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

I'm a millennial, 82', and have had basically all (about 5) stick shift cars.

 

Found it! It's a straight-up hole. I could stick the tip of my finger into it. It's definitely rubbing on the gearbox. How is this car not completely out of coolant and overheating?! Needless to say, she's parked until I get that hose and some coolant. F-150 life till then. Just below that dark spot on the lower hose is where the hole is.

 

Heading off to pick up a new battery for Skooby. The one that is in there is working fine, but at 6 years old I'm going to replace it. I don't want to get a call from Babs on a cold winter night that her car won't start.

 

I replaced that hose! Guess the hole wasn't as big as it felt... Still a hole though. The reason the hoses dropped is that 3 out of the 4 hose retainer things that hold the hoses in place were no longer connected to the subframe. Have some on order, and speaking of which, what's the deal with the eMINIparts.com site? It's been under construction for like a month!

 

Put Skooby's new battery in last night. Nice easy 15 minute job. Gotta love when something is easy & goes the way it's supposed to.

 

Drove my wife to BMW of Lancaster
for a test drive.
Several hours later she drove home
a 2020 M240i Convertible with a
manual transmission!
It has runflat all seasons (yuck), so
I ordered a set of winter tires and
wheels (BBS SR 17x7.5 and Michelin
X-ice Xi3 nonrunflats in 215/50/17) from
Tirerack and a compact spare kit from
bimmerzone when we got home.
Will ditch the all seasons for Michelin Pilot
Sport 4S tires on the original wheels when
Spring rolls around.

 

Today on the GP I removed the license plate, steel wooled with 0000 all the windows. I also brushed out all the old dried wax from the roof GP # and all the trim around the car.

I also removed a big ugly dragon like sticker from his A-Pillar. He said I would do anything I wanted to make the car look awesome and the #1 rule for me is no stupid stickers on the car anywhere.

 

Today I finally got around to making a template for my fog lights so I could add the black vinyl back to them.

FYI ~ Aero bumpers had thin plastic insets the went in these holes but they are no longer available on earth. I had my inside MINI guy check North America and then he even did a global search.

see pictures below:

 

I shopped for stickers just to piss Dave off...
but seriously, I got it all put back together and took it for a test drive.

Changed Supercharger Oil
New Tensioner, Idler Pulley, and belt.
New Motor Mount
New Fuel Filter
New Waterpump and thermostat
Flushed Coolant
Oil Change
Cleaned Throttle Body
Cleaned the intercooler

and yes I cleaned that nasty engine bay.

 

Saturday I ordered my RMW Harrop TVS900, new RMW billet belt tensioner, cometic head gasket and 55mm pulley. Just need to pick up a set of FIC match data tech1,000 cc injectors.

Oh and my order has already shipped.

 

My bread-van is dirty. Time to head to my drug connection at CVS. The bonus is my car will get the mother nature car warsh, it's raining.

 

I actually yesterday stopped by Mini/BMW of El Paso and test drove a 2018 BMW M2 with 15K on it and of course immaculate, even clear wrapped. Great car but just could not bring myself to do it! Great power with double clutch, 2 doors, itchy brakes, horrible run flats [would have been an extra expense... before the Taxes even though only 3% here], a lag on the throttle for sure and it felt BIG... I have been driving a Mini since 1966... Yes, please don't mention it, I am getting old and older... It was a good experience though and while my GOKART was parked 3 customers wanted to buy it as also a shop mechanic! No Go... This will probably be my last Mini!... No sense spending again for all the performance and handling add ons. The combination of owning a JCW and a Jeep considering hundreds of miles of mountain paved and unpaved roads start a mile from here, especially when both vehicles are paid for, is just perfect...

So today, I was smiling again on one of my roads... It is an addiction, a daily fix...

Today's short video. Rudimentary editing and better watched on 1080p HD.

 

From last night driving home from work.

 

That could take a while.
2009 JCW Clubman bought with 28K miles in
May of 2018, so I’m putting on about about
7200 per year (previous owner put on
about 3000 per year).
100K should pop up in another 8-9 years.

 

Pictures with both 4.5 foot mirrors on one side and Yes, that’s my new motor on the engine stand.

The whole back wall shelving unit is going away soon.

 

Come on 400 cars.

Today I stopped the dealership and ordered all new OEM coolant hoses and a new dipstick tube and O ring for the new motor going in soon. ( I get a huge discount ) All the parts will be in Monday.

Last weekend the RMW BVH came off and was shipped FedEx to Jan in Cali to do his magic “refresh” with new springs, valve seats, and new even larger valves. I have an original RMW BVH “The Jesus Head” with the larger than OEM valves, but still smaller then what can be done now valves. So this seemed like a good time for an upgrade after 80,000 + miles.

More power ?

 

I finished up the garage upgrades today buy building the 3rd top black cabinet and hanging it.

I can’t decide if I should add one more cabinet to even everything out for esthetics. I can always use more storage.

 

Finished the cabinets in the garage.