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orcadog

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Everything posted by orcadog

  1. It's pretty much available wherever you would buy your car cleaning supplies. I think Wal-Mart has it and of course Pep-Boys would surely have it. I THINK I picked up mine at Advance Auto last time (just because it's the closest place to my house to buy automotive what-have-you's)
  2. No, not really. If you're not mechnically inclined it will seem a little scary at first, but it's really one of the more simple things you can do. Fronts are the easiest, and the rears (at least on the R53) are a little tougher just because of the lack of slack in the brake lines.
  3. I also run the Hawk Ceramics. And they are very good re: dusting. And they are quiet. Though I did have issues with them bedding correctly even though I followed their procedures to the "T". A couple of phone calls to Hawk got them to "admit" that they had issues with them bedding-in to brand new rotors. I thought that was odd, but after taking the pads off, and scuffing them and the rotors with 120 grit (as instructed by Hawk) they seem to be operating within spec. (if you want full disclosure PM me - it's a long tale!) I have not had the opportunity to track these pads yet, I did not have issue with my stock pads so I am hopeful that these will perform at least equal to them on the track. ALSO - Although I mostly use Meguires car care products, I have found that Eagle One makes a good spray on "wheel wax". It does a REMARKABLE job IMHO. It comes in a yellow "Windex" style bottle. If I were to find that these Hawk pads are problematic, I would revert to OEM pads and just use the Eagle One...it's that good. -Ryan
  4. What about that DIY place in Sterling? Think you could work a deal out with them? I was just thinking that using a "shop" of some kind would be less likely to have someone call the fire department or the cops over all the "toxic smoke". Dealer might not be too keen on getting mixed up in "non-factory recommended maintenance" events.
  5. Indeed - thanks to this thread, I did my "other" car - a '97 Isuzu trooper with 184,000 on it. The engines in those are famous for valve train tick due to build up on the valves. Usually I can run some lower viscosity oil through it and that fixes the issue for a while. But this time I had the "tick" so bad it sounded like a Cummins diesel. Long story medium, I seafoamed it, it smoked like heck for 2 or 3 minutes but it's been very very smooth since. Oddly, none of my neighbors questioned why that old beast was smoking! It should be noted that I put 1/2 in the crank case and left it in there about a week (50-70 miles of driving) and then sucked up 1/2 in to the PCV that weekend. I put another 15-20 miles on it and did an oil change.
  6. ...And I'll refer back to my posts 10 and 12. Have you had the autoparts store folks check out the battery/charging system? Sounds like a battery, but I'd hate to buy a battery and that NOT be the issue.
  7. SOoooo, any resolution on this?
  8. Again, it could be many things - I don't recall ever hearing of a common hard start issue with the R53. I'm 1.5 hours to the nearest dealer, so I always explore before I take it to the dealer. You guys have a (relative) plethora of dealerships to choose from so you might just want to take it in. If you have an autoparts store near by you could take in to see if the charging system is operating within spec. They normally do that for free.
  9. It could be a lot of things. From something simple like a battery that is slowly dying to a leaking injector. (I had a hard starting issue last summer that was due to a leaking injector) Has your check engine light come on at all? It's going to be $100 +/- $20 for diagnostic at the dealer - I don't really remember it's been a long while.
  10. I use AVS. They've got software for nearly everything, but I use the video converter, the video editor, and the video remaker (for just trimming them down). And FWIW once you get them uploaded to YouTube, I noticed that they will now let you add text and some other things. It's probably not very powerful, but it sounds like you are just getting your feet wet so it might be an option. Good luck - and don't forget to share when you've got them ready!:rock:
