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

Had my oil [emoji921] changed by the Greatest Mechanic "Chris" at El Paso Dealership. Every 5K. Rear brakes at 5mm, soon needing change. Front at 8mm. 27.5K. Wonder if it normal considering I rarely use brakes. They also don't care a bit about leaving the NM power module, never have and if need to be will remove it and put it back himself. Now back up the mountains for my favorite roads with fresh oil!

Stay well, Ara

 

I have the transmission fluid serviced every 35,000 on the clubster. I really don't want to buy another one.

My GTI service is at 40,000 & it's a $350 service. Once again I don't want to spend money on a new box of cogs.

 

MINI “Lifetime” fluids always cracked me up. Always change auto trans fluid ever 40K no matter what it’s in.

Since I am OCD have mine changed in my 6 speed Diff fluid Getrag every couple of years. My OS GIKEN LSD was not cheap and like all fluids including oil and brake fluid fresh clean fluids keep a car running well.

Fresh fluids are cheap insurance for expensive builds.

 

My filthy S got a new rt. front wheel bearing yesterday, so today, I took it out for a drive with LOKI the Terrible. The car ran well, so now I get to see what else might go wrong before the Dragon. For sure, a new set of 15s will be on the car this Spring and some high temp brake fluid. Hell, I might even wash the car before that, but we'll have to wait til I get the 16" Blizzaks on it, as it's too low for the car wash with these crappy 15s on it right now.

 

Got a tube of Hotchkis 3101 Super Lube
and a grease gun and lubed the rear
sway bar bushings (25.5 mm hollow
competition bar with zerks on the
bushing mounts).
Added 3-4 psi in all the tires to make
up for the drop in am temperatures lately.

 

I finally washed and cleaned out my MINI, too. It has spent so much time in the garage lately that it gets mostly dust. But, the carpets were pretty dirty -- certainly more than I usually allow. It looks good now. Temperatures are also finally dropping below 90F, so, it is getting fun to drive, again.

CD

 

I found some NGK's on Detroit Tuned page, gonna go for those. If they like em they gotta be decent

 

Another mileage milestone crossed. Actually did that a few days ago. I wonder if I will cross 300K by the end of next year. That supercharger is starting to sound noisy.

 

Thanks!

A few odds and ends to get done, grill, side splitters, rear diffuser and interior and it'll be all buttoned up.

 

In the 70's the factory service interval for 911 Porsche plugs was 6K, and they were Bosch Platinums at $6 each - even then! Now engines routinely go 100K on a set of plugs.

What I did with my MINI today - loaded up a Sprite head and bare block and took them to the machine shop.

 

I know you weren't happy with those BFG tires. Glad you are putting something on that will make you happier. As for the cupping there are a couple of things that can cause that.

Balance
Lack of rotations
Worn out struts

Your car has a load of miles on it. You probably need new struts. I'd put my money on not frequent enough rotations.

Enjoy the new tires Jeff.

 

Awesome! I'll replace them bushings. I went with OE spec replacement struts so the metal spacer should be fine. I know all bolts/nuts are tight, I took the passenger side out twice to check when I first installed the struts because there was just a slight wiggle then. The wiggle has since worsened. Thanks for the info bud!

 

Must be car trouble week. Over the weekend, the exhaust manifold heat shield fell off my engine. It was rattling around in the engine bay but did not fall out (thankfully) because the shape it it kept it inside. I managed to put it back on temporarily until I can get a new one. Honestly, I have no idea how to get it out of from behind the engine without removing a bunch of parts. So it's not going to be a simple bolt on affair. This morning, I brought my car in to the local tire shop to have snow tires swapped on. They could not the wheel lock key into the bolts and told me I needed to take my car to the dealer to get them off and then replace the locking wheel bolts because, from their experience, all the MINI/BMW lock bolts eventually fail like that.

I stopped by the dealer that was on my way to my office. They didn't have any bolts in stock. (really???). They do have them at the dealership not too far from my office so I will pick them up later and do the tire change over myself when I get home tonight. The dealer was booked full for service appointments today already.

 

I'll be doing the winter tire switch over on Skooby after Thanksgiving. Unless we get snow sooner.

 

We get about 24 inches a year and I
have to go to work when it does, so
winter tires on both our cars is very
desirable.

 

Put this decal on the upper right
rear window
... and have had this ROYGBIV Cheetah
on the upper left rear window for a while

 

A few places have it in black or white
(Amazon, etc.), but I could only find
it in red at Etsy (can select black, white
or red).

https://www.etsy.com/listing/634312233/german-6-speed-equipped-with-a?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=millennial+anti+theft+device&ref=sr_gallery-1-6&organic_search_click=1&col=1

 

No, I have a new RMW 1.62 motor with a TVS 900 going in.

 

Took the Parklane Countryman over to an all Alfa Romeo event today for some free lunch at Centerline Alfa Romeo in Lafayette, Colorado. Dealer participant for the Alfa lineup was an $81k Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quad Q4, yummy but not sure I would enjoy that much engine in a SUV. Nice line up of some really old Alfa Romeos.

You can few the few pictures I took here:

Centerline Open House:

After viewing the pictures, can anyone guess the most expensive car on the Alfa only parking area? It is not the in the new ones.