Cannot be so hard to rewire the car to start in sport mode and if you want lame acceleration lag mode you can hit the sport button. It's just a switch. Anybody put any effort into this? Seems stupid to have to hit the sport mode button everytime I get in the car. My wife feels the same as she hates the throttle hesitation in normal mode.

 

Many of us have wired-in one of several homemade "auto-sport-mode-ON" circuits into our machines ... best reasonable-cost ones (about $12 in materials) at https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...utton-mod.html ; see photo in my gallery of btwyx's circuit, about the size of a stamp --

You might also check at kptechnologies.com; he's building commercial-quality add-on modules for auto-up windows, which might be adapted to the SPORT button --

 

Thank you very much. I'm looking for a turn-key setup that includes everything plus directions. The thread made it look like you have to build your own circuit boards which I've never done and don't know how to do.

 

PM 'BostonR56S', i got mine premade thru him. I think his thread got nuked or something because I can't find or link to it.

 

Thanks, I assume they zapped his thread for not being a supporting vendor. That is BS in my opinion because this should really be about helping each other and the community out.

 

In the referenced thread, post #9 has a link to the circuit board you can order so you don't have to build your own. Post #16 shows the wiring - I found it made sense once I finally had the unit in hand. And post #28 is good at showing how it all goes together along with some of the other misc tools and parts you'll need (and note amazingrando offers to help others in supplying a kit).

The thread makes it seem pretty daunting, especially for someone not used to messing with electronics. But I found it was quite easy once I gave it a try. My only problem is that I don't think I did a good job with the wiretap, so in winter it loses the connection when really cold.

Good luck - it is well worth the mod!

 

I got mine from amazingrando .. on this board.
Took me 5 minutes to install.
Just PM him.

 

sry for hijackin this thread to ask but..i was wondering if i could add the sport button function to my mcs r56 (12/06) as i didnt order it back at the time and wish to have it. Anyone has added it after they got their car ? and what does it need ? in my nearest dealership they dont have a clue about that :P

 

Supposed to be a GREAT kit and ez mod! Wow just 5-minutes! Hard not to purchase that. How much was it?

 

this kit was around $40ish if i remember correctly

 

I like the standard mode because I feel I'm saving gas... and I feel as if someone had strapped a rocket when I select the Sport mode.

 

Just added to my wish list....

 

nothing wrong with that!

 

As this is more of an electrical mod than an actual mechanical mod there is a lot of info on this subject over in the Modifications/Electrical section.

Also check ou these guys. They make one that aactaully remembers what the last seeting was when the car last shut down.

http://www.kptechnologies.com/

it is listed here aas a universal traction control memory module, but is has been proven to work with the MINI Sport Mode Button

http://www.kptechnologies.com/products.php#/4

 

budoboy: I "automated" my sport button quite a while ago by following the information in the following link:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...utton-mod.html

It is really a DIY project, bought the circuit board on the internet by searching for the manufacturer and model # provided. The rest of the work is very basic wiring. Photos and other great info are also included in the thread if you read the entire thread. Good luck, it's a straight forward and great mod for your MINI.

 

 

the other is that paying vendors can spend over $2k a year to sell to the membership. I'm all for supporting the members (I do it all the time) but if I could sell my parts here without paying vendor fees, I wouldn't pay them.

I guess there are two sides to this coin.

Matt

 

Yep, and that pretty much kills those of us running any sort of home spun operation. I can't even come close to affording the advertising costs.

 

the rates here are pretty high, that's for sure...

There are a couple ways you could go. Have a paying vendor sell it for you is probably the best way. I'm sure some are willing to work out a deal where OEM discounts don't screw the pooch too much.

Have you asked IB about what's OK as a hobbiest offering a service? There used to be a NAM store, but I think that went the way of the dodo....

But the guy from KB whatever was soliciting product ideas from the membership, and was directing them to his business web site for support help. That's a bit beyond the hobbiest just doing a favor for the community. I'm sure they were great products, but he was riding on the backs of us paying vendors. That's just not cool.

Matt

 

I got my auto sport buttonmod from KP Technologies [see link in a prior post]. They were dreat to work with and have had no issues at all. I also got a suto-open sunroof mod and a auto fold mirror proto type. PM me if you want some additional information. I am not in any way associated with them. Just a satisfied customer.

 

I was contacted by members of this forum and asked to help provide solutions - I wasn't soliciting ideas I was responding to them. We do sell our products through a vendor on here (Out Motoring) instead of sponsoring ourselves.

