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Meet Poppy, Dave's 1st gen MINI Cooper S Convertible


Dave
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Well, it just seems to have got more and more noisy as it's bedded is. So much so that when we went to Glasgow at the weekend, the motorway bit was unbearable. 60mph onwards, the noise is horrible! You press the throttle even a couple of mm, the noise becomes deafening. Put the foot down in 6th and where she would pick up really quickly before on standard exhaust, now there is just a whole lot of noise and the pick up is slow. Not happy with it at all tbh, it's basically just the typical shitty boy-ricer exhaust imo. Had a check and doesn't appear to be blowing anywhere (that was my 1st thought), and last night even on the wee run over to the moors to the next village (where you barely get above 40-45mph) the sound was loud as hell. Going through villages even at speeds as low as 20mph (yeah, we got 20mph limits here!), lift off even 1mm on the throttle and it sounds like a bloody machine gun. :( Just makes the car sound clapped out.

 

I still have the brand new front section that arrived squashed flat at one end (which I've managed to get back into shape, just needs final fettling with the blow torch and the wee hammer), and have found a 3 month old standard back box for £45. Salvaged one hanger from the old standard exhaust (other was rusted to hell) so new hanger bought for £30. Trouble is the back box is a 2 hour drive away! So guess what car we're going in? Yeah, DD! She's prefect for the long drive, nice and quiet and only noisy when you want her to be, and nice and comfy. Picking it up tomorrow after work so will have a look at fitting it all this weekend if I get time. Stainless one will get put up for sale, some local boy racer will no doubt be happy with it! 

Malian exhausts = cheap noisy crap!

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Nightmare. Hope you can manage to shift it on okay, and at least you've got the other one to stick on. The new back box on the deck is a bit too loud to be honest - I like the sound, but it's a bit too much, especially for a longer journey. Gonna try adding some sound deadening to the boot. 

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On 5/19/2022 at 10:17 PM, dr_broon said:

Nightmare. Hope you can manage to shift it on okay, and at least you've got the other one to stick on. The new back box on the deck is a bit too loud to be honest - I like the sound, but it's a bit too much, especially for a longer journey. Gonna try adding some sound deadening to the boot. 

Maybe try an exhaust bung thingy mate, see if that quietens it down a bit?

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9 hours ago, Dave said:

Maybe try an exhaust bung thingy mate, see if that quietens it down a bit?

Karen's car was in getting a new flexi last week at the same place I got my back box done last year, and they said the only real option was to put in a J pipe to kill the resonance.  I've actually got a feeling it's resting on the arb and that's why it's so noisy inside - it's not actually that loud an exhaust. 

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Not heard of a J-pipe before mate. Yeah, if it's even touching it in the slightest, the vibration will give louder noise. 

 

So, got the standard pass side back box, and got the mid section heated up and knocked back into shape so they fit like a glove together. Well Happy! Fitting it wasn't easy as the standard exhaust has a fair bit of weight to it, but Gayle gave me a hand and we got it on. That bloody extra bracing reared its ugly head again! Even though I had fired the torx bolts in and out loads of times after fitting the stainless exhaust, and covering the bolts in copper grease before hand, one bloody bolt had siezed solid! I mean "how????" cry.gif1 Impact gun wouldn't even shift it (in the end it destroyed the torx head). Don't understand why it stuck, the rest came out ok. And when fitted, the threads were so clean/free you could do them all the way up by your fingers then do the final torque with the ratchet, so puzzles me. Did manage to swivel the grace around enough to give just enough room to get the exhaust past it. 

Fired her up, no leaks at all, exhaust sounds perfect! Nice and quiet, although if giving her beans, you still get a very subtle gurgle on over run which is exactly what we wanted. Picks up really nice too, can hold a conversation easily with passengers, and can hear the supercharger whine again!! Oh, can also hear the annoying squeak from the dash that I had forgot about, but can fix that by either fitting some felt to the back of the trim where it goes on the dash........or turn the radio up louder! lol Poppy is now driving sweet, ready for some summer fun!

 

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Pleased to hear that mate - good to get it sorted out. Properly weird about that bolt though - I guess that something always has to be a pain when you're doing a job though. 

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  • 3 months later...

So, the drama's continue! Well she is a MINI after all so bound to be something needing fixed lol :-P Had her on a run the other day up to Scott's View which is just outside of St Boswells. She'd drove perfect all day (and returning incredible mpg!), but when we arrived at the view the oil light came on when she was idling. Went off with even the slightest touch on the accelerator. Knew Oil level was fine as had checked the day previous. Drove home gently but then another fault appeared about a mile from home! Coming down the wee back road to the village, there's a pothole that's been filled in but has left it like a bump now. It's not much but you do feel it when driving over it. Drove over it and heard this horrible noise from the front drivers side. Can only describe it as sounding like the car grounded on the road! Thought shit that aint good!. Popped the bonnet when we got home and yup, front offside strut top mount has gone! FFS! The MINIs have a big rubber bush at top of strut that has a bearing in it. Rubber has completely split (common fault) so she's now off the road again! 

Driver side top mount.jpgDriver side top mount2.jpg

 

Now booked into the garage to have it replaced and to get the oil pressure switch replaced too (turns out the oil light means no oil pressure!). Also getting her serviced at same time as it's due. Gonna be a costly month again!

 

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So back from the garage (that was a drama in itself as they tried to over charge for work and did work we didnt ask them to do (replaced a front wheel bearing!) and still hadn't replaced the top mount that I had her booked in to get done! Idiots, have now stopped using them as had hassle getting the bill sorted and decided to take the car somewhere else to get the top mount done. The boss of the garage was ok in the end, but the mechanic that did the work was shitty about it so didn't trust him to do anything else on the car. Finally got it sorted at a local ATS garage in town. 

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Well, first long trip in Poppy and 1st since the strut top mount was replaced and oil pressure switch and service done. Took her on a weeks Holiday to the Lake District, and she drove absolutely perfect the whole trip. Top down everywhere we went as the weather was perfect. Oh, and with a mix of gentel driving/cruising and a bit of "Hooning it" she returned 406 miles to the tank of fuel for the trip. Well impressed with our wee poppy and fabulous holiday in what must be one of the most beautiful places in the UK. Oh, and Gayle and me both agree, compared to the mk1 MX5 we had Poppy is sooooooo comfy on long trips! A few pics from the trip

1B.JPG

2 Poppy arrived at Lakes2.JPG

3 Poppy at lodge2.JPG

 

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