mdsbrain.com MINI Blog

Well I figured I would go to the track and see how my car is running since the addition of my newest mods. I know the car felt faster and the drag strip is the only cheap means I have to measure how its doing.

Since my last visit I have had a Alta 0% lightweight crank pulley, Alta Oil Catch Can and H-sport springs installed.

My first 2 runs of the night stuck. The temperature was only in the 50s and I wasn’t getting any traction. But on my 3rd and final run I did a *drum roll*

15.338 @ 91.06mph

I went .2 seconds faster then my previous best. That is with 2 people in the car and 3/4 tank of gas. So either my mods really helped or the cold weather is a big plus.

My car is no full fledged MINI drag car but this is my daily driver

Also….I noticed my 2 week old catch can is showing signs that its over half full. I’M SO SHOCKED!

C0me add yourself to Frappr. Simply punch in your name, zip and a pic of your hot MINI.

Right now there is 151 members. Link

For the first time in a long time the only thing I can complain about my service dept is they left the OBD cap open. Thats it…Believe it?!! Its so nice to sit down and have a chat with my SA and he can explain to me in terms I can understand why my car acts the way it does. Not only that over the last 2 days he had my car we corresponded in emails and over the phone. But mostly over email as its a great way to get your thoughts out and then let Will get back to me when he is free (which I find is rare). But when he does have time he gives a response better then my old SA of “its normal”. Will mentioned the usual survey I will get on my service and I told him I won’t have a problem answering it

So after my praising of my new SA Will I’m sure you want to know what Will and his techs found on my car. Ok well I had a list for Will and he knocked things out.

1) Recall #1 Engine Wire Harness – Done.

2) Recall #2 SES light comes on. Last time I was in the shop in July they updated the DME to v42 and Will said there was no reason to go to v43. Also as far as I know the light issue was caused mostly by Recall #1.

3) Tranny shifting poorly – I think I mentioned this to Will because I remembered when the car was cold it shifts like crap. But thats just it it shifts bad when cold. So no problem there..

4) Alignment – I asked if they could check my alignment. I knew that since I had springs done my rear camber was bad. I also noticed that my wheel was pulling to the left while driving. Well sure enough my front was way out of wack. But the rear due to the springs wasn’t adjusted much. I wasn’t surprised about that though. In cae you’re wondering an alignment goes for $170 (inlcuding all the bs fees) at my dealer.

5)I asked Will if while they had the car in the air if they could tighten my aftermarket exhaust. They did and didn’t charge me

6)Asked if the body shop could inspect my Aero Kit. The masking job done on it was horrible and I have been meaning to get it looked at. I just want to know what they think needs to be done so I can plan for the time without my car. Well the person who works on them is even busier then Will and couldn’t take a look. Oh well…I’ll try and stop by some other time.

I got distracted while I was picking up my car from service by some 06 cars in the lot. I saw first hand the new checkmate stripes, checkmate wheels ( horsehoes) and english seats. Oh I like those english seats

Oh and the kicker they had a new 18″ JCW wheel in Black the R108 (I think). It was a sweet looking wheel up close. They just had it on a display and not on a car. But heck not many people get MINI aftermarket wheels right? The sales guy said I was the only person to get R99s in anthracite from them so far.

I need to go back with my camera and get some shots of this cool new 06 parts.

My SA just emailed his update on this topc:

“Oh yeah, the wistling noise: they did pin-point it to the throttle body area,
which is exasperated by the intake. Not a whole lot that can be done with it,
short of replacing the throttle body but the noise would still be present. Kinda
the nature of the beast in this case. If a fix comes along for it I’ll let you
know, but I wouldn’t anticipate hearing anything back anytime soon.

My field tech rep happened to be here yesterday checking on some BMWs, I asked
him & he kinda scratched his head with a befuddled look. Had heard of it before
but was unaware of any fix at this time. After I explained the symptoms & he
agreed that the throttle body is most likely the culprit, with it being an S
model, the relief valve could also make the noise that would otherwise be muted
by the intake. He said the autos are mostly prone to it but so far he hasn’t
heard of anyone actually fixing it. At least someone higher up the ladder has
heard of it, I guess.”

MDSBrain Analysis:
It makes sense to me that its related to the tranny. Afterall I think I have only heard it when the car is in forward gears. You can go nuts in P and N and not hear it.