nice to meet you guys - cya at the next one!

 

^^^What he said! I'm glad I showed up

 

well... I sent a text to steve saying I wasn't coming due to the fact that i woke up yesterday with sore throat and achey...but I guess he never got it... that being said.. I hope you guys had fun, I really wanted to come, but was not up to it... NEXT TIME!

 

^ Yeah RIGHT !

Well those that showed up, Good to meet you all ! Thanks for the cd Steve ! I will listen to it this afternoon. I actually havent listed to a cd in the MINI in a long time ! Using the Ipod aux rocks

 

*sniff*

 

Last night my wife and I decided to make the run up to Linden and meet with the Mini owners who had scheduled a Get-To-Gether at the Starbucks Coffee Shop in Linden. I often wondered just what was the purpose that drives these Mini owners to take the time out of their lives to get together and meet and suck down Java. I believe I may have found a partial answer to this question! I'm a noobie to this Mini Owner get-to-gether scene and my wife and I were openly invited into the group as if we had been members for the past 5 years. I happened to mention in passing that I had a perplexing problem with deterioration of the black plastic trim around the wheel wells as well as the front and back portions of the car. The plastic was turning blotchy white and looked aged which is most likely the result of polymerization of the plastic under the effects of prolonged UV radiation from the sun. Instantly the guys descended upon me with a barrage of suggestions for properly fixing this condition that has plagued Mini owners for quite some time. They suggested some products which my wife and I went out today and purchased that should fix the deterioration issue of the plastic. I had been using car wax which I was told by the guys at the get together would be of little assistance with the issue as it would almost instantly return to the mottled whitish appearance as soon as the car wax dried (which it always did). Well the suggested recommended product was purchased and it brought up a beautiful original luster to the black plastic that I haven't seen since I first purchased my Mini. I would like to pass along a big thank you to Vic, Steve, Manny, Warren and Rob for their inputs and the wonderful time that my wife and I had while visiting with a great group of Mini owners at the Starbucks Get-To-Gether in Linden last night...Mini Owners Rock!

 

Thanks!

Ed, what did you end up using on the black plastic trim? The black wow or the zaino?

 

Ahhhhh Zaino. it's music to my ears.

Ed, glad you are your wife had a good time.

 

awwww, too bad i missed it. Just got back from portugal Hopefully ill make it to the next one!

 

^ How was your trip ?

Im leaving next week. When i get back we'll do another


Bt the way Ed, i found this place that sells the "Black WOW" you may want to look into. Heres the link -> http://www.waymotorworks.com/product...cat=274&page=1

 

hey vic!! the trip was goood =) have a great time on your vacation!

 

Tottaly off topic i just ordered a Catless downpipe from Riss racing its black ceramic coated and i cant wait untill i can install it. i want to meet up i think i met portmcs after waterfest last year at chilis but im not sure. anyway waterfest is comming up july 18th and 19th and usualy theirs a bunch of VW's at the chilis parkinglot in north Brunswick
i think we should roll up with a bunch of coopers and make an dramatic show up haha. Flames out exhaustpipes and all : )

 

Hi Steve...There were all sorts of suggestions being thrown at me at the get-to-gether, but the one that stood out as being the best was "Black WOW". Unfortunately my local automotive supply on #70, Home Depot & Lowes did not carry it. One product that was mentioned by someone there was "Black Again". This product was on the shelf at my local auto supply and it only cost $7.89. I figured I would give it a try and it worked fantastic. The guy at the counter recommended that I clean off as much of the wax before applying the "Black Again". I used Windex with amonia to carefully remove all the wax and then appled the product. It goes on like a thick gel and the instructions are to rub it in good. I did this the very next day after the gathering and it still looks new up till now...We'll see what it looks like in a month or so!

Yes, Rob...it was a very enjoyable evening and lots of interesting banter went back and forth throughout the gathering. I had never heard of "dougnuts" before, but you can be sure I'll be getting the reinforcing plates ASAP. My latest project is trying to get my HK amplifier out of the rear service area and see if I can't troubleshoot the cause of the total audio failure. I see that there are a large number of posts by other owners who have suffered the same failure (a very expensive one I might add!). I'm going to try and set up a test station at work to see if I can "communicate" with the fool thing and isolate the failure. Do you know of anyone who may have come across a schematic of the HK Amp?

Ed

 

Unfortunately I do not know of any schematic's for the HK amp and a quick looks I see it's very expensive.

 

Yes, v-e-r-y expensive...and for that reason alone it's worth the agravation and time to get the darn thinig out (which I just accomplished about 15 minutes ago)...What a bear of a job. Mini might call that a "service access door", but I can tell you that they never intended for someone to remove the amp through that small access port. It wouldn't have been a very hard project if I was willing to loosen up the side panel, but I had my mind set on NOT doing that. I finally keep wiggling and changing position on the Amp and it's bracket and when I hit that "sweet" position it came right out. I'm sure I'll have the same issue when and if I have to put it back in...I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now the amp comes with me to work tomorrow where I have far more analytical tools that I can use to check it out. I gave it a quick inspection using a 7X jeweler's eye loupe and I see some crud built up on several of the pins on the printed board side of the input/output connector. It looks like the residue from water...not a good sign...however it is also possible that it's residue from their flux cleaning operation, it's just strange that it's in that one area only...I'll know tomorrow when I put it under the microscope...stay tuned for chapter two!

Ed

 

Well, for those following the HK saga...it's definitely NOT flux residue. There is corrosion on several of the metal pins going through the PC board. One of the questions rolling around in my head now is how did moisture accumulate inside the amp...condensation or a water leak inside the service area???

Working on resistance measurements right now as time permits to see if there are any shorts brought about by this observed corrosion condition.

Ed

 

Wow! Your a real ham! I'm sure you know about the HAM fest at the Sussex Co Fairgrounds this weekend. If you need parts for your project thats the place to go. I was there two years ago where I sold some unwanted stereo and disco light gear.

 

Ed !

Right now theres a guy selling a HK amp and speaker set-up in the Marketplace here at a fraction of the cost of new. May be worth a shot

 

Hi Vic,
Yes, thank you for that info. The only problem I have with buying another HK amp right now is that I don't know the root cause of the problem yet. And after searching through the forums and reading all the other sad stories posted by irate Mini owners, I'm concerned that putting in another HK amp could be just putting off the inevitable "next failure". I want to take this troubleshooting effort as far as I can to see if I can clearly identify the cause, and more importantly....can I fix it. If this effort fails in reaching my goal, I have several options available to me, and as you point out, one of them is to purchase a used HK amp.

In the meantime, I'm scheduled to take my Mini over to see Dave at Autobahn in about 2 hours from now to get "Itsy" flashed with a GIAC tune...This is a little exciting and sorta takes the edge off of the HK problems for the time being.

Ed

 

when is the next meet/ get together

 

Vic,

Are you back?

 

Hey, im back !

Hows about a coffee meet sometime next week ?

 

My wife and i like the idea. Post if you decide to do it!

Ed Finn

 

Heeyyy welcome back!! I'm free next week anyday after 5 besides Thursday.

 

I could make it any day but Wednesday (I've got a live Fantasy Football Draft).