GBMINI at 7777 miles

Posted on by Ian C.

I like interesting numbers on my speedo … so today I hit 7777:

GBMINI#2 at 7777

Not very interesting really – I should have waited for 12345 I guess! Note the trip counter (distance since last fill) – I got over 380 miles on the last tank! If I had driven careful highway miles all the time (only 240 miles back from Stowe last weekend) then maybe I could have got 400 miles. Strangely, the calculated MPG was only 31 – I expected a higher figure!?
I need to drive my MCS more aggressively – people on the web complain that they only get 250 miles!

Green Stuff brake pads at MINI Peabody

Posted on by Ian C.

I visited MINI Peabody again today!
The main purpose was to try and eliminate the squealing that I get from the Green Stuff brake pads that I had fitted at the end of July. The brakes only squeal during light braking, but it is annoying (the original factory brake pads did not squeal).
Anyway, Green Stuff supply an “Anti Squeal Kit” which consists of a few sticky-back rubber pieces to apply to brake pads; we will see if they work.

I also noticed this weekend that my driving lights were not working – turns out that during the Tweeter experience, they cut the supply from the back of the radio harness to the driving light switch! No idea why, since they did not need to touch the original radio harness at all (I used a harness adaptor from New Mini Stuff).
DO NOT TAKE YOUR MINI TO TWEETER NASHUA!

Also, my passenger window motor was replaced under warranty – last week it refused to open or close for a day and Gary was concerned if would fail again.
Finally, I asked about the rear fog lights and he showed me “parts bulletin # M 63 02 03” which they just received, announcing the rear fog light retrofit:

Unfortunately the required CD35 is not yet available, otherwise I could have tried the mod (since I already have the rear fog light switch). It will be interesting to see whether both or only one rear fog light is turned on when the new CD35 becomes available; we know that the BC1 can turn on both – but maybe only one will be used in the US market:

Testing rear fog lights on GBMINI#2

UPDATE: See this later post where the rear fog lights are officially activated!

British Invasion and driving with Jason Ross

Posted on by Ian C.

Back from our British Invasion weekend in Stowe. Drove a total of 583 miles – including an AMAZING 100 mile round-trip to nowhere planned and led by Jason Ross (“snid” on MINI2) who lives in the area and clearly knows it very well! Thank you again Jason! And I hope you find new employment soon (he was one of the many people recently laid off by IBM).
We arrived in Stowe at 5:30pm Friday evening, collected our registration package (which included a red coolbag gift) and checked in to the Olde England Inne, directly opposite the show field. Hurricane Isabel remained quite kind, with only light rain during our drive up.
Saturday morning I got up at 8, and spent half an hour wiping all the dirt off GBMINI before meeting Jason, and driving with him onto the show field, where I also met Keith (mudbud) on MINI2).

 

In total there were 8 or 9 new MINIs – but none of us got any prize! People still prefer the old Minis I guess (maybe next year we will get our own class). There was a long delay with the award giving on Saturday afternoon, so four of us left the show field early; we followed Jason on the 100 mile loop drive which, including scenic stops and a short walk on (a very small part of) “The Long Trail”, got us back to Stowe at 7:30pm.

After that we all enjoyed a great Thai dinner at “Red Basil” in Stowe, then headed our separate ways.

This morning Margaret & I left the Inne and followed route 100 south, down through Woodstock before joining the Interstate. Including many scenic stops and dinner, it took us 8 hours to drive the 240 miles home!


GBMINI claims 34.5mpg at an average 47.8mph … but the mpg estimate is always overconfident; I guess 31-32mpg but after filling in Stowe this morning and driving home, I am still at half a tank!