It’s been about a month since the SEMA show in Las Vegas which started just after Halloween this year. With the US election and Thanksgiving holiday in the rearview mirror, this seemed like a good time to reflect on the state of the aftermarket industry. For those not familiar with it, SEMA is the Specialty Equipment …
We recently posted a couple of DIY articles about foglights. One was about using the stock MINI fog light openings as brake duct openings, and the other was about adding Hella fog lights using the Alta Rally Light bar. In this post, we’ll fit a pair of stock MINI fog lights to the bumper of a …
We break down a set of 2004 MINI front seats so you don’t have to. Besides wearing out the covers, the five most common failures, in no particular order are: Seat heaters stop working; tilt-slide doesn’t slide; seat height adjustment spring (gas pressurized spring 52107069970) fails; seat-back adjustment spring fails; and the seat cushion spring (52107129253) or …
One day you will pull up on the ebrake handle, and one of two things will happen: 1. Nothing. or 2. It goes almost to vertical before it grabs. If #1 happens, you’ve broken both cables. If #2 happens, you’ve only broken one side. In this post, we’ll walk you through the steps to repair …
The black A-Pillar trim on the first Generation MINI is one of the car’s signature design elements. It’s also very fragile and can be challenging to repair if you don’t know how they are attached. So whether you need to remove them to replace the windshield or you want to repair the broken ones you …
If you’re on the fence about using one of those restoration kits or not, then check out these photos. For about $30 and a half hour of your time, you could save several hundred dollars. You may still need to replace them eventually, but you can probably buy yourself a couple of years before incurring …
[11/16/16: Updated for remote mount.] I always felt the MINI was missing two critical gauges: Boost and Oil Pressure. Back in 2005, I fabricated my first gauge pod and I’m still using it 10 years later. I decided that adding the sender for oil pressure was a bridge too far back then, so I installed …
If your 2005-2006 MINI seat bottoms have pulled loose of the cushion, here’s what you need to know about reattaching them. (2002-2004 seats were mostly glued so this may not apply except for certain leather seats.) The process is not complex and can be completed with common hand tools. Start by disconnecting the battery and waiting …