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NAMCC Summit Point

We took the afternoon off and drove the new convertible up to see the North American MINI Cooper Challenge at Summit Point, West Virginia.  Randy Webb won the first race and Steve Diniz won the second in a day of very exciting MINI racing at Summit Point.  Run in conjunction with the Phil Wicks Driving Academy and taking place during MINI Meet East, there was a pretty good turn-out for a mid-week event.  We got really lucky with the weather given all of the flooding of the past week.  We just caught the last two laps of the first race but were there for all of the second.

At the start of the second race, Steve Diniz got the jump on Randy Webb into the Karussel and took the early lead.  They were running neck-and-neck going into the back straight, but when the came out of the hairpin Randy was back in the lead and pulling away.  It was a very close race for the first 5 laps or so.  Steve seemed to have the advantage in cornering and Randy in horsepower.  Going into the Karussel, Steve was a little late on the brakes and took a brief off-course adventure around the outside of the turn.  He was very fortunate not to visit the tire barrier.  It looked like Randy had the second race wrapped up and then he disappeared on the backside of the course.  I heard he may have run out of gas which is a disappointing end to an excellent race.

Many more photos on Flickr.

New Project Car, BMW 325iC

87 325iC

My wife would always joke about wanting a convertible when she turned 40. The challenge was to find one that would carry all three of us and enough gear to actually go on a trip with it. As a kid, I used to ride around on the parcel shelf of my parent’s Alfa, which probably wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but back then a “child seat” was the carpeted hump in front of the rear seats in the 20 foot station wagon.

So I got to thinking, why wait, since 40 is still several years away. I found this car listed for sale by a fellow member of the local BMW club. It’s basically a sound daily driver, high mileage (165k), tired paint and interior.

Front Seats

A solid $2k car that with a little TLC could be an excellent $4k car, but not likely to ever be worth much more than $5k. With that in mind, I launched my little scheme and achieved total surprise.

Here’s my cunning plan: Safety; comfort; performance; and appearance. The first step is to pass the safety inspection and get the car titled in Maryland. Level-set the maintenance items (new tires; oil change; change the fluids; timing belt, etc.) and make sure the car is safe to drive. Next is to clean it up and find some decent seat covers.

Back Seats

The leather is not torn, but much of the stitching is coming un-done. It actually cleaned-up better than I thought it would.

After Initial Cleaning

The top is new and the windshield was just replaced. The headlights are new and all of the major bulbs have been replaced. (It came with a hard-top as well, but it needs a new headliner.) Once I get a cover for the steering wheel, the comfort items should be about done for now. (Not sure how to get a cupholder into the car, but I’m sure someone has a slick option for that since this was made pre-big-gulp.)

Once we get some miles on the car, I’ll figure out what can be done performance-wise. I don’t think much beyond some plugs, new coil, and a better air filter. More will come later. Finally it would be nice to get a new coat of paint. Assuming everything else hasn’t busted the budget, maybe try to get a basic respray that will last 3-5 years.

Rust Never Sleeps

MINI rust

Rust… Rust Never Sleeps. Deep breath. Flashbacks to Alfas of the past… Don’t panic. If you’ve been following the threads on the message boards lately, MINI owners are in a tizzy because of a little rust under the door seal. It’s amazing how far automobile manufacturing has come that a little rust now causes a big stir. I remember how Alfas used to rust before they left the factory.

Yes, there are a couple of places that are likely to rust. Yes it’s covered under the extended rust warranty. Now move on. Here’s what you do: First, just pull on the seal and see if you have it. There are two spots that seem to have missed getting painted in the overly-complex paint-dipping mechanism (to quote Dr. Evil), and a spot toward the front that seems to be a production gap. Next, use a small brass brush to knock the surface rust off. And finally, paint a dab of Por-15 to seal it. Let dry and put your seal back on. Be sure to check the other side.

Tighten the Nut Behind the Wheel

There’s an old saying in Motorsports that if you want to go faster, you should start by tightening the nut behind the wheel. It’s easy to blow a big chunk of cash on go-fast goodies for your car, but if you can’t find the line through a curve or you just aren’t smooth, you’ll never be fast.

I’ve recently taken up Autocross. Although I’m waaaaaay at the back of the pack (and unfortunately classified in the mod-till-you-drop Street Mod class) I’m having a blast. It started with a desire to improve my general driving skills. The more time I spend on the freeways around Washington DC, the more I’m convinced most of my fellow drivers are morons. One in four seems to have a cellphone surgically attached to their head. Of the remaining three, two are tail-gaiting each other at 85 MPH in SUVs with under-inflated tires.

Figuring a good offense is the best defense, I started to think about my own driving skills and my ability to avoid bad situations. In the asphalt jungle of “fight or flight” the MINI driver’s only defense is flight. It started with a highway safety course at the Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point put on by the local BMW club. That was followed by a high performance driver’s course on the same circuit.

This past weekend, I attended another driver’s school on the Shenandoah circuit. Now I’m hooked. These are not racing schools. There’s no wheel-to-wheel competition. It’s all about control and knowing your (and your car’s) limits. I hope the skills I’m improving on the track will improve my autocross skills as well.

Free Horsepower. MINI Cowl Mod DIY

Remember that an internal combustion engine is really just an air pump. In the Spring 2006 issue of MC2 Magazine Matt Richter explains the Ideal Gas Law in simple terms. Now you’re thinking Zzzzzzzzz, but it’s really very interesting.

The stock Cooper S is able to get a 50 hp boost over the Cooper by virtue of the supercharger. By increasing the pressure of the air entering the combustion chamber, the engine is able to produce more power with the same volume of engine displacement. The increase in pressure is accompanied by an increase in temperature — hence the intercooler. The intercooler drops most of the temperature gain while retaining the benefit of the boost. Make the intake path more free flowing and increase the pressure gain some more.

The first step is to replace the stock filter element with a cold air intake (CAI). Make the pulley smaller, the supercharger spins faster (produces a bit more heat) and the pressure increases some more. The next step is to increase the amount of air available to the filter. That’s where today’s mod comes in. This works if your CAI leaves the stock cowl in place. And it’s free.

The idea is quite simple: Modify the cowl behind the air filter to draw air from the cowl vent below the windshield. The panel behind the intake is not structural, but it still makes sense to remove it first before making the modification so you don’t mess up your brake lines which are directly behind the panel. In my case, I first bought a panel to modify from MINI (part number ) so I’ll still have my original piece should I ever need to swap back. (OK, so not really free, but still cheap.)

I drilled six holes with a hand drill above the center line in the panel. Randy Webb has posted very clear instructions here. The procedure takes about 30 minutes. You remove the cover to the intercooler; your CAI; disconnect the ECU; pull out the lower air box; and pull out the panel. Replace the panel with your “holey” one and reverse the order above. At low RPMs you will not notice a change in the intake noise, but above 5,000 RPMs there is a slight increase in the supercharger scream. I actually enjoy that sound. Here’s what it looks like when it’s all back together.

finished mod

Update: Jan 2015. Randy has long shut down his MINI site so I pulled the instructions from the internet archive. No photos, but simple enough to follow along.