Why is it we can no longer have technical discussions on this board? It seems NAM has become the Hello Kitty, kind and friendly, marketing site for anyone pushing their wares, and all of the technical folks have walked away from the forum. Is there anyone interested in how these cars actually work anymore?

 

Stop whining and start posting then. Not trying to be inflamatory but you can't complain if you aren't trying to help.

 

I have, no one wants to engage. Did you look at the Head thread today?

 

If you are talking about the one over in : Vendor Talk:Drivetrain Products than no, I don't frequent that sub forum much. I would expect there to be technical talk there though and would consider complaining there if non-technical/non-helpful information was posted. Not sure there will be many sympathizers to the cause in General Talk though.

To some extent I agree with you about the lack of technical information available but I don't think it's for a lack of people trying to find it/figure it out. Face it, the MINI is a popular car and the majority of people that own them just want to drive, they don't want to know how or why it does what it does.

 

Part of this is the changing demographic of the new MINI owner. How many Clubman's do you think are going to Auto-X or be tracked. There are also not a lot of mods at this time for the R56 besides suspenion, CAI and cat backs. The R53 market is fairly mature and besides RMW we don't others making inroads in this space, at least not in public.

Factor in that many of the original pioneers have moved on to other vehicles or have tired of NAM and the potential for discussion drops even lower.

What is it that you want to discuss? Start a thread on that issue, product, ideas, whatever and others will chime in.

 

I agree that it is just the changing demographics of Mini owners. It goes along with people no longer waving. As more and more people purchase Minis they are less interested in the performance/mechanics of the Mini and more interested in the cuteness and fuel economy.

There are still good technical discussions on the forum but they are buried by many more non-techincal discussions. However, those non-technical discussions are just as important to the people supporting those discussions as are the technical discussions important to the people supporting those discussions.

I am more interested in the technical discussions and I think it is a little more difficult to find those discussions when just looking through the new posts each day.

 

I think gnatster's assessment is accurate. The vast majority of those who were posting on technical issues when I joined 3 years ago have moved on or post much less frequently (I actually saw a post by Dr Obnxs this morning--sweet.) Honestly there's so much "accumulated wisdom" regarding R53s that most technical threads are rehashes of older more detailed threads. and for those with R56s, I don't have much to say...

 

I have never seen a thread, technical or otherwise, go unanswered. So, big howe, if you want to talk technical, how about posting something?

 

Not sure what you mean by "Technical" but IMHO there are a lot of "Technical" Threads

Here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...fications-189/

and Here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...fications-196/

and Here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...lems-issues-9/

and Here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ms-issues-188/

And i am sure in other places as well.

So if it is not these then what kind of "Technical" are you talking about.

 

Yeah... what they said...

There's a pretty decent Water/Meth conversation going on that big_howe has been a valued contributor on... and I'm game to talk tech about anything I understand (but I don't let that limitation stop me, either. )

I agree, though... in many regards the 1st gens are played out, and the 2nd gens don't quite have the stuff there yet....

 

There's a TON of technical threads. Good grief!

 

I guess may rant is splintered in many different directions. A apologize in advance if you get offended.

1) I don't see "windows not working" or a tailgate latch failure as technical discussions. More like warranty issues. My top got holes in it, wasn't a technical problem, just put a new top on.

2) I guess I'm used to the more hardcore folks from other forums and the first 1st gen folks. Blowing things up to find the limits, melting superchargers, milling pulleys, developing circuit boards because damn it, we want auto up windows, cutting battery trays out for the sake of exhausts etc. Seems to be a lot less of this now, even on the 56's. Less car nuts you could say.

3) The vendors used to be the ones starting many of these threads, and it seems most have moved from the 53 to the 56 for the quick buck. I realize the 56 is a different motor(we do need another thread to discuss it) but many of the vendors don't any more. This could be because they have been asked to substantiate their claims and stand behind their products but that's another story.

4) I guess the main thing is most of you are right, the car has become less hardcore and less of a novelty, and much more mainstream. Seems to bring every demographic in. Nothing wrong with that, just changes.

Could be I'm lamenting for the old days, where from my perspective, there were more car specific discussions going on and less social networking. It's definitely flopped the other way now.

 

I understand the sentiment Big Howe and a function of the change is the size of the site. As you know since you are active there other much smaller sites have a larger ratio of in-depth technical discussions. However it seems sites reach a tipping point at some time where there were once quite a few technical threads in ratio to OT and Which Way do You put in the Key threads the opposite happens. As members meet and grow familiar with each other they start sharing more of their lives rather than debate the merits of a 380cc vs 440cc injector.

