I finally ditched the runflat tires and had asset of Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3 tires installed. Big, big difference.

 

Pepper has gotten some much needed TLC the last few weeks.

- New rubber (Bridgestone DriveGuards). The original Continentals were more than ready to go...

- New spark plugs (NGK ILZKBR7A8G). Correcting an issue with misfires.

- New ignition coils (BREMI STI). Correcting an issue with misfires.

- Matte black door handle covers.

- Upgraded my reverse lamps (JDM ASTAR 800LM). I needed brighter output due to my tinting the reverse lamp lens.

- LED license plate lights from Out Motoring.

- 2nd Cat & Resonator delete.

- Full interior and exterior detailing.

- Installed a magnetic cell phone mount above the right drivers-side vent and ran power and audio cables behind the dash for my phone.

- ALTA Blow-off Valve Spring.

- NM Engineering Torque Arm Inserts.

I still have a few more projects to tackle this spring, but I'm pretty happy with what's been accomplished so far!

 

Where are you're fender vents from.

They look awesome!

 

Me?

 

Ignore, my bad.

 

Centium,

How do you like the drivegaurds so far? I have a 2012 with Contis on right now and will need to be changing over by about August. I'm trying to decide if I want to just dump run flats and go with a Michelin AS3 or keep the run flats.

Matt

 

Today I installed a Borla S-Type Cat Back exhaust. Came by in an interesting fashion and am very pleased with it. Install was super easy, build quality look awesome, tips are very nice and fill up the rear valance and the sound is deep, throaty and no drone.

 

I'm curious too. Costco has them on sale now and they rate very high on tirerack. Gonna order mine this weekend to get the discount but won't get them for 10-15 business days since they are special order.

 

yesti,

I'm really pleased with my Borla. It is the S-Type, part #140517, and it is not loud or obnoxious. I use mine for daily driving and am not striving for huge performance gains, rather I wanted a nicer tail pipe look, a throatier sound over stock, and a little bit better breathing of the exhaust system.

The installation went extremely well and the system installed without any fiddling or pain in the *** tweaks. It just lined right up. I used a chain tail pipe cutter in place of a saw and it worked like a charm. The clamps that come with the exhaust are recommended to be torqued to 32 - 35 FT LBS. I need to double check mine today after running it through a heat cycle last night.

The biggest pain in the *** was getting the rubber exhaust hangers free from the rear section. I haven't found any tricks on those other than a lot of WD40 and muscle.

Matt

 

A pry bar really helps with those hangers Spray a little lube, pry and POP! Less than 5 seconds each.

 

I never realized how rigid the Continentals really were until I got the DriveGuards on... The ride is much smoother and quieter, and I haven't felt like I've lost any grip. They feel like regular tires rather than like I'm driving on solid core forklift tires.

I got mine at Costco on sale ($70 off a set of 4). They had to order them, but it only took 3 days. They did the swap, balance, and filled the tires with nitrogen. They also informed me about a misalignment on the passenger rear tire that was causing uneven wear. I'll be bringing that up when I bring Pepper back to my dealer to ***** them out for never rotating the tires during service, and still quoting it on my receipt. >:(

 

Replaced my side and front blinker bulbs with chrome covered versions. No more unsightly orange showing through my clear lenses.

 

In the last few weeks my car three times has just gone click when I've gone to start it. I figured that the starter motor went collywobbles and ordered a rebuilt one.

I went to install it and the replacement won't fit, now I have collywobbles. I ordered another one from a different vendor. The first vendor only has one part number listed for all models and transmissions.

Does anyone know why the starter motors are so screwed up in vendor's data bases? I saw that MOD MINI on YouTube ran into this problem. The car is an R53 with a manual trans

 

LoL @ "collywobbles."

 

Start with the MINI oem part number (from realoem.com, although not always 100% accurate)
and make sure the one you get cross-references to that part number.

 

The word of the week is now "collywobbles"...

 

That is great to hear, this is the same swap I'm doing this weekend. Thanks for the review!

 

Attempted this on my own, but really needed the use of a lift....Tech at MINI of Warwick finished this yesterday. The bracket for left panel had no place to attach, some bending and drilling new hole in rear sub-frame fixed that.

I originally had the support sills from the aero kit mated with the GP side body kit, but were not designed to mate with the GP under body panels. The back section of panels left about 6 attaching points with nothing to mate with. The sills gradually tapered outwards leaving no place for screws for GP panels to line up with. So purchased the support sills for the GP side sills and everything matched up perfectly. If doing this mod no matter what body kit you have, the GP side sill supports would be required # 3 in diagram.







The Bilstein Sport struts installed last week ended up being a perfect match for the JCW Springs....A tad firmer than the OEM JCW struts, but not harsh over bumps. No rocking of car at WOT runs, corners flat with very predictable turn in.

Update on this shifter mod. Two thumbs up. Repositioning the **** about an inch to the left with this angled extension was good move I would do again. Took to new location like a fish to water.

 

A little bit of blacking out. I blacked out the front grill surround, headlight rings, taillight rings and gas cap.

 

Replaced valve cover gasket and the four spark plug seals.

 

How challenging was this? How long did it take you? I have that on my list of To Dos...

 

Wasn't too hard. I followed the Pelican article for the gasket and seals although that was a R50. The R53 looks easier by removing the intercooler and the two intercooler support arms. You'll need an 8mm deep socket for some of the valve cover bolts. A 1/4" drive swivel with a 10mm regular socket helped get to the supports arms. The spark plug seals went in easy. Some how to's say a 36mm socket but anything clean and solid that covers the seal will do. A light tap with a hammer with proper support under the cover will seat the seals. The valve cover gasket presses into a groove in the cover, no sealer needed.

BTW, I had a heck of a time getting the hose off the right/drivers side of the valve cover even with the spring clip slid down a ways. The rubber hose was dried out at the valve cover and made it hard to get off.

R50: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

R53:
I spent more time researching how to do it than the time it really took to finish. Could do it again in about 1.0-1.5 hours.

 

Spent the weekend redoing my audio, hardwiring my GPS and adding in some sound deadening. Everything is wired up, going to test it out tomorrow and then put all the panels back in.

 

Good to know .

 

The gasket is not too bad, its those old rusted bolts that can be a pain if the heads are rusted.

Hardware linked:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-screws.html




Valve cover gasket set here: 11121485838


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/11121485838/