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

[Zyla]

 

[Davis]

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. 👍

Thanks. I was pretty down in the dumps about it, but I figured if it was gonna look a certain way, I might as well have some fun and do it in style! Figured it kinda fit the style of the salt flats anyways.

 

[homeforsummer]

With regards to the tape, why not do it properly instead of haphazardly? Get some black tape and give it a proper cross like the Lancia you posted. Would look pretty cool I reckon, since the MC40 has the whole black/red/white combo going on anyway.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

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!

So sorry to hear about what happened. Frustrating that the person went out of their way to make you move your car from under the awning. Some people just truly suck. I know that pain but at least you seem to be taking it in good spirit.

 

[Davis]

With regards to the tape, why not do it properly instead of haphazardly? Get some black tape and give it a proper cross like the Lancia you posted. Would look pretty cool I reckon, since the MC40 has the whole black/red/white combo going on anyway.

I used all of my electrical tape when I took a stab at consolidating my PS3-related cables. It would have looked a lot better than my masking tape.

So sorry to hear about what happened. Frustrating that the person went out of their way to make you move your car from under the awning. Some people just truly suck. I know that pain but at least you seem to be taking it in good spirit.

I got a lot of dirty looks today from people when they saw the bumper. 👎 ...Although I would have done the same to be honest.

I hate the way this looks. I had the only car there that wasn't perfect.

Utah must hate Minis because shortly after I arrived, the rain started.

From this:

holla @Katiegan I didn't even park in a spot

To this:

And finally this:

I thought this Salt-prepped GP was way cool.

----------------

After I got home, I started work on prepping the bumper and hood for a possible re-paint. I started tearing off the clear bra where the scratches were, and luckily the paint underneath was still pristine, thank god. The only damage is to the plastic trim around the fenders, and a barely noticeable dent in the hood, which I'll get fixed sometime this week.

This piece here got caught on the lip of the pole and pulled the bumper off with it. Unbelievably, the actual bumper itself is completely fine. (yay for plastic!)

So here's the car as it sits now. The stripes had to come off because they were on top of the clear bra. I'll get that adhesive off tomorrow, but for now, the car looks presentable. I priced out the new trim, should only be about 60 bucks. I might go ahead and buy the A-Pillar trim too, because it's starting to crack at the top.

Once all of it's done, the car will look the best it ever has since I've taken ownership. I got off super lucky, not needing a respray.

 

[Katiegan]

I think the tape gives it a good rally look, and since you have the MC40 stickers on it, they really add to it. Those who gave it a dirty look were just jealous they didn't think of that idea.

Also, your parking is okay.

I guess.

 

[Ronald6]

Just write SF on the top right of your windshield and tell everyone it's damage from a rallycross event. That's what I do.

 

[WrxScooby]

Bummer man, just gotta try and make the best of it like your doing. Shows you that anger is never the right way, you just cant think straight when your mad, and you end up making silly mistakes that in some cases cost you big time.

Live and learn. Haters gon hate and trollers gon troll. Just gotta see them for what they are and be above it.

 

[Davis]

So the front is getting fixed on the 11th... full respray on it because my coworker accidentally blasted off a part of my clearcoat when he was helping me take the stripe residue off... d'oh. It needs a respray anyways, there are noticeable stripe lines where the sun didn't reach the paint and it's pretty chipped where the clear bra didn't cover.

Sway bar got here.

And now it's installed.

Nice and lubey.

The back end feels tighter and rotates much more freely without sacrificing much ride comfort at all.

 

[Vince]

my coworker accidentally blasted off a part of my clearcoat when he was helping me take the stripe residue off...

 

[Davis]

mfw I watched it happen right before my eyes ^

 

[Zyla]

 

[SVX]

 

[Davis]

I found some springs on the internet that will be about as low as the car above, which is exactly the height I want. They're so so so so much less than coilovers, which I have priced out and researched already and I just can't justify spending the $3k necessary to get the car properly ready for coils. On top of that, once my all seasons finally wear out, I'm going for some wider summer tires, probably 215s versus the 205s on now. Pretty excited for next summer now.

 

[Frisky]

Love the MC Ed. Mini, and major props for the Kavinsky avatar 👍

 

[motortrend]

Yeah some people just say hey a grand maybe two on coils but they never factor in the other necessary parts for suspension refresh that is probably due plus labor costs. I've only changed shocks (rear) on my car and that job alone was nearly $600 with everything factored in (labor being about $150 only)

 

[Davis]

Big post!

