MINI E jollity

Just found this new but hilarious MINI E weblog, from Autoblog’s solar only MINI E article:
… The right-most pedal, commonly called an “accelerator” in vehicles that haul around tanks full of liquefied dinosaurs, makes the car do two things – Go And Slow. I like to refer to it as the G.A.S. pedal (pronounced “gas”). As you apply pressure to the pedal the car will go; as you reduce pressure on the pedal the car will slow (and eventually stop).
To the left of the G.A.S. pedal you will find another pedal that Basically Removes All Kinetic Energy from the vehicle (which conveniently spells out another easy to pronounce acronym – “B.R.A.K.E.”). When you use this pedal on the East Coast it will bring the car to a complete stop. This pedal is not used in California

I hope David writes lots more articles in this style 🙂

Cheap auto-up windows?

Personally, I would not implement this modification, since it removes control of your windows and is sure to surprise someone who doesn’t know about the modification.
Check out this MINI2 post where remmie writes:
I’ve discovered a great and very cheap mod to get the passenger window to auto-up with just a single short flick of the switch. It involves adding a 22 microfarad capacitor and a 100 Ohm resistor to the toggle switchpanel or the wiring that goes to the toggle switchpanel. These cost about 10 cents each at your local electronic-parts shop.
What it does is letting the Main Computer (BC1) think that the switch is still pressed for about 6 seconds which is enough to close the passenger window fully.

The effect of this modification is to make the “up” input to the car always stay active for 6s longer than you click for, so a quick click will close the windows, but a longer click will still close the windows! The only way to stop the windows closing is to hit “down” – the car then sees both “up” and “down” at the same time, and stops all window movement.

I much prefer my double-click auto-up solution, which is unlikely to be triggered by someone who doesn’t know the modification is present – I can see the above mod catching out the dealership, hopefully not injuring anyone, but maybe causing expensive un-needed “repair” to the car electronics!

Still, now that my circuit is no longer being manufactured (again), some people might want to try this … it is clever, and cheap, after all 🙂

MOT2009 Packing Day

After receiving the MOT2009 Tshirts, and eventually getting properly printed booklets from Staples, Josh & I worked over the last two days to “pre-pack” the 216 MINIsOnTop 2009 registration packs – putting car tag, name tags, food and auto road tickets, clings, and instruction paperwork together.
Once Josh & I had completed all 216, we pulled the six going to Canada, added booklet and Tshirts, and I shipped them first thing this morning – Canada seems to randomly take 1 to 3 weeks to deliver, so every extra day helps get them delivered in time for the event!

Today, I called in my best assistants – Margaret, Michael & Pam, Richard, and Ivan – to complete the registration packing. The registration packs were pre-sorted according to number of Tshirts ordered (which affects ship weight). First we completed the “zero Tshirt” packs (adding the late-printed booklet, and antenna ball), then I printed easy “less than 1LB weight” priority mail labels, and Margaret ran those down to the Post Office before it closed.
Next, all the Tshirts (S, M, L, XL, XXL in “50th Anniversary” and “Ladies” design) were folded down to envelope size, then all the “one Tshirt” envelopes were completed (these I also later printed priority mail labels for, ready to drop off at the Post Office some time on Monday).
Finally, the “two shirt” and “many Tshirt” registrations were packed – the “two’s” fit in envelopes but the “many’s” get a box … all these with two or more Tshirts weigh in excess of 1LB, and the priority mail cost now varies with weight and destination – so these I’ll take early to the Post Office on Monday, for them to process.

 

So, except for Canada, everyone should receive their MINIsOnTop 2009 registration pack by the end of next week; Hooray! And I can head south and enjoy a bit of MINI driving time – like my helpers have right now!

Many thanks to Josh, Margaret, Michael & Pam, Richard, and Ivan – and special thanks to PG Trionic for use of building, printers, stationery, time …