Smart woman...

 

I'm confused...Robino is a woman?

 

no Robino is a handsome strapped young (38) man...

he bought the Mini for his lovely wife to enjoy and is modifying the car for her cause she's a speed junky

capisci?

 

Thats the exact same excuse I had!!!!

I finally just had to buy her a Volvo XC90 (her other obtainable dream car) just so I could drive the MINI.

I used to say the MINI was.... "you know its my wifes car, but its fun to drive". To now.... Hell yah! That mean looking, lowered, twisty weapon on black Team dynamics wheels is MY car!

Its amazing what some mods can do for a man's, and men's friends acceptance for a MINI.

I love this &%$#ing thing!

Oh yah about the IC's... I think it depends alot on the weather and where you live. Here in Cali, where we do not have super high temps and humidty... I feel the stock IC is sufficient. I put an ALTA diverter, a sprayer, a nice scoop and some silicone boots on my car, and I am good to go! I look trick and run cool. I do know that my driver side intercooler horn is cool to the touch after extended periods of HARD driving, good enough for me.

I'll spend my $1k on mods for other aspects of the car. For $1k I could get the FSD's, camber plates, rear sway bar and lower control arms I am currently lusting after!

I guess if I had every other mod I could find and still lived in Florida, I would consider it...

My .0004 1/2 cents....

 

robino - Nice job on the hood scoop mod. Almost looks like it can take in as much as the m7 "ram" but maybe that's an optical illusion? In any case, very neatly done.

 

 

Is it just me, or is the "ALTA" logo cast upside down?

 

it did open it up quite a bit, i should have taken a pic of the amount of material that came off, i'd guesstimate about 2 inches came off the bottom of the scoop...used a cutoff wheel and finished off with a hand file, it's not perfect but it'll do until i find a used RAM scoop to use.

That's funny, my neighbors are asking me the same thing "i thought this was your wife's new car, why is she still driving the turbo Beetle?"

I'm like..."i'm just fixing it up for her, when it's done she'll take over on it"

and they're like..."yeah, whatever.."

So far i've done the 15% alta pulley, the alta CAI, the alta IC, alta exhaust, OBX header with stock cat, Ireland fixed camber plates, Ireland rear control arms (all four), HR 25mm tubular rear sway bar, got the KW v1's coilovers on the way, got the Stoptech BBK and two sets of wheels for it (a set of 18" forged SSR's and a set of 17" Team Dynamics set)...

once it's all done and 4 wheel aligned, she'll get to enjoy it...i get off on modifying it for her really...

My next dillema is, do i purchase a used 04 S600 and get RennTech to massage it, or just dish out the $65K for a slightly used 06 Z06...i'm still confused which way i wanna swing with that.

 

edited

see below

 

Robino,

Do you have kids???

If so I think you know which way to go.... A MINI and a Z06???

If small kids, get the 04 CL600 twin turbo, then have rentech massage that!
Way more stylish than the S600 or the Z06. My dad has one with some mild mods.... It is a locomotive with F-15 THRUST. I also truely feel that the CL MBZ that was just discontinued is one of the most beautiful cars on the road, especially with all the windows down in hard top mode. The CL still kinda has a back seat which is more useable than you might think.

My dad is ready to sell his... I would send you a pic but I am on my wifes notebook computer without pics. He is ready to move on to the other most beautiful hard top coupe..... Bentley GT.

I am pushing for him to get the 599 Fiorno. Its like "come on Pops whats another 100k?" He thinks I am sick in the head.... which I am over Ferrari's ... but apparently you cant just pick one of those babies up. I think it does not matter how much money you would have... they are already gone for now!

Good luck, If you need anymore advice on dream cars just let me know, I am full of it. Especially ones that I cant afford!

Jasun

 

Robino, any comments on your new intercooler?

 

Hello
Very nice IC

Robino, do you have any photo of the stock IC compare with Top Mount Intercooler Classic?

Best Regards

 

intercooler feels best when getting on the car constantly...the power seems to just come continuously without any heatsoak.
not a huge difference, but them again, i've installed a ton of things, header/exhaust/pulley/intake/etc...so i can't tell what gave it the power anymore.

joy to drive, that's all i know.

comments would be that it looks good, feels good

bad comment is, no matter that i ground/cut down the tabs ALL THE WAY, the left corner of the intercooler STILL put a slight little bump into my hood, and looking at it, it aligns perfectly, sits low as low gets. Granted, the dimple isn't truly noticeable, but to me it is.

THey should grind those IC corners down a little in the future to prevent that from happening to others.

 

An engine damper will solve this problem with some of these big ICs. The movement, under acceleration, is more than you think. This may not be the solution but for most the damper does the job ( slightly moded LOTF on this car = good result ).

 

[quote=robino;1392169]bad comment is, no matter that i ground/cut down the tabs ALL THE WAY, the left corner of the intercooler STILL put a slight little bump into my hood, and looking at it, it aligns perfectly, sits low as low gets. Granted, the dimple isn't truly noticeable, but to me it is.
quote]

That is a real shame and I can appreciate that you will always see it.
Did you

a) remove the stock hood IC stuff?
b) remove the hood liner?

Does Alta have anything to say ?

 

i'll take a close up pic to show where it touches tomorrow.
the little 'lip bracket' that's welded at the very top of the intercooler which the rubber trim/molding clips onto is what's touching.
That and the fact that i got the wrong type molding with my IC

(i should have gotten the molding that points up towards the hood-the 90% mount type instead of the straight mount type which obviously points forward instead of upwards)

notice how my IC trim points foward



and how the Alta's site pic points upwards

 

not to poo poo Alta but they should watch quality control before sending stuff out.

I fear if you got the right trim it might affect the hood more?

 

correct.
the right trim would have saved the hood dimple...however, i'm not complaining, as i was lucky to get one of their blemished models (which really wasn't blemished as you can see from the pics) at a good discount.

I'll have to get the right trim from them though, you're right.

 

FWIW I have I think number 3 or 4 DFIC it continues to work well. I am able to monitor my IAT and there is usually no more than about 15 degrees. I don' worry about pressure as the 62 provides over 20 PSI

 

I've got #2 (Don's got #1)

My AIT relative to ambient when sun's out is within 15F...below 10F at night...below ambient with WI...

 

Sounds like the DFIC is the way to go if the Alta has some fitment issues.

 

There is a car at the shop I go to with the same problem. They cut down the driver side divertor tab, ground the mounts for the IC and still got a hell of a dent . This guy was upset to say the least and is selling it and getting the M7 DFIC. I will try to get some photos of the damage. You can see the contact patch under the hood where it has scraped the paint away and a sizable lump in the hood.

 

I dropped by the shop and the car I saw originally was not there . This car had similar issues but not as bad as the one I saw last week. Here are some snap shots .

 

look for the newest version of the DFIC coming soon with improved cooling and flow properties..... front and rear hood vents and a bunch of other cool Sh%T......

THe original DFIC made my car feel better than the stock, Alta TMIC, ...... more recently had the GRS on and its bets was a 27 deg dif..... with the average between 35-40 on the way back from LDG at 70mph at 90 deg amb.....

most of the ICs suck IMO and this is an area where real improvement is needed.... W2A is cool..... literally

 

Interesting. At steady 70mph highway conditions, the same GRS did far better for me, even after adding the DTBPV. Maybe there is a difference in the scoops or sealing. The DFIC seems to be a couple of degrees better under the same conditions, but nothing really dramatic. Observations made from nearly a year of watching a Scangauge II and the OBC. High teens to low 20s were normal.

Scott
90SM