 

but what it comes down to is it doesn't matter if someone asked for help here. If that's all it took to be a vendor here no one would pay any fees, we'd just get someone to ask about our products et voila! Default Vendor Status!

I'm sure his stuff is good and he's a stand up guy who supports his customers. But for doing business or supporting customers here, it's pay to play. For it to be otherwise is a big "Eff You!" to all of us that do pay fees to keep IB and supporting the site.

Matt

 

If someone has some niche low-volume item a supporting vendor doesn't offer, I'd want to know about it, and not have it censored. Surely there is some way to adverstise some chintzy items without pissing off paying vendors. I like the idea of pitching a supporting vendor to sell your items, don't know how complicated that would be.

 

Lets be fair here. Pierson (Kevin from KP Technologies) is not the one that started what you are complaining about.

RedLobster started a thread called One touch open sunroof for the R56! https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/electrical/170374-one-touch-open-sunroof-for-the-r56.html
and stated about the possibility of others, like auto window up and remote windows up. It was many other people on the forum that started saying what they wanted. So in all fairness Kevin from KP did not actually solicit (i.e. ask the question) about what people wanted to start with.

Now in that thread in post #10 on 6-10-09 Pierson states:
"Thank you everyone for your support and interest!

As of right now the plan is to:

1. Create installation documentation
2. Contact NAM to set up sponsorship
3. Continue developing the other modules
4. Run a group buy to offer these modules at a great price!"

Then in post #55 on 6-19-2009 Pierson states:
"As soon as we get the green light from the Admin here we'll put together a group buy."

Then in post #92 on 7-09-2009 Pierson states:
"At this point I don't think I'm going to be doing much in terms of a group buy, I would much rather have Out Motoring do it. I have contacted the site owners about running a group buy and I never heard back from them."

Then in post #94 Kevin states:
"Traditionally, our resellers and KPtech have very similar prices, but if OutMotoring does run a group buy there could be decent savings - we haven't worked out those fine details yet."

And BTW Pierson also posted in another thread the following on 6-19-2009:
"I can't run a group buy until I get the approval from the owners of the board. I have contacted them requesting information and hope to hear back to them in the near future."

So from what I see Pierson (Kevin from KP Technologies) has tried to be above board on this matter and it has been possibly the administrators that were dropping the ball.

Now is it possible that Pierson and RedLobster are the same person or one works for the other? Yes is is possible.

Let me start the last part of this post by saying the below are not facts but what I remember. Some of this can not be verified as the thread in question no longer exists. So again this is from my memory which at times has failed me.

The thread that got zapped I believe was either started by BostonR56 or amazingrando.

And if memory serves me correcly it was actually btwyx's circuit that someone else started selling. Whether they had permission or not i am not sure. That may have been the rub that got the thread killed.


+1
There are many items posted by members of this forum that many of us would not other wise know of it it were not for people that posted them.

Kind of like the Ian Cull Auto Windows Up Module that FES is now selling after Ian decided to no longer manufacture them.

 

And that was the NAM store. But that's gone. And I'd guess that most vendors wouldn't have a problem with a hobbiest solution going forward. But I can't speak for all. What really gets paying vendors annoyed is when people with real businesses come forward here without paying fees.

We're always going to come across stuff where a member says "hay look at this gizmo I found/made for my car! It's great! Here's the company that I got it from." That's the nature of sharing on forums (look at Voltage CAIs, Dekka light weight batteries and tons of other examples). Heck, I've even pointed people to lots of stuff I've found usefull.

But that said, it crosses the line when the company that makes the stuff comes here to support people. That's what the vendors pay for.

For some that aren't involved in retail, typically there is an OEM discount to the resellers that justifies the time and effort to advertise, stock and support product. Larger distributors want to see 25%-40% off retail to stock and move things. there still has to be enough profit for a manufacturer to make money on the wholesale channel to make some profit from the stuff, so that means that retail is 3x-4x the cost of making the gizmo.

In the case of Ians circuit, the profit per unit is much, much smaller. So much so that I don't know if it's worth my time or resellers to move it through other channels. I (FES) took that one on more as a favor to the Mini community. The MCAW is gone, and Ian's circuit seems to still have a trickle of demand, so what the heck. But I'm not going to be able to send the kids to college on what it makes in profit.

Anyway, everyone knows where Kevin at KP is, so in a way this debate is good for him!

Internet Brands can at time be a bit unresponsive....

Kevin, if you're still reading this thread, PM me and I'll give you the e-mail of the person I dealt with when becoming a vendor. She was very responsive.

Matt