cmcveay

Wow! Cool to hear it banging against the rev limiter like that!

Hey, lots of us are headed down south to the Dragon so club activity is going to slow down for the next week or so. About two weeks from today, we are planning a dinner meet up and if you are interested in making the first and biggest step in getting to your goal, the middle of May is your chance! Jan Bruggeman from Revolution Motor Works (RMW) is going to be at Mach V (www.fastmini.net) doing ECU tunes. Unlike most other cars, the ECU tuning in the MINI isn't a "user friendly" option and Jan is widely recognized as THE MAN for the job. If you give Dan at Mach V a call, he can give you the skinny on the schedule and other information. Dan is also a DCMM Vendor and a MINI owner. They can do some of the essentials for you before you get the tune done. If you are interested in the dinner, I can send you info via email. Craig

I just looked at the other pictures and I know you are going to be just fine in this group! Thanks for the laughs this morning and I'm looking forward to seeing that handstand in person!

You missed that part didn't you! You and Alan ARE the entertainment!

Alan, Not sure if all of the cabins have laundry facilities or if there's a big one in the village but you are welcome to come over to our cabin, entertain Ali and do your laundry. We've been told that ours has a washer/dryer. We'll have detergent and all so just bring your dollar bills!

Welcome and we hope you come out to meet us and join the club. You've already said the magic word... Modding.

I'm positive that we'll have a good time! That's why I'm gonna bring an umbrella and sandals!

I posted a link to the weather channel 10 day forecast on the DCMM Facebook page yesterday. Looks like scattered Tstorms through Thursday and Friday was mostly sunny so cross your fingers that Saturday is the same! Temps look good (50's - 80's) for the entire week. Pack your umbrella and your Rain-X!

Okay. Just wanted to let you know that he'd be there. I don't know if there have been any "new and exciting" discoveries in the ECU tune for the 1st Gens like there as been for us 2nd Gen folks. I know the boost/torque "unlock" for 1st and 2nd gear was a big step forward for us!

Katie, Jan is a vendor at the Dragon and he'll be doing tunes! It won't be a custom dyno tune but it'll still get your attention! All is not lost!

Ryan, Shoot Dan at Mach V an email re: the tires, it's his dyno so he'll let you know the straight scoop. As far as mods, it's a basic fact that an engine that "breathes better" will tune better. A free flowing exhaust and a smoother, less restrictive intake just lets it work more efficiently. That said, the tune will still make a big difference in how your car runs. Contact Jan to see what kind of deal he's running for updated tunes as well. He may be willing to make a deal with you to update your tune if/when you add other mods. You'll find that Jan is a really nice guy and he's pretty darn easy to work with. Craig

Just think about it and if it annoys you (Driving a 1st gen that can integrate SIRIUS into your system if you want), think about how much it annoys 2nd Gen owners who would like to add the feature....... Wait.. Wait... Okay, I'm over it - they just saved me more money than GEICO could if I called them!

Ryan, I've got my dyno sheet at the house but where the car is now isn't even close to where it was when I had the tune done last year. Jan has fixed a couple of minor issues and he's found some things that have made some significant changes to the way the car behaves. If you get the tune, you'll benefit from those fixes and changes. I don't remember where you live but I'm in Annandale so if you happen to be around that area, you are welcome to get in touch and either come by the house to go for a test/demo ride or I can meet you somewhere. Another DCMM member just had a canned tune (not a custom job) and the results via text message started off with "Holy $h!T Batman!, it's a little blue rocket now." He mentioned being at 75mph before realizing it... I think I mentioned this in another post but here's the reader's digest verion. When I had the tune done, I'd put on a Borla Sport exhaust, Riss Racing Downpipe and a DDM Street Cold air intake and the baseline dyno run had it at 167 HP and I don't remember the torque. According to MINI's website that's the HP that the car was supposed to make off the showroom floor. After the tune, I was sitting just under 190 HP and a little over 200ftlbs of torque. I've since added a Forge intercooler and had 4 updates to the tune. If the torque reading of the scanguage II or the Dashboard Commander app can be trusted, they both indicate an even greater increase (15% indicated) on top of the initial gains. The car really will scare the pants off of you now if you don't expect it and you stomp on it. It builds to 18psi in a matter of seconds and your passenger will not be able to reach the dash if you don't want them to. Simply put, there is no other mod that you can do on a 2nd Gen MINI that will give you such a substantial increase in HP/TQ for the $$$. And, with the custom tune, you've got the dyno sheet to prove it so there's no guesswork.

Okay, from a reliable source, it seems that MINI/BMW have placed a hold on the OEM SAT RADIO (SIRIUS) kits and they aren't selling them. That makes for a big fat from me...

5:30 p.m., Saturday, May 7th UNO Chicago Grill 3058 Gatehouse Plaza Falls Church VA., 22042 Welcome back from the Dragon for the veterans of MOTD 9! Since MOTD 9 is officially the largest ever MOTD event (over 525 cars and 800 + people registered) It's time to get together to swap stories and photo's from the great dragon slaying adventure! Of course, there's also the car wash right across the parking lot just in case anyone hasn't washed the road grime off yet so you can get that done as well. Look forward to seeing everyone out there! Here's a link to the menu: http://www.unos.com/menus/

Send me a PM or email and I can send you the info on cracking open the 2nd Gen HID lights. Okay, maybe "cracking open" isn't the best choice of words to use...

I'll be there.

You said it man, you said it!

I think Alan has been spending too much time with the little one! I prefer: Or this: Number 9

:puke:

Alan, I think you were looking for something that used to be sold by Lyles Vinyls or Aesthetic Creations. I didn't see it on their website any longer though. I remember those though and they were cool!

Kinda like an EA.... Enablers anonymous...

Plasti-dip is a fast, safe way to try it out. You can always peel it back off if you don't like it. Vinyl is also safe but it's not fast and it takes some work to get it right.

Yarsay, The LED side markers work just fine, no bulb warnings. One "fun" thing they do is to flash when the body control module goes through the bulb check. The standard bulbs don't react to the low voltage level so they don't do anything but the LED's do light up so you get a little triple flash when you start it up. Ryan, if you want to try your hand at vinyl, the headlight rings aren't all that hard and I have templates hanging on the wall. Now, I haven't tried to pull the front emblem but I'm told that it's not pegged behind it and it's just body molding tape that holds it on. I haven't tried it yet so I can't confirm that. The rear MINI logo DOES have a peg and a hole through the body. I am contemplating pulling both of them off this weekend and blacking them out with either vinyl or plasti-dip. If I get to that, I'll let you know. I do have 3M brand body molding tape to put the parts back and if it works, you are welcome to some for yours as well. Be careful with the black out, it's like an illness and you'll find it hard to stop! I also have vinyl that's an almost exact match for the pebbled surface of the dash. I've covered the door to the secret compartment with it.