I am not sure about you but I think this has been one heck of a long winter. Snow, cold, more snow, more cold, still cold. Even though it is spring by the calendar, it is still a bit too chilly to get our Mini Mark back on the road for this season. With May just a few days away and the car shows starting up, well one can only hope for warm weather soon.
It looks like the blog is still getting many views (around 6,000 so far) from owners, questions being posted and answers posted back. That is GREAT! Sharing our problems, fixes, ideas, history and just news of what is happening with your own unique Mini Mark. There are even a few postings of cars for sale. Although I take no responsibility for what shape or condition those cars are in, this at least gives us a chance to keep the Mini Mark alive.
During the winter months we have done a little maintenance on our Mini Mark, (for the most part it has been in a warm shop under cover during the winter). We replaced the master brake cylinder and bled the brake system. If any of you ever replace the master cylinder, follow the instructions and bench bleed the master cylinder first. This sure makes the rest of the process easy and quick, plus, with a bench bleed, you get ALL of the air out of the master cylinder before you install it in the car.
Next we replaced the oil sump plate and studs. We went with a billet aluminum cover and so far it seems to seal a bit better than the stamped steel version. While we were finishing it up we decided to replace the oil filter with a chrome one for VW's. I found one thru Car Craft VW in Riverside, CA. Do yourself a favor and stay clear of Car Craft. First of all they lack customer service, and second, they don’t stand behind their products. Their web site brags about shipping the next business day,, I found out not so, it took 3-4 days to get it shipped. When we received the oil filter it looked nice and we put it on, then filled up the engine with oil and started it up, no leaks. A few weeks later I started it up and backed it out of the garage to wash it. The oil filter gasket blew and dumped over two quarts of oil out before I found out and killed the engine.
I contacted Ron at Car Craft and he said "sorry, blew the gasket, right?" "That is common with VW motors that have the HD oil pump, when you start them up you can't rev them until warm,,,, happens to some of my buggy customers frequently,,,,".
I just about seized an engine and never even got a "would you like it replaced?" just a,, "sorry". If I had been driving on the road, I would have lost all the oil and seized the engine. It took me around two hours to clean up the mess from the oil spill before I pushed the car back in the shop to find out what happened.
I checked the filter and I think it is basically a bad design. There is no solid metal ring to support the gasket and the gasket is rather soft compared to other filters. We ran a Fram last year, and never had a problem, warm, cold, rev'd or idled. Fram’s gasket design is much better, and it is supported by a metal ring to avoid a "frequent blow out". I did a bit of research on the Fram we used, and found a KN filter in chrome. It is a motorcycle filter, but has the same thread design, the no drain back with engine off, and the gasket is the same size and has a good support ring as the Fram does. It is a little bit smaller (capacity) than the Fram, but there is the oil sump filter in the VW, and it isn't like I will be putting lots of miles between oil and filter changes. I put the new filter on, filled it back up with oil and started it up, rev'd it, 50 PSI pressure and no leaks. I ran it for a while at various speeds and all looks good, no leaks. I will keep an eye on it, but my suspicion is it will hold up just like the Fram did. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Car Craft, put your time and money with a better parts house who stand behind their parts.
Here is a picture of the KN filter in place- NICE!!
I would still love to hear stories from more owners as well as their experiences! Sharing them for other owners to read as well. Meantime, get the wax on your car, get it buffed out and get ready for the car shows, parades, poker runs or just Sunday afternoon drives in the sun. Keep these unique and stylish Mini Marks out on the road for people to see!
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