Got my one ball exhaust done today. WOW what a difference! Between that, the pulley mod, the CAI and the braces, it's a TOTALLY different beast!

The stock car was fun to drive, but I feel like I opened up Pandora's Box here. The car sounds terrific, and even with all the other mods already done, when the exhaust was complete, I definitely felt a significant boost in power which only seemed to make the pulley mod all more worth it (literally came alive!).

I can't tell you all how much I love my car. I spent the better half of the last hour giving her wheels a much needed cleaning and her tires some attention as well. She's beautiful, and runs like a dream.

Honestly, I don't care if one day I'll have to repaint the front end because of future chips, or deal with engine issues as she gets older, I don't think I'll ever want to give her up as long as she doesn't quit out on me, I'll be there for her. :D


Now that the performance mods are complete, I'll be focusing on completing her cosmetic mods in the up and coming weeks. I already showed you guys the tow hook, new front grills, and front plate delete, but I should be getting my black out trim kit from Aesthetic Creations here next week. I can't wait! She'll look as good as she drives, finally :D

 

Lyle from Vinyl Styles tinted my tail lights ruby red and added sport stripes to my barn doors! Yayyyyy!!!!

 

I wish he was in Ohio...

...wait no I don't, I'd be broke!

 

Even without the pulley that makes a noticeable difference--it's like the car finally coughed up a lung oyster or something....

I can't wait to get mine pulleyed.... I did the one-ball, and my version of the "honeycomb" intake mod, and both really made a nice difference.

As for what I did with *mine* today, I drove it like I stole it out past Tortilla Flats and to the end of the pavement on the Apache Trail, on a club "fun run". Absolutely *AWESOME* (in the full, pre-Californiated meaning) twisties, with tons of opportunities to do a Wile E. Coyote.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz65AOjabtM

C ya,
Dutch

 

I wish I had a nice place to really *drive* my MINI. We have the Mid Ohio track, but that's about it, and I'm not too sure they really allow public racing on that thing. It's a freakin' blast to drive, and I laughed at your description about the lung oyster lol, it's so true. I feel like my MINI woke up or something.

It's neat to hear the one ball made a difference even without the pulley mod. Nice to know I didn't just imagine the difference in performance. You'll love the pulley though. Not only will you have the great sound and air flow of the exhaust, but you'll actually have a tremendous amount of pick up and that sweet sweet supercharger whine.

 

Installed the DoS intake. They werent kidding when they said this thing was loud! hmm... probably should have bought the baffle.

 

Well, you're not *too* far from the Tail of the Dragon. If things go well with my scrimp and save plans, I am going to take my vacation next year at the end of April, so I can drive back east for MOTD.

Yeah, MINIs are incredibly fun to drive.... One thing I've noticed since the one-ball is that the muffler sounds a smidgen "kazoo-ish" until it warms up, as if the internal baffles are just a hair loose until they heat up a bit and expand to a tight fit.

The pulley is on my list, but may not happen for a while. The Detroit Tuned bypass valve I put on a while back went a long way to perking the car up, since the original had a broken spring. The Vacuum Gain System was my first mod, while I saved up for the new valve. It helped a lot, but the torque was still down a bit. Not so with the DT valve. It pulls much stronger at low-mid RPMs now.

When I purchased mine, I insisted they include a 3/36 warrantee, so I might wait until 72k for anything more engine-related, simply to avoid any issues of the warrantee company trying to blame anything that goes wrong on modifications.... I can see a larger rear swaybar in the near-ish future. On today's "fun run", there were a couple of the hairpins where I'd've liked it to've kick the rear end out a little instead of plowing. Got a couple good drifts going, though....

C ya,
Dutch

 

Gave Lilith a quick bath this morning and motored down to Pensacola for a MINI meet. Took a trip to the Naval Station Pensacola museum and had lunch there. Good times!!!

 

I'm not to sure if that's what my MINI is doing or not. When I went out there in the shop to check their work, the car was on. It sounded actually really good, and the exhaust (without being revved as it was still on the lift) was making a nice "blub blub blub" sound with the exhaust ends jumping up an down. Didn't seem odd sounding or wimpy at all.

 

what did I do to my Mini today....drove it. went out for ice cream with my wife. I feel will be getting a lot of calories from the Coop.
Seriously, installed my first my mod today...2" blind spot mirrors from Pep Boys. Mini is 1 week 1 day old...An exhaust could be in the immediate picture.

 

They had a Laurel Edition down at MINI of Pensacola today. That's a sharp little car I might say.

 

Love the Pensacola Navel Air Museum almost like it better than Air and Space in DC, plus you get to watch The Blue Angels practice....

 

I got to meet up with Wolfee for the Vinyl Styles install in CT. Got my PW headlight rings and then...

After Wolfee left...

The Kid got a roof spoiler! Care of Efrain! And it came off of a JCW so now my MC's faster!

Here's the PW headlight rings...



Thanks Wolfee and Efrain for putting this all together!

 

Lookin good.

 

Agreed!!! It is a very nice museum. It ALMOST rivals the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB (I'm Air Force, so I'm biased). You know what was cool? The looks on the gate guard's faces when a convoy of 15 or so MINIs came through.

 

I gave Sheamus a bath today, packed him up and got him ready to go for tomorrow's trip to Mini Meet West.

 

Violet got her stripes today

 

Boy, that garage looks familiar. Looks great, sek!

 

The purple is amazing!!!!! Glad you got it done!!!

 

hmmm.

drove the coast road from Hampton Beach to Portsmouth this morning, about 5:30 am before the joggers and cyclists come out.

a light easterly had the road in fog, but not blindingly so - the high tide put the fresh smell of the Atlantic on everything

I drive that road without touching the brakes, which takes just a little planning for the few hairpins but keeps me paying attention without driving too fast - a nice balance.

A good way to start a Monday - back before the family wakes up...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

cmt52663 : I live in Norfolk and would love for you to show me what road youre talking about!

 

Sounds like he's talking about Route 1 on the coast of New Hampshire. I haven't driven up there in years but I remember it being pretty nice...

 

Ha I see... totally different state.

 

Very nice stripes Sekh! Violet's looking good!

 

I "installed" some great stickers from Aesthetic Creations. BTW Despite my pictures, all the colors match and look great!