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"Sightseeing" vid also shot on Seven Springs Rd north of Cave Creek area? Had to look again at "Walkaround" vid to spot sign at FS285 jct. Super nice twisties with decreasing radius turns looks fun! We got another light dusting of snow overnight here in Payson with more of course at higher elev.
We usually get several storms per year here but only once within last 10 yrs 4' accumulated IIRC. Most are just a few inches to a foot at 5k' elev. My vehicles all stay in the garage until streets cleared to avoid any chems applied in combo with plowing. Don't want that stuff on the undercarriage!
Exactly. I'm Canadian and my MINI spent the first half of its life in Canada. During the pandemic I ground off a lot of rust and applied a lot of POR-15. Had a 2-door 2015 JK Rubicon when I was in Canada for work a few years ago, but that's another story!
Ah yes, off-pavement recreation! I won't take up too much bandwidth here with my pics. Owned 2000 TJ factory ordered from new until sold at 95k miles highly modded over the years incl full Currie Johnny Joint 4.5" suspension, Currie F/R adjustable track bars, Currie HD steering, 4.56 gears with ARB lockers, TeraLow 4:1 kit, custom Tom Woods driveshafts, Advance Adapters SYE, Black Magic Big Brake Kit and so much more. Still have my moderately modded 2017 JK Rubicon 2-door 6 spd manual with just 9.5k miles from new plus a 2020 Can-Am Maverick Sport XRC (rockcrawler edition) and 2014 Ford F150 FX4 special ordered with 6.2L Raptor spec engine which has just 19k miles from new. Oh and then the non-4WD R53 too!
Yeah, my Rubicon was only a year old when I got it and only had 8K miles on it. The only mods I did were an aFe intake, an aFe high-tuck cat-back exhaust (the vehicle was a manual and the exhaust popped and banged when I lifted off), a Sprint Booster, the Hella pencil-beam lamps and a nice Lloyd deluxe mat for the rear cargo area (rear seat removed). The vehicle ended up getting hydro-locked here (it was so stuck that the tow truck's front wheels were off the ground, and that was with me flooring it in four low - there was a boulder or something jammed up against the front driver-side wheel). The vehicle was written off, but I ended up making $5K more from insurance than I paid for it! 😄
@MCS4FUN you casually state there was “a bit more” snow up north. I have over 3’ in my backyard and have 5’ walls of snow lining my driveway! The Mini is outside. I might see it again in May 🤪
^^^ Yikes, that's a bunch. Sad to see your Mini relegated to outside parking...
Just as the OP, I'm in Arizona where we do get snow (not down in Phoenix nor valley suburbs). Snow from the last storm is nearly gone here (other than on north-facing roof slopes and shaded spots), however another storm is forecasted to drop 2-5" overnight. Not much compared to your own location but the local WM was full of shoppers this morning preparing in advance.
What's up ATK, awesome build! Love the rear bumper grip tape and British war plane emblem on the rear! I used skateboard grip tape on my clutch and brake pedal, I think I'm going to steal your idea for the top of the rear bumper too. I have a hound that rides around in the back and he claws his way in sometimes.
Thanks! It's a work in progress. Learning how to wrap is pretty difficult (this was my second attempt), and there are still a few areas where it could be better that I want to re-do. Might do a color change again. Toying with all chrome (with the black roof and mirrors), or the Porsche kelly green color (again with the black roof). We'll see. Yeah, my dog scrambles in and out and was scratching the top of the bumper. I thought about grip tape, but was worried about how it'd stand up to the elements over time. Getting the shape right when cutting was difficult, so I actually ordered a cheap universal rubber bumper protector off of Amazon and used that as a template to trace onto the vinyl's backing. A while back I splurged for the Rennline aluminum pedals and really like them (except when the rubber dimples pop out and need to be replaced).
I just noticed the rear ultra slim lower bumper vents. Is that standard for an R50/year or is that aftermarket?
I have a pre-facelit '04 R53 but prefer the slim geometry of your lower grilles.
