Too cold for an R56?

Posted on by Ian C.

It was 10f when I left for work this morning – and that’s basically where it stayed!
I took GBMINI to Sublime Restorations so I’m driving GBMINI#5 tonight … and when I started the car, she started fine but the clock was gone, and there was no trip information. Curiously the date was correct, while the time had vanished.
Anyway, note the exclamation mark above (the triangle to the left of 000.0 – not very visible in picture, sorry) … calling up “CHECK INFO” gave a display on the NAV screen:

And pressing the joystick (which I didn’t do but apparently GBMINI#5 got fed up while I was taking pictures, and “pressed” it for me) gives a description which very (un)helpfully says “turn off unnecessary electrical consumers … in case of repeat occurrence, have the system checked by your MINI dealer”:

Meanwhile, GPMINI – with it’s smaller than normal weight-saving battery – had no trouble with battery power, during the same cold, also un-driven due to our Florida trip. I hope this issue doesn’t recur …

UPDATE:
Something else now … yesterday the R56 stalled three times when initially moving it; I assumed it was because the brakes & tires were frozen from sitting in the cold / wet for a week.
But this morning, it again stalled twice when I tried to go; I had to give it LOADS of revs to have enough power to move without stalling – and this was on a flat driveway with no overnight icing!
Apparently GBMINI#5 has no power when it’s cold; for the first few minutes you could feel that it wasn’t happy to run, sluggish and under-powered.

Shot!

Posted on by Ian C.

It was dark when I got home last night. And I parked facing forward to approached GPMINI from the back this morning. So I only noticed this at lunchtime today … While we were in Florida, someone decided it would be hilarious to B.B. GPMINI – there’s still a B.B. trapped in the headlight surround, proving it’s not stone chips! At least 3 or 4 hits on the hood, and two big smacks on the windshield … GPMINI will be visiting Sublime Restorations now, for a new windshield and probably a repainted hood 😦

I suppose I should be glad that GPMINI is still mine, and not stolen and torched as happened to someone else recently!

Should I build more?

Posted on by Ian C.

Back from an interesting trip to Kissimmee / Walt Disney World where we lucked out with 3 days of 80+ degree weather (although yesterday it was only around 70, and rained intermittently throughout our time at Magic Kingdom).

Anyway, I come back to numbers of folks saying “I need an auto-up windows MINI circuit”.

Auto-up-windows MINI circuit, V6

I’ve sold all my stock, and as before planned to build no more because interest is quite low … but once again, as soon as I say “no more”, it seems those folks who hadn’t got round to getting one suddenly all get in contact! For example, this thread on NorthAmericanMotoring.

Problem is, to keep the cost at $45, I have to order a batch of circuits – 128 is my standard order. And because I’m “just me” and not a business with advertising budget, etc, I don’t sell many, just a couple a week.

So, should I order another batch? Is there enough demand still out there? If you’re interested, please get in contact and I’ll maintain a list (I’d likely wait till I had 50+ names, so contacting me is no guarantee of any quick response). Alternatively, if you’re an aftermarket company that would like to sell it and prepared to back up your interest with a commitment (not OutMotoring), then again please contact me.

Meanwhile …
Happy New Year everyone!