New England Off Topic and Banter as Most Brilliantly Proposed by Cape Cod MINI

[GadgetGav]

Is that a Gallardo or a Murceallligiaiio..?
We went to see MI:III yesterday and Jane's decided she wants a Gallardo next.

[MetalMiniMayhem]

Hey guys... just got back today... I'm going to write a blog or something later to tell you all about our trip, but I gotta say.. next year, we need to get a bunch NE'ers down there... too much fun! The Dragin is by far the best event I have been to yet!

[GBMINI]

Annette, great pics ... you look terribly grown up in http://onarumagalleries.smugmug.com/...882/3/68554866 !

Derek, welcome back ... glad you weren't a wrecker!

[yellowmininy]

Hmm, wait a minute- who hit the bear?

[bethandlouis]

Well, we got the call today. Esmerelda will need to have a new transmission. I talked to Chris, great guy BTW, and told him of some of the other CVT's that needed to be replaced around 60K. He said he would talk to the boss. He called back and said that the transmission is going to be ~$7000 (I forgot the exact figure). He then said that he really went to bat for us with MINI and they are willing to split the cost 50/50.

So we are getting a new transmission and rear brake pads (only had 2mm left ) Plus we need 2 rear tyres. Has anyone had strange uneven wear on their rear tyres? When she was on the tow truck I was able to see the passenger side was totally bald (just had tyres put on 15K miles ago) and the driver side tyre was bald on the inside. I think I have an alignment performed 1-2 times a year (she needs one now).

So...It looks like everything is going to be O.K.

Now I have to get that body work done.

[NoNo]

That's great news Beth. Glad that other thread came in handy, though it's a shame so many of us have to go through this. As for tire wear, mine wore unevenly after I was rear-ended and no one checked the alignment. Since then, it's been fine.

Ian, I look old because I am old now! I forget that none of you get to see me in my working gear. Well, 5 days out of the week, that's what I look like.

[GadgetGav]

Beth, glad they're splitting the cost - shame it needed a new transmission though. I suppose and gearbox failure is likey to cause a lot of damage, but the CVTs seem to self distruct when they go...

[MetalMiniMayhem]

Quote: Originally Posted by yellowmininy

Hmm, wait a minute- who hit the bear?

I forget his name, but they're making him a "bearslayer" graphic! !.. I have a pic of his car.. I'll upload it within the next day or two..

wasn't me.. in fact I went racing up the dragon and a couple other roads with ome very advanded drivers.. I was able to keep up with them rather easil and they complimented my driving.. they were surprised I could keep up considering my car's susp and brakes,etc are stock.. the one guy that trailed me does hill climbing races, he said I was one of the very few people who did the dragon the "right" way .. he said that in eleven miles I only hit my brakes 3 times.. I told him "it's all in the wrist"..!..

All in all.. what a fantastic weekend, great people down there.. and the driving.. my god was that some absolutely stunning driving.. I took a tone of video on the dragon itself.. nighttime runs, daylight runs, etc.. but I wish I had taken footage of some of the other places.. I'm hoping I can get some other people from there to send me their footage so I can put some stuff together..

well.. gotta go for now.. finals tomorrow then .. back to work.. of course, I can always dream about riding the dragon again until it comes around next year

[MetalMiniMayhem]

Quote: Originally Posted by MetalMiniMayhem

Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage
Readily-available chemical added to gas tank in small proportion improves the fuel's ability to vaporize completely by reducing the surface tension that inhibits vaporization of some fuel droplets.

Here's the rest of the article... I'm going to try this, I sent it to a chemical/engineering guy here and he did some math and cross checking of chemical compatibilities and he said this actually looked like such a good solution that he's going to try it as well..

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...00069_Acetone/


We're going to run a series of tanks and compare results.. I'll post an update in a couple weeks (someone remind me, please)

Alright folks the numbers are in:

I used 93 Octane throughout this test.

with 1 fluid ounce of Acetone per 3.33 gallons (3oz. per qo gallons) 4 oz. to a tank (13.2 gallons)
Average speed (coming from Steve AKA MINImort's OBC) of 65mph.

