I just wanted to do another spring update. I was driving down Wilshire Blvd here in LA, near LACMA/La Brea Tar Pits. Ask your friends about that stretch if you have any that live around LA, and they can tell you how bad it is. OR you can just trust me and imagine giant potholes, pothole repairs the shape of shitake mushrooms, 3" unfilled cracks in the road, etc AND it's sloped down towards the gutter @ about 15-20 degrees.

Basically, I was off-roading while going to my friends house. The springs held up wonderfully. No underbody scrapes, the ride was fairly smooth considering the surface. Except for one storm drain where the road drop about a foot, i was able to do a consistant 30mph, where about a month earlier I was only able to do about 20mph and my friend's teeth were chattering while she was talking to me.

I think I made a good choice since this is a DD and little if any serious track time. No rubbing, underbody is intact and no scraping my driveway at home or at work. I've been able to traverse every parking lot speed bump so far as well. I'd probably consider the NM if roads were better and i'd be attending track events.

 

^ Glad those tsw's are working out for you.

Pickin up my NM springs from a local shop tomorrow. They won't be installed till the 16th. i'm a little nervous about the crappy roads around here, but their drop isn't as drastic as the eibach or H&R, so I'm okay with it. I just really want the more aggressive drop, and I will be seeing some track time. probably will be upgrading to the koni fsd shocks at some point down the line.

 

if these were a tad lower and still ran the same, i'd be in total love. then again, i'm trying to be more low key, i would like to look as stock as possible.

 

then the tsw's are perfect.

i'm going for the modded, yet "clean" look. I want it to be apparent that I have aftermarket stuff done but I'm staying as far away from the tuner scene as possible.

 

It looks like my MINI is going to be the 1st W23 '08 to be adopted by another owner. (at least I think so?)

Back in April of 2008 I was notified that my team was being transferred out of my Manhattan office to an office 20 miles deep into the suburbs of New Jersey. They offered to leave me in Manhattan (alone on an empty floor) as I was at the time without a car (quite happily too) and it was going to be difficult to require that I buy a car without coughing up similar compensation. While clearly not a great choice for me in terms of being out of the big city and having to buy a car, I opted to move with the team as a means of maintaining my connection with my coworkers. Career over social life if you will. With the whole recession over the last year, I was very glad I made this choice!

So I bought a MINI with all of you folks, weeeee!

Sadly, as the economy unwound and took the financial industry with it (or was it the other way around? ) and natural organizational politics altered the make up of my group, the team I moved out here to work with has slowly broken off. Today the last official tie I had to this remote office was severed as my manager opted to transfer to another job. I have a new internal position in the works that would lead me back to Manhattan (and I'd likely move back, or home, no matter what, this place is empty now ).

As such, I can no longer justify the cost of my loan, parking, and insurance that comes with living around NYC. I *can* afford it, but I will no longer need to drive 40 miles round trip 4 days a week. Therefore it makes far more sense to put that money into my savings, than into my MINI despite how much I love it.

I think I'm going to keep it through at least the end of June so that I can still go to Minis On Top, but after that, I'm going to have to let him go

Anyone know someone looking for a beloved MINI?

 

sad to hear. :(

good thing you've still got a job though.

i just purchased the NM engineering springs and the 22mm rear sway... here's hoping that the 22 isn't too stiff for my front sway.

 

well you are still welcome here in the week 23ers even after you no longer have a MINI.... but of course we will have lost all respect for you hahahaha j/k

 

oh yes..... i just recorded a new guitar piece and put it up online... if you want to take a listen

link -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XobgUNw-TY

 

And this is what is paramount!
Aww shucks, thanks!
Your guitar skills far outweigh my Guitar Hero skills. Nice job!

 

nice work dude, very impressive.

my biggest accomplishment playing the guitar was stairway to heaven, all aside from the solo... lol.

i just can't find the motivation anymore.

 

zonedguy- Sorry to hear, but yeah, at least you're still employed. You'll always have a chance for another one.

DChap- wow, very nice!

 

Good rational choice! ZipCar seems to be a possible in Manhattan. They have MINI's in their fleet mix. They even come with names

Let me echo the invitation to hang around!

 

He'sssss Baaaakkk....


