And, for those of you not on the email list, this came in today to remind you that early registration closes on May 11th!

It’s about that time! Early registration for AMVIV is May 11, if you haven’t signed up yet I encourage you to click on this link and sign up!

http://www.amviv.com/sign-up/

Check this out, the “Strip Cruise” this AMVIV will be run in our pajama’s! Of course pajama’s are optional* and you are encouraged to motor the runway in your own fashion!! Maybe you would rather rock a zombie outfit, it’s your run! I am told that our very own Agro might have some ORANGE pj’s/tutu for this very motor, and as always some pre-motor hugs! http://www.amviv.com/schedule/

Jules was been spotted “buttering up” security at Palace this week! Rumor has it she was posting wanted photo’s of the Evil Twins at “5b” and schmoozing with Security. She’s definitely up to something interesting! Like us on Facebook to follow her mayhem! Click this link if you still need to get your room! http://www.amviv.com/hotel/

That is just a taste of the sweet goodness we have in store for you at this years event! Soon we will be adding a section to our site that has “alternative activities” for you to explore while on your MINI Vacation in Vegas!

You can register right now right here. And Palace Station is actually kicking in some strong discounts on rooms this year, and you don’t get charged when you book your room!

So, yea.

Something that I haven’t done in a very long time is drive with a bunch of other MINIs from point A to point B. Something that I rectified today with a short run with the Dynamic MINI Collective, the MINI Club here in Arizona. Both Stella and I went and we had a great time!

First up with the off. Something else that I’ve been doing is hanging out with some of the club members on Friday Mornings at a coffee shop called Dutch Bros. That was also the location of today’s starting point.

Then, at 8:00 am sharp we headed south to Coolige. Luckily we were graced with green lights most of the way and only had to stop once to let everyone catch up. About an hour later, we pulled up to the airport.

Once a month they host a fly-in. Some planes fly-in, people get an awesome Lion’s Club breakfast, and they fly, um, out. It was pretty neat to see the older planes, especially the 4 that flew in in formation right over the tarmac. I had a mouth full of bacon, otherwise I would have gotten some video or photos or something. It was pretty rad.

A great time was had by all as usually happens when a bunch of MINI owners get together in one place. Full photos shoot can be found over Flickr. I also just got a sneak peak of Stella’s photos and they are pretty amazing! I’ll be sure to give y’all a heads up when they are available.

10 years ago, many of you (myself included) ordered/bought/drove your first ‘new’ MINI Cooper.

If you told me, 10 years ago, half of the things I would get to do in the next 10 years, I would have called bullshit.

If you told me, 10 years ago, of all the cool people I was going to meet and call friends, I would have been excited.

10 years, 400,000 MINIs. Good on ya MINIUSA, good on ya.

Your pal Don ‘db’ Burnside here. You might know me as the host of The World Famous White Roof Radio, one of the most popular automotive podcasts on the planet, or as one of the founders of SoCal MINI Maniacs, one of the largest MINI Clubs in the United States. I’m also the guy in charge of this little blog you are reading now, and I help keep MotoringFile and Bimmerfile running.

Oh yea. I also drive a MINI. A MINI that has more miles than yours I would bet.

So, you could say I’m a busy guy. Eventhough I am busy, I do try to make as many of the larger MINI Cooper related events that I can. These include A MINI Vacation in Vegas, MINI Takes the States, MINI United and the SCMM Anniversary party (that I have missed the last few years of, sadly). You will notice that there is at least one event missing from this list*, and that is MINIs on the Dragon.

There are many reasons why I’ve not yet been to MINIs on the Dragon, with everyone of those reasons being applicable for this year. The big ones are time and distance. The dragon is almost 4k miles from where I live (round trip). For me to drive I would lose almost 2 weeks of work. For me to fly, I would lose less time but have the added expense of airfare, which at today’s fuel prices wouldn’t be that much more. So, figure in those expenses and the lack of income for the time missed from work, and it’s expensive. Not to mention if I flew, I wouldn’t have my MINI on the dragon. Sure I could borrow a MINI to drive, but it wouldn’t be the same.

Then I’ve heard that this year is already breaking registration records. And there are a limited number of places to stay at the event site. Again, I could borrow a sofa or piece of floor someplace, but with how much it would cost, that seems like a crappy way to spend a few days.

Finally, for this year, there is MINI United. And it’s happening the weekend after the Dragon. And it’s an event that I would like to go to. And event that I could not attend if I attended MINIs on the Dragon.

But Todd and Chad go, right? Right. Both of which are going because, while they are there, they are able to sell products and services to help them with their costs, and in some cases, realize a bit of profit. If going to the Dragon for me was a profit making venture, then I would be all over it like a bum on a ham sandwich.

So, to make a long story a little bit longer, I won’t be at this year’s MINIs on the Dragon. Please except my apologies in advance for letting you down yet again.

XOXO

Don ‘db’ Burnside

*Sure there were more, but I didn’t want to go through and list every MINI event that has at least 40 cars show up. So no need to beat me up about excluding [your event name here] in the comments, ok?

I park. I go inside, then outside with “the guy”, then inside where “the guy” tells me it will be 30 minutes or so. So I sit and whip out Angry Birds or Words with Friends or Instagram. But that’s not what’s important.

