I just stuffed my exhaust back up under the car to re mark where to drill the holes for the new o2 sensors, and decided to start it up to see how she was gona sound without the cat. Damn its loud now! On startup it was shaking my workbench in the shop, but after it warmed up a little it quieted down to just above what was normal. I tweaked the idle speed in the ECU a little (Set to 600 RPM) and it almost sounds like a Mustang with Flowmaster 40's. I like it!

Now to take everything back off tape up the head on the secondary o2 and drill some holes. When thats done its pretty much all wiring and geting the data logger set up, to take down to TOBZ, make some pulls and write a tune.

 

I miss the 5280 guys. I think 5280 is one of the best clubs in the country. Back when I was living in CO I redesigned the logo for them.

 

Does that shift **** come with the Craven shifter? if not where did you get it?


It is just the look I am after.

 

Unfortuneately no the **** dosent come with the Craven shifter, and the shift rod dosent come polished either. You can pick the **** up from theese guys (just to warn you they are a little slow) http://www.hotrodshiftknob.com/ but perfect quality.

If you want the polished lever, it's super easy. Just sand the black paint off with 1000 grit sand paper, and I used a Dremmel tool to get the nice chrome finish. Dont forget the Craven shift well cover is an extra cost pice.

I just got the bungs welded into place, and am starting on the wiring. From the look of things I might be done with this stuff tonight, and be able to do a road test. (I'm just glad my welding skills didn't get too horibly bad over this last year away.)

 

Well it looks like I'm done for the day, my propane bottle for the heater in the garage ran out and its geting too cold to work out there now.

 

Dude, first and foremost. WELCOME HOME & THANK YOU!

 

Last night I dropped by TOBZ with my laptop to show him the software since it was up and running, and it was the first real time that neither of us was busy. As soon as I showed him the program, the first thing out of his mouth was "NO S#!T this looks almost identical to the program I use to tune EVO's with!" After talking with JAYTEC at MYNES it turns out that he developed the Mitsubishi software that TOBZ uses aswell as the FullAccess software for the MINI!

Thats going to make geting the tune dialed in much easyer, since he has been using virtually the same software since 2006. Ijust need to get the widebands hooked up, slap the 550cc injectors in, and have my stock tune scaled for the 550's, then we can start cranking out the dyno runs and write the maps. With the parts on the car and a tune for E-85 I am hoping for just under 230HP to the ground (corrected to sea level) It will be close but I just might make it, in our oppinion's.

 

My belt tensioner really started sliping on me a couple days ago, so I needed a replacement. I also had a bad sparkplug show up on some data loggs (Worst was a steady misfire from 3000 - 6000 RPM in cylender #4.) So I spent a few hours under the hood last night, geting everything replaced and fixed. Took a new datalog and everything was perfect, quite a bit lean but perfect. Now its time for TOBZ to do his thing and get it burning corn whenever he can.

After that its time to get the jackstands back out, and do the suspension.

 

New K&N Typhoon air filter kit came in this week. I bought it from Crutchfield and it's my first owner-installed upgrade on my 2002 MCS. It was a little tight getting it in there but it looks great, sounds great. Can't wait for warmer weather to wring 'er out.

 

Where in CO are you at?

Are you coming to the Feb MINI 5280 meeting?

In other news on my build up, I was supposed to get the car tuned by TOBZ some time this week but, it is going to be -2 degrees and snowy for most of the week. I did a "play" tune by myself over the weekend (60 degrees and dry) and WOW what a differance!

The Byte Tronik software is really easy to use, just remember small adjustments, and the gains just off of the basics are amasing. With the data logger software you can see exactly what and where to modify the fuel/timing/ and ignition tables. With the wideband sensor it is easy to see how the car is running as you are taking loggs (NO NOT THAT KINDA LOG!).

The results of my first ever self tune:

Pull #1 STOCK TUNE= 3rd gear pull from 34 mph to 87 mph took a total of 11.7 seconds.

After a few tweaks and pulls, from the same speeds, the same run only took 8.85 seconds.

2 seconds off a 3rd gear pull, isnt bad in my book for not realy ever doing it before. I cant wait to see what TOBZ can get out of it, running on E85.

 

I'm over on the western slope southeast of Grand Junction. I joined the 5280 Club a couple of months ago right after I bought my MCS. I'm already planning to join whoever is headed to Las Vegas in May. Since I'm 200+ miles away from Denver, it's not likely that I'd drop by for a meeting unless I'm in town (which sometimes is a possibility). Look forward to meeting more of the 5280 crowd!

 

I cant make the AMVIV event (Too much else to do, and I would probably come back broke and married) so it looks like MITM will be the first time we meet.

Great job with your intake, if you want to follow my build up this is the place. There's much more to come: the tuning is geting done in a few days up to a week, after that the entire suspension is geting changed out and set up. Then it will be small miscellaneous projects (like hiding all the wiring in the back of the car, making an air diverter for the DFIC, etc...) up until spring when I can start on the body and paint.

If you have any questions on anything in the thread, just ask and I will point ya in the right direction, or explain how I built/did whatever.

 

Since it's freezing @$$ cold outside, I guess there is no time like now to show you the pics of how my tuning center in the glove box looks. Sorry the red is a little hard to read.



And heres the display on the dash. Only have the fuel pressure gauge left to hook up.

 

Wholly CRAP!!! I figgured out how to put multiple pics in the same post with this god awful Windows 7!

 

While I'm at it here's the seats that are going in after the car gets painted.






I'm going to see if someone will make some MINI "Wings" emblems to stick on the cam-locks for the harnesses.


And I picked theese up in Iraq, I'm going to have them sewn on the harness pulls, just for a little british flair.

 

What? you can retune the computer in a car, wire up gages that BMW can't seem to get right and you yet you find fustration with Window 7 I was hoping that Windows 7 was better than Vista Anyway, pretty impressive otherwise

 

I've had nothing but problems with anything but XP.

Even the Mynes Byte Tronik S/W had a glitch with Windows 7, and I ended up loosing my "stock tune" files. Its OK though, pretty much nothing I own is stock for long.

 

Well I have been stuck at work every night until 2:00AM since Tuesday! Needless to say I havent even seen my MINI for about a week! (Aint a BIG cold snap and all the broken pipes that comes with it a B!#@# when your in the emergency restoration business!!!)

Anyhow, another cold snap is on it's way tomorrow, it's supposed to drop another 10 inches of that powdery white death and be a lot more work for me. It looks like I wont be getting the car to TOBZ for a while longer, but when it gets done it will be done right.

 

Too bad you can't make it to Vegas but I understand the sentiment - I also know how freaking cold it's been in Colorado. If we can make it over the passes, we'll join everyone for coffee at the Icicle Rally. I'm looking forward to meeting other MINIACS and get some ideas on what I want to do with my car next. So far, with the exception of the air intake, it's been cosmetic. Cheers.

 

Welcome back. Thanks for your service.

Dude, you've like gone nuts with the mods! I love it.

 

I only spent as much as the Lotus Exige I was going to get would have cost me.

Trust me there is way more to come.

 

I'm at TOBZ now, getting tuned. Hoping for 230 on E85 wish me luck!

 

The idle is finaly starting to stablize with the 550's, from here on out it shuld go pretty easy.

 

Awaiting the dyno results......