Got to touch "Crisis" (short for Mid Life Crisis) today. Actually get to drive off in it on Friday. Then the road to a real mid life crisis begins.

 

Welcome aboard. Good luck.

I hear that.

 

Sweet ride! Share your mods as you add them, I'm looking to do the same and would enjoy seeing what others are doing!

 

Welcome, we love the Roadster and when people mod it.

 

Beautiful Roadster...welcome to the addiction


-Steven

 

Enjoy the new ride. You will love the car.

 

I really like that color. I'm trying to wait till spring before I start modding....

You're going to have a blast..

Once the modding starts ...........

 

Looks great, welcome!

 

Ok --- here we go.
Mod #1 - Out go the run flats (Dunlop SP Sport 01) and in come the non-run flat snow tires (Michelin Primacy Aplin PA3). I picked up the car with 9 miles on it and replaced the tires with 17 miles on it. Even though they are snow tires (I live in Denver) the change in ride quality was instantly noticeable.

 

Mod #2 - Replaced the standard steering wheel with the JCW Sport Wheel, added a water temperature gauge, and added the illuminated door sills.

Status Report: 757 miles and 17:24 of top down motoring

 

Didn't know they had moved the AUX/USB on the 2013s. Interesting placement now...

 

Yes its down in the middle now on the 2013.

Nice mods and a fine looking R59 spice orange.

 

You should look into the Whalen shift ***** and the matching e-brake handle from Craven. The shift **** is very substantial and feels great in the hand. Only problem is it does get hot and cold since it is metal. I still recommend it. The other mod I did on my now-departed R56 was a Helix short-shifter installed by Way Motor Works at the Dragon. Since Cravn os not going to crack the ECU code on the 2013's, another strong mod is a Sprint Booster. I put one on my Crossfire SRT and it make a big difference. Just my two cents.

 

Eh.... mods.


Welcome!

 

Beautiful roadster !

 

Thanks for the tips. I'm always looking for good ideas.

 

Well I couldn't wait...

First of a million mods came in the mail the other day.



Alta Performances foam filter for the stock S air box.

I think next will be a short shifter..

Andy

 

Both great mods

-Steven

 

Isn't the JCW wheel fantastic? It's the one direct contact you have with the motoring experience...this should not be overlooked. Keep up the good work



-Steven

 

Love that JCW steering wheel. I have a few in stock so I'm thinking of putting one in my GP.

 

Where did you get your spare? Thinking about getting rid of my runflats too.

MsBrit

 

Just get a car air compressor pump like I did. Usually, even if you do a nail, it is a slow enough leak that you can pump it enough to get to a tire store, or whatever you use. I've been running NON run flats since day three on my JCW. Actually last summer, I didn't put the TPS whatever thing and still didn't have any problems. I just checked the tire pressure once a month. No leaks on my Motegi Racing wheels. 16 lbs. too. Going to put them on my coming S Roadster, although I'm painting them closs black, that and increase the tire size to 215 x 45 x 17 non run flats again. That and keep the air compressor from Lil Guy.

 

Now I'm really going to need to save my pennies.

I had 2 Miata's an NB 2002 (16" wheels) and an NC 2007 (17" Wheels) I bought low weight Enkie wheels and Falken R615's for both of them, what a ride.. and a boat load of money. I still have the 17"s in my garage. The other day I got it into my head that they would fit the MINI, ya right... I went out in the freezing cold at 6:00am... 5 bolts figures...

I can see it now, a 17" wheel at around 15lbs and the Falken R615K's ...

" But Honey I really need them, gota have them, can't live without them!!!!"

Dog house here I come.....

Andy

 

Way Motor Works - just remember that the spare tire will only fit on the rear wheels (especially if you have the big brake kit). Here is the link:
http://www.waymotorworks.com/mini-spare-tire-wheel.html

 

Mod #3 Installing a bonnet insulating blanket along with a functional bonnet scoop

Here is what the underside of the bonnet looks like when the car comes from the factory:


The first step is to remove the stock bonnet scoop. To do this first remove the expanding fastener from the underside of the bonnet with a small phillips screw driver. Then wrap a piece of electrical tape over the blade of a medium flat head screw driver. From the top of the bonnet, use the flat head screw driver to pry up the bonnet scoop. There are six fasteners and each needs to be pried up separately. You can see where they are from the next photo. The male part of the fasteners fit into the white female portions of the fasteners. In the picture the female fastener in the front center has been removed to allow for the replacement scoop.



