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

Mavic 2 Pro, and yes, I can set it to follow. It has a few different intelligent flight modes that I'm still learning all the details about.

You can see some of the stuff I've been monkeying around with here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkXZCwtH6bwjj8kzhSPb6xw/videos

 

I had a friend w/ a Porsche 914 in the early 1990s. It was a 70's era P-car that was fairly rare and had a mid-mount engine. He took the car to a shop that was supposed to be a Porsche shop and watched the mechanic as he pulled the car into the bay. He opened the rear trunk lid to find, well, a trunk. The mechanic then opened the front hood to find another trunk. He watched the guy crawl over the car for 10-15 minutes, trying to figure out where the engine was and decided that maybe that wasn't the right shop to be at and he asked for his keys to be returned.

Sure... a mid-mount Porsche is odd, but not so odd that a competent mechanic (who was supposedly Porsche certified) should have been able to find the engine and the engine cover release lever in 15 minutes.

FYI: Here's the engine cover open. To get yourself oriented in the photo, you can see the gauges in front of the steering wheel in the top left of the photo. The car is a 2-seater w/ a removeable roof (removed in the photo).

 

Stuff like this is why I try to avoid shops and valet parking. Nothing broken or damaged that I know of so far, but I once picked up my car that had a custom stereo and the guy asked "How do you turn on the stereo? We tried to fire it up and couldn't get it to turn on."

I can imagine the temptation they get to "test drive" your car when they see it. What did the shops break?

 

The LEAP rear diffuser got in a lot earlier than estimated (September 28th) so spent a few hours over the last couple of afternoons wrapping it in carbon fiber. It's not 110% perfect, but no one will notice form a galloping horse. Hopefully get to the install this weekend, see how I'm feeling.

Got some cabrio front braces coming from Leeds, been waiting forever to get some lined up, but just couldn't get myself to pay the crazy costs for them here in the US. Got both for less than 150 US, shipped.

Got a second hand (used for 3 months) M7 heat Shield as well since it was a great deal.

 

Ordered new front speakers for my MINI.

https://www.motoringalliance.com/threads/bavsound-speaker-upgrade-kit.31372/

 

Well, Saturday night and my guys did not disapoint. Since I am a bit lazy I will add to my M/A garage in a few.

For those who want to look try this set of pictures on my drive family area: 2020 MINI JCW Clubman it is still under 500 miles, damn!

The first three pictures are the MINI factory/local dealer stripes.

Better pictures will be taken, when I find the right place and time.

Added a few more pictures to the link above, at the shop as they were finishing up, the overhead lights show how much this JCW shines, also full paint correction and PPF on Bonnet and Front JCW bumper.

Don

 

Still waiting for the funky weather to change, going up to the Mountains Tuesday I think for some leaf color relief, so might stop and take a picture of the JCW along the way.

I did update the folder with some shop pictures above, if you want to look, see the shine under those bright flourescent detailing lights.

Take care, mask up,
Don

 

New battery time after just 2 years
and one month with the Odyssey
Battery (0752-2020). Way too soon
for an expensive upper market battery.
Started fine yesterday after a week’s
vacation to move the car and started
fine this morning, went to a grocery
store, then to another, then nothing
but a few clicks and incompletely lit dash
when I tried to go home.
I jumped it and drove home (voltage 14V
so alternator is fine. voltage only 12.2V
after turning it off, and down to 11.5 after
sitting a half an hour. I guess a cell must
have suddenly died or something.

Putting in a Die Hard Platinum AGM as
it’s the best one available locally.
No IBS module on my car, but will
register it anyway as I did 2 Years ago.

 

Gave GIR a much need wash and wax. With teleworking, not being in the car everyday I didn’t realize how much I let him go


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks!

Its an 06 factory built JCW with cold weather package, headlight washers and homelink that just rolled over 20K original miles. Originally Astro-Black with Silver roof, it is now wrapped (Avery Dennison Gloss Grass Green), with 99% of the chrome replaced with either overlays or new parts just so that the car can go back to its original self easily if/when the time comes.

