Category: General

Someone on the Yahoo group for the MINI club posted recently about the annual San Diego British Car Day and Picnic taking place this Sunday and I am thinking of going. But I have the car window fix taking place on Saturday and I don’t feel like driving over there twice in one weekend. And I will be back there again on Monday.

So, since the window is still working, I called Brecht and cancelled the motor swap. We’ll see if I get to the car show. Teri can’t make it so I will be going alone.

The stripes are ordered, can’t wait to get them.

Its been 6 weeks since I ordered my personal plates, wonder where they are?

The new coolant tank seems to be holding up well, the window is still working and now I am thinking about mods. My other vehicle is nicely kitted out:

I can’t have Sarah feeling like she isn’t as well loved: for she surely is.

So right now I am thinking it would be great to get the K and N Intake Filter and rev my baby up a little. First though, I want some bonnet stripes. And after taking pretty much the whole afternoon looking at websites I have decided on the Shelby Style ones from Cooper Flags:

Not sure if I will try installing them myself or not, guess I will see how it looks when they arrive.

A few days after the Stomp my MINI again comes close to overheating at the car wash. Getting it home I check the coolant to find the tank bone dry. Oops. Guess I have a leak somewhere.

Some research on the net shows that its likely to be a leaky tank and a little poking around makes me think that is right. So here I am at Brecht’s again but at least I can get the window fixed too while I am here.

Except that on the way here this morning, the window started working again!! I had read that it might though I don’t appreciate the timing of it, how will Brecht find how to fix it?

The tank is replaced and a new motor ordered for the window meaning I will have to come back again for that.

Sometime during August I joined the SoCal MINI Maniacs Car Club and signed up to join them on a trip to a grape stomping at one of the Julian wineries.

The trip was a blast, 45 MINIs snaking their way around the country roads was quite a sight and there are some excellent pictures to be found here:

• My pictures
• DB MINI pics
• JC’s pictures

The parking for the event was in a rough field on an incline and there was much clutch burning smells as we waited for our turn to park. My temperature guage had started to rise, I turned off the a/c which helped for a while but eventually I had to turn the engine off until it was our turn to move. Time for another call to Brecht when I get home.

Hmm.. today the passenger window won’t move. It sounds like the relay is operating on the switch but there is no sound from the motor or movement from the glass. With the service centre so far away, I guess I will just live with it. Its too hot right now (110F) to have the windows down anyway.

Since the car had almost 10,000 miles on the clock when I bought it, it was about ready for it’s first scheduled oil change. The nearest MINI service centre is Brecht’s in Escondido, about 130 miles away. I was very impressed with the setup at Scottsdale but figured I would see what Brecht was like before deciding whether to make the long drive east.

During the previous week, Sarah had come very close to overheating whilst waiting at the line for the car wash. The needle had gone almost all the way to the top whilst ilding; a speedy exit had fixed it. So I wanted Brecht to take a look at the cooling system.

When I checked in for the service, the rep was fairly off hand. They were too busy to look at the cooling system (even though I had told them about it when I make the appt), especially if I was going to wait for the work to be done.

I sat in their lounge for a couple of hours and was told the car was ready. They had done a quick check of the cooling but other than the fluid being low they didn’t see anything obvious (such as the fuse being out). I had gone less than a mile when the flat tyre light came on so I went back and had it checked out. No flats, so they reset the warning light and I went home.

The MINI definitely turns heads, especially out here when most people have shiny huge trucks, the cute stylish MINI looks somewhat out of place. I get lots of admiring glances, or rather my MINI does, as we drive around. Still getting used to the clutch and those low torques but it certainly is a heck of a lot of fun to drive.

My wife and I set off to Scottsdale early in the morning, the cell phone on in case Debi calls to say that the MINI has gone. What a bad feeling that would be! We get to the dealer around 10.30, go up the lift to the showroom and there on the lot it is – it’s still there and it looks perfect!

A short test drive, lots of paperwork and waiting around later and I am on the freeway in my shiny new MINI, who I have instantly named Sarah in honour of my old Peugeot 205 which I loved. I’ve only gone a few miles and a velvet red MINI pulls alongside, the driver waving and smiling; I can’t help to do the same back.

It sure is a long drive back to Brawley but the MINI is surprisingly comfortable and certainly nippy enough to make good progress. The cruise control acts oddly, no matter what I set it to it always starts 5mph or so less, eventually gets to what I set it to but after a while wanders around. The low torque is difficult to get used to, you wouldn’t think I have driven a manual car all my life from the way I am pulling away.

Some pictures:

Still available….

Debi emails me to say it is still available.