Heyduardian Times

Kettlebells kick arse!

2009-05-06T22:59:00.004-05:00

My arse in particular. Being a wee bit out of shape, I wanted to start the new year with the goal of regular exercise. Okay, really out of shape. I've been doing a circuit on and off since the new year. A ten pounder, no sweat, and no challenge, so I don't bother to finish the circuit. Upgrade to the "girly man," according to Pavel, weight of 12 kilo's, I can barely complete the first leg of the circuit, so the kettlebells collect dust. Baby girl is almost three and a half now and growing like a weed; now I am struggling to carry her for long periods of time. Not acceptable! Finally this week, I buy a wimpy 15 pounder. I am now drenched in sweat doing the entire circuit. Righteous! Now I can work up to the girly man kettlebell. lol. In addition, I plan to do jumprope and taebo.

Magic Pixie Dust

2009-04-23T23:15:00.002-05:00

Apparently, I did not have the magic pixie dus t to remove the retaining screw. The wife's cousin, mechanic by trade, blasted away on the impact screwdriver with heavy hammer for a few minutes to turn each screw. Brake job done in record time for all four corners. Pro tools make a difference. Good stuff. Brake fluid change in the near future.

The Brake Job Too Far

2009-04-19T23:28:00.009-05:00

A month ago, I was switching out the snow tires for the grippy stuff. The front rotors looked a bit used. Not to mention, the front pads were nearly worn to the backing plates. So, I started the process of lining my ducks into a row. Checked dealer pricing for oem parts and labor. $1200 for all four corners. Yowser! And for just the fronts? $600 plus. Fronts at a 'starts with M' place? $500 and change. The answer was clear. DIY. The best street pads? Carbotech Bobcats (Thanks, Dustin). Best bang for buck rotors? Cryo-Stop. Parts for all four corners was less than having a shop do the fronts alone. Fast forward to now...

Yikes! Got the Mini in the air on four jack stands. Wheels off. Front calipers off. And could not remove the retaining screws holding the rotors on!!! Breaker bar and impact wrench were useless. And to add insult to injury, I shredded a double strength bolt in an attempt to torque to spec! $@$%&^% Of course, this bolt was one of two to hold the caliper carrier to the spindle. What a waste of a fine day. And I had a friend and my brother over to lend a hand. Ouch! And no drivable Mini. Double ouch!

Spring is in the air filter

2009-04-11T23:28:00.004-05:00

Spring is in the air filter
Originally uploaded by heyduard

Changed the air filter in the Mini this past week. At least, I didn't catch any bugs, yet. Not shabby looking for being in since last October. I'll see how the new one looks in June. More things to have done on the Mini (we're at 80k miles now) now or in the future (especially at the 100k mark):

Brakes: pads & rotors
Brake fluid flush
Have the supercharger rebuilt and reduction pulley installed
Coolant flush (when the rebuilt supercharger is installed)
New clutch (a stage 1) and a lighten flywheel
Upgrade the fuel injectors
New spark plugs
Engine tune
New front control arm bushings (urethane probably)
Valve cover gasket
Oil pan gasket
Seafoam the engine
New serpentine belt tensioner
New wheels (two of the factory rims are bent! @#$%$@#@)

Those of some of the major things that need to done at some point. Sigh. Good thing the Mini is blast to drive. If this was a ho-hum, yawn of a car, "Next"!

Spring cleaning

2009-04-11T22:00:00.003-05:00

Well, I am trying out Journler. Very interesting. GTD capable and a data organizer of sorts and, of course, a journal. In trying to organize myself, I've glanced at Eagle Filer, DevonThink, and Together as well. But I think Journler might be a good fit for my needs. I will also take a better look at Eagle Filer.

Yep, I use a Mac. After 15 years of Windows support, I thought it might be better to have computing as a means to an end. :) What really won me over was the interface and the underpinnings. Back in '03, the current paymasters decided to port their software to Mac OS X. I was responsible for QA and installer development. And when I purchased a Mac for personal use, iLife 4 had just come out. The ease of editing a home movie was mind blowing. The power was in the hands of the consumer.

Tweaked the olde blog a bit. Redid the blog roll. And added my delicous tags. I tend to read the intarweb a lot. doh! And to bump up the blog post count, I'll add stuff from my flickr account. :D

Year of the Ox

2009-01-24T00:47:00.002-05:00

A new year is upon us. Let the festivities begin! With the new Gregorian calendar year, my resolutions are:

Get a job I enjoy doing (lots a luck with that!).
Go back to school.
Finally start weight training and exercising again!
Organize myself and my life (lol).

