Perhaps consider a set of budget-friendly Dorman extended lug nuts for those studs. Prices on Amazon vary, with "used" sets (new with damaged packaging) available for as low as $16 for pack of 20 nuts. Painted steel which can/will chip with repeated removal, so I have plenty of spares. I paid a bit more for my first set, then $16 for a backup set. IMO, sturdy enough while not being ridiculously pricey as are the titanium variety.

 

I don't have much reason to run extended lug nuts since my key clears the studs and fits down in my wheels fine. Plus, my Mutekis have been fine for five years or so with no signs of damage.

 

I haven’t really driven my R50 much lately since I’ve been busy with family business and haven’t been riding, but my dad and I went to The Mitty today, which gave me the extra push that I needed to swap the summer wheels and tires back onto the car, wash it, and fix my rear fog yesterday.

Poorly composed photo from the Road Atlanta infield for proof :



I didn’t take a real camera this year and didn’t take that many photos - I’ve seen a lot of these cars before - but I did happen to snap a shot of a Chuck Beck 904 driven by Randy Beck. There were plenty of arguably more interesting and/or rarer cars there, but I’ve always liked the 904/6.


Mediocre iPhone cameras do a pretty good job of hiding flaws (and mediocre detailing jobs).


And finally, proof that I did actually fix my rear fog light. I end up spending a lot of time without it (a fact that I’m not wild about) since my bike rack occupies the same spot. My hitch receiver was supposed to clear a rear fog, but it doesn’t. A few years back I cut the connector/bulb socket in half and pigtailed it, but it broke at the bulb end last year. We’ll see how long this repair lasts - hopefully I’ll have better luck this time. It looked like it had fatigued the pins I soldered to from constant bending - not surprising given they were never designed for this purpose and had little mechanical support. I would post it, but it’s quite ugly.


Now I need to drop the exhaust and replace the center section hangers to see if it fixes a rubbing issue I’m having. I stupidly didn’t change them when I changed the exhaust. I might have already done it, but getting the van running has been priority. I finally fixed the reverse lights, and we built new battery cables for it. But, I haven’t finished replacing the bulkhead connector or re-looming the engine bay wiring.




Oh, and an unexpected bonus from the trip was scoring a Leonard Wood autograph. I didn’t realize he was going to be there.

 

Huh. I just now noticed you're "wingless"



I don't think I've ever took notice of too many wingless Minis before.
I really like the clean and simple look.

 

Thanks! Yep, I didn’t check the option box for the little R50 wing. Or was it a package? I can’t remember if it was available separately.

I suspect my car is a bit of an oddity since it was a custom order, and I’m apparently a bit weird. I’ve added a few OE bits along the way that I decided I wanted - alarm system, armrest, auto-dimming mirror, front and rear fogs - but it was very lightly optioned originally. Slicktop, manual climate control, manual cloth sport seats (I did bump the seats up to the higher-bolstered sport seats), no traction control, lightweight 15 in wheels, etc.

 

That rear wing was part of same Sport pkg (ZSP) as was DSC discussed in the audihere topic on the steering angle sensor. Since nearly all MINI (as well as other brand cars) are dealer ordered vs special ordered as did deepgrey, seems more likely than not that those are equipped with the Sport pkg as being popular features plus higher profit for the selling dealer.

 

One of these days maybe I’ll find the box with my original brochures and options lists in it.

A decent amount of stuff could be ordered à la carte, IIRC. I also have the multifunction steering wheel because I wanted cruise. Oh, and I’m petty sure I remember the OBC being a $200 or $250 dollar option separate from the premium package, which I thought was stupid. I later coded that for free.

 

^^^ I stumbled on this still active weblink last year and subsequently scored the corresponding full press kit with CD on eBay for not much $$. In this, you'll find a wealth of info which can be downloaded individually for future reference.

PRESS KIT: 2006 MINI COOPER, COOPER S AND CONVERTIBLE

 

Yeah, I’ve seen those documents before, but I had forgotten about them. Looks like my memory wasn’t too far off on options pricing.

Somewhere I have the full-color printed brochures though, which I would love to find again. I wish I had thought to archive the original Mini website. I think the last time I tried checking it, archive.org hadn’t captured everything properly (or it could be that it has been since flash got killed off). The whole website was built in flash originally.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to just brush that off. I've been meaning to look for my hard copies for years, so it bothers me from time to time. I know I have them in a box. The question is just which box.

