After months of waiting, disappointments, lack of customer service, delays and a few bruced knuckles, I can finally share my mini story with you. So, before I go to the pics let me share a bit.

My first mod was lower springs but it dropped my cabrio too much so I decided to go with megan coils. Well, that was a major fiasco and after months of trying to get resolution it finally came in the form of higher rate springs. Meanwhile, I was working on the second mod...a full body kit. I went with the Orciari but it is not designed for the Cabrio so some changes needed to happen. The body shop said it would take no more than 2 weeks, but after four weeks, it was still not ready. Finally on the six weeks it was ready. Well, few days later I had to take if back for some adjustments and touch up that the shop failed to do.

Ok, I was on my way or so I thought. Next the wheels but I was looking for something special out of the norm and with a large offset to fill the new wheelwells. So I decided to go J-Line custom alloy colored matched. Again the supplier said it would take 7-8weeks. On the seventh week I spoke with the rep. only to find out that the order was never placed because they no longer did custom color match. Needless to say we had a "falling apart". So I went with Bose 2 piece. They don't do color matching but it was exactly was I was looking. As promised, I had my wheels in 3 weeks. But, when I mounted the wheels on the mini for testing (no tires yet), the offset was way off and had to return the wheels for correction. That took another 3 weeks but I finally had my wheels back. So, it was time to get them colored matched. This was another delay of 2 weeks after being promissed a 3 day turn around time. The tires had been waiting patiently to get mounted and the same day I picked up the wheels they were on. During this time I did other mods while the whole package came together.

It really has been a labour of LOVE from start to now and at times I felt it would never come together. And so, I decided to name my Mini "LOVEJOY" ...Enough said, here are the pics... I have a few more pics in my gallery. THANKS to everyone here on NAM for providing so much valuable info.

 

Looks great! I love the bodykit!! Well worth the effort I'd say. Congrats! Any more plans in the works?

Dumb question (i don't know much about mods) what's the orange loop in the front?

 

Nice looking.....

 

Thanks,
the orange loop is a tow hook. It is very common in the racing scene, for me it's just for looks. The interior has orange stitching and wanted to add a bit of that on the outside. That's why I went with the orange hoses as well.

I do have other mods plans. I'm working on a one off custom mod for it. I should have it ready in about a month or so but as soon as it's done I will post pics.

 

WOW -- what the hey.. looks awesome, how's the ride and the MPG.. how do you do the speed bumps and angled driveways???

 

Sweeeeet ride!

 

Nice ride!

What is the clearance on the front?

 

VERY NICE well worth the wait

 

Outstanding and unique

 

Hey thanks everyone,
Here is a bit more info: The MR (megan racing) coilovers work good but not perfect, at least I don't bottom out and the ride is pretty good, but the spring rate is a bit higher in the front. Although, the front airdam might look very low to the ground, it actually is not. There is plenty of clearance for speed bumbs, however, I do take them slightly diagonally for safety and if I can avoid a steep driveway I do... There's plently of clearance in the front, I have about 1" from top of tire to bottom of arch, but the tire sits slightly inside the wheelwell so there's even more clearance there. And also, that was one of the reasons I decided to stretch the tire a bit on the wheels so it would "roll" instead of come straight up from the wheel.

I'm running 18X8 with a 28offset on the front and 25 on rears, Tires are 215/40/18 Falkens FK452. There is a slight stretch on the tires w/o being too aggressive. The front wheels were built with a large pad to accomodate a BBK in the future (one of my next mods when I can save the money).

I'm very pleased with the results and how everything looks.

P.s. I took a 50 mile drive yesterday on an anusually warm winter day here in N. Cal, mostly freeway and my onboard computer estimated an average MPG of 27. Not soo bad.

 

That is by far one of the nicest looking cabrios I have seen. Nice work, and good taste.

 

Looks good, although I'm not a fan of the Orciari kit, its a very well put together MINI.

 

You've really done a great job with your cabrio...WOW!

 

UP. WAY UP. Well worth the wait and hassle.

 

Congrats, done very nicely.

Victor

 

Excellent Job, looks very custom.

 

That is definately unique!! Looks like a very good job.

 

You can now say for sure your MINI is now "your MINI". You have brought your own touches together and done it well. Your color seems to have worked the best I have seen with the Orciari kit. And of course I love the wheels...CHROME Now that the outside is complete and your suspension for now... ...what's planned for under the bonnet and the interior? The journey has just begun, my friend

Just a thought...scrap the orange or red under the bonnet and consider powder coating everything you can as close to the body color with a few nice touches of CHROME. You can get the CAI hoses in blue which will probably be close enough. Icarius, a poster here and on AtlantaMINIS plans to do this so I'm sure he will have pictures in a few weeks. I'm doing the same with Paris but all in red and chrome. I'm post some shots in a few weeks, too.

Great patiences, so far.

Call