white male consumer

I’ve been looking the MINI over in preparation for the upcoming (autox / track / general driving) season and have compiled quite the list. The odometer has been sitting under 70k miles for awhile – but not much longer. Now it’s time to figure out what gets priority and what can hold off. Here’s my list so far:

1. Crankshaft pulley
   I wasn’t expecting to need to do this, but after taking a look-see at the serp belt and related pulleys, there is clearly some “play” with the crank pulley that blurs it when running. The visible rubber between the two parts is free of cracks and looks fine, but the noticeable shimmy is worrisome. This is something better replaced before it fails out on the road, but it’s also something of a high cost repair, with replacement pulleys in the $400 range. Not a terrible DIY, but probably the most complicated of the bunch.
2. Belt tensioner pulley
   This spring-loaded pulley tensions the serp belt and is notorious for early failure. My mechanic’s stethoscope pointed out that it’s making a lot of noise and ought to be replaced before it breaks and wreaks havoc. Replacements look to be in the $200 range, and the inglorious nature of the repair makes the cost sting that much more.
3. Upper motor mount
   The 05-06 cars had these stupid upper hydraulic mounts that seemed to leak on most cars right from the get go. Mine has probably leaked all the fluid it had, and all its doing now is allowing excessive engine movement, putting more wear on other mounts and auxiliary connections. Not sure this is too urgent, and there is an aftermarket replacement for about $200.
4. Lower front control arm bushings
   Here’s the one item I was actually looking forward to replacing, since Alta sells replacement bushings which are firmer and allow better suspension geometry to boot. I’d likely feel this change at autocross and track events. I was betting that my stock bushings were shot, as it’s about that time, I’m pretty hard on this car, and my last set of tires showed evidence of cupping. After checking the bushings, however, I saw no visible signs of wear to the rubber and there didn’t appear to be abnormal amounts of movement to them. The Alta set costs a hair over $200.

So the car has clearly lost that “new car” luster. It’s still a blast bombing around back roads in this wonderful weather we’ve been having. And at least I’m able to do all of this work myself, halving (at least!) the total bill. It’s not all bad being me, I suppose.