Agreed!

 

Sorry about your father.

Regarding your vehicles, you should have held out for a Countryman!
And that would explain why we didn't hear from you for the Dam Outlaw ride. It was up your way. At least you ended up with a MINI. Hope to see you soon.

 

Ok, fall drive posted, chime in if you're coming!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-motoring.html

 

Well, after a couple weeks of testing this out, I think this is worthy of sharing, so here goes.

When we bought our MCS we knew it needed new speakers. The passengers front and rear speakers were blown. It got so bad the speakers made noise with the stereo off and the windows down, or popping the sunroof up into tilt. So we had them replaced, all of them, at our local audio/video store here in Fremont. While talking with the store's staff I noticed they sold Dynamat so I asked them to install that in both doors since they would have the door panels off anyway, and in the back of where the rear speakers mount.

HUGE difference....and I wasn't too sure I liked it. But after a couple weeks now, we are both very happy with the Dynamat. Dynamat is designed to deaden sound thereby increasing speaker sound, and reduce heat loss/transfer. So yeah, the interior is quieter now, by quite a lot, far less road and tires sounds than before.

Cost for installing Dynamat: 45$
Value: Damn well worth it!

 

Sound deadening is an important step for any audio build.

What speakers did you go with? I hope not OEM replacements.

 

OEM? no way!

JL Audio

 

I knew you'd shy away from the paper and foam variety.

If you are looking for more sound deadening, I suggest doing the dash, and the plastic trim panels that cover it. I took all those off and put the dynamat simulant on the backside of it all, then used Durapore tape on all plastic to plastic contact points to eliminate squeaking. My dash is now rock solid and has little to no squeaking when you press on it.

Oh, it is quieter too. I'm sure if I didn't have the poly engine mounts the car would be Lexus quiet.

 

Well...I like my engine sounds and my dash is quiet. I will do the rear floor and side walls with more Dynamat when I do a rear seat delete soon. The tags were due this month, so we've had ours a year now. While out for dinner this week we discussed how many times we've used the rear seats. 3... So those seats are history.

 

Heh. We've used them about three times as well. I soooo want to ditch them. But my better half probably won't go for that until we get a countryman as our daily driver in a few years...

 

This week the steam locomotive UP #844 is in our area. It will be on display this thursday and friday over in Council Bluffs and then move into Omaha friday night for a saturday morning departure from Durham Museum/AMTRAK Station.

This link show's the schedule: http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_tr.../details.shtml

 

I can say in going on 6 years I have used my back seat 1 time to take folks out to dinner shortly after buying the car in 05. Guess that's why I am getting the coupe next year.

 

I generally tell people my car is a two seater, but I seem to carry others a few times a month.


I got those new brake pads installed last night. They already have about 90 miles on them and feel much better. The pads are Hawk high performance ceramic, exactly what was on the car before, this makes bedding-in easier.

I told Midas that the rotors were fine and didn't need to be turned. They looked skeptical and checked the rotors themselves and deduced that they did not need to be turned. There is no squeaking or squealing from the pads.

I hope to get 60,000 miles out of this set as well.

In 200 miles I need to change my transmission fluid...

 

What kind of rear seat delete are you going to do? I saw the one instructions for the guy that built the speaker rack in place of the seats. I always had thoughts on that but I really need the space more than the seats since majority of the time I'm always folding down my rear seats to put something larger in the back to get it home. So I really think if I did it, it would just be a flat bed in the back.

 

I can't speak for what he's going to do but here's a couple of links from my search when I was looking into it.

Outmotoring has one for sale.
Blitzcat posted pictures of the one he made.

 

After the rear seats are out, I'll make a flat spot to set things in their spot such as the kits do that are for sale. I'm going to add either a pair of cargo bars back there with a cargo net, and some tie down rings so we can strap things down in the back. I'll leave the boot area as is so that we can install more stereo gear, like an amp and another pair of speakers.

We find when we load items for a trip it's usually right behind the seats, not in the boot. So the boot area will stay the same. I've considered what to use for the deck and I'm thinking about using a piece of ABS plastic and then cover the top in a matching carpet. About like Blitzcat's setup probably.

I will also install Dynamat under the rear seats after they're out.

I just picked up an air intake tube for the CAI. So now I want an aftermarket CAI...and I saw some diagrams for doing a one-ball exhaust mod, so that's on the list of stuff to do this winter also.

 

I drew this one-ball diagram a while back for another site.

 

Got a set of Blizzaks mounted on the stock rims today, runflats, we're ready for snow now. Anyone else running winter tires yet?

Got them at Tire Rack, saved about 60$ per tire versus buying them locally.

 

How does the Tire Rack thing work? I have not used them to purchase but check out the reviews and comments when looking for new tires. Do they ship to your address or do they have local dealers they work thru? And if so why dont the local dealers sell for the Tire Rack price. And how about mounting and ballancing? Just looking for info for future tire and rim needs.

 

Well, on Tire Rack you set up an account and when you do you end up telling them the year, make and model of your car. It then tells you the stock rims and optional rims that came on it. From there you can choose the rims you have, and it shows the tires you want, like winter or summer. Put in on your credit card, or paypal it. They will send it to your doorstep via USPS, UPS, Fed Ex and one more carrier but UPS is cheapest and fastest, or you can have it sent to a shop in your area that Tire Rack will recommend. That's why we use Meinike, Tire Rack will ship to them, and then Meinike does the balancing and mounting, even the TPMS if you want. This is like my third order from them this year, always the right size, on time, and cheaper than I could find in Fremont, Lincoln, Omaha, or Council Bluffs.

If you buy from them, they'll email you coupons, tire tech tips, new tire news, all sorts of info. They also have you rate the tires which is interesting. You can also rate the shops.

I recommend them.

 

So after Mounting and Balancing and delivery you are still ahead $60 ea? Thats very good, and Meineke is OK with just getting Mount and Balance? I will have to give them a try next time

 

Yes. This is the third set of rims & tires we've had Meineke balance and mount for us. I was quoted anywhere from $225 up to $245 per tire around here. And no one had them in stock, so I would have to pay delivery since everyone had to order them in. And that price was just for the tires, balancing and mounting on top of that, so easily saved the $60 per tire.

Tire Rack also runs some decent prices on rim and tire sets also.

 

Put my Blizzaks on the Friday night we had that freak snow storm. My stock front tires are getting low and it a real pain to get around. So at 9:00pm I took my snow tires off the wall and put them on. I went for a short drive and there was a vast improvement. Wildthing what Blizzaks did you get? I have the LM 60s and they worked great last year when we had all that snow.

 

Scooter, we got the same tires. LM-60. I can't wait for some DSC OFF with snow....

 

So how about that freezing rain? Looks like I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. None of this is going to melt for days. I almost didn't make it back home tonight. I saw one guy slide off the turn hit the curb hard and take out a road sign. Another was stuck facing the wrong way in the opposing lane, seemingly stuck. There were others that were just stopped, afraid to move on. A friend witnessed a 6 car cascade. It was nuts. Top speed, 15 mph.

 

Wow. All that we got up here was rain and wet roads. People were still driving like there was several inches of snow or ice. *sigh*