Final Repair cost ....
$18633.35
$8,614.73 in parts
$5,862.00 in labor 78 hrs in body labor, 3 hours in frame labor, 12 hours in mechanical labor and 32 hours in refinish labor.
$3655.35 in other costs.

A well done repair.

 

welcome back Maxwell. 18k for repairs is ridiculous. OWG get motoring!

 

welcome back!

that is absolutely crazy for repair work, i can't believe they followed through with that.

looks great, get some more pics!

 

Well, i went out to some supertwisties near my work so i could snap some photos and test out how the springs work under some more pressure.
results:
no photo. it was the furthest thing from my mind.

that good?
nope. that bad.

I was about 3 turns away from puking. This is the second time i've tried this road, it's about 18 miles total and about a thousand turns, mostly short banked S sequences.

The first time I took a buddy w/ me and we stopped along the way so he could have a smoke and check out the view. I had one too for some stupid reason and we kept going, well, I got sick and we took the shorter alt route and went home.

Second time, i thought it was the cig that cause me to get sick and took that road as a longcut to my ex-coworkers house for dinner. That road is pretty much deserted on weekdays, so I thought I could get some nice shots parked in the middle of the road. Well, I got to about half way and I started to feel sick again. About 10 miles left, I basically limped to the end of the pass, driving no faster than about 15mph. I had to pull over a few times, catch my breath and step out of the car in case I hurled.

Today was NOT a good motoring day. I'm starting to wonder if I have inner ear issues... rollercoasters aren't very fun for me anymore since I can only ride about 3 before i get sick. Or maybe, im just getting old.

 

Well, it was exactly a year ago today that I ordered my SS/B MC. The ensuing 2 month wait was brutal, but the 10 months of motoring (8000+ km) since then have been bliss! I haven't regretted my decision for a second.

Cheers to all the other Week 23 members!

 

Back on page 183-184...

Krim: $10744.51
Zonedguy: $18,617.00
Gemgirlpa: $10,500.00
dwf137: $15,500.00
toolazyforlogin: $1.00

Where is my shard!?

 

You betcha! I was a ZipCar member before my MINI, and will continue to be one afterwards. There is a ZipCar MINI that "lives" nearby. Though it is only a justacooper I'm gonna miss me my S

 

YAY Maxwell!!! great to have him back with us! He's lookin good!

 

wow thats a lot of repair work. glad you have it back

 

wow, im surprised they didnt total it. I know 18K is less than the value..but good grief..

 

I am quoting myself to rescind my opinion.

Every day now I have never had so much regret. My MINI has so many rattles..sounds..and issues (chain tensioner, sunroof, clutch plate sound)

I have never in my life wished so much that I could go back in time and beat the crap out of myself.

Now I am stuck with a MINI that I cannot sell to get anywhere near the $$ i put into it.

All those options (JCW stage 1 kit, suspension, rally lights, and strut bar) added up big $$ on the purchase price. Now when the car is valued, it is valued as a regular MCS.

All of which I knew going into it. But damn sometimes we make mistakes that we will regret the rest of out lives. This definitely being one of them.

 

Ok Spud - Deep breath.

[soapbox on]
Do you still have all your fingers and toes? Do they still work? Can you still reach out and hug the ones you love?

If so, then this is small in the span of life. Annoying as hell but real small when placed in perspective.

Re: beating the hell out of yourself - Don't. There is always someone else willing to do it, and then you can at least fight back.
[soapbox off]

Ive been tracking the timing chain/cold start rattle, thankful that I have the N12 engine.

Hang in there.

 

oh i know... in the grand scheme its nothing.

shakes, rattles, and sw glitches bug the ever livin crap out of me. I drive the car every day and it gets under my skin easily..

im just saying i wish i didnt swap out my M3...between the two i would have a much better daily driving experience..



to add it up. I just had to argue with the dealer to just verify the information that was presented in the cam chain thread. they want me to bring it in again first.

I just want them to look up the puma numbers, verify that they put on the older part B4 dealing with it again.

they gave me the "we dont do that sir". i explained my 1.25 commute to their dealer and god awful DC traffic and they finally agreed to research those facts first.

just a PIA. id rather worry about something more important.