Next the opening for the scoop needs to be cut out of the bonnet insulation blanket. Work from the top of the bonnet with the blade for a box cutter to cut out the opening for the scoop. Then from the bottom side of the insulation blanket clean up the cut with the box cutter blade. Be careful that you don't make the opening too big, when the insulating blanket is installed, the rear edge of the cut out opening will have to slide under the metal tab which comes stock on the inside of the bonnet. Make the rear edge of the opening so that it is about 1/2 inch in front of the front edge of the metal tab. To allow the rear edge of the opening to slide under the metal tab, a slot will need to be cut on each side of the scoop cut out to make a flap. Without the flap the insulating blanket will be too far from the bottom of the bonnet to allow the insulating blanket to slide under the metal tab.

The insulating blanket is foam and in some places as much as an inch thick. Use cold tape to seal the edges of the foam around the cut out (The first time I did this I used duck tape. After a week the heat from the engine escaping through the scoop destroyed the duck tape). The cut out will now look like this:

bth_P3090735_zpsa2b58b80.jpg?t=1362872909

You can see the flap under the metal tab on the bonnet.

The next step is to prepare the bonnet for the new hood scoop. I'm using the M7 Ram-2 scoop. The new scoop is connected to the bonnet differently from the original scoop. The M7 scoop has three threaded studs on the bottom side which fit through holes which are already available in the bonnet (although for the stud on the front, the white stock female connector will need to be removed). The three connecting studs can be seen in the next photo:



According to M7 all you have to do to install the scoop is to drill a small hole through the inside surface of the bonnet at the same location as the front center hole which can be seen from the top of the bonnet. At the location of the hole there are three layers of sheet metal to the bonnet. From the factory there are holes in the proper location in the top two layers. Unfortunately on my scoop the stud was too short for the nut to be screwed on once the small hole through the third layer was drilled. From the bottom of the bonnet I expanded the size of the hole in the bottom two layers so that a socket could fit through the bottom two layers and tighten the nut which holds the scoop against the bonnet. When I was done the hole looked like this:




The hood scoop can then be fastened to the bonnet with the three nuts. From the top it looks like this (it will be painted, the same color as the bonnet stripes that I will add in the future):



Now the insulation blanket can be installed. So that the blanket can slide under the metal tab on the bottom of the bonnet, the bonnet release and the bonnet latches will need to be removed. To make certain that the bonnet release is reinstalled in exactly the same place, use tape to mark its location like this:



The bonnet latches screw out, once the plastic pieces which keep it in place are removed. Count the number of times that the latch rotates as it is unscrewed so that you can screw it back in later to the same location. Before it is unscrewed it looks like this:



Before the insulating blanket is put in place, bend the metal tab on the bonnet down to allow more space for the insulating blanket to slide behind it. Slide the insulating blanket under the metal tab, install the plastic fasteners which hold the insulating blanket to the bonnet, reinstall the bonnet release and bonnet latches and push against the metal tab to insure a tight fit. Installed, the insulating blanket will look like this:

bth_P3090733_zps1bc79e3d.jpg?t=1362872827

After the installation of the insulating blanket my bonnet was much cooler to the touch while the engine was running (which is important to me to protect the paint work that will be added to the bonnet in the future). In addition the coolant temperature was not nearly as hot when the engine was restarted after having been turned off for a little while. The hood scoop really does contribute to keeping the engine cooler when it is first shut down.

I have to thank Bluetoy for listing the part numbers for the insulating blanket and fasteners on his post. For easy reference they are:

Insulating Blanket (1) 51 48 7 266 543
Plastic Fasteners (11) 51 48 1 915 964