I'm keeping the list short so I can achieve at least one. Doh! Better if I can do them all, so I can do more HPDEs!!!

we have no bananas!

2008-09-21T03:33:00.006-05:00

Two infrequent passengers still consider my Mini's ride to be very firm, despite having non-runflats and the Koni FSDs. I did not mention I had changed anything. The short wheelbase is probably the biggest contributing factor. Interestingly enough, another Mini owner had a chance to ride shotgun and commented how much the ride reminded him of the JCW suspension upgrade.

All in all, I still love ride of the Koni's and the camber plates.

bumpity bump bump

2008-09-01T22:37:00.003-05:00

Today I came across a truly "wash board" road. Like the corrugated look of a Quonset hut, grooves were cut across the packed dirt road. The pogo effect was really bad even at 3 to 5 mph. A BMW, going the other way, was crawling as well. I had to turn around. Two inches of effective travel doesn't really cut it for this kind of surface. Maybe a Dakar or Baja trophy truck could rip right through, but not my Mini. Horses for courses as they say.

mo' maintenance... mo' maintenance...

2008-08-30T00:12:00.004-05:00

mo' maintenance!

Over the past two months, with the help of my friend Shoe (thanks bud!), we changed the serpentine belt at 67k, did an oil change, and added a Fumoto valve for the oil pan (factory plug was rounded #@$!!). Rotated the tires at 65k; no extra wear from the addition negative camber. Though I do not do a lot of highway at the moment. Next few items on the burner: exhaust (finally!), valve cover gasket, and spark plugs.

suspension suspense...

2008-08-15T23:24:00.005-05:00

Or lack there of.

Six thousand miles later, I am still impressed with the performance of the Koni FSDs and the Ireland fixed camber plates and non runflats. Without damaging the bits, I have driven over rough patches, washboard roads, very shallow potholes, rail road crossings, etc.; and not on purpose! These road features are part of daily driving in North East Jersey. There are stretches of Rt 80 that are concrete. Like all things planted on the ground, the concrete sections have settled with the help of 18 wheeler traffic and everything else. This provides a ready made proving ground. At speed, the worn out OEM setup was so jarring when moving from one concrete section to another, I expected to see a strut smash through the hood. With the current setup, the ride is still choppy over the proving grounds, but controlled and without drama. Likewise with other road "features." When I can get to a freshly paved area that's smooth, the FSDs still have a sporty feel. When I set up the Mini for a turn or curve, they perform very well; better than stock with the help of the fixed plates. :) A great set up for a daily driver on everyday roads.

Geared for action!

2008-07-15T12:36:00.009-05:00

Finally got around to changing out the gear lube in the transmission at 64,500 miles on the clock. Shifting was getting notchier than I remembered when new. And there was occasional stickiness. The OEM gear oil looked like this:
Nope. That's not the bottom of the pan. Stir it up and one can see fine particles in suspension. Ouch! I guess the oil exceeded its "lifetime" as it's awfully dark. Should have done it sooner; say at about 30 k. Replaced with Redline MTL. Very nice stuff. Shifting is much smoother and much less notchy; no more sticking. Props to k-huevo for the howto.

And folks, change your air filter. Look at the stuff caught in mine:
And I did not shake it too hard. I was a baaad Mini daddy for letting it go for 10 months.

Read'em and weep...

2008-06-10T14:35:00.003-05:00

Had an alignment done:
Not bad for fixed camber plates. It is a wee bit aggressive for the street, but I hope to get more even wear on the front tires. I did request toe to be set to factory spec's. The Mini feels dialed in. Very nice. Very stable. Toe must have been off after installing the new struts. Kudos to Eurotire for a job well done.

more impressions...

2008-05-30T14:19:00.004-05:00

of mimes. Just kidding. With the FSD's, I notice diving and squatting is nearly next to nothing. There seems to be more lean, but still controlled, and is accentuated by new nonrunflat tires. $800 installed for the cheapest runflats I could find. Ouch! So, off to browse Tirerack; and now I have four new Sumitomo HTR Z 2's installed for $300 less. A very aggressive tread.

Perhaps fine tuning with a larger/adjustable rear anti-sway bar will help reduce the lean. Stiffer springs for sure, but that means different struts and less ground clearance.

