Welcome to the site known worldwide as evilution.

As usual, I have been adding fresh pages of info and editing older pages to be up-to-date. Most of these new pages were rushed to help people who had contacted me about the subject. Hence why I forgot to update the news. I was shocked to see the last update was March.

This summer has really been too hot to do any work in the workshop. I’ve also had a lot of problems trying to win cars on Copart. EVs that sold for sensible money last year are suddenly selling for twice the price because the price of fuel made EVs a lot more attractive. Supply and demand so the price went up. Some cars were selling for 75% of their market value. Before it was usually about 30%.

I won the same Hashtag 1 three times in 3 weeks and another Hashtag 1 twice in 2 weeks. Because of the increase in demand, sellers are adding silly reserve prices. So I’d win, get a ridiculous counter offer, refuse it and they’d list it again. Repeat until they stopped listing it or someone clicked the buy-it-now button and paid far too much for a car that didn’t even run.

Also I have been battling with accounts with a long term goal of trying to get under the VAT threshold. It means a lot of manual input. I sacked off my old accountant on the weekend and moved to a new company. The meeting was far more productive in 45 minutes than the original accountant was over the last 5 years. Maybe I’ll go into more detail in the future.

451 Cylinder head bolts
453 TPMS off
Hashtag power system failure
Hashtag cooling system fault
451 CDI MAP sensor
450 cabrio roof cog
451 petrol crankshaft rotation sensor
453 clutch master cylinder
451 X26 engine connector pin out
Roadster air inlet temperature sensor removal
450 air inlet temperature sensor removal
450 intercooler fan testing
Roadster intercooler fan testing
Hashtag premium connectivity info
451 parking pawl cable change
Roadster crankshaft rotation sensor

Videos

I got given a free smart. It was a 25 year old 450 cabrio that didn’t start. Watch me battle countless issues to see if I can make it work again.

After the sensible video, I made a pair on un-sensible videos. This idea had been in my head for years. Watch me launch myself out the side window.

In the 22 years I have been creating this site, I have had 5 people offer me their old broken smart for free but yesterday was the 1st time I had the space to be able to accept the generous offer.

I have no intension of fixing it as it’s 25 years old and left hand drive. However, it’s a perfect opportunity for me to retake a load of photographs that were originally taken 20 years ago on a low resolution camera. The 450 is also a cabrio, which I have never owned. I’ll be using it as a parts car to try and get a friends 25 year old left hand drive 450 cabrio through an MOT. All he needs is the MOT because he wants to remove the private number plate. Then the car is being immediately scrapped.

I asked around about dodgy MOTs but they just don’t seem possible to get any more. I wouldn’t consider one on any other car but this one is literally being scrapped straight afterwards.

Updates

Torque settings added for the 451 engine, chassis and transmission.
P2359 54CDI Safe Mode issue.
54CDI Safe Mode Overview.

New Pages

451 Cylinder Head Bolt Data
451 Handbrake Adjustment
453 Intake Camshaft Solenoid Valve
451 Heater Blend Flap Motor
451 Ball Joint Change
451 Wishbone Bush Change
Hashtag 5 Cabin Filter
Hashtag 3 Cabin Filter
Hashtag Wheel Bearing Change
453 TPMS Fitting

Videos

Getting “Mr Spock’s Morning Wee” through an MOT so I can sell it.

Amazing audio on a 451 for only £300.

My partner is a fan of the BMW mini. She’s owned quite a few. Currently she has a 2014 F56 Cooper S and a 2011 R60 Countryman Cooper S. The Countryman is starting to show its age and errors are starting to pop up on the dash so I picked up a stolen recovered 2019 F60 Countryman John Cooper Works from Copart.

The thieves had relayed the key, drove it away, ripped out the screen and the head unit, probably looking for the tracker. After many parts, wiring and remote coding by a very helpful American, it now drives and operates properly. It passed the MOT and is now away for servicing. I made 3 videos about the repairs and modifications on my YouTube channel if that’s something you’d be interested in watching.

As people have been asking questions not covered by the site, I have been adding a bunch of pages.

451 Steering wheel removal
OEM parts manufacturers
Hashtag 1 & 3 12v battery removal
453 EQ pre-conditioning using the key
450 Carpet removal
Bosch Highline reversing camera – work in progress
Bosch Highline screen calibration

Here are a couple more YouTube videos I made. I’m not going to be bothering making regular videos any more since very few people watch them, very very people subscribe, they take a long time to film and edit so ultimately it’s just not worth the effort. I’ll put that time and effort back into the website.

There’s been no YouTube videos, very few new pages, a few page updates and no working on cars. I had to have my cat put to sleep which was sad. He was incredibly old (nearly 20) and worn out. Thankfully he went downhill quickly so wasn’t suffering for long.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with a work project (my actual real job as a railway engineer) doing data collection and analysis. This is normally way outside of my remit but I wanted to show them that I’m not a brainless spanner wielding monkey (like most of the other staff) and that data is something I enjoy and specialise in.

I’ve also had an extra part of driveway concreted as it was just an area of earth that I would park on. It got muddy and just looked shit. Whilst I had that done, I also got them to add a 4m x 2.1m concrete pad for a flat pack shipping container. When this gets built, I should have a lot more room to store the long term shit that currently sits in boxes in the way. With the extra room in the workshop, I might be able to get some more stuff done.

My partner moved her horse to a new yard so there have been a few projects that needed doing since I’m obviously the DIY person.

This is what I got done in the last 30 days whilst everything else above was happening. I have all of December off work so hopefully I’ll have time to do more smart stuff.

451 Gearbox controller information
Hashtag 3 wheel cover removal

If you don’t follow the YouTube channel, here’s some of what’s been going on:

I still have Project 451 “Mr Spock’s Morning Wee” and I’ve heard nothing from BRAAP (the suspension lift company) and I’m done waiting on them. I’ll use it for a different project. I’m thinking about doing some videos about improving the audio system. Maybe i’ll do 3 different budgets for different wallets and abilities.

Roadster 3 lines on the speedo
Hashtag 1 cracked roof trim
Hashtag wheel arch liner
Hashtag 3 comparison list
Hashtag 5 comparison list
451 valve clearance checking
Roadster ABS unit water ingress
Hashtag key not working

This is where I give up on the Spock project and go off on a tangent.

I’m continuing to fix the Hashtag 3. There are ups and downs. I keep finding new things to fix.