 

I finally got around to doing a little more work on the R50. I softened up the rear dampers a bit and replaced my exhaust center section hangers.





Hopefully now my cat won’t hit my underbody brace. It doesn’t solve occasionally clipping something with it though. Oops.




I have a few more goodies to install sometime. If I had been smart I wouldn’t have filled my tank last week so that I could change the fuel filter this weekend.

 

Go for a drive and burn up some of that fuel!
I was up in that neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago and had a blast putting the Mini's suspension to the test careening down the mountain switch backs.
Never been much one for curvy roads but boy - what fun!

 

There are some great roads up here for sure. I usually run them at night if I’m looking for some fun though. There’s too much traffic otherwise - way more than there used to be.

I need to do a track day sometime when I have the spare money and time. I really can’t push the car like I want to on public roads.

 

*traffic* - While I don't get up to area often - The one thing i had to be acutely aware of; besides animals jumping out in the road, we're on coming drivers rounding blind curves on the wrong side of the road. After a few near death defying occurrences with trucks hauling boat trailers; I wasn't about to press my luck any further and called it quits for the day and headed back to the city. Ironically = even more dangerous!

 

Hey!
I am still vertical, I have been working on a few other projects lately. We bought a new motorhome and have been doing some upgrades to it. I just got done installing a new transmission in my 07 Escalade. Trying to figure out how to program the TCM module. Both my Mini's are running great with no issues. Atlanta traffic is the worst, even the bypasses are insane.

 

Heh. Most of the true locals seem to be pretty decent drivers in the mountains, but we get a lot of people summering, vacationing, or weekending up here. For whatever reason, you show most of them a curve (and heaven forbid that it should be off-camber or decreasing radius), and they're just completely flummoxed by it. Half the time it seems they're 15 under the limit. The worst ones (thankfully rare) see me coming and want to keep me behind instead of letting me pass when I have the chance, and then they end up all over the road seemingly trying to outrun me (I guess?) while I'm not even pushing. Maybe some weird ego thing about getting passed by a base Cooper? I mean, I'm just trying to get somewhere and have an enjoyable drive along the way.

It's also gotten to where I don't want to be out much on the weekends because of the people who want to be way over the limit. I took a test drive partway up 348 today to check the rear dampers and the exhaust, and it looked like someone recently had a big off headed down the north side at the first tight right-hander south of Tesnatee Gap. Too much speed, clearly didn't know the road. The braking zone is a corner before that when I'm on a road bike, and it's the same in a car. The chassis would just be too unsettled to try to brake heavily in between. Take that kind of thing to the track where it belongs.

I hear you on the blind curves. There are a few places that people have a tendency to cut on my route to/from Atlanta, some of which are particularly stupid and dangerous. There's a downhill, partially off-camber dogleg left after the first crest northbound from Turner's that people love to cut, and it's really, really stupid since cars and motorcycles coming from the opposite direction are often in the center passing lane on a busy day doing 55 or more trying to clear people who can't find the accelerator.

Hi, Chief! I was wondering what you were up to just the other day. I figured you probably were busy with some project(s), and it sounds like I was right. You have all the cool toys; any beach trips planned? I've gotten the impression that there's a lot more aftermarket support for GM electronics than Minis, but I'm glad to hear the Minis are running well!

Ha. I think 285 might be one of the worst roads in the Atlanta area (or it could just be me, but I've never liked it). 75/85 aren't great, but I used to try to avoid 285 if I reasonably could. Though I was in Atlanta last week, and 400 S was slow from Holcomb Bridge all the way to 285 because of construction. Ugh.

 

I finally reinstalled my euro parcel shelf. I hate dealing with the installation but like having it. I kept telling myself I would do the wiring for my driving lights but got tired of not having a finished look. I also velcroed the controller for my multi-gauge to the back of the shelf and did a little vacuuming.

 

That/your parcel shelf and interior look great and super clean!
I thought I remembered coming across a parcel shelf in a Mini at a Pull-A-Part a long time ago - just when I started getting more involved/working on my Mini.
I didn't think much of it at the time. I just assumed it came with the car as a factory option.
I can imagine it comes in quite handy. I refinished my antharacite door inserts last year due to paint chipping along the door pocket edge, from storing stuff in there.
I don't want to have to re-do it again. So NOTHING but a chamois is stored in there now.

