides is because overnight this tensioner empties its oil and on startup as it fills it allows the chain to slack and slap.

These are the old guide bolts, they hold the guide in place.

Here you see the two holes for the guide bolts and the crank with the pulley removed:

Old crank seal, which we established was re-used (single use seal) because guess what?! The car has already had a timing chain!

We also established the crank bolt was re-used, also a single use part and the idiots used locktite on it that made its removal rather tricky as the bolt supports the oil pump sprocket and knocking to remove it could result in the oil pump sprocket falling into the sump. We replaced it with a new bolt.

An aftermarket chain, removed, interestingly, the stretch on the chain was enough for the timing to be out:

A new, aftermarket chain going in:

We decided to go with an aftermarket kit, and finding out this is the cars second chain validated this, because I feel these chains are a serviceable item on this Prince Motor. The first OEM chain could not have lasted longer than 50-70 000km for it to be on a second chain at 105 000km. I decided at this point, the chain would be changed every 30 000km from here on.

Intake and exhaust sprockets, not to be confused as while they are identical parts their role in the VVT of the motor differs, if you refit them the wrong way around, the car throws codes.

Nice new chain, nicely tensioned as you presoak the tensioner.

Fresh Oil Filter and some of the best, LL04 Approved Ravenol goodness:

Started it up and everything was spot on! The relief was something I was not expecting, I was so glad to have the car back in one piece and happy I was able to supervise and learn at the same time.

Sadly, this did not last.... A few mates and I did a run to the One and Only for some coffee and pulling into the waterfront the MINI started spluttering and misfiring. My mechanic kindly came out and diagnosed either a faulty plug or coil pack, being British it typically didnt throw any codes, clearly a massive joke, haha, I was not impressed.

A week later, as I was ill, we changed the plugs and found no change, we then swapped out the Delphi coil pack (remember that one) and voila, happy MINI.

With the car finally running well, I was happy to focus a bit on the cosmetics. I dont really know what I want to do with the car. I want a black jack on the roof and mirrors and stripes, but should it be gloss, matte, silver etc I have not decided and being so focused on mechanical items I havent really bothered to think about it. What I did know, is the wheels were looking utter sh*t.

I wanted to refresh the car without spending too much, I know it wont last long, but by then I think I will have a better idea of what I want to do with the car.... Off with the wheels.

Sprayed the discs in a chrome silver, I don’t like colour calipers unless its from the factory:

I also attacked the arches, its a small thing and never permanent, but I wanted to give them a clean up so before and after in one picture:

I hit the wheels with some 1500 water paper, to rough them up a bit and layered them in about 5 layers of matte black each. The defects remained but as hoped, the matte black hid them expertly!

Please note, I didn’t curb these wheels like this, the previous owner of the convertible did.

And the finished result:

Thats us up to date till this weekend, again, just playing around with the look of the car, I removed the chrome items on the nose and hit them with some matte black, which given NOTHING sticks to chrome but a wrap I expect will flake off (like it did on the convertible) after the first wash.

Again, the OCD in me, before:

And after a clean and hand polish:

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The result of my efforts has me conflicted... The black looks nice but I think it must be gloss, and I must do the lower grille detail as well, so experimentation does work.

So, on the mechanical side, this is the list of completed items between the dealer and my wallet:

Driveshaft Rebuild (Shaking on acceleration)
Timing Chain Replacement
Vanos Solenoid Servicing
Oil Service
Plugs Change (Iridium Plugs on a bloody 1.6)
Anti Roll Bar Bushes (Knocking)
Rear Shocks / Mounts (Leaking and knocking)
Front Shock Mounts (Knocking)

My plans cosmetically are:

Matte Black, Black Job on the roof
Gloss Black Jack Mirror Covers
Bonnet Strips in Gloss Black Incl. Barn Doors
Detail / Ceramic Coating
LED Headlight Bulbs / Fogs
Gloss Black Grilles and Headlight Rings / Lower Grille Detail
Eibach Spring Kit (Slight Drop)
Retro-Fit Leather at McCarthy
LED Interior Light Conversion Incl. MINI Projector Door Lights

Otherwise, its a splendid little car, and its handling the daily drive very well. Its a million times more comfortable than the convertible and because of the extra 4 inches of wheel base, its more planted and mature on road than the hatch. The Club Door makes entry and exit so much easier for passengers and with the seats flat the boot is massive.

It feels like a more grown up MINI as well. Lots of little design quirks that set it aside to the hatch and convertible. For example the extra boot floor, the nets, the cargo metal hooks, the abundance of cup holders, the open feel of the massive glass panels. I think all its really missing is the sunroof, which I am glad it doesn’t have, because they break.

Its a lovely little car, I think I am in for some fun with this one though!

Thank you for reading, feel welcome to ask any questions.

Mike

 

[KPM3_30]

Excellent write up - thank you for documenting everything!

Wishing you many miles of smiles, with the new ride.

 

[Samo135]

Awsome write up... My wife cried when we sold our brown clubman several years ago, I promised her when she was done having babies, we will get another..

 

[AlexYannoulatos]

We need updates. I know there are updates. :cthulhu:

 

[Twinz]

Once again an awesome read.raise:

That aftermarket chain looks pretty. :thumbs:

 

[Nobz330i]

Very good read up.

 

[BadBoy23]

nice story dude, too bad jpg pics don't open on government internet.

 

[Dirtydeedsman]

Beautiful write up there...

I secretly love mini coopers and I want my gf to buy one so that I can use is all the time.

Wishing you many happy miles :thumbs:

 

[jcwdrop]

That's a lot for a relatively young car. Would be nice if the folks in Oxford cared as much about build quality as you do.