Next thing for sure is an alignment.

The new parts are in! Let's motor!

2008-05-15T09:27:00.009-05:00

Bear in mind the stock dampers (struts) had nearly 60 thousand miles; so their performance at the end was lacking. With that caveat in mind, we'll compare impressions of the ride with Koni FSD's and the stockers.

The stock ride was alway stiff. And it was jarring over major events, ie potholes, expansion seams, etc. The handling was great. All in all, like a sport car should be. Past 50 thousand on the clock, small stuff, that the suspension previously soaked up, was becoming jarring. The rear was bump steering more often over the same roads. I ordered Koni FSD's, but alas winter arrived.

When spring had sprung this year, I installed the Koni FSD's at about 59 thousand. Fast forward to 60k, the ride is very good. The small undulations are nonexistent. The Mini remains composed over the major events without the "drama" of the stock suspension, especially with the addition of the fixed camber plates. Seems tighter through fast sweepers. The ride is still sporty and firm; you do still feel pavement irregularities, but they do not upset the suspension now. All in all, a great upgrade.

These mean streets...

2008-05-09T10:50:00.013-05:00

Well, I finally installed the Koni FSD's and fixed camber plates. The replaced stock parts have nearly 60k miles on 'em; and what a toll the stockers have paid. The strut towers, especially the driver side, have mushroomed from those hard miles on the crappy excuses for roads around these parts.
See the black plate (an aftermarket reinforcement plate) that is resting on the strut tower? Well, it's suppose to be laying flat on top of the strut tower! I had already hammered down the tower for five minutes in order to fit the camber plate from below. Ouch! Needless to say, I did not bother with the reinforcement plate. The fixed camber plate (below, on left) is much beefier than the OEM strut mount (on the right), which is now bent from those mean streets. And the guide bolts on the OEM mount were once parallel to each other, now splayed.
"Wait," you say? Surely the plate on the factory part looks thicker than the aftermarket piece. Not!
Surprise, surprise, surprise. The factory plate is flanged at the edge. Not as thick as the aftermarket piece; plus the aftermarket plate utilizes a beefier bushing from a heavier car. Good thing the Mini has BMW bloodlines.

So the fixed camber plates from Ireland Engineering are installed. The Mini has much better grip through the turn. Additional negative camber is a good thing. With the factory strut mounts and camber (-0.5), the outside shoulders of the front tires were always wearing out first. Alignment to be done soon to make sure toe is a-okay. A review of the FSD's to be done soon as well.

Gung Hei Fat Choy

2008-02-20T03:08:00.001-05:00

The Year of the Rat. Had a great time with friends for this New Year's celebration. Kudos to the missus for planning the whole shebang. Little girl looked great in her dress.

'tis the season

2008-01-08T18:04:00.000-05:00

Little girl will be two years old!!! Unbelieveable how quickly time has flown. It's amazing to see her grow. She's figuring out stuff or at least trying. Sounding like a gushing parent? Better believe it.

Hoping to get some time to clean out the garage for once and for all. Having the cars indoors when it snows would be nice. Got a strut compressor from Harbor Freight, so we're ready for the strut install come spring.

I am eager to try working out with a kettlebell. Just got the 12 kg bell and instructional dvd's. I definitely need to start a routine going again. Working with dumbells was getting boring, and I've slacked off for a year.

Delays, delays, delays

2007-11-29T00:33:00.000-05:00

Between the holidays and an upper respiratory infection, I could only mount my snow tires. >sigh< Perhaps if it warms up to the fifties for a December weekend, otherwise we're waiting till spring for everything - FSDs, fixed camber plates, and the zorst.

More sorting...

2007-11-06T11:55:00.000-05:00

As the winter season approaches, I realize the 15 inch steel wheels and snow tires lower the Mini. Looks like Koni FSDs for sure to keep the largest amount of travel. Of course, I could buy an adjustable coil-over system and keep the stock height, but at another $300 minimum? Not! Plus, I would need to source a spring rate that is streetable. Another cost. KISS. Bilstein's most streetable PSS9 coil over system retails for $1,800 or so. Ouch! A set of Koni FSDs from Tire Rack is $650. You do the math! :) Don't get me wrong, I would love to go out and get the PSS9 or JIC/Cross setups. But I'll save up faster for the Koni's, and there's nothing additional to buy.

