Well, I finally took the plunge. After running around in my stock MCSa for about a year without any signs of trouble, I thought it would be safe to go ahead and start modding her up. I closely followed
mdsbrain's experiences with modding his MCSa including his most recent effort to
demod his MINI due to the numerous problems he has had. After countless hours of research and lurking around the forums, I have found that the 15% pulley, intake, and exhaust were all pretty solid mods that are generally trouble free.
I had read how cool Pulley Parties can be, and since they are quickly becoming a thing of the
past, I thought it would be great to get Randy Webb of
WebbMotorSports to swing by Chicago one last time. The problem was he was already scheduled for Cincinnati and he had no other weekends available for pulley parties. But there was still hope for a Chicago party since there seemed not to be as much interest in Cinci compared to the L.A. or Bay Area pulley parties. If Chicago could get more pulleys than Cinci, Randy would be willing to swing by. The race was on, so I did what I could to try to drum up support and get the word out. After everything was said and done, there were about 8 pulleys for Chicago and 8 pulleys for Cinci, a dead heat!
DaveZ had asked on the
WMS Chicago thread if it were a possibility for him to swing by before his scheduled pulley party in Cincy, while I had asked the same question on the
WMS Cinci thread almost simultaneously. Turns out he was willing drive out to Chicago for a Thursday/Friday pulley party! Very cool! Chicago ended up getting a total of 10 pulleys, a short shifter, a couple of exhausts and 2 HDI boxes. Considering the short notice, I was impressed.
I was scheduled for the last install on Thursday night (I switched with IvanC) for a WMS 15% pulley, WMS HDI Intake and Milltek CAT Back Exhaust. Randy was running a little behind when I arrived but not too bad. By the time I was up, my 930pm appointment became a 1200am install. And Randy worked on my MINI for a solid three hours! Wow, I have no idea how he does it, I was tired just watching him work.
Ahhh, but the wait was certainly worth it! My MINI welcomed her new mods with more responsiveness and quite a bit more power. The new sounds are absolutely wonderful! The supercharger whine and the low tone of the exhaust definitely sound a bit more commanding but not over powering. Its just about right! My MCSa seems like a new car altogether, and I couldn't be happier. I am very grateful that Randy is so dedicated to these little cars, takes the time to explain his work, philosophy about the way a MINI works, and what's best for the MINI. And pulling those long hours to make a few owners in Chicago just that much happier!
I'll be sure to post my impressions as I spend a little more time with my new toys. So far my thumbs couldn't be pointed higher!
Well, it's new to dcmini. ;-) Following in the footsteps of the ever popular Motoringfile, dcmini is now offering email updates, courtesy of Feedburner. Feel free to subscribe below:
Woofcast #64 could go down as having the most rants in a single episode. From Wisconsin dialects to portable toilet company names, they sure touched on just about everything. I love to hear those off-topic thoughts, very funny stuff.... And I could have sworn I saw a JCW logo on Gabe's WMS pulley! Just kidding! 
I had the club application filled out and sitting on my desk for 2 months, just waiting for a reason to mail it in. After reading this NAM Thread and going to meet some of the current members, I decided to go ahead and send it out. And these guys were really cool! I am looking forward to hanging out with them in the near future.