Miles: Gallons: Avg. Mpg
259.4 8.9 29.15
233.0 7.97 29.23
321.9 10.4 30.95

total average: 29.78/Mpg

without acetone avg speed 65mph

Miles: Gallons: Avg. Mpg
300.3 10.036 29.91
373.5 12.64 29.55
237.6 8.27 28.73

total average: 29.38/Mpg

I have to admit I am rather surprised at this result.. I'm going to send the results to this website to see what they make of these numbers.. I'm wondering if they were getting gains on cars that were normally apsirated (ie no supercharger) and carburated instead of EFI.. I'm going to continue with minor adjustments to the mixing ratio to see if perhaps that will make a difference.

As a side note, I DID notice a little better throttle response and the power curves felt more even, less "choppy"... I'd be interested to take a look at it on a dyno. I also noticed my car runs super rich.. Steve who has the 19% pulley (I have a 15%) and the M7 AGS was getting and average highway Mpg of between 38 and 40.. of course, he got towed home because his car went into limp mode in VA and we couldn't get his car out of it.. I believe it was related to the rain because it ran fine all w/e when things were dry.. soon as it rained, his car crapped out on us...

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoNo

I gotta say, I've always found this "feature" more than a little tacky. I mean, it's a bright bright bright red Ferrari. People can see it three blocks away. Adolescent boys can psychically detect it's presence from at least a mile. You've just spent the cost of a decent house on a fantastically impractical vehicle, you're the envy of the neighborhood, you've got your rolling piece of guaranteed "I will always get the most attention where ever I go" machinery. Fine. All that being the case, does it really need a glass engine cover, as if you're displaying it for the plebs? Just strikes me as really tacky, takes a lot away from the class of the car. If I had the money to buy one (no risk of that occurring), I think I'd pay a little extra to have the engine cover painted like the rest of the car. But that's just me.

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bethandlouis

Plus we need 2 rear tyres. Has anyone had strange uneven wear on their rear tyres?

Yes, on both the summers and winters on my previous car, despite alignments etc. The summers both went bald at the outer shoulders, and the winters had just plain odd uneven wear...

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by GadgetGav

Is that a Gallardo or a Murceallligiaiio..?
We went to see MI:III yesterday and Jane's decided she wants a Gallardo next.

Think you might have a couple stray letters there, Gav

Still can't figure out why they'd want to name this:



After this:



At least that's the connection my warped brain always makes. Maybe if they used some Mucilage on a Murcielago, they could fix this:



-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoNo

Ian, I look old because I am old now! I forget that none of you get to see me in my working gear. Well, 5 days out of the week, that's what I look like.

Five days a week, I look like... the same slob I look like on the other two days. Gotta love that. Essentially, as long as I'm wearing pants, they're happy. Really bummed me out on "no pants day" last week.

-Ricardo

[jcsinnh]

MoCA is tres cool. As is the Williamstown Art Museum. Rt 2 EAST of Fitchburg bites the big one. Yo, adopted M-boy, any decent BBQ? Saw Commander Cody last night in my dreams, opened for Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Fillmore. Still think Beth oughta call 352-4472.

[NoNo]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy

I gotta say, I've always found this "feature" more than a little tacky. I mean, it's a bright bright bright red Ferrari. People can see it three blocks away. Adolescent boys can psychically detect it's presence from at least a mile. You've just spent the cost of a decent house on a fantastically impractical vehicle, you're the envy of the neighborhood, you've got your rolling piece of guaranteed "I will always get the most attention where ever I go" machinery. Fine. All that being the case, does it really need a glass engine cover, as if you're displaying it for the plebs? Just strikes me as really tacky, takes a lot away from the class of the car. If I had the money to buy one (no risk of that occurring), I think I'd pay a little extra to have the engine cover painted like the rest of the car. But that's just me.

-Ricardo

No, taking away from the class of the car was the brick of a Sirius unit he had mounted on the dash. If he stops suddenly, it'll either go through the windshield or his passenger's chest.