Yeah: 285
Unfortunately I have to travel that stretch of asphalt treachery 5-6 days a week. from SouthEast, Northward and reverse the same path later in the evening.
I drive my Mini like a rational considerate adult. Much of the time staying off in the right lane avoiding the mayhem and crazies.
I refer to the 285 & I20 junction as the "hit and run highway". People are @#%! nuts!.
I once watched a guy in a Mercedes, exiting off, doing the 5 lane sweep from the fast lane, hitting and spinning out a sedan along his path and continued to speed off into urbania never slowing down one bit.
It was pretty wild to have witnessed.

BTW: Your R50 looks really nice...

Wingless!

 

Thanks! It photographs better with a mediocre camera than it looks in person, but I like to think it’s pretty well kept for a nearly 17-year-old daily. The parcel shelf is pretty nice, though I do occasionally have things fall out of it, mostly going over speed bumps up steep hills.

I try to keep it mostly rational, but I do suffer from having lived and worked in Atlanta for over 15 years…. In all likelihood I’ll be back within the next month. Oh well.

Oh, I also found my bottle of Gummi Pflege, so I did some gasket/seal conditioning the other day, too.

 

I put a flat tow kit on the Cabrio and I pulled it behind the motorhome to Gatlinburg TN. We got set up and a guy pulled into the spot next to us with a super nice rig. My wife said we really need to upgrade. She was never very fond of the coach we had. 2 weeks later we went and picked up our new to us rig.

It's a 2013 Coachman Mirada, super nice. I removed the RV fridge and installed a residential fridge, also a 50-inch Roku TV with surround sound. A few more things I want to do but currently on hold till I get the new transmission done in my Escalade. We took it to an RV resort in Alabama for a shake down run 2 weeks ago. A trip to the Panama City is for sure, can't wait to cruise the strip in the Cabrio with the top down. We traded in the wife's H2 Hummer and got her a Black Widow Edition Silverado.


My wife and daughter haze me because my wife is 5 foot 3 and drives a lifted truck and I'm 6 foot 4 and drive a Mini Cooper.

 

That's a pretty fancy rig.

You know, I don't think I've ever been to Panama City.

I bet the Mini is more fun. Not that I don't enjoy trucks, but my R50 is more fun to drive than any truck I've driven (unless a wet skidpad is involved ).

 

The Silverado is nice and the wife loves it, I think more than the Hummer she had. I love my Mini, driving just brings a smile to my face every time I turn the key.

I love the new motorhome, doesn’t ride as nice as the diesel pusher we had but the maintenance is a lot easier. Same V-10 Ford engine I work on at work and the house generator is the same too.

They have a place called shuckums, they serve the best steak and oysters on the half shell,OMG. It has become a lot more family friendly in the past 10-15 years, except maybe bike week!

 

I booked a campsite for the end of month in Panama. Can't wait for some oysters and cruise the Cabrio up and down the strip. Topless of course.

 

That sounds pretty awesome. I haven’t had oysters in forever; I think I may have been in Baltimore the last time I had some.

 

I’m currently behind on maintenance since I’ve been busy with a new job and not particularly close to my tools and workspace. However, I did finally deal with one issue (well, kind of two, actually).

At some point in the past few months a rough idle surfaced, but there were no codes. I’ve had poly inserts in the trans mount, full poly bushings in the lower motor mount, and a Vibra-Technics upper mount in the car for quite a while with no issues.

At first I thought it was just the lower mount going for some strange reason. It certainly felt like a broken lower mount. Wonky clutch takeup, bounced my cat off the x-brace a few times, weird behavior on hills. I got stuck on a big hill on Northside Drive in stop-and-go (mostly stopped) traffic in maybe 100 degree heat, and I would have sworn the lower mount was hosed based on the trouble I was having with it.

I pulled the lower mount… and the bushings looked fine. Swapped in a stock rubber one, and the car drove better - I think - but the rough idle was still there. I finally got the tank down low enough to dump in a bottle of Techron, and the rough and hunting idle disappeared within only a few miles. I seem to recall a recent thread where someone else experienced the same thing. My car has sat for extended periods recently, so I’m not surprised. If I can time fuel levels right, I’ll change the filter soon-ish.

The only explanation I can come up with for the motor mount is that the combination of unusually high, extended ambient temps, a mount attached to the oil pan, and idling in city traffic softened the poly bushings up more that the stock rubber. I have a new Vibra-Technics lower mount to swap in when I find the time - probably at the next oil change.