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General MINI TalkShared experiences, motoring minutes, and other general MINI-related discussion that applies to all MINIs, regardless of model, year or trim.
That's just rubber picked up from the track, aka "track snot", that will all peel off and you'll hear it hitting the inside of the wheel wells and wonder what the noise is. Post some videos!
We didn't make the Glen this year, had other commitments. <sad face>
Saturday we did a Dramamine run though some the best twisty roller-coaster hills in our area. Started in Shippensburg, PA ended in Chambersburg, PA straight line distance 12.9 miles ... our route was closer to 90 miles.
My Desire has been turning into a track diva, at least it thinks and acts. Today I give it a dose of reality - made it go grocery shopping. When arrived at the shop, it picked and chose the most out of the way parking spot.
And it has been eating like a hog, consuming 1.5 tank of petrol at 7.7 MPG .
Curbside alignment from hell today.
I had a rear sway bar install and inspection done the week before last while I was on vacation as well as front control arm bushings.
They said they did an alignment, but ...
I noticed the rear toe-in on the right rear wheel was off (too much toe in) when I got it back and got around to fixing it today.
First, it took me about an hour to find my eccentric socket tool for adjusting the rear toe.
Then, I kept shifting the trailing arm with the MINI tool and kept getting either not enough or too much correction over and over.
I tried to make sure the road was level and that I was always parked in the same spot and took a little drive around the block to
settle the suspension after each trial, but still kept getting wonky readings. Checked the rear trailing arm bushings and control arms
for slop, etc, but they were all ok. Front alignment was fine after the control arm bushings install, same as before.
After about 4-5 hours, I finally spun that wheel and noticed quite a bit of wobble (other 3 wheels were fine).
Took the wheel off and noticed that the circlip for the hubcentric ring was not seated properly, and the ring was sticking out on one side,
giving the wheel about a 1 degree angle, hence the wobble and inconsistent alignment readings for camber and toe on that wheel.
Probably happened when the pulled the wheel for inspection.
Pulled the centering ring out (with some difficulty), got the wire ring in its groove, and tapped the centering ring it in flush and correct - no more wobble.
After that, it only took an hour or so to get things pretty close to goal.
Plus, I was on call today and had to stop to answer a couple pages, and had to stop another time for a half an hour for brief rain.
I'm glad that ordeal is over.
Installed Earthquake SWS-8i speakers into my spouse’s R60 Countryman S.
I discovered that all the online “howto” guides assume you are replacing the nicer Harmon Kardon speakers, which are screwed in and easy to remove. The base audio speaker drivers are GLUED in.
I ended up buying a whole speaker unit from eBay just so I could figure out how to open it without risk of damaging her car. A heat gun on high, several trim panel pry tools, two screwdrivers, one utility knife, a lot of cursing and one blood offering later I was able to remove the POS 6” driver.
At at which point I was ready to disconnect the battery, remove the seats, extract the speaker enclosures, replace the drivers and put it all back together.
I used Technic PNP’s wiring harness and brackets, which on one hand are expensive for laser cut plastic and wires, but on the other hand are TOTALLY worth it for reducing hassle splicing wires and adding potential points of failure. The R60 shares its audio components with the E9x BMW, so these all work: https://technicpnp.com/product-categ...-3-series-e9x/
The bottom end is filled out nicely and midrange sounds better as well. They work well enough with the Infinity 4” drivers already in the doors. I’d like to put in a proper amp and set high and low pass filters and adjust the levels on each pair… eventually. But for now, my spouse is very happy, so I’m happy!
Also, I put in an arm rest I had removed from my old R55. Again she was thrilled.
Last edited by bratling; Jun 24, 2018 at 08:03 PM.
Reason: Fix a link
I want to convert my base 2006 mini R50 W10 Engine to a turbo. So my question is, has anyone done this and will a 2007 turbo manifold fit the W10 engine?
I want to convert my base 2006 mini R50 W10 Engine to a turbo. So my question is, has anyone done this and will a 2007 turbo manifold fit the W10 engine?
I have seen R53 conversions to turbo. You would have to do some searching to find some posts about that.
However, there is a reason yours is a R50 and the supercharged S and JCW are a R53. That is the R53 is a different body that is stronger to take the added HP. The R50 also has a weaker engine than the later R53s, lower performance cam, different head, different transmission and different ECU. The R50 wouldn’t be my first choice to hop-up.
I want to convert my base 2006 mini R50 W10 Engine to a turbo. So my question is, has anyone done this and will a 2007 turbo manifold fit the W10 engine?
Everything I’ve read advises not to FI the R50 motor. Unfortunately I’m in the same boat as you. It’s only a matter of time before I blow up my midlands again. Trying to find a mostly intact R53 salvage car for cheap to do something along the lines of what you’re trying to do.
Received my Fumoto drain valve today to replace the rounded off-not really 13mm drain plug on my R53. If it wasn't 104 degrees out, I'd be looking forward to getting this job done but it's just hot. AND, I see that my functional hood scoop must have a broken clip (they're all breaking, it seems) and is trying to chase the wheel arch molding that blasted off my car a week ago. Still ... I love my L'il Red!
Today I give it a dose of reality - made it go grocery shopping. When arrived at the shop, it picked and chose the most out of the way parking spot. 
.
