Dave

Only just seen this as been away for Christmas. Nice one Mick! Hope everyone has a great Christmas with tons of pressies and a safe and very happy new year

Not posted in DD's thread for a while so time for a wee update. Sadly, it's not good news! DD has been my daily driver for almost 3 years now (had been just kept as a show car in the garage) but think I mentioned earlier she had the dreaded water leak in the top corner of the A pillar (Common issue on these Civics). I thought I had got to the bottom of it as thought it was the bonding round the windscreen at the top maybe breaking down a little and having a tiny gap letting water in so removed all the trip surround and sealed it at the top. This hasn't worked! Thought it might be the sunroof drains so checked them but water is flowing through them fine. Then looked at the rubber seal around the sunroof, and thought maybe the sunroof wind deflector was maybe starting to let water in where it clips on? So took it off for a look, but it isn't getting in there either! On a side note, if you are looking to fit one of those deflectors, my advise would be to put maybe some silicon grease on the underside of the rubber seal so it isn't sitting on the paint. DD's has been on there since around 2007 (think thats when we got it fitted by Honda) and its unfortunately left the paint matt/flat under where it sat so now going to have to cut back with compound and then get the bummer on it to sort it. So, back to the leak. I went out yesterday, and noticed the pass side is also now wet!! After investigating further, it's not just the top corner on the pass side, but the whole edge from front to back is bloody wet! Roof lining is going to have to come out so I can actually see where the hell its coming in but have my suspicions that it's under the roof rails/gutter trim the issue lies. Massive job and total pia to get the roof lining out! I'll need to fix it too as the material has come away from the board due to the water. For now, I've put her in the garage so she can get dried out and is away from any rain/snow etc. She'll stay there till the weather improves a bit then I'll strip her down and get to the bottom of it. Least she's safe in there! Will also get to the bottom of the ABS light being on as not had a chance to sort that either! If anyone has any spare A pillar trims they want to sell I'd be really interested as DD's has a couple of broken clips so give me a shout! Poppy our wee MINI convertible 1st gen is now taking on the roll of my daily driver through winter even thought she was meant to be cosied up in the garage! Not had a chance to address the wee faults on her yet but did sort the engine temp issue so will update her thread now. She's driving fantastic though to be fair, really cracking wee car! I'll get some photos of DD's wet headlining and the paint marks caused by the deflector tomorrow at some point and post them up.

Nice!! can't beat a nice new wheel for the car, always transforms how it looks/feels to drive.

That looks amazing. Our civic aerodecks and hatches shape would lend itself well to those graphics

Thanks mate, yes, deffo prefer the chrome and its a well known fact that Dave loves chrome on his cars lol. Just think the black on the wheels hides the style of them whereas the silver really makes the shape and style of the spokes stand out.

Just some more recent pics of Poppy, although she's pretty much going to be locked up in the garage until the salt is gone from the roads. Will come out for the occasional wee blast on sunny winter days as I don't have to panic that she'll dissolve into a pile of rust at the first sight of salt like Mindy my old mx5 lol And a wee photoshop of how she'll look after her first wee round of mods are done Plans are: Get a photo of the new Pioneer head unit I fitted! Refurb the wheels back to silver Fit the brand new red MINI centre caps I bought Fit a chrome grill (not a fan of the red colour coded grill they come with) Fit genuine MINI stainless spotlights with covers New full exhaust (probs stainless Powerflow, same as DD's) Before all that though, Stripping out the airbox, ecu etc to get to the gearbox linkage. Bought a new pin to replace the one thats there and causing the stiff gearchanges. Also while all that is out, going to fit a new thermostat and housing. Her engine is not staying at operating temp, dropping down to the first quarter on the temp guage so thermostat is gubbed. Have already bled the coolant system which helped slightly, but might as well get that done over winter while she's tucked up. Also replacing the coolant expansion tank as its going that yucky brown/yellow colour, and they are well know for failing. So want that done so she's match fit coolant wise. Need to replace the o2 sensor too (only £15 so no biggy!). Other work planed is to bleed the slave cylinder for the clutch as its a bit heavy, so want to see if bleeding it solves it. If not, easy enough to replace the slave cylinder on these so that will probably also get done anyways. Then full service and general check over ready for spring time. MOT is due in end of March so want her bob on by then. Got some big runs planned and weekends away in her next year so really looking forward to it. Really enjoy driving this wee car, love it sooo much! Did love wee Mindy, and glad we had one, but have to say this wee Poppy is a worthy replacement in every single way.

