After nearly a month of waiting... the new shift knob is here! (try and contain your excitement)- Seriously it is pretty cool though. Here's a pic that I took with my phone shortly after installation (which took about 30 seconds):



(I know the pic quality isn't that great- I'll try and get a better one up soon)

The knob itself is really cool though and very high quality. It weighs about a half pound- which is nice for smooth shifting, and looks fantastic in the car- definitely a worthwhile upgrade. Of course now I really really want a short-shift kit to go with it- perhaps in the near future- we'll have to see.

Over and out...
posted by Steve   Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Well not really. A pic of my car has recently been placed in the Gallery on OutMotoring.com. Which is pretty cool. Those guys run a great site and I'm happy that they not only accepted my picture but placed it front and center.

In other news I just got a notice that my new shift knob is in the mail- which is AWESOME.

Here's a pic from RSpeed.net where I ordered it:



So I think I should get it either by the end of this week or at the latest on Monday. (Can't wait- it's shiny)

Other than that MINI got a good wash yesterday and looks great. The car has been performing very well and I don't have any complaints. After a week or so with the new garage door button installed I have to say that it's very convenient and works really well :)

Oh! I just found out that the LA Chapter of the BMWCCA is hosting and Autocross on November 16th- which I would love to attend. I don't have any details yet but am in the process of getting them. I haven't participated in any events since I moved to LA and it would feel great to get the MINI on a track- though it may mean that I have to buy a helmet (cha-ching $$$)- we'll see.

So keep yer fingers crossed for some good old fashioned racing on the 16th- I'll let you know when I learn more.
posted by Steve   Thursday, October 16, 2003

That would be one way to describe the original "Italian Job" staring Michael Caine. I recently bought this movie on DVD and got around to watching it for the first time this past weekend. I was a little nervous about all the recent hype- all the cries of "heresy" when comparing the recent remake to this cult classic. Would this film actually live up to the hype? What I was expecting was a good old-fashioned caper flick- with cool characters, great dialogue and awesome car chases. It was not that.

I would describe this movie as a "Screwball Caper"- it was more of a comedy than an action film - There was no real sense of urgency or danger at any point and the action was kept to a minimum. That is not to say that it's a bad film. The picture has many merits- some of which include awesome eye candy in the form of both old English sports cars of all shapes and sizes and some of the best women the 60's had to offer.

The much famed "MINI chase sequence" was not at all what I expected- in my mind it looked a lot more like the chase from "The Bourne Identity"- fast and a little dangerous- in which the MINI successfully outruns much more powerful cars through agility and the ability to fit through really really small spaces. Instead the chase was more of an automotive-ballet in which three very trick coopers are pursued by a bottomless supply of lame Italian cops in crappy fiats. The sequence had its moments though- the rooftop jump was awesome, and I generally liked watching the MINIs drive around- through water, mud, woods, museums, rooftops, drainpipes etc- but not only was there little or no edge of your seat excitement- there was no music?! not until they finally escaped anyway. I would have to say that overall the chase was very cool for what it was- though I was expecting something entirely different.

Still... I liked it- it's definitely quirky and funny and loaded with character- and man did they throw a lot of cars off of cliffs- I think probably 7 or 8 total and all of them were gorgeous- If I recall correctly- they trash: a Lamborghini, 3 minis, 2 jag e-types and an Aston martin- so that is 7 that I can remember- All I can say is I hope they were fakes 'cause they were beautiful before their swan dives.

As far as comparisons go between the old and newer versions of the film- much homage was paid to the original version including some near identical shots during the chase sequence.

I would recommend this film to anyone who's into classic cars and likes "English humor" (Monty Python etc.- though it's not that kind of hilarious). I would also mention that this movie is as much a 90-minute car commercial for MINI as the recent release- not that there's anything wrong with that...

posted by Steve   Monday, October 13, 2003

In the year that I've had this car just about every passenger has had the same reaction the first time they see the interior:

"Whoa! Cool speedometer! Hey... one of your little switches is missing... you should install and ejector seat button there!"

To which I respond:

"Yeah that would be cool but it would have to look perfect and actually do something..."

Which brings me to this weekends activities. Something that has always bugged me a little about the MINI is the lack of a convenient space for my garage door opener. Up until recently I just had it sitting in the door pocket- but it slides around when cornering and just seems sloppy. The other day I was poking around Bridger How To's and came accross a neat one on how to turn that empty toggle switch bay (normally reserved for rear foglights...) into a garage door opener switch. Feeling up for the challenge- and a little bored - since I haven't worked on the car in a while I took a trip to Radio Shack on my lunch hour...

