I finished the ignition upgrade last night. The latest performance project for the MINI was to improve the ignition system to match the improvements in airflow in and out of the engine. Because the smaller pulley produces more boost, the induction air is a bit hotter than stock. Since the air is hotter, the spark …
This past long weekend I picked up a new Alta Performance Exhaust. The cat-back exhaust is a relatively simple DIY project if you don’t mind getting under the car. If you have a lift or a pit, I’d say it could easily be done in a couple of hours. The exhaust ships in two boxes. …
We just got back from our annual trip to California. This year it was all about good food, beaches, historic automobile racing, and deck building. This year Cooper race cars were the featured marque along with a tribute to Jack Brabham. Once again we enjoyed the hospitality of the Golden Gate and Central California Chapters …
It’s been a busy couple of weeks. The E30 convertible is pretty well sorted out now. I think I have one, maybe two more projects to do on it this summer but as a daily driver it’s all set. Work to date: New Windshield New Tires (Yokohama AVID H4S) and alignment MD State Inspection and …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
I recently made a couple of mods that have really changed the character of the MINI. The latest mod you can barely see lurking behind the rotor in the picture below. I took out the stock sway bar and replaced it with an Alta adjustable 22mm. Even on the softest of the three settings I …