 

I have yet to have any malfunctions or problems, however as soon as I do I'll post a tecnical questions. for now I just read all the other posts about broken stuff hoping it won't happen to my Car.

Regards,
MPB

 

I'd have to agree with Big Howe here. Lots of the names of long ago who pioneered a lot of stuff are just absent. The R56 has some potential, but the cost of entry into hacking are much higher. The combo of a new ECU and direct injection make the barrier to entry rather significant.

FWIW, I have seen the start of some direct injection modding on other cars... Audis I think... And it echos back to what originally was done when FI first came on the block... Someone used a different MAF sensor that was about 30% less sensitive and then through in injectors that were about 30% more capacity to increase the fuel delivery as they upped airflow. These games can be played with the R56 "S", but no one seems to want to.

I'm also wondering why no one has done a head for the new cars.... After all, with almost every stock motor thats ever been made, improving the head will give great benefits.

Matt

 

Matt...there was some talk of head by 1FastMINI down in Fla as opposed the NY one. There has been little discussion though.

Quite possibly the vendors are working on things and due to the climate of wanting to know now here on NAM they are mum on their R56 projects until complete.

 

What you don't want to read 27 pages on a free Classic Mini.....

 

I know there is a good deal of parts in the pipeline for the 56, I'm even testing one. But I don't see the depth here to carry on a discussion about how the direct injection works, how it has multiple pulses per cycle, how the afr's run as high as 20.0 sometimes, and how the throttle body definitely doesn't function as we are accustom to.

Good to see a Doc O. post.

 

From a personal point of view my goal the last 4 months has been to the car running, much more than get the car faster.

Pus a wealth of knowledge has walked due to arugementitive contention, than acceptance of brainstorming and R&D.

 

I know nothing about cars and really have little time or desire to learn how to fix them. That's why I bought a car with the maintenance plan that MINI offers.

 

Argumentative contention or "the vendor is always right"? Basic engineering principles don't apply when vendor fees are king.

Peoples ego's get too bruised when they are told their "brainstorming" won't/doesn't work. As you move to the fringe, things get much less PC. You need to be thick skinned about it.

Some folks, like Doctor O, are good at politely telling someone they are pretty far off base. Unfortunately, some of us aren't blessed with that characteristic.

 

Interesting thread. I'm no heavy modder, but I do like to tinker, and I can find most things I need info about here on NAM. I do remember, back in the old MCO/NAM days, reading about all the rocket science on how to make a MINI, more than a MINI. I too miss those heady days.

Seems some folks want a project, some folks want a fun car. I'm lucky, I have both, the ongoing high mileage 03 project, way out of warranty, just needs some TLC, to work and look like new. And a new Clubman, that has all kinds of warranty/maintenance left on it, but still takes lots of work to keep it looking good.

What is interesting, is that the detailing forum, which can get very technical, continues to evolve, with mostly a central group of hardcore detailers, that are more than willing to both offer advice, and how-to's, but also have a very tight social group.

Mark

 

Good point... the Detailing forum has lots of banter among the social group there - but all comers are welcome - and all questions are answered - and no one is called an idiot or asked to prove that their turtle wax is better than Prima Epic... though I did almost thrash someone the other day for refusing to believe that touch-type automated carwashes cause swirls... and we'll get as technical as you want regarding what various formulations of goo do in combination with one another in an automotive application...

But, then again, you can't dyno car wax.

 

dynoing car wax...........now that's a good one... I'm sure Webster would find a way to calculate that into his ET

I agree, there are way too many vendors claiming stuff without ever showing a shred of evidence to the claim. It get's old hearing these internet myths go on and then when confronted you hear gnashing of teeth

 

I'm all for technical discussions, but I haven't found any responders who share my zeal for reasoned analytical discourse. They all want to believe marketing hype, cite heresay as proofs, and pseudo-scientific explanations that are more sophistry than rational. Many are just clueless kids (no offense intended) jacked up on raw hamburger and gunpowder, itchin' to "tune their ride".

Part of the issue is the 56 has only been out for two years and is still under warranty. I didn't want to start sinking a lot of money in tweaks until it was paid off, but I couldn't help myself. The other issue is the selection of aftermarket parts for the 56 is very limited. Look at Moss Mini's latest catalog - the 56 parts could fit on two or three pages with space left over.

PM me anytime you want to bounce any ideas around.