Davis's Cars - I bought a Honda with a stupid wing

[Davis]

I bet if I took the M5 to the track the "bad news" would be so long that the "rock hitting my face" would qualify as good news
Seriously though, looks like great fun, I can't wait to take a car on a track day, really the best way to get to know the car well. Now the serious mods are coming, be careful not to get carried away, or do, that would be nice to see
30 laps is quite a bit even on a 2 minute track, I'd say you came out great with minimal costs and a lot of fun

I so want to get carried away, but I've got to remind myself that this car has to last for about four more years. That, or I pay stupid repair bills throughout college to fix the wear and tear of a track car. :/

What's wrong with coilovers on a DD?

I just can't justify dropping 2 grand to make the car more impractical. The freeway I drive almost every day isn't very smooth (and I like what little ride comfort I have) and I need the little bit of ground clearance I currently have to make it through the winters.

 

[Joey D]

You might want to look at just getting some better struts. Koni makes the FSD kit which is supposed to be a good balance between sporty driving and comfort, I was looking into them when I had my Cooper and they seemed like a good fit.

 

[Davis]

You might want to look at just getting some better struts. Koni makes the FSD kit which is supposed to be a good balance between sporty driving and comfort, I was looking into them when I had my Cooper and they seemed like a good fit.

I don't know how they work but they sound awesome and I added them to my wish list.

 

[Katiegan]

Looks like you had an awesome time! Good to see the Mini seemed to enjoy itself too. 👍

 

[Davis]

I'm 60% sure the strut towers are mushroomed, which would make sense with the age of the car and the stiff suspension on potholey roads.

Also ordered some new engine mounts, because the current upper engine mount has leaked even more overnight, and it is starting to smell foul. Ordered a new lower mount but it doesn't look as cool as this one.

bye bye $300. :/

And then I ordered a new door lock actuator so I can actually open my door from the inside again.

 

[Davis]

Happy birthday to the car, and to me. The Mini is now 10 years old.

GoPros are definitely worth their cost, even if you don't use them that often. Something that versatile and durable is great and the video quality is really nice too barring you don't upload it to YouTube.

I've got a headrest & tow-hook mount coming in the mail for it. Just gotta find a Micro SD somewhere to stick in it.

 

[Katiegan]

Happy birthday Mini! Not looking too bad for its age.

Oh, and happy birthday to you too.

 

[Joey D]

Nice! You can probably use a sticky mount and put in near the lower grill like I did on my car too, it worked out great.

 

[eSZee]

I need a stiffer rear end but I'd like to refrain from coilovers because I still have to drive the car daily.

Do they not make quality coilovers for Coopers?

 

[Davis]

Do they not make quality coilovers for Coopers?

They make some Bilsteins that are 3 grand but I like having some ground clearance. I already scrape on driveways around here as it is.

 

[Davis]

Really impressed with the quality and ability of my GoPro. Here are some vids:

Just a lot of random driving around for now...




This one is of Butterfield Canyon Road, something @Zyla has posted about before in his thread. It's pretty good, but is definitely way too tight in some spots. It's a one lane road that hangs onto a cliff face all the way over the western mountains near the copper mine. Very sketchy and covered with rocks and bikers.



At 9:06 you can see me avoid a Vibe TORRENT that really had no intention of giving any room for me, or slowing down to a safe pace.

 

[Joey D]

I think the offender was a Pontiac Torrent, equally as ugly as a Vibe so understandable

Videos are awesome though! I'm jealous of your roads, all I got is miles and miles of flat, straight two lane roads surround by farms. The bumper mounted one is a nice angle, makes your car look like it's going way faster than you probably are and really picks up your supercharger whine nicely...which is nicer than the Volvo's tour bus sounding 5 cylinder turbo whine.

 

[Davis]

Videos are awesome though! I'm jealous of your roads, all I got is miles and miles of flat, straight two lane roads surround by farms.

Yeah, but you live closer to the Dragon.

