'09 MINI Clubman S

Started by MiniDave, January 14, 2022, 01:37:08 PM

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MiniDave

#25
OK, so......all back together and it starts, runs, idles and most importantly - doesn't leak!

Tomorrow I'll take it for a drive, double check that it's full of water, then run it down the road some. If the heater works properly and it's still not leaking I'll call it good.

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

BruceK

Fingers crossed!   

Are you doing a oil change or anything else before the big trip?    Last weekend I changed out my MINI's spark plugs, plug wires, and coil just because it had been a while (like 50K miles!  :-[   ) and it's cheap enough to do. It actually made a difference and it runs a noticeably smoother now. 
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

#27
Yep, new oil, new brake pads and rotors, tires rotated, new air filter, recent plugs and one new coil pack (I also have a spare) already done.

Should be good to go once I'm confident that the t-stat is working and all the air is out of the system.

My plan is to hit the road early Thursday to Dallas to see the grands, and be there by Friday noon to one ish.

I'll know which team you'll be "crewing" for tomorrow after I talk to one of the guys.....my local guy Dave decided not to go but Clancy, Corey, Jeff and a few others are still going as far as I know.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Any car that uses plastic parts in something that heat cycles constantly seems like it would be a potential problem. My advice, if you have one of these turbo cars - go online now and buy a t-stat and that connecting pipe while they're available and relatively inexpensive.....and just put them in your spares.

Mine lasted 100K, seems like that's a reasonable time for them.

Now that I've done the job (twice!) I think I could do it in about 3 hours round trip.......

I'm going to do an 80 mile roundtrip this morning up to a friend's and drop off a transmichigan I finished for him, if it makes that OK I'll feel confident that the trip to Texas and Az will go OK too.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Just home from my test run, it actually was closer to 100 miles and there were no issues, so I'm good to go......CoTA here I come!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Bet it feels good to finally have that sorted!

MiniDave

Yes!

After the drive I let it sit out in the driveway, no drips...... 77.gif
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

OK, first leg of the trip went swimmingly, made it to Dallas in record time and no runs, no drips no errors, nobody left on base......

tomorrow Austin
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

Smooth sailing is a good thing. How are you doing on the long drive days?

MPlayle

What is bringing you clear down to Austin?


MiniDave

By the time I got here my butt was sore, other than that and the horrible Dallas traffic, no issues.

Michael, I'm meeting some friends at CoTA for the vintage races.....

Leaving Sunday to go see kids/grands in Phoenix for a week or so, then back home thru Santa Fe to see another friend (and former Mini owner on RM) on the way.

He also is a fellow Jaguar owner - has a black 69 coupe like I did - and currently also a Lotus Evora.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

#36
Well, today was interesting.....one of the Sprites had a completely uneventful day, the other not so much.

The blue Bugeye I'm crewing for came in after one lap smoking and with the temp gauge pegged.

We looked at it for a bit before I noticed that the fan belt was shredded and laying down in the engine compartment. Problem solved we thought - So we found another fan belt, put it on the car and it immediately overheated in the pits - normally he has to warm it up for a bit before staging on the grid - he never made it to the grid.

The smoking part was a little easier, the plastic vent line from the front breather had come undone and was lying against the header, easily fixed with a hose clamp and a zip tie to hold it away from the header.

We thought maybe the water pump had failed and that's why it shredded the fan belt, so I pulled it off, but didn't find anything wrong, but on re-assembly I could see the alternator was not lined up with the crank or water pump pullies, so a few washers for shims and that was sorted. I decided the overheating may have been due to him not getting the coolant system filled properly after the 1st overheating episode, so I made sure the system was purged and fired it up - everything worked perfectly normal, but of course he had missed his last session of the day.

At least we're ready for tomorrow - or are we?

Turns out the weather is supposed to turn to absolute shit tonight after being perfect today - rain squalls, cold winds all day tomorrow.....we'll see what happens.

Bruce and I had a great day tho, Moking all around the track and getting to see it all from great vantage points.....tomorrow we may be sitting inside the cab of his Toyota truck with the heat and defrost on!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

tmsmini

Thank Clancy again for waltzing across Texas with an engine for me many years ago. If we ever meet up, I owe him an adult beverage.
Is he still doing SCCA autcrosses?

MiniDave

Occasionally, but mostly he's just going to races and selling his "Clancy's Sprite Race Parts"

Some more action from CoTA today. Unfortunately Corey's luck did not improve, his 2:30 race came with rain and sleet so he decided that without rain tires he wasn't going out. Then this afternoon when it cleared and the sun came out the car again overheated before he could even get to the grid.

So tonight they'll pull the head and see what they can find, Clancy has the "good" head gaskets in stock so he's covered there as long as the head isn't damaged or warped.

I'll be heading off to Phoenix in the AM, Clancy will fill me in on whether they find the problem and are able to fix it.

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

I'm pretty pleased with the performance of my 2009 MINI Clubman on my trip to the southwest last month. The car didn't use a drop of water, and only used about 1 qt of oil over the almost 4K mile trip. Not bad for a 100K German car!   ;D

I also saw a much improved performance out of the heater, I think this new t-stat is a def improvement over the old one. That one wouldn't get heat for 5-10 miles of driving on a cold day - this one starts to give warm air in only 10 blocks or so!

Lastly, I was really surprised at the fuel mileage I was getting in the mountains - over 37 mpg when I was at altitude around Santa Fe and Taos. The weather was beautiful, till I got to Liberal Kansas.....the last morning on my way home I woke up to 1* temps.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Another 2500 mile trip completed - this time towing the green monster behind it - with no issues, no water or oil usage either.

Can't complain about this car one bit.....and I know it's one of the years that people bitch about, but other than the thermostat issues I had it's been pretty darn good to me. Still on the original suspension, shocks etc too.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad