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Today's detailing focused on the engine bay. Sonax Engine Cleaner followed by Sonus Trim and Motor Kote. Also used a rinseless wash on the underside of the hood and vacuumed the hood insulation.
Finally got a decent recording of my exhaust with the new Mk. 43-LT turbo. I have a full 3" DP/exhaust. The tailpipes are dual 2.5" pipes, which has a little bit more overall flow than the 3" pipe.
First video is just the exhaust revving at 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k and to redline. You can kind of hear the turbine spool through the exhaust, sounds pretty cool.
Second video is capturing both the exhaust and intake noise.
So, yes this is my Paceman, but I figured it would likely apply to the Countryman more. Just made by a local fabber who does great work. It's a prototype, and he got it together so I could hit Minis On Top yesterday. He wants it back to clean up welds, and add a few things.
Kind of got mixed reviews, everything from WICKED to..uhmmm, why did you do that to a JCW R61???
It began life as a Cooper Crap hitch. I inverted it to tow my M416. Then decided to add a tire carrier, since we don't have spares.
My first attempt at blacking out some of the chrome. Both trims on the headlights are done, unfortunately I did a poor job removing the other piece of trim and broke all but two snaps. Guess I'm gluing that one back on.
...and then I hit the side of my house trying to get down the alley.
Gave the car a good wash a finally snapped some decent shots with my phone.
argh... who buffed your plastics ?!
i once paid to have my wife's CM detailed, the guy did a good job but 3 months later ALL off the black plastic looked like this when whatever he put on it wore off, now i constantly have to put back to black on it to hide the buffer swirls.
Funny that you mention the plastics... I am in the injection molding industry and these black trim plastics (as well as other manufacturers) have always drove me nuts because they look like crap after a while. And what you're seeing here isn't from any mechanical buffing issue. It is the way the plastic flows into the molds which is exposed after the environment and UV gets to the plastic. Some black plastics just fade to grey and others show this flow pulsation (I call it) once the degradation starts in after a couple years.... After time and UV degradation one can see the flow marks. Black is the worse and shows the most. I don't know why they don't use better plastics with UV stabiizers and such. This is one reason paint is used on plastics (not these trims though).
That looks sharp. Does it read oil pressure?! If it does it’ll save me a lot of trouble and money for a dedicated oil pressure gauge! Unfortunately my obdfusion doesn’t display it and was thinking of getting a dedicated gauge.
i dont think there is oil pressure display on it. here is my, 3d printed a mount to fit onto car
That looks really nice! How does a guy get his hands on a printed gauge pod like that?
I would love to replace the pod I’m using now with something like that
That looks really nice! How does a guy get his hands on a printed gauge pod like that?
I would love to replace the pod I’m using now with something like that
The one i drew up is specific for the gauge attachment. It still needed to be modified to sit nicely. I also used a arm from go badges kit to hold the mount.
The one i drew up is specific for the gauge attachment. It still needed to be modified to sit nicely. I also used a arm from go badges kit to hold the mount.
Ok, gotcha. I think it looks great! Nice work. I will eventually figure out a better gauge pod for it. I am not a huge fan of the other ones I have seen that mount to the tach, like the cravenspeed ones. Not that they aren’t nice..... just not my style.
Sooooo, I spent an inordinate amount of time working on this hunk of garbage. The hex stripped right out after a gorilla apparently installed it last time.
So I tried...
- vise grips: no good, the soft aluminum just yields and the shape of the oil pan makes it impossible to get a solid grip
- hammer and punch: hence the slots cut. No dice, the aluminum was again too soft
Solution: take a 10mm hex, grind it down to 9ish mm, sharpen the corners with a file, hammer it into the plug to make indentations, use needle files and chisels to carve a crude hex to fit, then use a bottle jack on the ratchet head to apply copious upward pressure into the plug, and pray the loaded assembly didn't spontaneously collapse into my face.
Love what you have done to the wheels, is there some sort of a decal over the silver area in the spokes. I have the wheels but was looking to make them a bit more black like yours.
Washed it, waxed it, ceramic pads, some here and there chrome delete, and Eibach springs. Maybe the best thing of all: wiper delete! So much nicer to clean the windows without the wiper!
I’ve never used the rear wiper on a Mini. Maybe a couple of time on a big SUV. Rain-x and clean it occasionally is all I ever do. Between my son and I we are on Mini #6 deleted them all (well, one to go - next week)
Well, if it works for you and where you live. I couldn't imagine not having a rear wiper here in the land of ice and snow. I don't see how it ruins the car's aesthetics, either, but each to his own.
After a couple of evenings I was able to successfully install a new set of 4" speakers in my doors. (sorry no pics, forgot to take some). It was surprisingly easier to do than I expected, just labour intensive. The seller provided a full disassembly instruction PDF which was a huge help considering it was my first time taking on a job like this.
From the guide:
You'll need to fabricate a speaker mounting bracket or spacer.
