Most liked posts in thread: What did you do with your MINI today?

Washed both cars today in our strange 70 degree weather. WTF it's Dec 12th.

 

DAVE IS BACK!!! [emoji12]

 

Get well soon buddy.

 

Started getting into some more serious work on the R53.



http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/showthread.php?p=349766

 

Watching Die Hard as we speak.

 

My R50 is SAVED....a REAL Christmas Miracle..NO new CVT tranny needed!

 

The techs found the missing cigar....

 

This one has about 58k, but it has had road course experience [2-2 day schools] as well as MOTD [5 times]. The track experience and early MOTDs were before I knew that the CVT was an iffy transmission. I drive it sparingly now....mostly to and from BCDs like Mini Meet East and ones locally. I don't know how hard your members drive theirs, but mine has seen some "use".

It went into limp mode about 2 months ago as I was driving home from downtown...wouldn't go over 25 mph with the pedal to the floor. I had it flat bedded to Columbus, OH...to Best Motor Werks and later to the dealer [MAG, in Dublin, OH]. The drain plug was frozen and the fill plug was stuck as if it had been incorrectly installed. Best refused to work on it so I sent it to the dealer. They managed to get the plugs out and replaced...thus saving me over $6k for a replacement transmission. It's good to go now and my drive home was nice and relieved.

 

I am finally pulling the trigger on Colin's coilovers. Figured I might as well go all in, just waiting to hear back from him. I would be interested in seeing some pictures of your install when you get to it. Always looking to learn.

 

^^^ Teresa just wanted any excuse to ride in the MINI.... Good for her...

 

Bought another one...well it was really last night...so how about I drove it to work today.

 

Looks like New Years Eve celebrations started early this morning. On my way in to work this morning in -6C temperatures, I saw cars parked in no stopping zones on the major roads, one guy driving his Camry down a major road with a front tire flat and beginning to shred off the wheel. Yet he was intently driving, holding tight to the steering wheel and oblivious that he had a flat tire. Then I am so thankful I was driving a MINI when some lady pulled out of a sidestreet, totally ignoring the stop sign looking right while turning left and some emergency maneuvering on my part prevented an accident. :crazy:

Happy New Year, everybody. Hope to wave to you in your MINI in 2016.

 

our red R53 is still on jacks - 15% pulley, belt and plugs going on next, powerflex inserts for the lower engine mount are waiting, too. Cold air intake swapped from my car (which is hibernating till spring and needs a DDM Works to clear the M7 strut bar better).

before that, cabin air filter replaced (original had 30k miles of Florida grunge in it), pedal covers from ebay installed (much nicer than the price suggests - the brand name pedal covers are ridiculously overpriced compared to these)

 

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hNaarPVZfg"]YMCA Official Music Video - YouTube[/ame]

 

Made an appointment with my indi Mini Tech for next Wednesday. He'll be installing my JCW Pro Tuning Kit and coding my rear fog lights. The Kit will complement my NM Tuning Module and I'm looking forward to the new exhaust system.

 

Thanks guys!!

 

Took the long route (detour) to work this morning due to accidents along my normal route. My usual 45 minute drive took 90 minutes. I would still be waiting in line if I took my normal route. One of the accidents involved a car fire.

That's okay. About an hour of that drive in involved a line of 3 R53 MINIs motoring together. :biggrin5:

 

I had some concerns about that too, but after talking with the tech at NM I decided to stick with the low setting for now. They have tested it with MCS, FJCW, and cars with the JCW tune and had no adverse effects. He said the only problem they had was when in first gear the high setting with 300+ ft lbs of torque the electronic "LSD" would sometimes have trouble adapting and go to reduced power.
The reason I went with the tuning kit plus NM module vs an aftermarket exhaust and the module was the info with dyno tests provided by this guy. (link below) After putting only ~150 miles on it since the install I can say the only problems I've had is the lack of traction. I guess when I get new wheels I'll try 225's and see if it's any improvement over the 215's I'm now running.

Is the NM Eng. Power Module The New Pulley? | MotoringFun.com

 

I got rid of the factory tires within a week of getting the car. It came with Hankook run flats and they sucked. I'm running Goodyear F1 all season tires now because I drive the car year round. When I get new wheels I can think about sticky summer tires and then use the stock wheels for winter tires. I'm sticking with either Goodyear or Dunlop because I get a 25% discount on their tires since I retired from GT&R.

 

I have put in an exhaust at curbside in the rain, and not in summer, either.
Didn't think it was going to, then halfway through, ....
I wouldn't want to do it again.