1st Gear New members: make an initial post and introduce yourself as you shift from Neutral to First Gear. Current members: meet some of the new members.
Sponsored by:
Sponsored by:

Picking up my new to me 2005 Liquid Yellow MCS on Friday!!!

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
  #1  
Old 11-20-2012, 08:07 AM
megaDan's Avatar
megaDan
megaDan is offline
4th Gear
Thread Starter
iTrader: (5)
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: SE WI
Posts: 494
Received 191 Likes on 121 Posts
Picking up my new to me 2005 Liquid Yellow MCS on Friday!!!

I've already spent far too much time lurking here. Now that I'm officially going to be a Mini owner I should probably introduce myself as I can see myself wasting lots of time on NAM.

Bit of history:
Bought my first car (my own) in 2007, a 1997 Volkswagen Golf GTI VR6. This is the car that got me into wrenching and other fun cars. After 2 years of ownership the differential exploded on the freeway during a road trip and rather than paying a local shop to do it I towed the car home and taught myself to fix it over the summer. This was the job that gave me the confidence to tackle any project.

I bought my second car, a 1990 300ZX Twin Turbo in the fall of 2008. I wanted a second car that would be my 'fun' car and also be a spare for when maintenance or repair issues popped up. This car was my DD during the summer of 2009 when my transmission exploded in the GTI. Last year I rebuilt the motor in the 300ZX with forged pistons and bigger turbos, and this fall I dynoed at 350whp at just 15psi with my own tune. This winter's mods should push me well past 400rwhp.

I recently accepted a new position about 400 miles from where I currently live, and my commute will increase from about 3 miles each way to approximately 30. Starting a new job is exciting, but now that my GTI is showing many signs of age...most specifically rust, I decided it was time for a newer more 'reliable' car to get me to work. I didn't test drive a whole lot, really just an Acura CL32 Type S and a 2001 Civic SI, and neither we're all that enjoyable. I was looking for anything fun with 4 seats. I had been looking at Mini's before I bought my 300zx, but they were out of my price range back then. I test drove my first one (2005 MCS) about 2 weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I pretty much knew right away it was what I wanted. Last week I found a 2005 Liquid Yellow MCS with 43000 miles that I'll be picking up on Friday! One owner, exterior is in great shape, no door sill rust.

I've been reading as much as I can in the forums trying to decide what preventative maintenance to take care of first, and what to put off until the spring. There are quite a few issues it seems that pop up in these cars, but it looks like most can be prevented (aluminum expansion tank, SC oil changes, etc) and I'm pretty handy so I have a feeling it will be pretty similar to my GTI. I'd like to get 50-60k trouble free miles out of it if I can.

Have I mentioned how excited I am? I figure I'll drive it for the winter as it is, and next spring when I install the SC oil change kit I'll put a 15% pulley on and have way too much fun driving it.
 
  #2  
Old 11-20-2012, 08:12 AM
amancuso's Avatar
amancuso
amancuso is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Burlington, New Jersey
Posts: 1,036
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sounds great, and welcome!
 
  #3  
Old 11-20-2012, 08:27 AM
minsanity's Avatar
minsanity
minsanity is offline
6th Gear
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,501
Received 23 Likes on 20 Posts
Congrats! You know what to look out for: mushrooming, harmonic damper, thermostat, 1st stage fan resistor, PS fan, stuck seat recline mechanism, leaking motormounts, belt tensioner damper....all minor stuff if you tackle them 1 by 1.
 
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
STR3T
Interior/Exterior
12
05-23-2016 03:27 AM
sevin
1st Gear
125
02-01-2016 11:30 AM
mdutton11
R52 :: Cabrio Talk (2005-2008)
14
10-26-2015 01:47 PM
Mini Mania
Drivetrain Products
0
08-21-2015 08:44 AM
mini yellow-haa!
R50/R53 :: Hatch Talk (2002-2006)
8
08-13-2015 11:18 AM



Quick Reply: Picking up my new to me 2005 Liquid Yellow MCS on Friday!!!



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:23 AM.