ALLGBMINI – Page 387 – M&I / GBMINI

Failed light mod

Posted on November 16, 2005February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

For some time the side repeaters of GBMINI have been annoying me. The off white plastic just does not fit nicely with the general red & chrome of the car.
Recently I saw “NEW ERA CHROME OVAL LED REPEATERS” in a MINI Mania UK advert so bought a set. Installation suggests cutting the cars wiring, so I put off installation for a while …

Today I decided instead to modify the side repeaters so that the cars wiring was unchanged (thankfully!); I checked the car connections, and added small pin connectors to the side repeaters, then I took them out to check them on the car – the first one I checked seemed fine, so I modified the second one, and took both out to fit to the car; then I discovered two significant problems!

Minolta DSC

The first is that they are badly designed – they simply don’t properly fit in the indentation of the side grille! The oval shape of the new lights seems to be too long vertically, and not long enough horizontally, so that it does not sit neatly.
The other problem is that one of the two lights is poorly made – some of the individual LEDs don’t light up properly, and if you apply light pressure to the housing the LEDs will get more dim or bright. Apparently there is a soldering / assembly issue. Of course I can’t return them to MINI Mania now that I have modified the connector, so unless I decide to repair them and like the poor fit, it’s off to the junk pile with them …

“Get Into It” by MINI of Peabody

Posted on November 13, 2005February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

Todays “Know Your MINI” event benefitting the Care For Keith trust, and organized by MINI of Peabody was excellent and well attended! In short order, MINI Peabody got about 60 MINIs attending, raising over $4200, including donations from people who could not make it (thanks RB!), and nicely designed Tshirt sales … They did an excellent job of organizing everything, and all their staff were present to make sure everything went smoothly; the parent comapny (LyonWaugh) helped and of course the sister BMW operation provided the location.

The Boston BMW CCA and Joe Marko of HMS Motorsport did a wonderful job with the setup of the braking / maneouvering course as well as a super mini auto-cross track.
Kudos also to local TV channel 4 who covered the event and did a great job of presenting the MINI support for Keith – see this weblink.

The day included lane change / braking maneouvres and a short slalom and braking/turning section, as well as the popular auto-cross track. In addition good food was provided, and discounts on MINI items. Loads of pictures:

Minolta DSC

In memory of MaxaMINI

Posted on November 12, 2005February 10, 2017 by Ian C.

Many thanks to Rick & Laurie, and Ruthie (who drove more than five hours each way) we had an excellent gathering and dinner with many of MaxaMINIs family including of course the lovely Mart; in total there were about 25 people, cozily packed into Rick & Lauries home, and filling much of Walpole with MINIs! The company was fabulous, and dinner was excellent with a choice of Bouillabaise (which smelled great but I did not try it) or Chicken Curry (which smelled and tasted great)!