GBMINI#3 – Page 28 – M&I / GBMINI

Jamie Perkins “The Car Audio Specialist”

Posted on June 7, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

You will remember that, even after the terrible Tweeter experiences, I was ready to try again with GBMINI#3, again installing a Kenwood head unit and Kenwood Keg (20GB MP3 drive). The new head unit improved sound a little over the stock head unit, and of course gave me access to more than 2,500 MP3 files on the Keg, but there was still a need for more bass – so new speakers and an amplifier were required.

So on May 18 I left GBMINI#3 with Jamie Perkins, the Car Audio Specialist, in Melrose (40 minutes drive). On 21st, I picked it up again, finished. I have been waiting to get hold of the pictures Jamie took during the install, and of course I have been testing out the system.

My priorities were:
– Clean Sound
– More Bass
– Minimal loss of trunk space

I think Jamie succeeded! Only MINI fanatics will even realize there is a false floor in the trunk now, so that I have lost a couple of inches of depth – under the floor is a Rockford Fosgate P4004 four channel amplifier that drives a pair of Boston Pro 60 speakers in the doors, and a pair of JL Audio 6W0 subwoofers – the trick was for Jamie to build custom sealed enclosures and put the subwoofers in the rear 6×9 speaker positions!

Minolta DSC

And as you can see, Jamie used lots of Dynamat too – I have not noticed any vibration so far!

It took me a few days to adjust all the cross-overs and sound levels to get the sound how I like it – sometimes having too many adjustments is a bad thing! But I am now very happy with the result.

The sound will not be LOUD enough to some people, but loud was not on my list – of course the system is anyway much louder than the stock system (I don’t know if it is louder than the HK upgrade).
If you are going to MINIsOnTop, you will be able to check it out! 😉

THANKS to Jamie for doing great work, and of course to Jayson for recommending him!

GBMINIs twin in Gloucester

Posted on June 6, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

As I joined route 128 on my way back home to Gloucester tonight, a Chili Red / Black ’05 MINI passed me – we joined the queueing traffic approaching the first Gloucester rotary, and the owners pulled right and alongside, so we could chat in the slow moving traffic – they have only had their MINI a month:

Minolta DSC

Great taste in MINI colors – right down the black hood stripes & chrome interior!
The owner, Myrnah, is called “My” – hence the license plate MINIMY 🙂

GBMINIs First Zaino

Posted on June 4, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

Previously I have used Klasse, Zymol and P21S products to keep GBMINI(#1, #2) clean – but last year I saw what Zaino could do, on Josh Wardells Black MINI.
So for GBMINI#3 I followed Josh advice and bought a Zaino kit. Finally with todays improved weather I was able to tackle poor dirty GBMINI … and here is the result of more than 3 hours work – the painted hood stripes & “S” on the roof look much better when cleaned & polished!

Minolta DSC

Following instructions in the Zaino Kit, I first “Dawn” washed GBMINI#3, then used the included claybars – disappointingly these steps did not totally remove bird-dropping damage.
After that I used the Zaino Z7 to properly wash the car, followed by an application of Z5 then Z2 polish – I used the ZFX accelerator with both, but you still have to wait half an hour after application. I followed both polishes with the Z6, as instructed.

I probably need to apply more coats of polish but already one coat of each looks good – and I was running out of day!