elpollodiablo

I LOL'd

That's actually a brilliant idea. Good call!

Good lookin Countryman! Where'd you find the chrome ringed badge holders?

Actually if you're talking 450mi round trip. . .the ridgeline drive through shenendoah park is one of the most beautiful I've seen in the area. Beautiful and twisty. . .but it is a natl forest. Also out by harper's ferry there were some pretty amazing roads. . .harper's ferry is a pretty fun tourist destination as well. Neat history.

+1

I just had a set of silver rims painted matte black. . .ended up costing ~$300 for the set. Could be a good alternative if you already like the style you have

Heeeere's what you need for your horn: http://gizmodo.com/5907889/the-worlds-loudest-bike-horn-is-more-deafening-than-a-747-taking-off

It's exactly what I did. . .'Except on the R53 there's a horn mounted behind each headlight. I mounted them to the stock mounting locations (had to bend the hella mounts a little though.) I then cut the OEM wiring piece off of the crappy stock horns, soldered on some leads with female spade connectors and hooked that to the hella's so I didn't have to cut the stock wiring harness. Slicker'n snot Didn't have to do any extra wiring for the relays or anything. You do have to take off the whole bumper as Craig says, they're just too big to fit in the little access hole (at least with my giant monkey hands.)

I'm currently running a set of Hella Supertones and I love 'em. They're a lot louder than stock and don't sound like anything else I've heard Also like the FIAMM ElGrande horns. . .makes you sound more like a big SUV than an itty bitty mini! Install on the supertones was a little tight in the stock location but not bad. The El Grandes are almost exactly the same size as the originals.

Got my votes in at home and work

Those are serious accusations you're making and I'd appreciate you not making them unless you know the facts. I'm following the letter of the law. Me and my vehicles go back and forth from location to location (mostly KS) and my vehicles spend more than half of the year parked off of Virginia soil. I do pay a $100 registration fee with the VA DMV.

I have a KS driver's license. I own a car, real estate, a home, a business and pay taxes in KS. George W maintained a residence and his state of record in TX but spent less than a week out of the year there. . .I spend far more time back in KS than that, don't see why I can't. I move my insurance back and forth depending on what state my cars are parked at the time. Don't worry, i'm not committing fraud.

The "parking sticker" for arlington (at least my neighborhood) is $22. They have some crazy other rules about registering your car. . .My car is registered in Kansas. . .I got sent a ticket in the mail (i park in off street parking. . not sure how they found out that I was parking there) they *insisted* that if I kept my vehicle in Arlington for more than 2 months out of the year that I have to get plates and register my vehicle in VA. After about a dozen phonecalls and letters with me telling them arguing and telling them it's illegal what they're doing, they told me that I could pay a $100 "alternate state registration tax" and if I didn't they'd put a lien on my car. I think i've still got all the letters and docs back and forth on this. I'll see if I can scan them all and upload. It's a complete racket they're running. Don't even let me get on my soapbox about speed/stoplight cameras! I ended up paying the fee. . .still keeping my car registered in KS though. The difference in yearly vehicle taxes more than makes up the difference. Again, I suspect it's injust and could be fought in court but the amount of time and energy is reaching the point of diminishing returns. I've lived all over the place. . .I've *never* seen a corrupt system like the Commonwealth of Virginia. Oh well, this is where the jobs are so I'll have to put up with it.

Yup, you were the only reason I called in and asked. Sure enough. I spent 3 hours on the phone being passed around trying to get an "Exemption". Turns out the court police or court marshall's office (i'll have to check my notes on whatever they were called) are the only ones that can give you a pass on it and they conveniently never answer their phone or return calls. Seems like willful obstruction of justice to me!

As for fighting it, i called the commonwealth attorney. . .she said the law is based on where you are. Same thing with radar detectors. Doesn't matter where you're licensed. . .if you're using it in their jurisdiction, you're guilty. Again with the tint, I don't think it's something most officers even bother with unless they've got a chip on their shoulders about something. Anyway, I like my dark tint. If i have to pay a $60 "tax" to keep it then so be it. (sorry for derailing the thread!)

Truth be told, I don't think most officers care about the tint. . .it's more of a side law that can be tacked on if either someone is being a jerk or the officer is having a bad day. The officer that pulled me over for allegedly running a red light (I didn't) was being a total jerk with no reason that I could see. Made me roll my window back *up* so he could test the tint. . .he was looking for trouble. I had GPS proof that I was innocent (shows me sitting for 8 seconds in the middle of the innersection committed to the turn, turned 45* towards the road I was turning into.) Then the messed up rules with the court system disallowed my GPS proof in court citing "no electronic devices in the court to help prevent terroritst attacks". Name one instance in the history of our fine country where a terrorist attack happened on a traffic court. bleah. So I got stuck with a $270 tickets for all of that. Shameful they let such people be "law enforcement". Sorry for the rant! Bah! But I suppose for all the times i deserve a ticket and don't get one, it's fitting that this should happen.

Btw, ticket for too dark tint in va is $60 (doh!) (i'm running 35% on the sides and back. . .legal in KS where my vehicle is tagged but the local constabulary didn't seem to care) When you do your tint (if it matters to you), don't forget that the mini comes with a tiny bit of tint form the factory. . .when the officer checked my windows, they were actually about 5% darker than advertised.

I had this issue with my vorshlags. . .make sure the two locking nuts on top of the pillow ball are tight. Mine had loosened up after about 200 miles. . .added a little loctite threadlock and they've stayed tight since. Was able to take the adjustment knob off and fit a socket completely over the strut end to tighten each nut down as well. . .it's a 2 minute fix.

Yup, they're the stock black side skirts that comes with all minis. They seem too nice to throw out but i don't know what to do with 'em!

No on the HK radio, the dice website says it's compatible with: 2002-2006 MINI Cooper & Cooper S Coupe (R50/R53) 2005-2008 MINI Cooper & Cooper S Convertible (R52) 2006-2008 MINI Cooper GP

The "Cooper S" is on the shiny sill plate part of the side skirts - it's what came stock with mine. http://www.mini-delta.com/b/upload/save_image/EX0075-c.jpg

Woah! Looks great! Good work!

BMW shark fin that goes on their 3 series might work. I've seen these on sale on ebay. . .do a search for "BMW Shark Fin OEM" to find the original working factory ones. . .might even be able to find one painted in your color. Edit. . .i guess there are issues with the contour. You could re-contour the base but that could be tough getting it just right. As for the nav and everything else. . .are the guts still good in yours? You could swap the internals out/splice the wires. Guess the real question is how much fabrication do you want to do to get it right. And CMCVEAY is right, it's gonna cost.

FYI, The new minifini link uses a standard square trailer receiver.

He TGGRRR, which tune did you end up getting?