cmcveay

Heyl Can we start a MOTD 2011 sub group yet? If we do, I'll throw a dinner event down for the dragon with an RSVP so we can measure interest!

Ali, here's a good list to start from, right from the MOTD website: http://www.minisonthedragon.com/what_to_bring.php

Great idea Katie! There's a little "mom and pop" place in Robbinsville that we ate at a few times last year. If we are able to go down early, we could take a trip over there and see about setting something up.

A while back, I ordered the modified diverter valve from Way Motor Works and I just got around to doing the install this morning. The turbo doesn't make any more boost but when you have boost is changed. Since I've got a pressure gauge, I can see when the boost is coming in and what I noticed right away (using my "buttometer" and watching the boost pressure) was that I was making boost at with less throttle. Normally, we don't start showing pressure until about mid throttle and above and that pressure slowly builds. Now, I start seeing boost with less throttle. Also, it doesn't dump as much pressure between shifts so when you change gears and get back on the throttle, it's still got pressure and you are off to the races again. There's a pretty good thread on this over on NAM but I wanted to post this here in case anyone was thinking about this mod. The install took about 20 minutes and required only a small socket and a small allen wrench. Do yourself a favor and let car cool off completely before doing this mod. The turbo housing holds heat for a while!

I'd love to but I'll be at work at 6 a.m.

If you haven't followed the updates, the Autocross is out this year. I guess there wasn't enough interest and it also conflicted with the group photo. It's also about 2 hours to the place they have the autocross so there was concern with getting people back to Fontana village in time for dinner on Saturday night.

Where the heck are you going to put that? In the boot of your Cabriot? Oh, Mark has Max now so you can strap it down in the passenger seat!

Speaking of the "next one" (thanks for the opening Ricky). Does anyone have a place the they would like to ante up for a meeting place next month? We do have club members that have dietary restrictions (glutens, vegans and vegetarians) so if you have

It was great to see so many come out for the dinner last night. Had a great time meeting some of our newest members and, always, enjoyed seeing everyone else as well. It's awesome to drive down a street and see so many MINI's along the side of the roa

Sold! Stickers is about to find it's new voice!

minifini.com They have the one in the picture and a bunch of other racks/mounts that use the base mounting system.

As I headed home from the muffler shop, I saw a Silver MCS ahead. What a nice surprise, it was Mark driving Max to work. Yes, Mark was waving!

I've got a 1 year old Borla exhaust - the "Sport" version for sale. It's got the expected amount of road grime on it for having been in the car for a year but, it's all heavy gauge stainless steel so there's no rust to be found. The exhaust works great, it's not too hard to install and the sound is really awesome. In addition to the exhaust, I have the center brace that's already been notched to clear the pipe/resonator so you don't have to chop yours up. I didn't take photo's when it came out of the car this morning, It was too cold to stand around for that but I will take photo's a little later this morning if you really want to see it. If you are going to the dinner meet up this evening, I'll have it in the back of the car so you can see it in person. I'm asking $250 but that's negotiable and I have lots of hobbies if you'd like to offer a trade of some sort. At $250, it's about 60% off the retail price. Thanks & See ya, Craig P.S. The only reason I swapped it out is because I've deleted my rear seat and that causes the exhaust system to resonate inside the car. Other "Sport" owners with the rear seat say they haven't had that problem. If I could have found an alternative that would allow me to keep the Borla, it would still be on the car.

It's "Meet & Greet" time! This month, it will be held at Passport MINI of Alexandria from 9:30am to noon. The address is: 5990 Duke St, Alexandria VA 22304 Please come join us for a casual get together with new and old members. Non-members and soon-

And some of the helpers were also donors!

Amazon.com has the Scan Gauge II on sale if you've been thinking about getting one. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AAMY86/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER Use coupon code SCANGAUG

Don't forget the dinner meet up next Friday!

If you've got your brake wear sensors tied back like mine (after market brake pads), you may get a brake service indicator light from time to time. If you do your own oil changes and want to keep the onboard computer "honest", or if you'd like to cycle through your service indicators to see the interval for the respective service function, I stumbled across and easier way of doing so. On my way home today, I got the little car on the lift and brake light so I knew I'd have to go through the reset procedure when I got home. While I was waiting at a light (it's a long light), I was just "goofing off" and pushing the two stems on the tach. I found an easier way to reset the service indicator and I'd like to see if someone else will try it to see if it works the same for me. With the car running, push & hold the RIGHT knob on the tach. After 20 seconds or so (I didn't time it and I didn't get a chance to try it again), the service indicators came on and then, I was able to cycle through the indicators to the one I wanted to reset (it actually came up as the first indicator but I went through all of them anyway) and then, I pressed and held the end of the turn signal stalk for a second and it gave me the reset option where I then pushed it in and held it while the little clock face ticked down and it reset the indicator. As soon as I started rolling, it went back to the normal functions. I hope this works for you too. There is another way but it's somewhat tedious and if you are really interested, I'll send you a link to it. Enjoy, Craig

Ali, I'm actually glad you are such a lightweight! Since the six of us will be sharing a cabin at the Dragon, I guess I won't have to worry about you being out late and then stumbling in to wake everyone up will I! Sorry we missed this, it's not far f

Rob, If you are looking up around Baltimore, I can't help, I live in Northern VA. We do have members that live up in that area though. Anyone up there? Craig

That suggests to me that there may be a diverter valve in the system that's switching the coolant flow from the heater core at lower RPM's. I didn't see any mention if we are talking about a 1st or 2nd Gen model here either.

The problem you are describing seems kind of odd. Blows hot/warm air while moving but when you stop, it's blowing cold again? I do warm the car up in the parking lot before driving, it's the way I was raised and there are some dogs that don't like to give up on old habits. I'll get the water temp get up to 100 or so (I have gauges) before I take off - especially when it's down around freezing. I don't recall having problems with the air temp changing but I will pay attention in the morning.

Chris - Got that covered. I just don't need three camera bags around the house.

Yeah, Marty and I had already planned to meet up at the DIY garage to install his new JCW exhaust today. That however didn't work all that well. Damn Cabrio's have so many extra NON-MOVING parts under them. We'll go back for part two with a different