Most liked posts in thread: The Phoenix - The GP Roadster Project

Today, swapped my outer exhaust hanger brackets, left side to right side, and vice versa. Fixed a bracket-on-bracket rattle I've had since I installed the Milltek.

Finished buttoning up the engine bay. I think I'm done working in there for a while. Engine and all wiring are like they need to be right now. Doing the bay repaint was a good thing, it led me to strip out all the extraneous wiring, and what I put back (meth and horns) I did a much more professional job on. Everything looks neat now. Just needs a bath after pollen season is over.



Motored for about 50 miles. I love it.

Haven't looked back at the PDC stuff, but will tomorrow (THANKS Richard for the wiring diagram help!)

 

For anyone interested, I've finally officially posted the wing (complete, basically the whole hatch) and the interior RSD stuff in the marketplace, and on the Site That Shall Not Be Named. Try not to vomit on anything you care about, when you see the asking prices. :shocked:

 

Yesterday's progress:

Removed the rest of the beltline blackout, fixed the broken clips on the windshield cowl beltline, and swapped in non-blacked-out taillights. For a more GP OEM look.


Also verified that I CAN actually lift the car using the OEM jack and OEM jack points, with the GP skirts.


And verified that my donut spare will work over the rear JCW brakes, by adding 15mm of spacers. Which is fine because I have long studs.


So now I know the jack and spare I carry around aren't useless.

I also received a matching set of black nomex harness pads for the passenger side, so any ride-alongs won't be h8tn on the 3" harness (not t-shirt friendly without the pads).

 

MOTD is saved! Important stuff arrived!


We haz video. Note that a handlebar/seatpost mount perfectly fits the Rennline tow hook. Still need to add a tether.


And this may be the greatest Mini accessory of all time...

 

The only part of the interior that looked "unfinished" was the area where the convertible top folds...


(I usually had the tops of the cut-off uprights covered with black tape, but had removed it before I took this photo.)

Of course, all this stuff is hidden behind the back seats... when you have them.

My plan had been to have all this enclosed by custom canvas work including a tonneau-type cover. But haven't gotten that done yet, and now that I'm loving how the rear of the interior looks (otherwise), I may never cover it up.

So I started thinking about different approaches to hide this. Decided to build a semi-rigid partition and cover it with the same Ozite carpet that I used in the rear seat area. This is all temporary for now - I'll pull it out later to get the crossbar welded properly. For the time being, I taped the crossbar in place with racer's tape, then used that as the top of the frame for the partition. I stiffened it with a piece of corrugated plastic sign board, attached the sides to the OEM rollbar uprights, and the bottom to the convertible top storage shelf.

The result actually looks pretty good. Not perfect, I don't like the way the carpet folds around the ends... but it's good enough for now.


Oh, and last night I tried Dave.O's secret sauce on the trim.


Blimey's trim had been pretty well-cared-for. But the black trim on the GP skirts was in terrible condition. All gray and streaked from polishing or wax.

I cleaned everything with acetone, let it dry, then applied the Penetrol sparingly with a sponge brush, just enough to wet the trim. After each section, while still wet, I rubbed off all the excess I could with Rags-in-a-Box towels, and made sure I got any Penetrol off adjacent paint.

The results were amazing...


The trim looked so good, I decided to test the Penetrol on one of my old rubber floor mats. Same process... and these looked much better. So I did it to the pair of better S mats that came in the GP. Hard to tell in this photo, but in person, they look almost new again.


Oh yeah, and Methanol is my co-pilot.

 

In California!



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69fPof-ZTnU"]Billy Squier - The Stroke - YouTube[/ame]

 

Made a run to Harbor Freight, and, as always, came home with a carload of Chinese Goodness.

After a couple of hours of assembly, the track trailer is taking shape.


Will try to finish it this weekend, with wheel mounts and toolbox. And wiring that works (need to add hardwired grounds).

