mini love - part 23

We went grocery shopping across town.

Chill is in the air, and the shops are selling moon cakes for the Mid Autumn Festival.

I have always suspect that most cable ties are not UV stable; I left this bundle on the roof by mistake in early summer only to find it yesterday; they are more brittle than dried spaghetti

Yesterday I took the opportunity to perform a post track day inspection on the Mini before the rain comes. As the brake warning indicator illuminated at the track I need to inspect all the brake pads to see how much linings remain.

you can see a good length of the caliper slider shaft is exposed - indicated the pads are quite worn; the outer pad has about 3/5 of lining remain

the front left inner pad

the left front rotor has some spots of brake lining transfer - this caused brake pulsation during the last session at the track

 this is the first time I install this tow hook on the Mini at the track - in case it need a quick tow

the loose rubber picked up at the track

left front tire (left side) and left rear tire (right side); the front tire took more beating than the rear; ; I put the two outside thread of the two tires adjacent to each other to compare their relative degree of wear

left rear brake outer pad

left rear brake inner pad

I want a photo of the parking brake mechanism of the rear calipers

right rear tire (left side) and right front tire (right side); I put the two outside thread of the two tires adjacent to each other to compare their relative degree of wear

The track is counter clockwise, and in the past the left side tires wear more than the right side. I am quite please to see this new set of tires have worn more evenly between the left and right side.

the right front outer pad

the right front inner pad

I checked the suspensions very carefully for anything that had been worked loose at the track.

I just realize there are these colors of German flag created by international assortment of performance parts: black Swift spring from Japan; red Alta sway bar from USA; and yellow Koni damper from the Netherlands.

I didn't take photo of the right rear brake pads as they are identical to the left side. The rear brake pads has a lot of life left in them.

I have notice the muffler tail pipes has dropped significantly. I thought it may be due to the extreme heat at the track cause the muffler pipe to lengthen and push it downwards at the tail pipes. It started to rattle badly as it was touching the heat shield of the battery box. Whenever there is rattles and vibration the car drives horrible. It is more psychological.

To investigate I have to put the Mini up onto jack stands.

the tail pipes are about 1 1/5 inch too low

 I check the muffler hanger first

I suspected this clamp is not tighten enough and allowed the two pipes to twist with respect to each other here

I loosened the pipe clamp to see if I can rotate the two pipes with respect to one another, and I could. I then try to see if by rotating them I could square up the tailpipes with respect to the opening on the bumper cover. I was able to do that and then tightening the clamp well this time.

this is as close to perfect as one can make it

I didn't tighten the clamp when I made the one-ball exhaust modification because I was unsure if I would need to adjust the tailpipe alignment with respect to the bumper cover opening.


while I have the Mini high up on jack stands, I carefully inspected all the suspension for possible loose fasteners; everything is shipshape

the engine got much hotter from being driven on the track; there are small traces of coolant that was expelled (as the level in the expansion tank was a little above the correct level mark when cold)

 I cut some scrap wood for used as cribbing

as I suspected during the track day the vacuum/boost leak led to the ECU's fuel trim to be too lean; this is taken after a shopping trip after I reattached the vacuum/boost line for the boost gauge; there is a light coat of black soot

this is a photo taken at the end of the track day and the light grey soot indicates it had been running quite lean that day; I suspect it cost me couple seconds per lap

I took the Mini for a test drive afterwards and he purrs all the way. All is silky smooth and one can hear the nice whines of the engine and the single mass flywheel.

I have been reading up on brake pad characteristics

I also been trying to cut through the marketing fluff from characteristics that matter on brake fluid

wet boiling point is very important, and tend to be the one that are glossed out

I compiled a list of DOT-4 fluids and their boiling points

winter is coming - Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood only a few days ago

I bought a set of used racing brake pads to tide me over for the last track day of the season. The seller threw in 2 set of Hawk racing pads for free. I am so happy.