To tell you the truth it's not too hard to win my class at the shows. There is not a lot of competition. Most of the cars entered in the new mini class are all newer and bone stock. Very few have any changes to the factory stock. It's a shame that not more of the older cars 2002-2006 don't show up for the shows. There is usually at least 10 or 15 of the classic minis but most of the time there is only maybe four or five in my class.
Spent Monday washing and waxing GIR. Spent the last couple of days chasing P1613 and P1607. Did some research and looked around a bit, I found out it is a bad tach. In the process of cleaning this used one up and giving it some fresh paint.
I bought some belt liner black out. What is on it is coming off. When my son bent one of the rims they were out of the satin black ones so he had to get one that did not match. I found some wheel paint that matches. After I take care of those items it will be time for paint correction. It's getting harder to think of getting rid of it. But someone is going to get a very nice MINI.
I got my car back from the upholstery shop. I had them install a new headliner. I guess after 20 years it was about time. It had started to sag a little in the front and I can have that. I guess I'm fortunate in the 20 years I've had the car I've only had two things go wrong. One was a cable on the left door opener and the other was a headliner I just replace. In 20 years that's not bad.
I almost forgot next weekend is American graffiti weekend. They have a big car show and parade. On Friday night they hold a parade through downtown and on the week on Saturday and Sunday they have the car show. Downtown is where they film the movie. To show you how much influence the movie had on this town a few years ago they passed a law about cruising in a posted all over the place on signs no cruising then a couple years ago they rescinded the order and now you are allowed to cruise again I'm not sure if anybody does it but you can if you want.
If you don't mind me asking how hurtful was the cost of the headliner? I noticed the other day the one on my GTI bread-van is starting to give up on me.
Not at all . It was $350.00. I thought that was a good price. That's including the same material as was in it anthracite from BMW.They did it in one day
Today was Clubman maintenance day part 2. Oil change, in-cabin air filter change, and replacing the exhaust flex-pipe. Cutting the exhaust was a bit scary for me because I didnt want to mess things up. Getting the v-clamp positioned and tightened correctly was the hardest part of the job. The air filter definitely needed changing with it's leafy surprise.
Ha.. There were a few tears and curse words.. The red is from some touchup painting on my other MINI ;-)
So update I ordered Borg Warner Turbo and new blow off valve and my downdraft and miltek exhaust will be installed this week coming! I’m excited my exact blowoff valve on is jammed so I ordered new exact one
When I first got my R56 from last owner I don’t think he ever checked the filter it had 39,000 miles and wow it was dirty
Bigger is not always better. I had 550's but changed to 380's. I had it retuned and it ran better with better mileage.
Some of the newer injectors scale much better. I am a BIG believer once you start looking at modding you look at it holistically. On the Mini going to a 15% pulley is fine the 380’s can scale to the fuel you need. I have learned a ton about tuning sense installing a stand alone ECU and I have a ton to learn. It’s fun but a steep learning curve. Unless it is a very light upgrade like a pulley I don't believe in blot on upgrades unless you go all the way and do everything. Once you change one thing it affects everything. Here is what I learned with the Exige Melted plug on a track day Found previous owner added a TVS 900 SC and remap Found out tuner was known for running to much advance Learned the TMAF sensor was never mentioned to read that kind of air flow. Sensor just past the air filter Because of this tuners have to make guesses (flow and intake temps) and use a tail pipe wide band O2 sensor. Learned the Lotus ECU for the Toyota 2ZZ motor is hard to tune. This all means It would never be tuned completely correctly. So the fix ECU Black ECU I ran a vacuum line from the intake (post intercooler) to the on board MAP sensor in the ECU Added a AIT sensor post IC pinned into the ECU Added a wide band O2 for the ECU. I actually have two, one for a gage also I thought I was good and to be fair that have been good enough Added a fuel pressure regulator with a one to one boost reference Add a fuel pressure sensor for the ECU That was about two years of learning and getting the car straight. My wife hates the Exige Anyway I am sure that is more than you guys want to know. I really want to do a R53 build. ECU Masters makes an ECU for the R53. My CFO says no or I may die in my sleep. She can be scary