Memoirs of a Board Gamer

I spent much of father's day installing my Rally Light Kit from Morristown Mini.

The install went very smoothly. I didn't even start cussing! It took me about 4 hours from start to finish and I'm very pleased with the results.

The install begins by disconnecting the battery, removing the driver's knee bolster, piercing the grommet in the firewall and fishing half of the wiring harness into the engine compartment. You then run two wires to the grounding bolt and another out through the engine seal and up along the underside of the hood to each of the lights.

The bracket locations are selected and three holes are drilled for each into the grill and into the underside of the hood. Once the brackets are in place they are riveted to keep them from shaking loose.

Then, using the supplied paper template, I cut an opening into the hard plastic knee bolster to accept the switch. The rally lights only illuminate when both the brights and the switch have been activated.

Back under the hood, I attached the inline fuse wire and cut a hole in the fuse box lid to accept the connection onto the B-Block. Back inside, I loosened the down-tubes, removed the radio, and attached the light relay up under the driver's side dash. Two wires were spliced into the back of the radio to get the ignition on/off signal, and another wire was fished over to the passenger footwell.

After removing the inside trim on the passenger side I was able to tap into the Body Control Module for the final wiring harness hookup. I then turned my attention to the lights themselves. After heat shrinking some tubing around the wires I made the final connections inside the lights and mounted them to the riveted brackets.

After a test of the entire system, I replaced all of the components, aligned the lights, and made my way inside for a great fathers day with my family filled with gifts and great food and we even got in some gaming. To top it all off, Lisa got me a copy of Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory an expansion to my copy of the base game Thurn and Taxis. A very memorable father's day indeed!

If you're interested in seeing some of the in progress shots I did upload a few images into the gallery.

My stock auxiliary rally light kit for my 2006 MCS arrived this weekend along with blue replacement bulbs to match the Xenon headlights. I've been working through the installation instructions using archived DIY documents for a 2002 MCS that I found at Motoringfile.com. Mini doesn't provide instructions with the kit since this is usually a dealer installed accessory but since I've branched into the 'modding' arena with my MCS I'm tackling the installation and wiring myself. If you haven't seen a Mini with rally lights, they're the little 'headlights' that mount between the real headlights but in front of the grill in-line with the bonnet stripes like the ones shown in this image.

The technical expertise of those at North American Motoring have helped quite a bit so far and I'm targeting an upcoming weekend to rip into the wiring harness and cutting into the knee bolster for the activation switch. Wish me luck.

The install is now complete

I hit 1250 miles coming home from work today. The break-in period for my Mini is officially complete.

My two chrome, Union Jack license plate frames came today. As it turns out the blue/red of the Union Jack go pretty well with the blue/red of the plate and the metallic blue paint.

I also verified the Aux MP3 port is functional after I saw that there was an Aux Level adjustment mode on the Harman Kardon. I had to crank the Aux Level up to 5 and then crank the volume up pretty high on the stereo. I don't know if it's my Rio Carbon that's goofy or what but the volume level is so low. I'm not sure I like having to goof around with the MP3 Player controls rather than just throwing in a CD and using the steering wheel controls. In any case, I know the port works now even if I don't use it on a regular basis.

Six months ago, I was not a personalized/vanity plate kinda guy. Oh, I'd try to decipher the cryptic message adorning the car in front of me but I just never envisioned ordering one for myself. I'm so fickle that I rarely stick with any one interest long enough to emblazon my car with it.

But with my Mini Cooper, it just seemed lame to expend time, energy, and money to mod the car out with stripes, badges, etc. and then slap on a random plate. Peer pressure didn't help either. My closest three friends have personalized plates and frankly...I caved. My choice doesn't cry out some deep emotional message and it doesn't expose some inner me (thank goodness). It does, however, feel...right.

I had ordered my Mini with chrome exhaust tips but they are installed at the dealer rather than at the factory. Unfortunately when my Mini arrived, the tips weren't in stock and I could either wait for them to come in or come back for the installation. I decided to purchase the tips at a later time and save the cost of the installation and do it myself. I picked up the tips yesterday at lunch and put them on this afternoon.

The stock tips are smaller in diameter and shaped like a beer can top. I've included a quote from the Mini designer Frank Stephenson that gives some background on the shape.

"Mini designer Frank Stephenson explains what a can of Budweiser and the new MINI have in common: "We worked a number of 24-hour days trying to get the full-sized clay model completed for presentation to the board of directors," says Stephenson. "So when we finished the job with just hours to spare, I thought it appropriate that the team have a beer or two to celebrate. That's when I spotted the problem."

That problem was the complete absence of an exhaust tip on the otherwise complete clay. Thinking quickly, Stephenson stripped the paint from his beer can, punched a hole in the bottom, and fixed it in place on the model. It wasn't long before he was called on the carpet by his boss at BMW. "It wasn't the shape (of the tip)," he says, "everybody liked it because it was unique yet oddly familiar. He was concerned that I had wasted a modeler's time milling the piece when his time could be better spent elsewhere. That was when I felt the need to confess." That confession got him stunned silence followed by nearly uncontrollable laughter."(BMWworld.com)

My badges from Todd's Mods came this morning. I've had the grill badge holder from Morristown Mini for awhile but I finally got to install it.

I finally got my replacement Cooper S badge and the flag badge from Amercian Mini Mates installed over the boot stripes tonight. I also removed the 'Americanized Big Gulp' cup holder from the passenger down tube.

I had intentionally removed the oversized cup holder from my special order but it was installed anyway. The position of the cup holder was odd in that it sometimes blocked the glove box lid and it sometimes swung around to block the CD eject button. It was easy for the passenger to knock into it and I thought it just looked out of place. I removed the two Torx screws, applied slow pressure causing the double sided tape to give way, cleaned up the down tube, and reinstalled the screws. For only 10 minutes of work, I'm now cup holder free!

My after market Boot Stripes arrived from Aesthetic Creations yesterday and I installed them in about an hour. I removed the Cooper S badge from the boot using dental floss like a little saw (you can still see the blue painter's tape marking the old badge), cleaned off the adhesive, and followed the directions that came with the vinyl stripes. They match the stripes on the hood exactly and were pre-cut to perfectly fit the boot. It started getting dark so I'll wait until tomorrow to install the replacement badge that came with the stripe kit.