Hey, I made them myself by cutting off portions of my original post-facelift bumper cover (you can see these sections in the above photos of what the car looked like when it was new). The idea came to me when I was wrapping the car, as those sections would have been impossible to wrap, and I was watching some RWB videos on YouTube at the time, so I just carefully cut them out with a box cutter and glued some plastic mesh on the backside after I was done wrapping. Yeah, I think they look pretty cool.
Hey, I made them myself by cutting off portions of my original post-facelift bumper cover (you can see these sections in the above photos of what the car looked like when it was new). The idea came to me when I was wrapping the car, as those sections would have been impossible to wrap, and I was watching some RWB videos on YouTube at the time, so I just carefully cut them out with a box cutter and glued some plastic mesh on the backside after I was done wrapping. Yeah, I think they look pretty cool.
Ahhhh - I see what you did, you clever, creative dog you!
That was brilliant. LOVE it!
Finally got a Quick Jack. Went with the 5000TL. Much easier and safer to get the car up in my narrow garage, and it gets the car higher than any floor jack on the market that I'm aware of. Well worth the money.
^^^ Nice! I have 12' ceilings in my garage but rely on the combo of 2 types of jack stands with jack pads for support. When crawling underneath for a larger project, I also place wheel ramps beneath the raised rear wheels as a secondary safety consideration. MINIs might not weigh all that much, however the human body has no chance if the jacking method fails and the car falls on me!
Cool. Must be nice to have that height in the garage. I highly recommend the Quick Jack. Got mine on Amazon for ~$1600 all in. Figure I've already saved up more than enough for it by learning how to maintain my own vehicles. Had a jack slip once and it ruined my passenger door (I posted about it). Luckily the door is all that was hurt, but we only get so many second chances in life!
^^^ At my advanced age, I'd never recoup cost of the Quick Jack. Safety, however, remains a priority to achieve even greater advanced age! In preparation for more planned projects, I recently purchased these 3T circular pad stands from H-F, which are clones to the similar if not identical Esco brand: DAYTONA 3 Ton Jack Stands with Circular Pads I also have a pair of Powerbuilt 3T hydraulic jack stands, which lock into position even in the event of leak-down. I'm using both those with superior grade polyurethane Powerflex Jacking Pad Adaptors sourced from WMW.
Installed a R53-style carbon fiber hood by Vis Racing. Will post some photos once I get things sorted out. Initial impression? I wouldn't do it again. The headlight fitment is really wonky, and I've had to do a lot of filing to get them to seat properly. In order to secure the two bolts at the tops of the lights (you know, the bolts that hold the lights TO THE CAR), I had to find M5 sleeve nuts (not easy to find) that can reach up (through the holes I had to modify because they were misaligned) to engage the threads because the threads don't protrude far enough for the stock nuts to engage. Granted, the MINI has a very complex hood compared to most cars and I wasn't expecting everything to be perfect, but I was expecting better. I didn't even get into all the adjustments I had to make to the latch mechanisms, and that there's now a too-large gap between the bumper cover and the bottom of the hood. I will fiddle with it this weekend and try to make things better, but for the maybe 20 lbs of weight savings, it's not worth it, IMO, and I will definitely be hanging onto my original hood in case I want to switch back.
Here's the car with the Vis Racing carbon fiber hood fitted (as well as it's ever going to fit). The latches work nicely and it locks closed with a nice thunk. (I adjusted the latches while the headlights were out. I got the hood as close as I could so it would close and latch, and then loosened off the latch retention bolts to allow the latches to center themselves properly.) I had to do quite a bit of modifying and grinding to get the headlights seated properly (and they're still not quite right, but most people will never notice), as well as find a creative way of securing the grill (I shaved off the tabs, drilled holes where the tabs were, and threaded bolts into the holes from behind). I was worried about how the R53-style hood would look with a R50 bumper cover, but I think it looks pretty cool in combination with the red stripe and enlarged fog light openings (for brake cooling - there are corresponding holes in the fender liners).
Installed brand new headlights over the weekend and got the hood fitment sorted out a bit better. The hood doesn't fit the headlights properly, so I had to do some drilling to the mounting points and fabricate a bracket that would hold them securely. Removed the blackout tape on the beltline. Car's looking pretty good, IMO.
I miss snow, but not all the damage it does to my vehicles!
