Looking good. The paint looks to be in really good shape. Has the front end ever been resprayed?

 

Thanks!

Pictures don't show it, but there are a lot of chips on the bonnet. It has never been resprayed as far as I can tell, but it may happen some day.

The passenger door has some scratches that the p.o. tried to fix with some touch-up paint. Almost like a bicycle with no handle grips crashed into it and slid down.

And there is some bubbling in the paint below the gas cap.

Oh well. What're ya gonna do? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I like to call Jasper my "50/50 car". He looks good from 50 feet away going 50 mph. HaHa!

 

The color hides the bumps and bruises well. Mine does that too. Always looks good in photos and then in person close up you can see the imperfections. I like that saying too. I may use it as well.

 

The bubbling in the paint might be covered under the extended rust warranty at the dealer.

 

Well..todays project was supposed to be an ebay catback exhaust install.

Note to self: you get what you pay for. And what I paid for DOES NOT fit an 06 R53.

What a nightmare! But, I had a feeling and ignored my instincts. So..lesson learned.

Should have spent the extra $150 and bought the Ireland engineering catback.

It should be illeagal for the seller to list this exhaust as fitting this car.
But there seems to be dozens of them that do.



Thankfully my mechanic only charged me $30 to take my factory one off and then put it back on.

Now to get hit with a $45 shipping return and another $40 plus for restocking fee.



On a happier note. My stealth bulbs for my parking lights came today! =)

 

Wasn't today, but I installed powerflex control arm bushings and inner/outer ball joints on Saturday. My car drives solid now! I wrote up a mini summary in the "Stock problems/ issues" for 1st gens yesterday.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...er-how-to.html

 

Actually the more I look at some of the other more expensive exhausts. Quite a few of them look like they need hangar modifications to fit..... hmmm. Maybe I need more of a exhaust specialist to fit this, instead of the shade tree mechanic I use for some of the other stuff.

 

Not sure why you wouldn't go to a muffler shop in the first place! It won't cost that much to install, even when modifying it to fit!

The exhaust is my next thing to do! I've had the pieces sitting in my room for almost a year (or a bit more) now! So excited to get to this point!

Just need to order exhaust hangers after my next paycheck!

 

I cant say I have heard about the more expensive/proper systems not fitting. I have the full Milltek exhaust and it fits perfectly with no modification.

Good luck!

 

The why is that I must be a glutton for punishment. I just assumed is would be more of a direct fit... live n learn.

 

Well done! I have the bushing press to remove the steel collars. And then press the PU bushings back in. Just need to get under him and do it.

 

Discovered a nice knock four months after spending $3k to replace the timing chain. F this car.

 

Installed me a set of stealth bulbs - front blinkers. Looks so much better.

 

I love the stealth bulb look, did some myself as well. Love how they give it a clean look, but still blink orange.

 

Pics ?

 

Should be just dark enough to get a picture of 'em by now!

 

yeppers. Nice clean look. I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow. Just got home from work and the sunlight is fading fast.

 

Got the car all washed up too!....of course it started raining on my way home from work

 

if you still have the exhaust it's just a hanger directional change easy enough to make work with a little welding. If your looking for a budget exhaust the Ireland is good however the price seems higher than it used to be. For the extra you could get the system I have which is a bit less barebones.

 

Yea, I'm gonna still go with the exhaust I have. I just need to find a shop that can handle the hanger tweaks and what not that installing it entails. I just wasn't expecting the mod work that is needed. My bad.
The area I live in southeast of you is full of either "knucklead shade tree mechanics" or the high priced "stick it in and break it off" shops.
So I'm a bit leary.... time will tell.

Edit* The mechanic that initially tried installing it, showed me that the way the outside muffler hanger postion currently is, requires some tweaking as well to keep the mufflers from rubbing the lower control arm too. So whomever does it needs to be a bit crafty.

 

Yep, just got back from a little maintenance run in the Mini... clouds were already getting thicker on the way back so shouldn't be long before it starts to snow. Headed up to a ski area that's only about 35 minutes away to see what the snow conditions looked like. We may be losing our snow early this year, not that we ever built up very much at any one time this season. The storm that's on the way isn't going to help things much. We'll get a little snow at first, but then it's going to turn into another significant rain storm by sometime tomorrow through Thursday. We had a snow eater of a warm rainstorm last week.

The Mini did great, although some of the secondary roads are starting to get a little wavy already. Main roads are still doing fine. At least the pavement was clean and dry and the Mini didn't get messed up.

 

Frost heaves are real... Nobody outside of Maine believes me when I tell them how insane the roads get by the spring. Miss downeast.

 

Looked into the garage today and saw the Helipad cover was still in it's place. Closed door walked to winter beater in driveway...sniff, sniff

 

They are real! A smooth road can become a rough ocean. About 5 years ago I was driving east from Jackman on Route 15/6 toward Brassua Dam, and about 2 miles out of town I could see a semi truck heading toward me in the distance ahead, but there was something really wrong with the movements it was making. It was maybe 1/2 mile away from me when I first saw it an I really couldn't get a handle on the weird way it was moving.

By the time I got closer, I hit the first bump. I was in Chevy Express work van full of Weather equipment parts and tools... and everything in that van completely unweighted. I was only going about 40 mph. Had to slow to 20-25 mph, and frequently slower. The heaves were spaced every 30 to 50 feet. They aren't smooth up and down bumps. They're more like sharp ridges across the road and might not be quite lined up so that two wheels go over them at the same time. The motions can be quite severe. That turned out to be one of the slowest bumpy drives I had ever experienced on pavement. The semi motions were amazing as it went slowly by. It was really flexing the thing.

That was in mid April. Had to go back up there in early Summer and that road was back to table smooth again. Happens on a lot of our roads as the frost comes out of the ground. Some places way worse than others and can break up large sections of pavement if it gets severe enough. It can break suspension bits, and does if you drive into a section of it at speed. Crazy cruel on driver and vehicle. But what I encountered today was just baby frost heaves. It'll get worse.

 

Never fear, Spring is near!! Unless you live farther north, then it might be a little farther up ahead.