Engine and exterior: BEHE/LDG remap and tuned, sits on Cross Competition coil overs and VOLK Le37t's 17 X 7.5s, SPC control arms, Magnecor Kv8.5 ignition wires, Hotchkis rear sway bar, M7 strut tower brace, 15% reduction pulley added, a GP style wing from CED, front and side splitters, rear diffuser from LEAP, LED Brake lights and 3rd brake light with pulsar, updated LED DRLs up front .

Interior mods are simply RSD, I wrapped the dash trim, and have seat covers to protect the original, and switch up the look. There are the 4 point Schroth quick harnesses as well for spirited runs/auto-x days. Whalen shift knob, Harman Kardon sound, Ian Cull auto up, Ultragauge, Android tablet for UI, updated LED puddle lights, and RGB under-seat/footwell illumination. Any decals/stickers I have I've left to the door jambs.

You can see pics HERE of most everything. I haven't done an interior shoot or engine bay shoot in a long while, but that'll give me something to do now with cooler weather moving in.

As for the helmet, it was gifted to me from a guy that we became friends with through our local watering hole. He's the retired fire marshal for our fair city and has a great garage with all sorts of killer stuff, it's like something out of a movie. He called me up one day and said to stop by and he gave it to me. I've just left it in there until I finish up my display tower in the tinker temple.

 

Out with the old, and in with the new. Also added the cabrio braces and M& heat shield.

 

Works with music and of course google maps with turn by turn google voice directions through the radio speakers. My MINI has the hands free telephone package with the microphone in the headliner unit with the front map lights.

It works seamlessly with both bluetooth pairing at the same time...

 

Swapped out the original coolant tank reservoir with a metal one that won't ever break. While I know that they have had a lot of yays and nays, did a catch can while in there as well. First time having the intercooler off, I was pleased with how clean it was, with some oil pooled in the boots and only a smear when wiping the horns...but I only have 20K miles on the car. Cleaned out the intercooler while it was off, and the cleaner ran black for only a few, then cleared right out.

Now, building the reinforcement for the rear seat delete lid.

 

It's always fun to get the classics out among the MINIs, people love to see them on the road and I like driving mine.

 

Thanks! Here it is all in. What a difference the little relief cuts make for the rear receivers. The wrinkles from the carpet being shipped should relax in a few days.

 

One thing I have really not cared for are the dim incandescent reverse lights that came with the LED lights, so I got that changed out. Would have done it at the initial install, but had the wrong LED, needed a bayonet mount. Went with these little buggers. I can see now when backing into my space at night! A HUGE improvement.

While in the land of lights, I also put in some 6000K bulbs into the projector lights. I don't do a whole lot of night driving in the MINI, but this also made a big improvement.

 

I might recommend connecting a hose to the blow-off line nipple. It only needs to be a foot and a half or so... just long enough to direct any overflow away from the headers (under the airbox is a good place to aim). Zip tie it to the other stuff running under there. I had that same tank and cap. The tank is fine and seemed well made, but the cap is a POS and was constantly blowing coolant everywhere (I didn't have the nipple on mine... just a hole under the cap. When I finally got around to detailing the engine bay and doing dress-up under there, I got rid of it as I was sick of coolant being blown everywhere under the bonnet.

I've heard of others who found Stant caps to fit that tank. I tried 2 or 3 times but the ones that worked for them never fit for me. I finally gave up and bought a Canton tank (I like the matching PS tank anyway).

 

I'll offer a bit of advice. If you have a ride along instructor listen to him/her. No one wins a track day. When you drive home with no damage it is a win!

Take the tools you think you'll need along with oil, coolant & brake fluid. Water & some energy food for yourself. A chair & umbrella are good too.

Have a great time Lee! Let us know how it goes.