ChrisTKD

My rear brake light went out so I went to the local Advance Auto to pick up a replacement Sylvania pair for around $5. Changing brake light bulbs in usually easy-peasy and it is as long as you don't make the silly mistakes that I made. Open the side compartment in the boot and look into the tiny space. There are several bulbs -- the brake light is NOT the bottom bulb. The bottom bulb with the two plastic fins on the base is the turn signal and it's a royal pain in the butt to put back in. Why do they have two plastic fins you ask? Because you need to hold on to the plastic fin as you reach in and maneuver it around the metal piece that blocks access to the bulb socket. Lessons learned: 1. the light bulb has two small bumps on the base of the bulb. These do not line up with the metal connectors on the light assembly. Instead you rotate the bulb until the bumps line up with a slot in the assembly. If you push the light bulb into the assembly and hear a click that doesn't mean you got it. If you can easily pull the light bulb back out then the light bulb will fall out as you try to fit it back into the car. 2. Don't freak out if the bulb falls off and falls into the car. It's not going to rattle around in there forever. You can fish it out or call someone with small hands to get it out for you. 3. Turn signal bulb replacement - Ok, so I had to put this one back in because I took it out by mistake. Be prepared to curse but if your bulb is not falling out like mine you will curse less frequently. I finally decided that trying to see what I was doing wasn't going to work. Final decision was to use my left hand to put in the left turn signal bulb (blindly feeling it in place). So the guy at Advance Auto recommended that I replace my front light bulbs with LEDs - - they come with a kit that deals with the heat transfer so the housing doesn't melt. He said the cost was about $100. Not sure if he meant for both or each. Thoughts?

I will be there but very late. I'm guessing 730 with the traffic

I can do grill duty as well. Let me know if you need any more chairs.

Do you know the times yet?

I'm a heck of a lot closer than Bristow! If Mclean isn't too far let me know. I don't have any tools though.

I think the wheels look good as-is. A classic look for a classic car. But if you really want to change the color of the wheels I'd suggest plasti-dip instead of paint. You can convert back to the class look later if you need to do so. White spokes with blue rims will pop more IMO than blue spokes with white rims. That blue though may be a tough match. Another option would be to leave the spokes chrome and do the rims blue. You don't have anything white on the rest of the car so I'm having a difficult time picturing how white spokes/rims/both would look overall.

Welcome back everyone. Please post some pictures for those of us not fortunate enough to attend this year.

That was fun. Good choice and thanks for planning it for us.

Here's a link to their Happy Hour menu. I can't guarantee it's accurate for this particular location but it gives you an idea. http://www.bjsrestaurants.com/sites/default/files/VA.456.0215_01.p1_0.pdf

Yes, I've had that happen in my 2009 S. Stopped at a light and sometimes car fumes get sucked in. I shut it off; roll down the windows to clear the air; then hit recirculate. Everything is fine until it happens again at another stop light. I realize that the recirculate has stopped. I haven't been motivated enough to look into getting it to stay on recirculate so haven't found a solution. It doesn't bother me until the next time when I think why didn't I look into this the last time!

It just cleared out this afternoon. :congrats:

Seafoamed it last night. Much more smoke this time than when I did it before going to the Dragon. Unfortunately, all that carbon blowing out threw a code. My magnetized tires picked up a nail again. I thought I'd be lucky with my non-run flats but noooo. Took the car to Curry's Auto to hopefully have it plugged and they said maybe yes maybe no. I don't know whether they were just trying to upsell but the tire was still under the road hazard warranty (we still will have to measure tread depth for Tire Rack). It's still a PITA. I have to mail the tire back to Tire Rack for credit (they will send me the shipping voucher but still that's going to be fun going to FedEx with a tire).

Black Motor-Tober T-Shirt (Large) (x4) a) 928945 Hopefully it will fit my daughter.

Hmmm. I have the ticket for 928945 - UNCLAIMED. I can bring the ticket to the next board meeting.

Catalina - Storenvy doesn't seem to be able to handle the volume discounts that you are offering. Seven tickets are charged $7 rather than $5. Did I misunderstand the ticket sale?

MOS had a bad reputation because it was often difficult to get an appointment and their prices for routine maintenance were higher than MOA. Bad reps tend to linger long past the time when the issues have been resolved.

No clue. But you are still under the maintenance and warranty programs, correct? I'd ask the dealer to check it out when you take it in for your scheduled oil change.

Gawd, I should check the forums more often.

Yes. 2009 Cooper S Auto. Amount of consumption varies - I had to add a quart at the end of the Dragon festivities. It depends on how long the car is running and how hot.

We can definitely help with the sea foaming - Craig gave me pointers when I did mine. But, I don't think there's any reasonable explanation for needing sea foam when you had the shell blasting just four months ago. The engines have some carbon build up but it shouldn't be that much. Opinions from the auto gurus in the club?

Great pictures! I love the motion shots. It was pretty cool watching you set up and take the 80s rocker chick shots Friday night with the fog and lighting. I'm slowly adjusting to the slower driving pace. I was driving on Beulah road in Vienna with a few twists and came up to a 15mph caution sign. After taking the curve I burst out laughing because in NC that's a 45mph caution only. Yep we are not in NC anymore.

The traffic! The slow cars! The straight roads! Arghhh. This is a bigger adjustment than I remember from last time. My first indication that we were no longer in Mini Heaven was on I81 when the convoys kept getting stuck behind trucks trying to pass other trucks. Really? I hope everyone got back safely and is keeping the road rage to a minimum. Motor On. :motor:

Less than 24 hours for me and I'll be there. Woo-hooo!!!:rock:

Hey that's a great idea. What time do you open your café in the morning? :top:

What time is the Monday dinner? I'll be arriving Monday but may get there in time only for scotch. I'm not a real scotch connoisseur (only Johnnie Walker) so I'm bringing Knob Creek bourbon. I hope that doesn't offend anyone.