My MINI has a very distict sound when it starts and when it’s running. I’m sure it has something to do with the NASCAR style exhaust I installed on it when I was a kid. Point being, when it’s started, I hear it. And since I’m extra, weirdly protective, of my MINI, I go outside.

Everything is going well with the kid trying to move my MINI into the repair bay until he stalls it backing up. Ok, he’s a kid, I cut him some slack. His Japanese car has an automatic, so he doesn’t get a lot of practice. Finally backed out of the spot, he stalls when trying to move foward.

Twice.

Honestly, it’s all I can do to keep from pointing and laughing. He works at a tire shop. A shop that puts tires on cars. All kinds of cars, including those with manual transmissions. Even while I was having a hard time standing up from laughing so hard, I still felt a little embarrassed for this National Chain of Tire Stores that You Have Heard Me Talk About Before.

2 new Kumho Ecsta ASXs have been ordered for installation early next week and I will be ordering 2 more the week after. It will be nice to get some good rubber back on Roxy again.

A common problem with some of the early generation MINIs was that of spark plugs popping out of the cylinder. I say common, more like something that was heard of every now and again. Mostly with the R53s, the threads in the cylinder head where the plugs screw in become weak and aren’t able to hold the plug under pressure, forcing them to ‘pop’ out.

Which has now happened to me.

Fearing the worst, I got Roxy into the shop. Turns out, it’s not as bad as one would think. The repair that happened for me was the following.

• Spark plug socket tapped a little bit larger and rethreaded
• A replacement sleeve screwed into place
• Locktite holds things in place

There is another way that didn’t sound that hot to me using something called a heliacoil (sp?), which is essentially a spacer between the spark plug and the socket. That doesn’t sound that great, especially when the time comes to replace the spark plugs again. Total cost for this repair was about $100.

To be honest, I’m not super happy with either of these fixes. There is no way my car can ever be 100% with this fix in place, and the only way to make it 100% would be to replace the head, and that’s just not in the budget right now.

Next up, time for tires. Yipee!

Another day, another repair. This time more maintenance than anything else; front brakes. Been awhile since I had last done them and they were due. Pads were down to a thickness that was the same as maybe 5 sheets of paper? Rotors were still in pretty ok shape and I probably could have turned them to get another set of pads on them, but it’s not that much more expensive to replace than to turn.

As per my usual, EBC Greens went on. I also stuck with the Centric rotors since I’m not doing anything more punishing then commuting to work every day. I’m really impressed with the wear on the last set too, so I’m confident this set will perform just as well.

And, for the first time since I’m too embarrassed to admit, I had the fluid swapped. I forgot what a huge difference that makes. It’s also the reason why I had my brakes done instead of doing them myself. I don’t have the tools and equipment to do a fluid swap and it’s cheaper for me to have it done, and way less frustrating too.

And with that, the list of major repairs that Roxy needs is now complete! Moving on to the should have list which consists of some of the following.

• Oil pan gasket
• Valve cover gasket
• Power steering hoses
• Sunroof motor
• Passenger side door lock

So, now Roxy sits are about 98%. I’m more than pleased with that.

That’s Barrett Jackson. And for the first time in my life, I got to go. Not having a spare few hundred thousand dollars burning a hole in my pocket, I was there only has a spectator. Took my camera, walked around, had a coffee and a funnel cake. It was pretty awesome. But, not because of the funnel cake.

This is a very nice example of a 1960 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door Coupe. It was very clean and from what I could tell, very stock. I didn’t catch the sell price because I really couldn’t be bothered. But I did snap a pic to send to Dad, whose first car was a 1960 Chevrolet Impala 2 Door Coupe. A car I have heard about my whole life. A car that, at one point, couldn’t be beat on Whittier Blvd. A car that had more rear-ends and intake/carb combinations than I can remember. All of them great stories and helped to fuel my love for automobiles.

But it was more than this car. It was all of the cars. It was all of the other car guys that were there, walking around with their kids or grand kids, showing off their first car, or sharing memories generated by that ’67 Chevelle. I’ve never been to a place where I see so many smiles on people that were just walking around, myself included.

Sure that sounds pretty romantic for a silly car show, but that’s my take away. It’s why I’m still a car guy. Cars, much like music or the smell of a certain perfume, can trigger memories long ago forgotten. I can’t wait for next year either! Not because I hope to afford that really nice ’73 Classic Mini (because I’m sure I can’t). I’m hoping to find my first car. Now that one I might buy!

Now, here’s the thing. I’ve actually read the entire recall notice from BMW, 3 times and it says, specifically, that dealers are not to release any MINIs on the lot without performing the recall repair. They also are not to hold customer cars or perform repairs on customer cars UNTIL a service bulletin has been drafted and released.

I say this because I know you. I know you already called your dealer and came close to having kittens because they didn’t know anything about it. Or, there wasn’t anything they could do to help you right now and couldn’t tell you why.

You will be notified about the recall and your MINI will be fixed. Just keep in mind that this recall is affecting approximately 90,000 MINIs in the US, not just you. Now, if you aren’t the original owner of your MINI, you might not find out through normal channels. Stay tuned to Motoringfile or White Roof Radio because we will keep you updated with the latest information as it becomes available.

In the meantime, I would avoid parking your MINI in a garage or under any cover, just in case.

If your MINI Cooper S is older than 2007 (or 2009, I think, for your Cabrio owners), this does not affect you. This only affects MINIs with the turbo charged engine built between 2007 and 2011.