 

Seriously... my buddies and I were just discussing how fast this thing could go in the twisties... because the route we did on the way to MOTD this year was as serious as anything we did after we got to MOTD (we did six classic NC destination roads in ONE DAY.. HARD).

Discussing putting classic Mini wheels and sticky tires on it, bending the axle to get some camber... we've gone full retard.

 

Okay, so here's my "final version 1" setup, ready to pull to the track. Perfect tongue weight when loaded. Everything is locked down one way or another. Pulls effortlessly with the Mini. Nothing moves.




Have a tarp to hide the pretty shiny things, when I need to park it overnight.


Also found these cheapo motion sensor padlocks. They're crap as actual locks... but they work great as tamper detectors. Set them, and if they get jostled they scream like a banshee for 15 seconds. Then reset and wait to get jostled again. I'll loop them around the ratchet strap on the wheels, when parked at night.


And I ordered a little blinky red LED setup to install in the box, as Spa2k suggested. But it probably won't arrive until next week.

 

Another piece of the puzzle arrived...


RMW race header, with wideband and EGT bungs, sized for future TVS system.
It's beautiful.

I plan to get the car on the lift tomorrow and start Strokin' the GPness.

 

I think I'm going to have the header coated by Swain Tech. I like what I'm reading about their stuff the best, from folks who have tried various coatings.

Unfortunately they have a 3 week turnaround time in shop right now. So a month including shipping to get it done. Ugh. I'll have to fix the flex joint in my street header and add a wideband bung to it, so I can reinstall next week. No big deal.

 

More progress. Apparently, when you do something a lot, you get better at it. I'm getting good at pulling MINI engines.

Engine disconnected, key parts removed, ready to pull...



Hook up the crane and lift...


Bay is ready for some stroking'...


Old and new together... ready for the parts swap....

 

Day one review:

Drove about 80 break-in miles today. In my world, "break-in miles" do NOT equal "easy miles". I drive it like I stole it.... I just keep it below 6000 RPM as much as possible.

This motor has so much torque, you can have PLENTY of fun below 6000 RPM. It pulls hard from 3000 RPM to (I assume) redline. Which, after break in and tuning, will be north of 8000 RPM!!!

The biggest revelation for me today was how much air this motor can breathe, and the impact that has on supercharger boost pressure and Intake Air Temperature (IAT).

On my old motor, all else being equal (flapless JCW intake/AMSoil filter, same supercharger, 17% pulley, ported intake manifold, street header, Milltek exhaust) peak boost was over 16 psi. This thing flows so much air, peak boost is about 12psi. OMG YOU LOST BOOST!!!! you might be thinking. Well, sortof. But the supercharger is moving the same amount of air at a given RPM. Actually, it's probably moving more, because it's meeting less resistance (pressure). It's just that the Lawd Jeezus head, high-lift Dominator cam and 1.8l motor can consume it so much more efficiently. The motor still feels torquey when under boost. It just doesn't require as much pressure to do it.

What's the effect? The biggest is IAT. Today it was 100F here when I was breaking in the motor. I was doing wide open throttle (WOT) pulls from about 2500-5500, over and over again. I don't have my new meth system setup yet, so I'm running with no meth. On my old motor, repeated WOT pulls like this on a hot day, with no meth, would have spiked IATs near 200F, even with the GP intercooler. Today? 120-130F. Incredible. That directly translates into increased air density and more power. AND less wear and tear on the supercharger and motor.

And the motor is silky smooth, and doesn't even feel like it's working hard at WOT. It REALLY WANTS more air. When the TVS, Vipec and long tube header are on... it will be insane. Because it's fast with 12psi. When it has 22psi? OMG.

More thoughts in my video review below, including TORQUE!!! and SOUNDS!!!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQF9bGzzNlE"]Locutus RMW Stroker Day 1 - YouTube[/ame]

Update: Jan reminded me... 27mm exhaust valves lol