One weekend and $23.75 later I had this stuff...



and a personalized and functional kick-ass little red button sitting in the dash. I've never been so excited to drive in and out of my parking garage (it's the little things isn't it?)

I took a few pictures of the procedure which consisted of dissassembling most of the lower dash and removing the two center pillars from the center console. The scariest part was not wiring the electronics- it was removing the knee-bolster under the steering column. Upon first inspection there seemed to be no good obvious way to get this out- no screws, no clips etc. Hesitant to leave things worse than I had found them I decided to consult the online "How To" once more. Their advice on this issue was to simply grab underneath the steering column and pull with both hands (so basically just rip the thing off) added to this advice was the note: "DON'T WORRY YOU WON'T BREAK IT" - I have to say that this left me wondering if they would be held responsible if I did break it?

I decided not and went back downstairs. I got in the drivers seat- reached under the column- got a good hand-hold and pulled down... at first nothing- then WHAM! Instantly the entire knee-bolster was on the floormat and my chin was on the steering wheel. So that happened. Surprisingly nothing was broken- including my jaw and I guess that is infact the procedure for removing that part of the dash- (silly bavarians).

The next challenge was to remove the center column pillars which seemed easier than it turned out to be- inorder to remove those I had to loosen the console around the stickshift and mirror adjustment switch. Six screws later the dash looked like this:



Once I had the switch bay out I decided to do the wiring and alterations upstairs in the comfort of my apartment (Special thanks to Kerry for letting me turn the kitchen table into a workbench- on which I soldered, drilled, filed and sanded).

The first job in the wiring was to connect wires to the switch- I simply soldered two lengths of wire to the two terminals on the switch and set that aside. A note on the switch: RadioShack had a great variety of switches- I chose a momentary switch (one that only closes the circuit while you are pressing it and opens it again upon release)- I bought two- a red one and a black one (the black one was if I chickened out on the red) Once I saw the red one in place though I was sure it was the one.

Now came the tricky part of the job- thats the part of the job where you go just far enough that you can't go back- you are now commited to finishing- This point was achieved when I drilled into the face plate of the switch bay- no going back now...

It turns out that the switch assembly is setup perfectly to accomodate an aftermarket switch and has ample room for extra wires and all that good stuff. The toughest part of getting the switch into the plate was making the hole big enough. My largest drill bit didn't quite cut it- so I rolled up some sand paper and had at it until the switch would go in. Once I had done that and the switch in place I moved onto the garage door opener assembly.

I was lucky enough to get an extra garage door opener from a friend who had one laying around- this is important because if I screwed it up when i was taking it apart and rewiring it- i would still have a backup and be able to get in my garage :) . The setup inside the opener is pretty simple and by tracing the circuits I was able to find the two spots on the back of the board where the current switch was connected. I soldered the wires from the new switch right onto the back of the circuit board and then put the whole opener back together. The result looked like this:



Now back down to the car...

One issue to deal with was the fact that since I'm not wiring this opener into the cars electrical system, it still has to get power from the standard 9V battery- which is fine- until I have to change it- so it has to remain accessable. Luckily there is a mysterious trap door in the panel underneath the switch bay in the center console- seemingly made for this specific application- and that's where the opener lives right now. I used some velcro tape to secure it to the inside of the panel and when I need to change the battery I can simply pop it open and replace it.

 

The finished product looks like this:



I have to say that I'm really happy with the result. I think it looks really cool and am glad that it actually does something. So far the reaction has been good from those who have seen it and it was relatively cheap and easy.

Next mod: Shift knob change (if it ever gets back from the chromer...)
posted by Steve   Monday, October 06, 2003

Site's done!

And now the blog section is powered by Blogger for easy updates and quick turnarounds from wherever I may be. So that's cool.

This weekend I'm planning on doing some MINI customization in the form of a built in hardwired garage door opener switch that will reside amongst the toggle switches in the center console. I think it may be a little red button though I'm still deciding. I will post pics of the procedure and results as well as detailed instructions once it's all done.

I also just found out that my new shiftknob is on backorder and could take as long as a month to get here (something about a backup at the chromer) -so that's a bummer.

Other than that the car is great and I'm looking forward to the weekend.
posted by Steve   Thursday, October 02, 2003