mdsbrain.com MINI Blog

Thomas’ English Muffins is starting a promotion to give away a MINI to go with thier MINI Bagels. Sounds like a winning combination to me buy MINI bagels get a MINI.

Check it out here: Link

Well I don’t think car love gets any better then this. I took about an hour to throughly clean the car and then taped off the black trim so the wax wouldn’t touch it. I also used a 3 step Meguairs waxing process. 1) Cleaner 2) Glaze 3) Sealent

Below are pics of my work and so you know I’m not a Zaino or Mother’s lover. I’ve always used Meguairs and am happy with the results. My efforts took about 5 hours.

I used green painter’s masking tape. I used alot but it sure helped.

Well I figure if I sit and write about how much things piss me off then people will probably not read this. So I will try and contain some of my rants and focus on those that most people will find they can relate to.

Case and point…

I hate when construction companies pave part of the road and then leave signs that say, “Uneven pavement”. What the point?! It stinks for people like me with our 17″ wheels wrapped in runflats so those changes in pavement sound like heck on my car. I really hope that those loud bangs I hear when I hit the road isn’t causing any damage.

OH and then there are people in SUVs treating this area in the road like huge potholes. There small elevation changes to you in your massive off-road vehicle.

Ok rant over

Well its here and it looks great. A small peice of actual Carbon Fiber that is made by MINI and sold with the JCW name.

Part #:51-13-0-395-503 which I bought from CLASSIC MINI. They are the most helpful parts dept I have encountered yet. With my NAM discount I got the part for $134 + UPS ground shipping. Not bad I think. The part is not only the carbon top peice but also the boot release and license plate lights.

Now I installed it with 2 people and 4 hands. Reason being is explained below.

Install:
Using a torx screwdriver the peice holds on by 4 screws. Then release the super short wire about 1/2″. It would of really helped if it was even 1/2″ longer to allow for easier movement. It wasn’t till after I did it that Mark from Gomotoring.com told me that I could of release more of the wire by removing some interior trim. DOH!! Oh well so its on. I think the results speak for themselves.

Carbon mod next on the list…Spoiler and wing parts on the bonnet and boot emblems.

I took a nice relaxing trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland this past weekend. This was my 2nd trip there with my MCSa and I had a few observations while driving.

Wheel vibrations:
Well I was driving and I was suddenly pissed when I felt my steering wheel vibrating. The vibration usually associated with a badly balanced wheel or …what it turned out to be is tires under inflated. 3 tires were 5psi under and the right front was 10psi under. I haven’t checked the tires in about 5 weeks. So yah it was my fault. But I was very happy to know that the problem was corrected with just a tire pressure correction and not a balancing or an alignment.

Mileage:
When I filled up I had 305 miles on the tank and put in 12 gallons. Thats 25.41667 miles per gallon and to my surprise the OBC actually said 25.5. Wow! It was like dead on the money!! Also on the way home the OBC said I was getting 30.1 mpg while cruising @ 60-65mph. I’m @ 3100 miles and the mileage is steadily getting better. So I was getting 30mpg with a Alta CAI, 15% pulley and the new V42 software. I haven’t sent my ecu back to MTH for tuning. Good stuff to me

Gas: Man I hate it when a place in the same state has gas for about 10-15 cents cheaper. In Ocean City premium 93 octane was $2.35. When back home its in the $2.40-2.55 range.

Coming soon: pics of my newly installed JCW carbon fiber rear hatch trim peice. I installed this when I got home on Sunday evening.

EDIT:

Stubby antenna: I might retire the stubby when I go on long trips. I had a hell of a time finding a station when driving. Although I had my iPod sometimes I just wanted to put on a AM station and listen to some news and couldn’t.