The bumper mounted one is a nice angle, makes your car look like it's going way faster than you probably are and really picks up your supercharger whine nicely...which is nicer than the Volvo's tour bus sounding 5 cylinder turbo whine.

👍 I think I topped out at 50ish in the video as I was just driving around my neighborhood.

 

[Ronald6]

Very nice. Butterfield Canyon Rd. looks like a great drive. Video is better in the day, but I bet the drive is better at night, less traffic.

I'm going to have to plan a trip now. I must try that in my own car.

 

[Davis]

Very nice. Butterfield Canyon Rd. looks like a great drive. Video is better in the day, but I bet the drive is better at night, less traffic.

I'm going to have to plan a trip now. I must try that in my own car.

That Subaru would eat it up. It's paved on the way up, and on the way down it looks like a legit rally stage, with smooth gravel and switchbacks through the trees.

At night you run the risk of not being able to see the wildlife, however.

 

[Zyla]

At night you run the risk of not being able to see the wildlife, however.

Yet I take the risk anyway.

 

[Davis]

Staying the night at the shop:

Chillin there with the engine 4 inches up above where it should be. The stock pulley doesn't want to come out, even with special tools designed for taking out R53 pulleys...

This is how badly the engine mount was leaking oil... eugh.

 

[motortrend]

Wow that was a nasty leak, looks like it's in good hands though.

 

[Davis]

Upper:

Lower:

Pulley:

​

Out with the old, in with the new.

Initial thoughts: Good. I've only driven 10 miles with it though.

My aftermarket exhaust doesn't fit quite right (shocking, I know!) and whenever the engine would torque backwards under acceleration, the exhaust would bang up against a lower chassis brace and make a brief knocking sound. I learned to be extra smooth on the gas to avoid it.

However, with the new lower engine mount, because it is made of metal, and has no rubber components like the stock one, the engine no longer torques backwards enough for the exhaust to make its banging noise. This is great because it was really annoying to deal with... but now I get more vibrations through the car when I set off. The car does not vibrate at idle, and is fine above about 2500rpm, but setting off from a stop, a lot more vibrations come through. This is a little annoying, but such is life when driving a modified car. It really isn't that terrible, but I'm so used to the car at this point that anything new feels monumental.

The new pulley is fabulous for freeway driving. The supercharger kicks on a little earlier now, so merging lanes in 6th gear is a breeze, where before I would have to drop down into 5th if I needed to make a quick change. The car is faster throughout the range as well.

The old pulley didn't feel like coming off, so as you can see in the above picture, it was cut off.

The car feels noticeably more solid from the new mounts though. If it wasn't for the increased vibration I would be very very very happy with my purchase.

tl;dr: car feel good ferraridude happy

 

[Davis]

Clay + Wax today. I figured if I was getting the mechanicals fully serviced, I might as well get the outside and inside looking the best it can be. 10 years old and the paint still has lusterrrrrrr.

I'm sick of the stripes and they need to come off. So does the clear-bra on the front. You can see in the pic how dull and dirty the stripes are. One of these days I might just get the whole front end repainted. 💡

 

[homeforsummer]

Removing the stripes altogether, or just replacing them? I'd be loathe to remove them altogether as they're part of what makes the MC40 an MC40.

 

[Davis]

Removing the stripes altogether, or just replacing them? I'd be loathe to remove them altogether as they're part of what makes the MC40 an MC40.

I don't know yet. Probably taking them off.

And they're actually not part of the kit!

 

[homeforsummer]

And they're actually not part of the kit!

Oh, how odd. Maybe I've got so used to seeing stripes on these that I figured they were part of it!

 

[Davis]

Went on a drive with @Zyla today. Big Cottonwood Canyon on a Sunday afternoon is the best. Not a lot of traffic, not terribly hot, and probably the best local road that I know of.

 

[motortrend]

Saw my first MC40 in person yesterday, shame t was in such bad shape

Felt like telling the owner a thing or two. It really is a shame, had a nasty dent on the other door too. At least there's people like you who take care of theirs.