So cool to have a donor car aint it, makes replacing parts so easy. Good work so far mate

The black and gold goes soooo well don't it. Reminds me of the old JPS team colours that you used to get on old Capris etc. Liking that alot mate!

Wow! Thats a nice looking set up mate, how she driving with that?

Looks spot on to me mate!

Oot for a run the other day..

Haha, yeah supercharged Ali. Was another thing that drew me to the 1st gen cooper S over the 2nd gen one. 1st gen charged, 2nd gen onwards are turbo'd. Always preferred superchargers, just like the power being there from the second you hit the loud pedal. Also like how linear it is in delivering the power, and by god does it like to rev!! So chuckable, deffo a worthy replacement me thinks! I'll always be glad we had Mindy though, was a car I'd always dreamed of getting, and gave us our first taste of having a convertible.

Oh, and have also deep cleaned the interior, seats washed and the leather conditioned, carpets hoovered then cleaned, door/side panels all cleaned and all window glass cleaned. Just the dash to do. Also fitted a nice new Pioneer head unit as didn't like the Sony that was fitted to her. Will get pics later

Well, got to the bottom of the engine light! After buying an OBD2 reader (that didn't work! http://newminiscotland.co.uk/forums/images/smilies/incazzato.gif ) got one that does! Turns out its o2 sensor, so least I know now. Looking online, its seems they're a hella lot cheaper than I thought! So will get one ordered up as soon as. Cleared the light for now as it comes on for a few days then goes off again so no biggie. I'm assuming there's no horror stories regarding the o2 sensor fault/replacing it? Had my mate out in Poppy for the first time yesterday..........just like first time I took him out in the mk1 MX5 (aka Mindy) he was smitten! Think his words were something like (in between giggling and laughing!) "I need to get one of these!" lol

Been busy after work tonight....New wind deflector in bag all cleaned and made perfect by Gayle and now residing in the boot The old red dash inserts (on closer inspection found these weren't red factory add ons (even though those are available) but plain silver ones sprayed (badly) redTacky as hell imo!New dash parts arrived from Ebay. have to say these were in perfect condition, n o marks or broken tabs and arrived mega quick.And new dash all fitted.. And a couple of better photos as the ad ones were blurry. Also bought the chrome mirroe casings for her (yes, I like chrome on a car!!) So soooooo happy with this wee gem! Did find that the headlight washers aren't working for some reason, not sure why as resevior on pass side is full (as is the windscreen one on the other side). Maybe a fuse hopefully.

We bought an OEM wind deflector for Poppy. Gayle is the queen of bargains, managed to find one that was like new with its original bag etc for only £45 so well happy. These have been going for £120 to £140 on eBay so she did well to find it! Nice wee trip to Grangemouth in Poppy to pick it up (well, the sun was out!!). On the EML front, I ordered a OBD2 reader to get to the bottom of the EML light. Went out to the car today to go to the wee shop, started her up, boom, the EML light went off and hasn't come back on since!! Sods bloody law after buying a code reader!! lol Still, I'm well happy, least it mean it ain't anything major so fingers crossed it stays off. I did possibly find something that may have triggered it (more of that in a sec).Decided that as it was peeing down with rain when we viewed the car (and it was on a kind of farm so not the kinda ground to lie down on in the rain!) I didnt get as good a look underneath as I would have liked. I assumed that as she looks not bad on top, drives sweet as, then surely she'd be ok underneath right?Well, had a look today............OMG! She is totally spotless underneath!!!! Suspension arms, subframes, floors are totally rust free! No signs of oil anywhere or anything else. Came out from under the car much to Gayle's amusement going yaaas!! Ya Beauty!! Really sooooo happy with this wee car!Only thing that had rust is the rear silencer on the drivers side (classed as the front to rear section?) The box is totally gone to the point the whole thing is breaking up in chunks. I tapped it and the whole thing just sounds like crushing rusty metal, so assuming the bafles have also collapsed inside too. Could this have triggered the engine light (as that light is mainly to do with emissions etc)? The actual rear box (pass side rear) looks to be fine. Anyhoo, figured if all I have to worry about is an exhaust then win win. Only other thing is the gearchange......it's mega stiff. It has freed off a little since we bought her, but still not how it should be. I think the clutch is fine, bites almost as soon as the pedal leaves the floor. The car has sat for a long time (has only done 200 miles this year) so thinking it may be with just sitting. Really want to get under and grease up all the linkages etc but unfortunately due to my health, until I get a ramp in the garage I won't be going under. Well, I might be going under, but probably wont be able to get back up again!!! lol Even with that, she is such a lovely wee car to drive. Totally get why everyone goes for the Cooper S and not just the Cooper now. Never had so many giggles in a car lolOh and interior wise, full dash kit coming tomorrow from the good old E of Bay! Went for silver, know its just the same as all the other Cooper S's but I like the standard dash anyways on these. So that'll be changed this week! Will get some better pics of her tomorrow