Got the car back from the body shop, but the paint job they did was absolutely terrible. So I drove back over there the next day and they polished out all of their mistakes. Looks pretty good now but there are still a couple fisheyes and scratches. I'll buff them out in a few weeks. 👍

So I went on my first drive in the Mini in a long, long time this morning. About 60 degrees in the canyons and zero traffic, perfect. Got to see the sun rise over the tops of the trees.

Unlike @Zyla, I did not go through the mud puddles.

Cellphone pics, sorry. I didn't feel like bringing my camera, especially because the car is sadly covered in dirt from weeks ago.

Something like 80 miles in 2 hours.

This was the best part of the route, SR-65 -> SR-66.

It goes from switchbacks that climb to the summit of a mountain, and then a long sweeping portion along the side of a lake, and then finally a 15mph road that runs between two mountain ranges.

 

[Davis]

Stolen off of Facebook:

I'll post some super-sick GoPro vids later of me ripping up the canyon behind a couple of other guys.

 

[Davis]

Here's the best video I got from last weekend.

 

[Davis]

Got sick of my solid metal lower mount and my hard polyurethane upper engine mount. Way too much NVH for a street car, especially when it has to sit outside on occasion in the winter... the polyurethane will just get too firm and if I can barely live with the vibration in 100 degree weather, single digits will do me no good.

So, I bought these... which I should have done to begin with but I felt like going for the cheaper/more racecar-y option, as I was fresh off the racetrack when I discovered my upper engine mount was broken.

This:

will replace:

And this:

will replace:

Which makes the exhaust in the cabin louder, because of the constant vibration.

They're kickass engine mounts for a racecar, and the engine barely moves around at all, but the vibration is driving me insane on a daily basis... plus having to explain to everyone who gets in my car why it feels like 🤬 is getting really old... "This thing's idling kinda rough isn't it?"

These are cutting into the tire/suspension budget but they're going to be absolutely worth it when I can stop getting a free butt massage while I idle at stoplights.

So hey, if anybody you know is building an R53 racecar, send 'em my way for some basically brand new engine mounts!

 

[Davis]

Can I get a friggin 👍? lol

 

[Zyla]

friggin 👍 buddy

 

[motortrend]

Like this?

 

[Davis]

I put on the new engine mounts a few weeks ago, and they're so much better than the old ones.

Went on a drive on my favorite route, SR-65. It's currently the perfect time of year when the leaves are incredibly colorful but still haven't fallen completely off, making the sides of the road and mountains a bright reddish orange.

However this time of year also brings bugs, making the Mini look like it's been on a 1000-mile roadtrip from all of the bug guts on the windshield.

I woke up around 9 AM and hit the road about 10, this picture was from the start of the route, around 10:20.

Before setting off I made sure to park like a hooligan for @Katiegan and @Aki Ishikawa to criticize.

The dark green pine trees make for nice contrast with the autumn spectacle.

More illegal parking.

Days like these make all of the money I've sunk into my car worth it. It's very neutral handling with a hint of oversteer under braking thanks to the rear sway bar. The car communicates very nicely through the wheel, always warning of the back getting loose in time for corrections to be made-- going downhill through a decreasing radius hairpin I could feel the rear getting light and starting to rotate, easily remedied with some more gas!

I really got lost in it all, for a solid 30 minutes I was the only car around and I was flying. The exhaust note echoing off of the cliff faces as I blipped the throttle into third for the last set of switchbacks before the road straightened. The road then dipped through a valley, where empty straightaways gave way to sweeping bends and more scenery. It was amazing and I don't think I've ever had a better drive.

The weather was perfect for this, with high 50s and low 60s the engine received sufficient cooling from the mountain air, with no trace of altitude sickness.

I love this car.

 

[Aki Ko]

I put on the new engine mounts a few weeks ago, and they're so much better than the old ones.

Went on a drive on my favorite route, SR-65. It's currently the perfect time of year when the leaves are incredibly colorful but still haven't fallen completely off, making the sides of the road and mountains a bright reddish orange.

However this time of year also brings bugs, making the Mini look like it's been on a 1000-mile roadtrip from all of the bug guts on the windshield.

I woke up around 9 AM and hit the road about 10, this picture was from the start of the route, around 10:20.

Before setting off I made sure to park like a hooligan for @Katiegan and @Aki Ishikawa to criticize.

