Upgraded Steering Wheel

Wow. It's breathtakingly beautiful...especially in the sunlight.

 

BlueToy, The new steering wheel really works well with the rest of the interior. Good choice.

 

Thanks Boys


-Steven

 

That's a nice steering wheel. And based on a quick Google search, an incredibly expensive one!

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using NAMotoring

 

Steven, here's a shot if the dash we discussed, plus a couple of weekend pix.

 

Thanks for sharing Bill. The dash turned out great, and the event looks like fun. I'm hoping to get to a Chicago event this summer...we'll see.


-Steven

 

Somebody's wife/girlfriend will soon be screaming "You did WHAT with my measuring cup?!?!"

 

LOL...there's no way that one came out of the kitchen. I went and bought one for that purpose only , and my wife freaked out any way


-Steven

 

That sells me. I got to get mine as soon as possible.

Bill

 

Steven,

After reading all 20 pages (burp!), and I correct in thinking you are on your third round of revisions already? (stock -> carbon fiber -> GP). What happened to the carbon fiber one?

Mark

 

Hi Mark,

You have it right, stock to JCW Carbon Fiber to GP2 diffuser. I still have the JCW C. F. which I will be selling soon.


-Steven

 

Steven, Just wanted to let you know that the side under panels fit the roadster. I installed them with the rear diffuser this weekend. Also ordered the GP2 underpanel from ECS tuning. The side underpanels just need trimming in two spots. The rear **** where the braces mount need to be removed and the area near the center needs to be trimmed

 

j-

Thanks so much for the post...this is great news I was very curious to see how the braces fit in, you didn't have to do any shimming correct? I'm hoping to get time at IND if they have a lift available this week. I also ordered the front undertray from ECS last week


-Steven

 

No shimming. It's a direct fit. Just have to remove the one part and trim where I have the green tape in the picture. The bracing fits over the under panel, without a problem. Once the two parts are trimmed, it's a direct fit.

 

Great news jkapinos, knew a little trimming and it would work based off the bluetoy pics.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...g-install.html

Looks good and now you have smooth under body, nice work.

 

I finally got around to installing the JCW underbody panels and the new GP2 front under tray. Having already installed the GP2 rear diffuser, the Roadster now has complete underbody aero. I ordered the two side panels and front tray from ECSTuning.com they also included all the necessary hardware. Here's a look at the install...

The front tray is well made, with a heat shield and what looks like a reinforcing material through the middle. I know Mini engineers spent a lot of time "tuning" this piece to reduce drag as well as vent/draw hot air out of the engine bay. Lots of vents...





For the side panels, the rear molded in support on the inside needs to be removed so it will lay flat against the cross brace.




Front to back finished up...



Rear view...


Driving home from the shop I noticed the Roadster is a few decibels quieter after the install...which was a really pleasant surprise



-Steven

 

Yes I have all three installed now as well. Good work and enjoy.

 

Steven, it looks like you drilled through the side panels on the inside edge to accommodate the brace attachment point, rather than trimming like the earlier example. True?

 

Yes, that's correct. We looked at simply trimming it, following the line of the brace, but felt this method kept it tucked up better.



-Steven

 

Steven, A big thumbs up! Looks great.

Bill

 

jkapinos - great job again.

Steven - Great, glad it worked for you also, I glad my R58 under-body panels on a R59 theory came to work and the front GP2 Belly Pan kit pan looks great ! Very smooth underneath. Great job on the install and your MINI is looking very good as always.

 

I cannot believe an enthusiast car like the Mini is so lacking in gauges. I had the JCW cluster installed on mine too - temp and lateral G force (Countryman so I got to pick 2), which is dumb. Why don't they have some more useful gauges, like oil pressure, oil temp, boost pressure, etc. Lateral Gs and "relative torque"? Might as well just have a gauge with Spongebob Squarepants and those bead-eyes that roll around as you take corners.

 

LOL...you're so right. Every time I glance at the Openometer I shake my head, and the damn thing is molded to my tach so I can do nothing about it. This certainly doesn't belong on a JCW.



-Steven

 

Careful MINI HQ might get ideas..

 

O.K., so I get this "just for fun" concept MINI has about their product. The Openometer is meant to encourage top down motoring, but as already mentioned, there are a few more useful gauges that are missing as a result. Why aren't gauge choices one of MINI's "10 millions possible combinations?"