We took little girl apple picking last month. She had a ball. And an apple, too. Or three. :) And she's wearing hard soled shoes now. Went to Wally world and got her sneakers and shoes. Easy on the pocket versus Robee's and Pedipeds.

...of mice and men.

2007-08-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

Best laid plans... I would imagine Sun Tzu would have to include the irresistible force of a toddler in changing objectives. lol Nothing done to the mini and no autocross, but it made for more research time. I was scooped by a local buyer when trying to purchase a used suspension setup out of state. As a consolation prize, I was successful in buying a used cat-back zorst.

remus exhaust

Yes, I know, audible bling. But very nice bling at a nice price. Fergitaboutit if buying new. Mini cat-back exhausts for the most part are over priced.

As for research, I pored over anecdotal tales of sorting suspensions. If I was to do a low cost "club sport" car, the Bilstein SP and H&R spring kit from Promini would do the trick. Alas, my Mini is a daily driver on some of the crappiest roads around. One needs all of the suspension travel one can get. To better the stock suspension, but keep daily drivability, Koni FSDs and the stock springs are probably the best choice. So I am saving my pennies for the Koni's. The fixed camber plates are still a go. Lower control arms to top it off. Then an alignment. ;)

Little girl is doing great. She's making sentences!!!

The 80's are calling... they're laughing!

2007-05-31T13:16:00.000-05:00

Though the testing framework is not very comphrensive, the results are still interesting. I love the comments, from the bleeding edge apologists with the streaming and tons of multimedia, which do not address the point of the user experience improving.

Spring is in the air...

2007-04-11T10:11:00.001-05:00

That means HPDE's and autocross!!! Well maybe not HPDE's, unless the treasury reports an error in our favor. So that means... autocross!!! I already have a rated helment from doing a HPDE. The camber plates have arrived. New tranny fluid and brake fluid are ready to be added. Got my CG locks. So it'll be my first at auto-x.

Baby girl is walking! She's everywhere. She loves her shoe-like moc's. She didn't care for the hard soled shoes. Actually, she detested the hard soles.

Mod mania? Nope. Got a plan!

2007-03-09T16:41:00.001-05:00

Time marches on. Nothing terribly new. Actually, I've ordered fixed camber plates for my ride. Can't wait. I'm not really tracking nor checking tire temps, so adjustable plates are not necessary at this time. 'Cos that could change if I go hard core, but I am looking for a street set up. I plan on stiffer springs, adjustable endlinks, and adjustable rear control arms in the future. Such is the joy of modding. A buddy of mine had gotten adjustable coilovers - adjustable everything, basically, except for the rear anti-sway bar (that's still stock). But what to adjust to? Aye, there's the rub! Sorting suspensions is not for the faint hearted.

Of course the above may sound like gibberish. But to a gear head, it's music. In other words, I'm planning on improving the handling of the MINI at low cost. It's a mild improvement and should help with the tire wear from cornering. Muhahaha! So I'm starting with fixed cambers plates. This will give me the opportuntiy to fix the mushroomed strut towers as well.

Of course, baby girl is riding in style in her Recaro Young Sport. Daddy is jealous. lol. It's one of the best toddler seats I have seen. Plus the side impact protection is a very big plus. As always, YMMV!

recap? decap? acap?

2007-01-31T13:48:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe how quickly a year had gone by. Our baby girl turned one this month. It seems like it was yesterday, and we just came back from the hospital, and she was a little peanut. All I can say is don't miss out folks. This is the time to savour. To watch your kids grow and experience the world around them.

Gee, do I sound like a parent or what?

Who reads this stuff anyway?

2006-11-15T16:39:00.000-05:00

So little time, so many house chores. Trapped in Home Depot for a Saturday afternoon. Argh! We were buying shelving for the basement, because the garage was full, which meant the stuff in the laundry room had no place to go. Double argh! Of course, we had to empty out the basement first, which required renting a POD. Triple argh!

Not to mention spending Sunday installing the shelving. Too bad the exchequer does not see MINI mods as important. :D

IT hiring is wacked!

2006-11-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

A SlashDotter is spot on with their commentary. Wow. Couldn't have said it better myself. I definitely agree that the typical IT hiring situation lacks respect for general knowledge and skill. "Gee, Ed, do you work in IT?" Yep, been there, done that.

First post!

2006-10-31T10:53:00.000-05:00

Not really. But it's good enough. More noise to occupy bandwidth. :D