Door panel removal – curing Harmon Kardon vibration

Posted on by Ian C.

Took my passenger door panel off today and added self-adhesive felt around the edges to (hopefully) quiet the buzzing that sometimes occurs. I found that the main HK speaker is rated 2ohm, and the tweeter has a little filter cap (so the HK amp is apparently *not* doing all the filtering!) More later, when I have done the other door …
Still planning to replace the HK system with aftermarket for now – I ran out of volume today while testing to see if the buzz was cured! Read this interesting MINI HK review tonight – maybe some new ideas to try and get more from the HK system.
At work today, I also took an “aerial” shot of GBMINI and its roof, using one of our lift vehicles:

GBMINI#2 Union Jack Roof

Cape Ann food Pantry “empty bowl”

Posted on by Ian C.

Went to the Cape Ann Food Pantry Empty Bowl painting tonight – they have a fund raising in May where people purchase locally made bowls and have a soup & bread meal; the charity provides food & meals to those that need it in Gloucester. Tonight we had a chance to paint our own bowl, which will be fired and included in those offered next month.
Of course, I tried to paint a MINI in my bowl! First time I had attempted art since school O’levels (1978) and it was DIFFICULT! No way to erase any mistake either – the paint just soaks right into the unfired bowl so you cannot wipe off any errors. And the bowl shape makes it a little inaccessible. Anyway, here is my attempt:

We will go back to the Empty Bowl event on May 15 and I hope to see the final glazed bowl.

GBMINI visits Tweeter, Nashua

Posted on by Ian C.

Visited Tweeter in Nashua, NH today. Everybody there enthused over GBMINI; they could not believe how small and cute it was! And the Union Jack was impressive too – a great visit 🙂
I talked with them (for two hours!) about how to improve the sound system … we finally came up with a plan to replace all the speakers, the head unit and a new amp. Expensive, and not sure I will do all that yet. Trying to find what experiences other people have with their MINIs.