Cool, ive never seen that before. Looking good though!

 

I took my MINI on his and mine's first ever rally. It was a lot of fun.

 

Today I replaced the coolant overflow on my R53. The job was easy and took less than 20 minutes. First time I've done this job and it was simple. Glad that I don't have to worry about the old tank cracking and spilling fluid all over my engine compartment.

 

Installed an AUX in the glove compartment yesterday.
Getting him ready for MOTD 2016!

 

I did this to mine a few years ago and to me its the best "mod" I ever did !

 

Had some REALLY rough idling problems that I suspected were due to shark injector software that the previous owner had installed. So, today I had my ECU flashed, removing the shark injector. 100% fixed!

 

I decided to go ahead and put an end to other people changing the height position of my seat.

 

Haven't posted on NAM in awhile...Mod wasn't today, but 6 days ago!

I finally put my custom straight pipe exhaust in. Borla 2.5 inch pipe followed by a 24 inch round magnaflow muffler acting as a resonator and a 5x8 magnaflow dual outlet muffler right behind. I have two 6 inch dual walled resonated exhaust tips with carbon fiber. I love the sound it produces! Really deep!

Only complaint I have is the paint I used to cover the exhaust tips. VHT literally can't handle the heat!




This was just after the initial drive from the shop to my house. It's much worse now

 

Looks great! All with no mods to the battery box? How loud is it?

 

Lifted the battery box a few years ago (can't believe it's been that long!). I have a thread on that here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...tallation.html

As for how loud it is... It's not too bad. I feel like it's pretty moderate unless you step on the gas. It drones, though. If you don't mind the road noise from inside an R53 and aren't picky about stuff like that, it should be fine. I haven't heard it outside my car yet, so I'm not quite sure exactly how loud it is.

Staying on the gas going 65-70mph at 3k rpm isn't too bad. At 4k, though, the resonance of the bass booms in the cabin. I don't mind it, but it's all up to the driver (and possibly passengers, but they don't have much of a choice if they ride along )

 

Yes , top mod for music.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-pics-10.html

 

Yea that exhaust looks great. I would sand that stuff out and use black or grey outdoor grill paint from the can. It can withstand the heat and lasts forever. I used it on my stock exhaust tips.

 

Installed front grill S badge.

 

Admittedly not today (more like 5 days ago), but finally binned off the S Spokes and put my white X-Lites on. Never a fan of S Spokes, X-Lites are probably my favourite 1st Gen wheel but sadly are pretty rare in the UK due to the way most R53s were sold (most R53s had Chili Pack which came with 17s).

Fitted some Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalin RE002s, went for 205/50 R16. Very happy with the look and how they feel. To make sure I was happy, I drove over to the factory to get some pictures.








They're getting refurbished, but they're definitely staying white

 

What is a Chili Pack? Good photos by the way.

 

I agree, its weird thought if I am using the cig lighter to charge a phone at the same time as the aux the aux will cut out sometimes..

 

Installed Magnaflow cat back exhaust. It was easier to spray with WD40 the night before on the flange bolts. The sound is great not too loud for Germany. I only need to go back and tighten it again.

 

Cheers

Off the top of my head, the Chili Pack for the UK market R53 in 2002/3 came with;
Air Conditioning
Front fog lights
Half Leather
Xenon Lights
Interior Light Pack
17" wheels
Storage package

 

Took baranby to the car wash after almost 2 months without a bath..he is looking good!

 

Cute puppy, right?





Only problem, this was taken May 18, 2015 in Brussels, and puppies grow. This picture was taken at the Laeken Castle, where the Laekenois variety of the Belgian shepherds originated in the early 1900's. The Laekenois is a separate breed in the AKC, whereas in the rest of the "dog world" he is just a Belgian variety. In the US, the largest Belgian breed in terms of numbers is the Malinois, which are used extensively as military and police dogs.

Obi Wan, one of our two Belgian Laekenois, is going with us on my 3000 miles round trip (home to Sturgis SD to Palm Springs CA to home) portion of MTTS 2016.

After doing a test 1000 mile trip with Obi last October (and finding out he has limits to how hard I can push the Mini in curves without seeing his lunch a second time -- I did see it, multiple times the last thirty minutes before reaching our destination -- though my wife said it was more the roller coaster hill I went over in combination with the whipping through the curves that did it), and seeing how much he has grown since then, I set about this weekends project.

Here are some before pictures:





Obi has obviously been riding back there (he sheds!), but the real problem I was looking to solve was the gap between the folded seats, and the large distance between the back of the seats (if not all the way back) and where the folded back seat ends:







So, let's get to work...

First, take some cardboard boxes, and make your pattern:





Then cut your 3/8" plywood (sorry did not take pictures before covering it), then using 3M 90 adhesive spray fasten "auto trunk carpet" / "speaker enclosure carpet" (surprisingly more difficult than the cutting and fine tuning of the plywood itself), and then here's the final result:





And a couple of close ups with some more detail:








And here's a couple pictures of the happier (and bigger) customer:








I was planning to wash the car today (it needs it bad), but I think I'm going to call it a weekend and drink my wine.

Hope to see many of you during MTTS 2016. Be sure to come by and say hi to Obi -- he's very outgoing and friendly.

P.S. Also posted as it's own thread in the F56 Hatchback area...

 

I finally got and installed my GTT Cold Air Ram Intake today! Very happy with it. I also installed a big air modified cowel.

My only complaint is the open ended cylindrical filter. The little foam piece really doesn't provide much filtration and I feel it will allow too much particulate through. I will be upgrading to an Amsoil Conical style filter very soon.




There she is.




Springs hold the filter in place.




The foam end cap. Since the filter is open all the way through and this is the only filtration provided from the end, i will be upgrading the filter soon.




Before install with old CAI.




Old i dont even know the brand CAI




Old and new cowling. Big hole for more cold air.




Newly installed!

 

Bought a new 1/2" rattle gun this morning and now I am installing my new suspension. Thanks to Pelican Parts for the tech article! I printed out the text and am using that as a guide. When will the book be available? It says Summer 2015 on the website...

Koni FSDs.


I got some Project Silver adjustable top mounts too, just in time by the looks of it!


Also installing a FatCatMotorsport bump stop kit and a new outer ball joint on the drivers side. The one on there was loose as a goose!

Front left wheel nuts are on super tight for some reason and I only found out when it was in the air. Rattle gun isn't budging them. Having a break and a drink before I put it back on the ground and loosen the nuts with a breaker bar.

James

 

So I'm going to cheat since this happened yesterday, but I surpassed 147k miles on Egan. Still mechanically sound, even on original clutch and suspension (the latter of which I plan on replacing potentially this year)

 

Glad we could help with your project! The book is in its final edit stages and hopefully it will be released by the end of fall. Until then if you have any questions just let me know.

 

Changed my key fob