 

[Davis]

Saw my first MC40 in person yesterday, shame t was in such bad shape
View attachment 188898
Felt like telling the owner a thing or two. It really is a shame, had a nasty dent on the other door too. At least there's people like you who take care of theirs.

What a waste of a car. You can see the owner can't be assed to peel off the faded MC sticker, which is like that because it's spent its whole life in the direct sunlight. Looks like he's got a cheap aftermarket exhaust system too.

Strangely enough, his right tail light is cloudy like mine... just not to the same extent.

I don't usually post from mobile but that's just sad.

 

[Minty]

Really nice day today. 👍

How far do you have to drive for a view like that? Because if it's any less than 50 miles I'm going to be extremely jealous. That is gorgeous, and the car looks fantastic, too.

 

[Davis]

How far do you have to drive for a view like that? Because if it's any less than 50 miles I'm going to be extremely jealous. That is gorgeous, and the car looks fantastic, too.

I think it's about 25 miles? I'm not sure really but it's about a 30 minute drive. Mostly freeway miles because it's pretty far south of me.

 

[Davis]

So it was about to rain here today, and there's an awning where I work where customers are allowed to park. Figuring that it's the last 30 minutes of work, and there's an excess of free parking stalls, I could park the Mini under the awning so that it hopefully doesn't get rained on.

Well one of the managers didn't like that, so he told me to move. I told him no, there was absolutely no reason that I couldn't have parked there, and it did not hurt anything. Well he didn't enjoy that... he emailed the General Manager, who told me to move shortly after. Fine. I wasn't even that mad, just annoyed at the pettiness of the situation. (This guy is seriously anal about parking, and has been on my case before. He's a huge micromanager.)

So as I went to move the Mini out of its nice parking spot, it started sprinkling. Normally, I wouldn't care about a little sprinkle, but I'm going to a Mini rally tomorrow, and would prefer a clean car. So I started rushing. Anger + Speed don't mix well. As I was backing out of the spot, I turned the wheel just a tad too soon. The awning is supported by steel beams with lips on the edges. The front corner of my car clipped the lip, scratched up the hood, and ripped off the front bumper. It's just light plastic, and isn't held on by much, although I did break my corner light and both park lights when the bumper got pulled off.

I heard a noise, and immediately knew what happened. Got out, inspected the damage, let out a fairly audible "F:censored:K!" and I guess the mechanics heard me because they came out. Great guys, they helped me ziptie my bumper back on and clean up the mess I had made of fragmented plastic bits.

So I drove home in a downpour with a ziptied bumper and no park lights. So much for my clean car! If I never parked there in the first place, or just flat out refused to move it wouldn't have happened. Really mad right about it... so many bad decisions, and it was nobody's fault but mine!

So, trying to have a sense of humor about it, I decided to just embrace the ziptie "look."

Taped up my front lights like so:

Put some bandaids on like @WrxScooby, and put some tape over the broken fog lights.

I'm going to get the damage fixed ASAP, going to get a quote right after the rally tomorrow. Such a shame, as I was hoping to take some cool pictures on the Salt Flats tomorrow... Now I just have a screwed up car.

On the bright side, however, I have a reason to finally get the clear bra ripped off and the front repainted! And look how shiny the side looks!

 

[Minty]

I was hoping to take some cool pictures on the Salt Flats tomorrow... Now I just have a screwed up car.

On the bright side, however, I have a reason to finally get the clear bra ripped off and the front repainted! And look how shiny the side looks!

I'm not gonna lie, I actually think the tape and bandages look really cool. Not sure why, just makes it look like it came out of a fight with something large, and only got a few scars. Rolling with the style until you're able to get it fixed entirely was definitely the right choice in that situation. 👍

I think it's about 25 miles? I'm not sure really but it's about a 30 minute drive. Mostly freeway miles because it's pretty far south of me.

Gah. There's some nice views around here within that distance, but wide open mountain ranges always blow me away.