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My dumbest move yet since I owned a mini... geesh!
I'm so embarssed, I probably shouldn't admit this on the forum... but I'm sure it won't go past these walls...LOL.
Allow me to preface this story... I'm 46, I've been a motorhead since I was 17. I've been in the bodyshop business for almost all my adult life and have almost every tool imaginable either in my toolbox or at my disposal.
I had my JCW tuned by RMW and it ended up with a peak torque of 250 ftlbs at the wheels. The car obviously has enough torque to pull you back into the seat hard.
I decided that one of the mods I should do is the torque arm insert made out of polyurethane instead of the stock rubber. I order an insert from NM engineering and they arrived but with no instructions. I mean, how hard could a set of urethane bushings be to install???
I've heard of guys doing this mod in a matter of minutes so obviously it can't be that hard especially when I have a lift and airtools to use.
Sooooo, I set the car up, pull the torque arm and insert the new bushings. I install the arm on the car and I have a small amount of vibration when in reverse. I figure with a harder bushing, it may have a minimal amount of vibration... no big deal.
I open my email and there is an email from NM engr'ing with their sale items. I browse the site and come across what? A set of PDF instructions for the torque arm??? Well, hell, who needs those... I mean, seriously, it was a matter of minutes to install them.
So I open up the PDF file and OMG, I am such an idiot...I CUT the rubber out of the arm and used the bushings by themselves (and the metal insert)
WHAT A FREAKIN' MORON....
Yaaaa, sure you know about cars...suuuure.
But remember, it just stays on this forum...
Mark
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You know you're a racer if...When you refer to everything in life unmodified as "stock" or “factory.” OSCAR’S REBUILD
Last edited by orangecrush; 07-01-2009 at 01:26 PM.
When I was a kid I once baked cookies with 2 "1/4 cups" of flour. I thought to myself....why didn't they just write a 1/2 cup?
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2009 Mini Cooper
Midnight Black/Carbon Black Checkered Cloth/Black Roof
Black 16" Bridge Spoke Wheels/White Turn Signal Lights/Rooster Red Color Line Trim/Convenience Package/Sport Package/Xenon Headlights...and...an Automatic? (courtesy of my lovely wife)
What do these bushings do? Cut down on the torque steer?
Here is my 'D'OH' story. After picking up the box of Heartworm medication for my three labs, I opened them and was getting ready to give them the pills. I noticed the little sheet of 'Flavor Tabs' in box so I peeled one off for each pill and stuck them on the pills. All three dogs promptly spit them out so I went back to the old 'hide -a-pill-in Peanut-Butter' trick. A few weeks later I was back at the vet for another issue and I mentioned the 'Flavor Tabs' for the pills didn't work too well. The vet, stifling a grin, said the stickers were supposed to be placed on your calendar to remember to give them to your dog and were not supposed to be stuck on to the pills.
What do these bushings do? Cut down on the torque steer?
I dunno... they looked pretty so I stuck them on there...
The torque arm is a metal arm with a rubber bushing inside the ends. The "inserts" are urethane inserts so they are used in conjunction with the factory rubber mounts. It stiffens it up so the torque arm doesn't flex as much.
Quote:
Here is my 'D'OH' story. After picking up the box of Heartworm medication for my three labs, I opened them and was getting ready to give them the pills. I noticed the little sheet of 'Flavor Tabs' in box so I peeled one off for each pill and stuck them on the pills. All three dogs promptly spit them out so I went back to the old 'hide -a-pill-in Peanut-Butter' trick. A few weeks later I was back at the vet for another issue and I mentioned the 'Flavor Tabs' for the pills didn't work too well. The vet, stifling a grin, said the stickers were supposed to be placed on your calendar to remember to give them to your dog and were not supposed to be stuck on to the pills.
Damn, I'm not sure I would have told that story.... that's worse than mine.
Mark
__________________
You know you're a racer if...When you refer to everything in life unmodified as "stock" or “factory.” OSCAR’S REBUILD
2005 MCS HB/B LSD, VinylStyles: headlight rings, door handles, and stripes, ALTA: CAI, 17% v2.0, 22mm RSB, OCC, Diverter; BC Coilovers, H-Sport Lwr Cntl Arms, Detroit Tuned BPV, Invidia Cat-Back, RMW street header, JCW plugs
o7 Astro Black/White MCS
