OffGrid

When your cambelt snaps !

Tips and advice for servicing and maintenance of your Car. Firstly, whether you have no knowledge about your car or the technical jargon, the important point to ensure you are treated fairly is never accept what a dealer of garage says to fix you car, on face value, always ask them to explain why it needs changing or ask to visually see it, e.g changing brake pads wear is visible as with many parts, no reason they can't take a picture and send takes two seconds, more importantly always ask them to put your old parts in boot so you can validate the parts were changed. Remember most cars tell you when they need servicing but changing your engine oil every 9,000 miles will not only maintain the moving parts of your engine but increase the life span of most moving parts. This will save you £££ of repairs and breakdowns in future, if you want more tips please comment.

Recently helped one of our customers with getting her car through MOT when the garage who previously failed it after a service was motivated to making £400 for a headlight that didn’t need changing this unfortunate event can happen to anyone, the service only needed an oil change a few bulb replacing and handbrake adjustment. I can only say she’s made of steel to have survived a rip off attempt like that with a smile.

Just to share that when we work on these vehicles the interesting picture we face is how other mechanics work, these pictures tell many stories to how solving one problem can also create new ones, don’t change brake pads when discs have deep pitting as pads will develop same issue and won’t function as well. Also how important to use quality to cheap can influence the longevity of pads.

We have almost completed our rebuild for the Mini 1.6 D and we would like to share how it's starting to look now the engine is fully rebuilt, we retained the original Engine block and cylinder head, but new sleeves in engine block, new pistons bearings, the whole remanufature will start at 200 miles after test, new flywheel and clutch, not many original parts left on car, it's been slow getting parts for this engine but we are close to the finish line and once we have complete please message if you are interest in buying as it will have a 12 months warranty to support your new engine. Pictures of car before and we will show pictures of after we complete a full detail. Likely cost to buy will be £6995 a steal compared to a new Mini.

We are discovering how beautiful this car will look when we are finished. Covid proving to slow us down in supplies and parts, car bodywork complete and looking better then new, waitng on BMW new clutch as its on last legs and best to replace before sale, if there are any interested parties for this car please leave messages, its got 66k miles 3 owners, only service was the intial BMW service and we bought she had no service for 45k miles, which is why we have had to carry out extensive work with a full service, change of VANOS parts,radiator and condensor, front crash bar, new front grille front wheel repairs as badly kerbed, and repainted, lots of new clips. We have made some alterations to the vehicle like the wheel centre caps- Red and new Chrome BMW door mirror covers no expense saved to improve the look with new fresh white bonnet stripes, black ones looked dated. Most of our work we only use BMW parts or better (Brembo and Bosch) The full service record of work will be availble when on sale we provide free 6 months waranty with 1 year for all parts fitted, some parts have 2 years. If you have any questions please let us know.

Our mini Pimlico almost ready for sale we have completed full diagnostics of VANOS and changed parts OEM that may have reached end of life, drive belt swapped too as it was almost done and excited to see it finished. New radiator and condenser a/c working as new.

Mini Pimlico starting to look impressive just done service, we always flush engine before oil change, this removes contamination and deposits around key components. Oil filter looks like never been changed and I never put new in until old oil deposits are completely removed, as you can see in picture and I like to lubricate the new filter with new oil before fitting changed sump plug too. Always use best grade oil 0W30 recommended but use either Mobil or Castrol for mini’s expensive but you notice the acoustics of engine change when you turn over. After I gave the engine and under the bonnet a deep clean great results.

Our Mini One D has had serious engine mechanical failure due to timing chain breaking, on inspection the decision to have the engine completely dismantled and have it remanufactured is the best step forward to making this car like new. She’s worth it. Engine out exciting moment to recon she will soon be purring and will be a perfect buy when ready. A free 12 months warranty will be offered on sale.
Current update engine block will need renewing with crankshaft and con rods, new oil pump so complete upgrade to finish this one. Will post pictures of progress soon.