Completed a DIY timing chain replacement on our r56 with help from a mechanic friend. Wife posted a walkthrough video on YouTube. Hoping for clear skies and smooth sailing for a while.

 

Finished my drive to Alaska - reached Anchorage today - from Oregon. Fun drive! Came up Alcan. On way back in late Aug / early Sep may take Cassiar back down. Best part of drive: Frasier River Canyon around Hope, BC, and also Matanuska Glacier and valley from Tok to Palmer, AK. Worst part: in terms of scenery and traffic: upper BC around Dawson Creek - awful. In terms of road conditions: probably the last part in Canada, from Whitehorse to border. The frost heaves were so bad, the road looked like it came right out of Apple Maps. 40 mph max in some parts. Best parts: was able to cruise in the triple digits in lower YT. Even so, overall average 36 MPG, not bad considering long stretches in the triples! Today from Tok to Anchorage at 55-65 mph consistently above 40 MPG! (edit: in a '13 R56s)

 

Filled up the driveway

 

K, so it was a couple days ago, but, installed Nudnik's eyes:



I also removed, dipped, and reinstalled my mirror covers, to fix 135k+ miles of road grit. While they were apart, I cleaned 11 years of dust out of the mechanism and wiped the plastic rim with an acetone-soaked cloth to get rid of the oxidation haze. It worked a treat, and the plastic looks new again.

Satin black actually looks better to me than the gloss black ever did, and since I already had it around, cost bupkis....

Pics will be added when I get some.

C ya,
Dutch

 

I installed the left rear back-up light from ECS Tuning, replacing the rear fog light (which I hadn't used in a year of ownership). I used a single 4 inch wire with 2 quick taps to connect the left light bulb (hot) wire to the right bulb hot.


Total cost: $50. Install time:<10 minutes. Symmetry at last!

 

Awesome. Double back up light perfection. Post up a pic.

 

 

Are you going to do the LED mod I mentioned for the rear fog light in the lenses also?

That does look great and really completes the look.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-up-light.html

 

New Magnaflow cat-back and resonator delete. Love the sound. Seat of the pants feel is slightly quicker throttle response, even though the second cat was not removed.

 

Yes, it does look great to have two operating rear fogs and two back-up lights! While I've never used rear fogs, I've bookmarked the build thread and may do it over the winter when my MINI hibernates in my barn. Thanks!

 

RSe05's with BFG comp 2's ... tried to upload pictures but it says a security token is missing?

 

Installed Koni FSD shocks and replaced all the bump stops, spring pads, strut mounts, gaiters and did PowerFlex LCA and trailing arm bushings.

4 wheel alignment and a new set of Yokohama S Drives tomorrow...then the fun begins...again!

Mad Gepetto

 

Took it in to have the entire dash replaced because the plastic vent on top was warped. Pretty overboard, but that's how MINI wanted to do it.

Got a Justa Countryman with an automatic transmission for a loaner and...wow..what a joyless shitbox.

 

Ha ha ha! I love your enthusiasm! :D

 

Got a call from the wife last night that the MINI was dead in the water. He would not turnover. Just clicked, lights flashed, radio did funny things. Driver side window went down partially. Odd behavior by him...

Packed up the kids and headed to downtown parking garage to rescue her. Meantime, she and a friend tried jumping the MINI to no effect. She let it trickle for 10 minutes and tried again. He started right up!

Got it home and swapped out batteries. All is well again. Battery lasted me 4y 9m. So I cant complain and to be honest, I knew it was coming... We were in that window period.

But I will say, I cannot get over the price of batteries now. Went to Autozone and purchase a GOLD top battery for $159.99. Woof! Last battery I bought for the MINI (~2009) was $96 out the door.

Optima time anyone?

 

Test fit my new wheels. I will be refinishing them before I mount/order any tires.

 

THAT... is some low profile rubber!

 

Added some new NGK wires.

 

ttechris - looks like its floating.

 

Added some fake tires

 

Had the WMW Stratmosphere installed on my 06 Poop S today. Sounds and looks very nice. Big thanks to Way for his advice.

 

I left work early and put my recovered headliner back in. It looks OEM and that's all I wanted.

 

I might be alone here, but Optima batteries are over-rated and over-priced.

 

Yep Optima went way down hill about 8 years ago... :(

 

I was hoping this wasn’t the case… How come? Do the maintenance free batteries not last twice as long any more?


I always opted not to go the way of Optima because the cost was 2x the norm. With the local FLAPS pricing, that gap is greatly diminished now...