tweedbean's R53 MCS Orranje Mobile

[tweedbean]

Been busy again this weekend.

Latest performance mod, a DaveF airbox, doesnt look much but works and sounds amazing. Finally got rid of the M7 CAI as once the engine got hot, the metal surround heated up and was rubbish for heat soak.


Latest performance mod, a DaveF airbox, doesnt look much but works and sounds amazing. by tweedbean, on Flickr

Finally started stripping down the brembo's as im really missing the braking power.


Stripping down the brembo's by tweedbean, on Flickr

This nitro stuff is ace, it just peels the paint away


This nitro stuff is ace, it just peels the paint away by tweedbean, on Flickr

Paint began to just fall off


Paint just falling off by tweedbean, on Flickr

Paint free, the silver finish isnt that bad but im going for gloss black this time


Paint free, the silver finish isnt that bad but im going for gloss black this time by tweedbean, on Flickr

First coat of paint, plenty of work still to go on these as they will need plenty of layers followed by sanding and clear lacquer to get an oem finish


First coat of paint, plenty of work still to go on these as they will need plenty of layers followed by sanding and clear lacquer to get an oem finish by tweedbean, on Flickr

GTT rear strut brace in matt black fitted.


GTT rear strut brace in matt black by tweedbean, on Flickr

Had these off rich today, polybushed rear control arms, going to fit these on the top and adjustable ones on the bottom.


Had these off rich today, polybushed rear control arms, going to fit these on the top and adjustable ones on the bottom. by tweedbean, on Flickr

Decided the side of the car lacked definition so switched back to black side vents, and I have black door handles to go on tomorrow.


Decided the side of the car lacked definition so switched back to black side vents, and I have black door handles to go on tomorrow. by tweedbean, on Flickr

[BlueToy]

New changes coming along nicely More people should know about the DaveF CAI, I love mine as well. Really a great mod. Keep up the great work!

[tweedbean]

Another update, after a disaster yesterday, a bolt sticking out of the unit door caught my rear driver side wheel and tyre. So we took an angle grinder to it, no more bolt

Emergency tyre fitting this morning as it destroyed a brand new toyo tyre and took a load of purple off the wheel. I will drop the wheel off Monday to be powder coated.

After this I was really down, so I pushed to get my brakes ready and on the car. After a load of hard work from myself and yaphetlives, the brakes were ready for stickers and lacquer. I had originally planned to have white brembo logo's as I dont like the JCW logo and the brakes looked to plain without them. After a suggestion from Rich I ordered some gold logos to give it a go, and bi-jingo it worked.

Stickers arrived:



Awaiting lacquer:


P1030242 by tweedbean, on Flickr

On the car:


P1030244 by tweedbean, on Flickr


P1030251 by tweedbean, on Flickr
Really please with them, the gold is a nice little bit of detail and works with the purple. And I forgot how good brembos were over stock s brakes.

It was a late finish so a big thanks to yaphets for sticking around at the unit and helping out. Then on my way home I collected my new rear lights from Mario. They are the smoked rear lights from Andy's S. Look much better as my rear light had gone funny. I like them as they are too dark and Andy did a good job with them. After a quick polish they looked like new. Here is a comparison, new lights on the right:


P1030252 by tweedbean, on Flickr

Next was a trip to London to do some filming for the National Geographic Mega Factories who are doing a piece on MINI:



Its a shame there was so much traffic and they had to call it off half way through but sounds like the got enough footage. While I was there I picked up some goodies from CSMatt:

M7 CF Air Diverter:


P1030253 by tweedbean, on Flickr

P1030256 by tweedbean, on Flickr

And something a bit special:


P1030258 by tweedbean, on Flickr

Thats right baby, thumper power. A TPR1 ported and polished performance head with ARP bolts. Looking to fit this myself on the 1st with the car booked in for another custom remap on the 3rd October. While the heads out im thinking oil change, new head gasket, sparkplugs, exhaust and plenum gaskets, rocker cover gasket and a couple of other new bits.

While I was going I thought I might aswell remove the orange stitch from all my alcantara bits such as the downtubes, handbrake and gear stick gaiter. Looks much better



Here is a quick pic of the black door handles fitted aswell.


P1030211 by tweedbean, on Flickr


P1030213 by tweedbean, on Flickr

[CSMatt]

looked epic today mate

[tweedbean]

Time for a bit more power

So today we we fitted the TPR1 Thumper performance head, while we are in there we changed all the gaskets, a coolant change, an oil change, new spark plugs, new bolts and an oil filter. Last weekend I also had the head check over by autosprint to make sure everything was ok with the head and they gave it the thumbs up.

