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

Went for a fun drive. Tomorrow I am going on a run to meet up with buddies to have lunch and see John Wick 3

 

Installed a magnetic phone mount. It's perfectly what I was looking for.






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Overcast and hot today, I took advantage and washed the TIE fighter, put some wax on it and am about to re-black the plastic- all while watching LeMans in the garage

Great day!

 

I started a little paint paint project on a set of S side vents I picked up for $20 at the Dragon.

I stripped off all the PlastiDip off of them and I am painting the black with a red S. Yesterday I did all the prep and applied a thin coat of primer.

It’s very humid today so I may hold off on the block color coat for a day or so.

 

Sounds like Orlando!

I know those toll roads in Big D, the most confusing setup I've ever driven thru.....

Oklahoma is worse in some ways......I drove all the way from Amarillo to Tulsa on 44, tolls all the way and the worst road I've driven since I-90 in Wisconsin. Love paying for the privilege of driving terrible roads!

 

Went thru two extremes on the way home from Mini Meet East Meets West in Snowmass, Colorado and across Kansas. First pic is the top of Independence Pass at just over 12K feet. On the event the Racing Green Classic did better than expected at altitude, engine ran fine compared to some who could barely get theirs to run, and even tho it was down some on power, it still pulled the hills to the top of Indep Pass just fine. On the way home it was 43* at the top of the Pass, 102 going across Kansas.

 

Took my car in to the MINI dealership (the new Vancouver MINI, formerly known as MINI Yaletown) for an oil change and brake fluid flush. What could go wrong, right? Seems the whole crew in the service center is brand new.

They no longer provide me with the customary discount, but they did lower the price of service overall. So it isn't a lot more expensive than an outside place. Even a bit less, actually.

BUT...when I got my car back, they forgot to reset the oil change reminder. Nor did the mechanic know how to reset it. He took my car back into the shop to do it.
My scangauge was unplugged, the cable pulled out, and the Scangauge reset to factory settings. I had to reprogram a few things in it to work with my MINI.

I think this is the last time my car is going back there. The Countryman is still under warranty and all servicing is still covered so that is the only car that still has to go back there for a few more years.

The thing I did like was they didn't come up with a list of things I need to have looked into or repaired.

 

Installed Cabrio strut braces on my hardtop. Will see of it does anything.


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Washed 2/3 of the mini fleet.

 

It is seriously HOT here. Not good turbo weather. My MINI needs a good wash, but I am in traveling mode, so it is going to be parked at the airport, where it will get covered in dust. I fly out to Philly on Friday. Then, out to San Jose.

 

Got it out of the garage after ten days and put 70 miles on it up in the Catoctin Mountains, still pretty damn hot in the high 90's.
The Indian gets out early in the am Saturday, haven't ridden it since Wed. morning, need to get my fix in.

 

I replaced the lights in the lightbar I use when towing, one of them lost it's LED mind, the other half of the LEDs had quit working. I'm hopeful this second set will last longer as the warranty is 90 days.

 

This damned hot weather has really put a stress on my S's tires...off to get air on Monday but til then, the R50 gets some miles. BTW, I'm about to get 30 k on the remanufactured CVT they put in a few years ago.

 

Took my 16 Countryman up to the Loveland (MOL) dealer for oil/filter and silencer (intake filter), all checked out for the rest of the summer. This MINI has a service package for oil changes until 2021 or 100K miles, I will not see either of those figures. I did look at the 2020 BMW X3 M Competion model today, very nice, 505HP, normal BMW M stuff in/on it. Did not like the $82,700 on the window sticker. Maybe my lottery car when/if/never going to win.

 

I haven't driven it for weeks, except to move it around the yard. Yesterday, I wanted to go to the store and it wouldn't start, so I put on the battery charger overnight. The MINI is OK now, I drove it to town to check it out. 35 mph curves at 60, lots fun. On the way home, however, I got stuck behind some slowpokes, yawn!

 

There are two reasons I think Chevy would stick with the small block for their engine.

The Chevy small block is already physically smaller (read compact) than most other 5-litre V-8s from other manufacturers already. The pushrod head design actually has a lower center of gravity than any overhead valve or valveless design. The engine is relatively inexpensive to produce and makes great torque and horsepower without a lot of engineering or electronic trickery.

I've driven almost every generation of Corvette at one time or another in my life. I had a 78 L82 and almost bought an 86. In every generation of Corvette I have had the pleasure of driving, they all felt pretty much the same. Being cocooned in the driver's seat and the V8 rumble seeming surrounding you. If they had changed to a more "refined" engine, it would break the continuity of Corvettes over the generations. Here's hoping they did their due diligence refining that sound and feel inside as well as balancing the handling...unlike a previous mid-engine car GM made.

 

Ordered one of those Dimple magnetic manual trans plugs to go along with my fluid change this coming weekend. Can't hurt!

 

Started early in the Mini garage today before it gets toasty in there when the temp peaks in the mid-90s. It's still cooler than the two 100+ record breaker days Denver had last week. It has been unusually humid this summer for Denver; swamp coolers (evaporative coolers) don't work well when it gets humid. I don't mind heat but really dislike humidity; there's a reason I left Pennsylvania 40 years ago!

The current garage project is prepping a race Mini for the 60th Anniversary Mini challenge race in Portland at the beginning of September. This one hasn't been raced in 20 years so it needs a new fuel cell and roll bar upgrades to meet current rules, total go-through of brakes and suspension, build a new race motor, and repair body damage from the last time I raced it. At least I have a transmission ready to go. Well, I think it's ready to go. I'll post some pictures if I can figure out how to.

 

With my two Miatas, pretty much every Miata owner waved at each other. It is rare that another MINI owner waves back at me. But hey, I can be friendly, even if other MINI owners don't want to acknowledge me.

CD