The dark green pine trees make for nice contrast with the autumn spectacle.

More illegal parking.

Days like these make all of the money I've sunk into my car worth it. It's very neutral handling with a hint of oversteer under braking thanks to the rear sway bar. The car communicates very nicely through the wheel, always warning of the back getting loose in time for corrections to be made-- going downhill through a decreasing radius hairpin I could feel the rear getting light and starting to rotate, easily remedied with some more gas!

I really got lost in it all, for a solid 30 minutes I was the only car around and I was flying. The exhaust note echoing off of the cliff faces as I blipped the throttle into third for the last set of switchbacks before the road straightened. The road then dipped through a valley, where empty straightaways gave way to sweeping bends and more scenery. It was amazing and I don't think I've ever had a better drive.

The weather was perfect for this, with high 50s and low 60s the engine received sufficient cooling from the mountain air, with no trace of altitude sickness.

I love this car.

*Eye twitches intensely*

 

[Legro]

I put on the new engine mounts a few weeks ago, and they're so much better than the old ones.

Went on a drive on my favorite route, SR-65. It's currently the perfect time of year when the leaves are incredibly colorful but still haven't fallen completely off, making the sides of the road and mountains a bright reddish orange.

However this time of year also brings bugs, making the Mini look like it's been on a 1000-mile roadtrip from all of the bug guts on the windshield.

I woke up around 9 AM and hit the road about 10, this picture was from the start of the route, around 10:20.

Before setting off I made sure to park like a hooligan for @Katiegan and @Aki Ishikawa to criticize.

The dark green pine trees make for nice contrast with the autumn spectacle.

More illegal parking.

Days like these make all of the money I've sunk into my car worth it. It's very neutral handling with a hint of oversteer under braking thanks to the rear sway bar. The car communicates very nicely through the wheel, always warning of the back getting loose in time for corrections to be made-- going downhill through a decreasing radius hairpin I could feel the rear getting light and starting to rotate, easily remedied with some more gas!

I really got lost in it all, for a solid 30 minutes I was the only car around and I was flying. The exhaust note echoing off of the cliff faces as I blipped the throttle into third for the last set of switchbacks before the road straightened. The road then dipped through a valley, where empty straightaways gave way to sweeping bends and more scenery. It was amazing and I don't think I've ever had a better drive.

The weather was perfect for this, with high 50s and low 60s the engine received sufficient cooling from the mountain air, with no trace of altitude sickness.

I love this car.

Never thought that MINI could look that good when parked illegally.

 

[Crash]

Some excellent pictures there. Glad to hear how much you're enjoying your car. 👍

 

[Leggy1]

Wow Stunning MINI there.

 

[Davis]

Haven't updated in awhile, but there's not a lot that's new.

Winter happened--and it's really nice having a car that can fit in small parking spots. With the snow tires on it'll get through ice and deep snow. It's pretty fun to drive around in bad weather and I can definitely feel my sway bar pushing the back end out at times. Lift off oversteer .

Did 70 miles in a snow storm on Monday. Aerodynamic testing:

I've versed this complaint before, but I really hate how boring the stock wheels look. So I bought some mudflaps and stone guards to add some ~*excitement*~. They should help the salt buildup on the underside of the door and look awesome while doing so. Example picture:

The flaps are custom, but I got in touch with the owner and he's going to email me his template. I might even put my trashy number decals on to add to the rally look.

For Christmas my dad bought me Ferrari air horns, a mod I've been wanting to do for a long time but put off for other things. I don't have any pictures of the install but I took a short video.


Another note: I've decided on coilovers. I wanted springs for awhile, but the adjustability is increasingly appealing to me. I'd love to drop the car for car shows and track days, keep a moderately low height in the summer, and raise the suspension back up for winter, with comfortable dampening settings. Through a lot of searching and work connections, I've found Bilstein PSS10s for $400 less than retail, which will be more than enough for me. They're not as rust resistant as the KWs, but have a lifetime warranty. While the suspension is off the car I'm refreshing the bushings and other components as it will probably have around 80k on it by the time I have the funds.

Finally, when my all season summer tires run out, I'm going full performance, with a set of 215 width Toyo Proxes R888s. I've tried them out on my favorite roads in an Elise and I'm a fan.

Expect a post in the near future with updated pictures containing flaps and stuff.

 

[Dan]

Nice Ferrari horn.