NO I haven't forgotten about this forum or to post some pics, although it looked like that. So here they are...

These are the very first pics, right inside the dealership (Motor City MINI)

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Hey, look at me...and not her! LOL!
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A rare view of the car, you'll see why later.


WOW!, only limited to FOUR PICS, GEEZ! More upcoming in the next 4 or 5 posts!

 

Mods, mods, mods! Nice to have a car that mods are available for, check em' out...

First thing I did when I walked into the dealership was to remove the stock "RC antenna" and replace it with this...


Once I got the car home I replaced the boring, halogen foglight bulbs with some Nokya yellow H8's and even replaced the stock white running lights with some 194NA's, something I posted about here but I don't know if anyone has taken that idea and ran with it yet. I can tell you this, the change from white to amber makes a BIG difference. Not all mods need to cost alot of money either, these two lighting mods cost about $40.00!


Remember that pic from behind in the original post, here's what the car looked like less than 2 weeks later...
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I added the "turbo" badge because it really looks like it belongs on the car. I chose the exhaust tip because it follows the contour of the cut-out for the stock exhaust, again, making it look like it came that way. Oh, let's look at that exhaust, its more than a tip!

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From the flexpipe back its a custom made system using T304SS pipe that measures 2.5" and goes into a polished SS Magnaflow and exits via a polished SS Pipes tip. IMO the single tip looks great on the car. Oh as far as the sound goes...AWESOME!

More pics coming up next, gotta love the FOUR PIC LIMIT!

 

RIMS!

I went back and forth between several wheels but ended up with these, the 17" x 7" PIAA Sport Mesh in Hyper Black!
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Wait, gotta make it look "factory".


Overall view that shows the wheels and another mod, a mod that only took 4 days of ownership, 35% metallic window tint!
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Guess what, more pics coming!

 

Can't say cute or you will remember that forever (in a...not so good way).

Its sweet...gorgeous...

Sweetly gorgeous...

Gorgeously sweet...

Congrats very much on your new quest and have fun.

Thank you for sharing and a lot more.

 

bam i cut in between your posts... lol i see you went on a modding frenzy since the crossfire has held you from doing so. lol.

 

Let's go inside shall we?

One thing I really wanted was a cueball shifter and what do you know, someone makes them for us, imagine that!


Dual glove boxes, the bottom one is climate controlled too!


BTW, that gray isn't that light, its just the flash. Here's a shot of the seats, again, the gray section isn't that light.


Once again its the "little" mods that do wonders.

 

You can just feel the road awaiting you.


Even MINI has the "little" details handled, like the auto HVAC controls that look like the logo, brilliant!


Toggles...old school, keeping it real!


"Docking bay 94"


Encore, encore, encore!

 

Back outside and under the bonnet!

Since no one makes an intake yet some of the members have went with this simple, yet effective mod...open element K&N! With this $37 mod you can now hear the turbo working and it makes that cool BOV sound, psssht!, every time you drive. I may be 37 and not 27 or even 17, but I really like that sound!
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Not very big, but it does the job!


Gotta have something "Dragon" related in these cars, they were built for the Dragon. Speaking of that, 2 weeks after I got my car, FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE MINI'S were on the Dragon!


I was given a gift certificate but my wife and one daughter took it and bought me some protection! Thieves don't stand a chance!


A couple more and your done!

 

Details, detail, details.




I went to a carshow in Grand Rapids a couple weeks ago and a fellow member of another club I'm a part of was there in my car, urrr, I mean a car that I lusted after for some time.
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At the show!
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Now I will say the car hasn't been w/o a fault either. I had a bad injector on my way home from that car show. On the way there the car was fine, netting 38.4 mpg, but on the way back I noticed that it felt like an "invisibly hand" was holding it down and it ended being a bad injector. They had my car for almost a week though, so what did I drive in the meantime...next post!

 

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This car couldn't be more different that mine, it was a regular MC, auto, NO sport suspension, 16" tires/wheels w/ all-season tires, non-perf too. It was weird to drive because I kept pushing in the clutch pedal but there was none!, LOL! The color red isn't me either. Oh and BTW do you notice how the car looks in the pictures? I washed the car when I got it home and even applied a coat of Klasse All in One to the paint. I mean I knew I was going to have the car for a couple days, so I wanted it to look good. For the record, I had the car for 6 days and washed it 4 of those days and vacuumed it out also. My SA couldn't believe I did that but then she said she could believe it.

Some closing shots...
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This took a long time, I'm "exhausted".
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Ever since I got the new injector the mileage has been crazy good! The first reading afterwards was 32.1 in mixed driving and this past weekend I got 37.5 mpg in mixed driving with a bit of freeway in there too, but on the surface street though I had the A/C on with all four of us in the car, its an amazing car to say the least! Thank you for viewing my "whorage"!

 

Thank you for the compliments so far everyone, especially those from around the world...SINGAPORE, WOW!

BTW, I've rubbed on the car 16x's already, gotta keep it lookin' good you know. My crazy azz rubbed on the Crossfire 103 times in 23 months.

 

It's beautiful and exactly what we would expect from you from your experience on this forum: the cleanest and best maintained MINI in the state. So congratulations - you obviously love the car and are having a great time with some great mods. Keep it up!

 

looks good... I believe I've seen the pics over at NAM already.

the minis are great cars... we have one in the stable(belongs to the gf)... I love driving it, but would never want to own one out of warranty. In three years when the warranty is up on this one, a new one will replace it most likely.

 

Mini owner here also! I love them.

 

Car is beautiful Aero but I have a question for you. Would you buy a regular MC with a stick if you couldn't go for the bucks needed to buy an S or a Works Edition? My dilemma is this. I think I want to keep the XF when the lease is up and my everyday driver (an 05 Grand Cherokee) is coming off lease 2 months later. So basically I'll be buying the XF for the buyback (about $22,000) and leasing another car for everyday use. I love my Jeeps (my 5th GC) but the gas is getting ridiculous so I want to go for a car with around 30 MPG and a lease payment of no more than $250/mo for everything. I don't think I can get an S for that, probably just the base Mini. Is it worth it? Will I regret not going for the S and would I be stupid dressing up the base with all the extras that we're all prone to do? Lots to discuss here! My other consideration is maybe a Mazda 3. Everyone's thoughts?

 

We picked up that base blue cooper because an S was out of the budget. Would I rather have an S? sure... I still love every bit of the base car though. If you're keeping the crossfire, you already have a fast car.

Also, the new base coopers are rated at 40 mpg on the highway... hard to complain about that.

 

AeroBlue -
Nice new ride and your mods are quite tasteful.
Congrats.

 

Congrats, it's a sweet ride. Are you planning on painting the roof?

 

I love the new options they have like the matching rearview outside and inside mirrors that have a shell covering of the British Flag to match the roof. Or a black and white checkerboard design to match the roof as well. I agree on that count, the aftermarket possibilities, especially for appearance items is huge for the Mini. I'm definitely jealous.

 

If you drive a Mini and then drive and Mini S you would not think for a second of just buying a Mini. It is pointless to hop up a Mini. Just Go with the Mini S. I did and it was and still is the best car ever.