  11. That's awesome - I hear the Phil Wicks programs are great. Especially since they are MINI centric.
  12. Absolutely! Again, I wasn't doubting or knocking your skillz re: The Dragon, Ali. I hope I did not offend. I go to Summit Point to kart all the time, (which is a great and comparatively cheap skill builder) - but I have also done one of their HPDE days and had an instructor who was also an instructor for BMWCCA - top quality stuff IMHO. It would be great fun to get a group of MINI's and take over the HPDE! Friday At The Track (FATT)
  13. Mach V will have your answer....http://www.fastmini.net/wheels.html
  14. I’m just thinking “out loud” here – and this is definitely NOT a poke at you – but if it were me, I know it’s been my experience that changing the way I do things (when you already must be doing them fairly right or you wouldn’t still be with us) and doing so in an unfamiliar place might not be the best idea. I know it’s not “The Ring” but plenty of crazy stuff happens on the dragon, and I guess I’d want to be in my comfort zone when dealing with the unexpected rather than thinking about how I’m gripping the wheel or if I’m matching rev’s correctly or, well, you get the idea. Again, not that you aren’t capable of processing all that, I’m just sayin’ that it might diminish the fun factor a bit. THAT BEING SAID…. Juan Manuel Fangio, one of the greatest drivers of all time, is said to have embraced the shuffle style of steering, but I've seen footage of him with a hand at or near the 12 O'clock position, really working the leverage. So I got thinking and I came to the conclusion that as with most things, there is no singular way that is best at all times. For instance, I’m pretty much a 10&2 or 9&3 kinda guy in my MINI. With a little push/pull action from the bottom rather than going hand over hand if more degrees of steering angle are needed. Personally I do this because my LSD equipped R53 likes to “wander” out of hard turns a bit so I want to have my leverage as close to equal on both sides (while it makes up its mind what side of the road it wants to be on) and still be able to ease the wheel back to dead center. In my Lifted SUV with big tires, I’m all shuffle from the bottom when hustling it through the twisties or in the dirt. I think that’s because of the bigger steering wheel and the much lower steering effort - I can let the wheel glide through my hands as it unwinds and the much higher mass means that it doesn’t change direction as quickly (vs. the MINI where it is too quick to snap back to dead center). Should I over rotate in the SUV, I’m quick to jump back to the more aggressive 10&2 in order to “catch it”. I think the strength in our arms and shoulders is maximized with the more “overhand” grip of the 10&2. So self preservation instinct I think demands that we return to that position where leverage is greatest when we have one of those “oh poop!” moments. Lastly, when I am Karting, I’m all 9&3 or maybe even 8:30&2:30 with a lot of push/pull in the tight corners. There is so much grip that you are constantly wrestling with the wheel and I find that that combination tires me less and gives me good control. The steering wheel angles on a kart are such that you don’t have to be able to move the wheel much, but you do have to work to keep it steady at the angle you need. If there was a point to any of that, other than for me to hear my keyboard clicking away - It's that IMO it takes a combination of techniques to get the most out of what you are doing. Anyhoo, thanks for getting me thinking about that – I’m going karting this weekend at Summit Point and I’m surely going to geek out and analyze what I’m doing!
  15. fes-auto.com now handle's producing the "Ian Cull Auto-Up". I bought mine from them last year. Well, to be acurate, I bought it off ebay, but they were the seller. Ian mentions them on his website as being the new producers. Never could get the auto-fog lights to work. But I bought it for the auto-"DSC off" and the auto-windows. That all works flawlessly and has for a year now. Cheers
  16. This summer I will replace my very awesome Hankook Ventus V12 Evo's with the Dunlop Star Spec's. All of the above tires are nice, but I have heard the most good things about the Star Specs. I like to stuff my tires onto the rims too
  17. Indeed! I bought one when it was on sale earlier this year and love it. I just recently pointed someone to it only to discover they were "out of stock". I sort of inferred from that, and the fact that they don't support any R56 based models, that they are getting out of the MINI business.? Pure speculation on my part. Get these parts while they are on sale! Good Stuff!
  18. They lower the Clubby about an inch and provide "sharper handling characteristics".
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