Big thanks to Andy Mullen and yaphetlives for the help fitting the head, a massive job, very scary, but we did it.

The cars going in tomorrow to P-Torque for a full custom remap again So for the drive over there im keeping the revs to a minimum to be on the safe side. Cant wait to see how it performs, didnt think I would ever take the step to fitting a head to the MINI but when the opportunity arose I couldnt say no.

Next step is to finish the suspension, so another update tomorrow after my trip to P-Torque.


Starting to strip the engine by tweedbean, on Flickr


Head off, thumper TPR1 ready to go on by tweedbean, on Flickr


Waiting for the head to go back on by tweedbean, on Flickr


Spreading some oil over the head by tweedbean, on Flickr


Newman cam fitted into the performance head by tweedbean, on Flickr


Fresh coolant and oil change complete, head fitted, just finishing putting it back together. by tweedbean, on Flickr

[tweedbean]

Wow what a day, after the success of fitting the thumper head I was looking forward to the remap today at P-Torque, however things didnt go to plan as the car decided to play up After arrival, all was good to go and the car was wired up to the dyno etc. Then Will started up the engine and within minutes turned it off and stepped out the car with some bad news, the was a misfire on cylinder 4. With a new head on, spark plugs etc, Will got to work on swapping my HT leads and coilpack with the one off his race prep'd R53. Then again he gave it another ago and there was still a misfire.

My smile turned to a frown as I realised it could mean there was an issue with the bottom half off the engine as this was the only bit that hadn't been changed and had now done 92k. My mind went into overdrive on how and when I could get the engine rebuilt etc. So we moved the car on to the garage and it had a compression test. As I turned the car over I was worried about the results, but to my surprise it came out at 12 bar on all valves So panic over, im a worrier and didn't need to panic, note to self dont panic until you know the answer. So the only thing left that could be causing the misfire was the injectors themselves. So once I got home we would have to switch the injectors around in cylinders 3 and 4 to see if the misfire moved from one cylinder to the other, proving it was a faulty injector.

So off came the fuel rail and the injectors were swapped after a bit of cleanup. On first start is stuttered before ticking over perfectly, so I left it running for 20 mins with no error codes etc Strange, im hoping it was maybe a dodgy connection or something on the injector or that it was quite fitted correctly. So fingers crossed all is good, I hope so, otherwise its a new injector, which isnt as bad as first thought. Unfortunately Will had over run already on my car and had customers waiting, so we will be heading back soon for the car to be fully checked to make sure the misfire is definitely gone and then we can get on with the remap and I can see what power this beauty is making So im going to drive carefully until then but as its already mapped Will has told me it will be safe to use as long as I dont push it.

Massive thanks to Will at P-Torque for his help today as he did a lot of work today including stripping parts off his own race car to try on mine, even though its was all ready to go for some track time tomorrow, really appreciated it.


by tweedbean, on Flickr

To cheer me up I decide to open my parcel that had arrived from balance motorsport. I now have a Whiteline rear anti roll bar to add to the collection of suspension bits to go on the car including SPC lower adjustable control arms and polybushed upper control arms powdered coated in red. Cant wait to get these on soon and get the car handling like a dream.


Whiteline rear anti roll bar, SPC lower adjustable control arms and polybushed upper control arms in red by tweedbean, on Flickr

[Wake|MCS]

Big change from all the orange. Loving the new look.

[tweedbean]

Thanks Wake

Felt like making some changes under the bonnet as I think it started to look a bit boring under there, not that anyone gets to see it. So the first additions was the M7 air diverter in carbon fibre which looks good even if it doesnt do anything lol. Not 100% sure if I like the cf or if im going to paint it black.

Next I fancied a change of strut brace, so off came the purple OMP and that hunt began for a GTT strut brace for the girder look

A few came up but I was pleased to snap up a bargain from Reedy, cheers dude. I went for a GTT upper strut brace in black minus the GTT badge which didnt bother me. When I put the OMP and GTT together you realise how meaty it is:


Comparison of the GTT strut brace and the OMP. The GTT is build like a girder! by tweedbean, on Flickr

So I collected this on Saturday morning and fitted in the afternoon, please ignore the worlds largest jubilee clip on my davef, I need to get hold of a smaller one. I also took the wheel arch liners out as im going a bit of a mod on them but ran out of time:


I really liked this shot for some reason by tweedbean, on Flickr


GTT strut brace fitted, picture also shows my carbon fibre M7 air diverter by tweedbean, on Flickr


Looks so much better without wheel arch linings by tweedbean, on Flickr


The worlds largest jubilee clip on the air box, I need to get a smaller one lol by tweedbean, on Flickr

Hopefully the car will be remapped Friday so I get to see what benefit I get from the TPR1.