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

Drove a bit more today, getting the feel of my own wheels again. Tis a good feeling.

 

Took the MINI to Pittsburgh for a track day. Had fun, and the car left under its own power. Good day.

 

RMW'd the engine

pulled out the old and put in the new: RMW BVH, Dominator cam, Header, ported/matched Intake plus all the gaskets and fluids (oil and rad). Started on the first attempt. Can't wait to tune with Jan at Helix next week in Philly! The sound alone was worth it.

 

No. It was an A W F U L , P O S movie.

 

The Helmet is smiling because he is clean and headed to Cars and Coffee.

 

Snapped this shot this afternoon. Headed out to Willow Springs, in the morning, for one last race this season.

 

Just got back from my Buddy's house where he helped me install some parts I had laying around. The first couple of pictures are just gratuitous lift porn. Really nice lift for $1500.





The next couple are of the before and after installation of Cravenspeed's Big Pair.


Next is what it looked like under the bonnet before we started yanking parts.



Next is the NM Engineering Power Module going in. Big hole there when the air box is removed.



Then the picture of the finished product just before we installed the air duct. Intake is by Cravenspeed.


And finally, my custom puddle lights. :biggrin5:



I am really impressed with the Power Module. Motor really pulls hard. I have to actually pay more attention to what I'm doing running through the gears. It spins the tires way too easily when I hit second gear. I'm not talking about chirping the tires, I mean they will break traction completely if I'm not careful.It's supposed to run better after I put 20 or so miles on it. Only drove ten on the way home.

 

drove it for the first time in months after putting a hole in the motor and completely rebuilding everything

 

Rescued a rusty clubby today. A friend has my Clubby in for some paint repair, and while he's doing that I'll put a clutch in his.....

 

Frozen Pork-Chop. Please keep that white stuff out there. I am refusing delivery of any here.

 

Picked up my car from my friend's shop (actually did it yesterday). He had called and said I didn't really need front brakes so he put everything back and said he'll do it next time and didn't charge me for it. He did the rear brakes, brake fluid flush, oil change, installed the engine mount. I think MINI charged me an hour and something for the engine mount 5 years ago. My friend charged me .8 hrs. Considering the age and mileage of my car, he recommended a few things I should consider for next time I bring the car in.

Then gave me a package of chocolates and short bread cookies and said Merry Christmas.

 

1st ones at the mall

Christmas shopping complete

 

As we speak, I'm sitting here in the corporate world headquarters of Helix, getting a new set of Koni FDS loaded onto Bedivere.

 

Got my tuning kit installed today. My indi tech/mechanic did a heck of a job for a great price. He even bought pizza for us and the other tech. If you ever need any work done in Raleigh, NC look up Chris at G3 Automotive.


Stock system


Kit


Installed

 

Not even in the same ballpark. Even with the baffle closed it sounds 100% better. With the baffle open it sounds even better. Lot's of popping and crackling on down shifts and deceleration.
I did have to change my NM Power Module to the low setting. With the tuning kit the additional 5 pound of boost was too much for 94 octane. If I fill it up with some 100+ octane I'll go back to the high setting. Until then I'll have to settle for 3 1/2 pounds.
The butt dyno reads about a gazillion HP increase. :biggrin5:
No serious plans to dyno it, but there is a definite improvement over just the NM module. Spins the tires way too easily and it doesn't seem to run out of breath as fast as it did before. I'm a happy camper!

 

Added 2 badges I made at home.

Dominican Flag. Bear Pride Flag.

 

Picked up Buzz from the body shop where I had the gouges in the roof caused by my garage door opener (it's a long story) fixed, it came out great!

 

87,095 of them are mine.

 

That's gonna be nice Dave. How many Alcats does it take to cover a Mini wheel?

Took my Daughter to lunch. Beautiful day for a drive. And, I got a Christmas present in the mail today. It was originally mailed on 11/11, but got lost shuttling back and forth between NC and CO. Worth the wait though. artisticreflection.com does great work.