Thanks guys, was hand on heavy heart letting her go but know its the right thing to do. She was going to end up just sitting in the garage needing lots of work done that I was never gonna be able to do. Don't even mind admitting that I actually cried as she drove away the wee scone But we're both fine with it now, know it was the right decision. The news gets better though as we have a new "bairn" to look after. See here >>> CLICK

We decided early on that when the mx5 went, we wanted another convertible, something fun and with character to replace her. After looking at BMW's (not really my taste) then Audis (could fall asleep looking at those) we harked back to when we had Carly, our 2nd gen Cooper. Loved that wee car! So the hunt was on for a 1st gen as I prefer the interior/exterior of them and also think the engines are better than the gen2.After travelling down to Durham to see a Cooper (that was a One!) with approx 57K on the clock (more like 157K the state it was in and the way it drove), we finally found "the one" (only it's not a one! lol) So that 1st one in Durham was an absolute shed, with a boot full of water, every panel marked, wrong interior and "Cooper S" badges all over its rear. It drove like a pile of spanners, brakes rattling/rumbling/knocking, suspension knocks and generally felt horrible. It was also only 90bhp due to being the One model. So that was abandoned and we were going to continue hunting for Coopers....then though stuff it, if we're gonna get one, might as well do it right! So the hunt was on for a cooper S!Called about 3, which all turned out to be apparently damaged/repaired but not logged and all had no history. then Gayle found one up in Aberdeen. It was one I'd initially dismissed as somebody had sprayed the dash inserts red and that looked tacky to me. Gayle then suggested "you're good at vinyl wrapping, could you not wrap them"? What a bloody good idea! So we went up to see it .........it has been sitting for a while as the chap bought it for his wife but she decided the convertible wasn't for her so he bought her Cooper S gen 2 hatchback. Even though its been sitting about (only done 200 miles since its MOT in April) he'd had the advisories from the mot fixed and she has all her service history etc. She's on a 06 plate with only 72K on the clock, lowest miles one we'd seen in our price range. First Cooper S I've driven and she drives spot on. No knocks from suspension or anything, engine runs sweet! We bought her for 200 quid less than asking price, so well chuffed. Pulled away from the guys house, half a mile down road engine management light came on!! Swear to god you couldn't make it up! We had her on a very long test drive, drove spot on! Funny thing is, even though we had a 3 and a half hour drive ahead of us, she drove it all faultlessly (apart from the wee engine light being on) Read the owners book and looks like it might be something to do with emissions? Thinking egr valve or poss lamba? Not sure but going to get her on the diagnostics to see. The other EML light goes off no probs so bit of a strange one. Anyways, she's not our daily driver so plenty time to fix, as she's only our weekend/good weather car.Sooo.......here she is, Dave and Gayle's 1st gen MCS R52 (also now known as "Poppy" lol) (these are just the photos from the ad) Well happy with her, hope you like!

Well, its been 3 years of fun, but sadly had to sell Mindy our mk1 tonight. Only sold her due to our health. Nice lad who bought her who's going to look after her. Miss ya Mindy, thank you for the memories x

Thats an amazing find! Always been a fan of the bigger fogs!

There's usually rear lights on ebay mate. Found a nearside one: 1997-2000 HONDA CIVIC AERODECK / ESTATE NEARSIDE PASSENGERS LEFT REAR LIGHT LAMP | eBay Off side rear light: HONDA CIVIC AERODECK MODELS 1997 TO 2001 DRIVER SIDE REAR LAMP LIGHT LAMP (citycarparts.co.uk) And silver rear bumper (although just noticed the bumper is in Germany!): Org. Rear Bumper Rear Bumper Vti Honda Civic MB6 MC2 AERODECK 98-00 | eBay Worth getting in touch see if the lights are still there mate. Hope this helps

That gear surround looks good mate.

Was it taken on an iPhone? A lot of apple products don't put the image data in the file (orientation etc) so forum just puts it to what it thinks is the default view.

Joined your page! yeah, funny thing is the Aerodeck back when new was actually a really great car. Honda brought it out to compete with the BMW 3 series tourer as they wanted to try and enter that market (small premium estate). The fact that they are so rare on the roads today has most people thinking either "What's that?" or "I remember those"! I didn't think the decks would reach classic car status (or rather modern classic status) but I can see it coming now. Folk love to see these mint aerodecks so keep her looking good!