Had a brand new headliner installed (Factory original was sagging in places) and also had my driver's seat re-upholstered. Car went in at 8AM and came out looking brand new again at 5PM. $270 later, I am a happy camper!

Oh and on Monday I had a new radiator fan relay installed from Chad at Detroit tuned. My low speed had failed (Second fan assembly installed 3 years ago).

2005 R53 S hardtop with 92K on the clock.

 

WOW! Another take on the Cooper Yachtsman. Cool pic. Can't quite figure out the dude on the grass though.

 

Looks like a hostage. Hoping he had some sun screen...

And that this bee keeper lured away all the bees in that clover.

 

Now that's commitment to a theme Mini! Love the license plate too. Looks like you got some really great pics. Nice job!

 

Ordered hot side pipe w/ noise muffler delete. Also ordered new stepped intercooler, when this one arrives I will be negotiating with the supplier to look at US distribution, with a street price of prob about $550 and group-buy price of about $495. Who would be interested in saving some significant cash over the other US models currently available?

 

OK, I'm gonna do it!
Here's the thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...or-lenses.html

Some folks didn't even need to remove the headlight.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll do it tomorrow...

 

Where did you have your headliner and seat done? Dealer?

 

No, it was a locally owned auto upholstery shop here in Miami. The man (an older Cuban gentleman) did an amazing job. Looks better than factory!

The headliner fabric matches perfectly the color/texture of the original. Impeccably installed. You could never tell this was done anywhere else but at the factory. He also replaced the foam and cover on my driver's seat (My seat began to rip apart at the seams of the seat back, bad quality seats as this is the only MINI that I have had issues with the seat covers). Perfect match to the factory panther black leatherette as well.

Car looks and feels brand new again. He charged me $100 for the new headliner and $160 for the foam and seat cover. Given the high quality of work and materials this was a steal.

The thing that annoyed me most was the sagging headliner. It started at the rear and soon the fabric started to come down from the sides of the rear quarter windows. Really ugly sight, worse than the driver's seat that was falling apart.

My recommendation is to find a reputable locally owned auto upholstery shop. Get recommendations and heed specially those that own well kept vintage cars.

 

Last night we ordered a steering rack for the 05. Hopefully that gets here soon because that CHF 11S is not fun to buy!

But for the 03, we replaced my halogens with the facelift Xenons. It makes a world of difference. I didn't have to do anything either, just plug and play.

Before:



After:


And another:

 

Soopersara, Is that the QwikLip on the front?

 

Can you give me a link to those?

Thanks

 

Yep, it's the Home Depot front lip. $15 for everything! I forgot we put that on too. That was maybe 3 days ago. It's really durable too, just survived driving through a flood up to my grill we just had about an hour ago.


Link to what? They're just the 05-06 Xenon headlights plugged into my 03 halogen Cooper S. From what I lurked, I thought there were a few NAM threads that came to the conclusion that in order for these to work with a halogen (they don't even turn on) you had to get a computer flash (which sometimes doesn't even do the trick) or you have to gut out 02-04 Xenons and put the 05-06 Xenon housing inside of it. I dunno, worked fine just plugging it in for me. Crossing my fingers I don't blow up or anything.

 

I just finished putting some side stripes on Kirby. He's a little camera shy this evening (i.e. no photoshoot yet) but he looks dashing with new white rocker stripes to go with the white roof and bonnet/boot stripes. They're a Union Jack design from House of Grafx (the pattern here, although I put the flag part at the front). Good price, good quality, and crazy fast shipping.

I hope I'll be able to keep the car under control with the additional 0.001HP.

 

Those are great looking side stripes!
I would love to remove Little Wing's Black Jack A panels and add these side stripes.
Please post a pic when Kirby is up for it.

 

After 11 months after delivery, finally found stickers to put on Little Giant. Got it from my recent vacation.

 

Installed my new alta prototype intake hard pipes. See pics!

 

Looks bad a$$!!

 

Installed chrome mirror caps on the Germarican, as well as a classic German sticker.....

 

I got a pic of the new side stripes today. Then when I got home the new pinstriping tape had arrived so Kirby's going to get a little zip of orange accent this weekend. I slapped the pinstripes on the bonnet, but I'll wait til the happy hour margaritas wear off before tackling the boot and side stripes.

 

Very nice!
Kirby is looking good!

Little Wing got new black bonnet stripes today while at the dealer but I haven't seen them yet.
It was discovered that LW's main water pump leaks when the new aux recall water pump was replaced.
LW is getting a new main water pump.
Thankfully this is covered under warranty, but LW is hospitalized for the night.

 

Thanks! That's a drag to be without your car for the night but nice when they find stuff like that before the warranty expires, right? Hopefully you'll get Little Wing back in time to enjoy most of the weekend together.

 

Just got my roof rack mounting cap thinga-ma-jigs

 

Little Wing is back from the dealer, recalled water pump replaced, main water pump replaced (under warranty - whew!) and new black bonnet stripes.

 

What the heck are those?
Your roof racks attach to them?
Is this something new?
My racks attach right to the roof.
The noise was giving migraines to all passengers and I took the racks off after 6 weeks, never to put them back.
We thought we would use them for kayaks or bikes, the occasional dog kennel (just kidding)...

 

I installed my CARBONMINI CARBONPRO steering wheel overlay kit.